Paris to Germigny-l’Eveque - The Calm of the Marne and the Lost Socket Set :(

The Marne masquerading as The Thames

Our Guide Fluvial for the Marne (the French Nicholson’s) had advised that we should give three hours’ notice of arrival at the first lock taking us from the Seine to the Marne.  As it’s an automatic lock and operated by a full-time eclusier we didn’t see why we had to and decided just to arrive at the lock and radio ahead as we approached.  The guide said VHF 20 was the channel we should use, so as we drew closer I called the lock.  Silence.  We weren’t worried though as the little cruiser that had overtaken us at great speed leaving us rolling in its wake was waiting – they must have been waiting a while – shame…..  There was no response on the radio so with the lock light turning green having brought another boat down, we headed in with the little cruiser and roped on.  It was another awkward lock with climbing bollards rather than rising, so we would have to manually move the front rope up as we rose from one bollard to the next.  As we were in gear and pushing against the front rope to keep into the side, this meant going into neutral for a moment to loosen the rope to get it off one bollard and onto the next, then quickly getting back in gear before the wash of the lock pushes us too much.  Thankfully the lock was gentle and we rose up easily with no trauma.  At the second lock, which wasn’t much further on, we realised why we’d had radio silence.  The book said VHF 20, but the signs at the lock said VHF 22……..  between locks for ship to ship coms was VHF 69.  Having successfully navigated up two locks without using the radio, we decided that we probably didn’t really need to as they would see us coming, but it’s useful to know if you have to wait for another boat coming down and stuff.  There was still a bit of commercial traffic on this section of the Marne, but as we came out of the second lock, we found ourselves magically transported to Henley on Thames – or at least, that’s what it looked and felt like!

Leaving the second lock on the Marne and all is quiet....

Sharing the river

Rowers and paddle boarders galore!

We continued on through another couple of locks and a tunnel, without using the radio except to listen, and moored up for the evening at Neuilly sur Marne where, with it being Sunday, the French were out in full force along the riverside and there seemed to be a great hullaballoo going on through the trees.  After mooring up, we went for a quick explore and found that Neuilly Plage was on, on the other side of the island we were moored on, and it was heaving.  Like in Paris, a ‘beach’ had been set up with sand, deckchairs, petanque, ice cream, inflatable swimming pool and the French were loving it.  We headed off for a quieter stroll through the park on the island.  There were a couple of groups of men remaining when we returned and they stayed late into the night drinking and talking, and whilst I (the light sleeper) nodded off easily, Mike ‘sleeps like a log through anything’ Queenan was kept awake by their chat. 

Nice little mooring at Neuilly sur Marne

The next day we pushed off late morning with our target being Lagny sur Marne, where we would spend a couple of nights as we had some time to kill.  We arrived at lunchtime and squeezed into a space on the pontoon and after some lunch and trying to stay cool on the boat, headed out into the late afternoon sun, which was still hot, and had a look around the town and did some shopping at the local Monoprix.  I was really keen to go for a run but it was really, really hot and muggy, so we lazed around some more, had some dinner and then got the Ninebot out to play for a while.  As we packed it away, just after 9pm, I decided it was cool enough to go for a 20 minute trot, so headed off up the riverbank.

 

Nice mooring at Lagny sur Marne

Always happy to see a Super Furry!

The next day we had a lie in, late breakfast and then caught up on chores.  There’s always something to be done on the boat and the shower pump had been playing up a bit so I decided to give it a thorough clean out – it was disgusting!  Mike was keen to touch up some of the paintwork, but it was too hot so he decided he's have to leave it til later in the day.  We went for a walk over the other side of the river to Thorigny sur Marne to see if the Fanprix supermarket there would have some of our missing items but we were out of luck.  It appears we’re in a section of France where they don’t drink Syrop de Pamplemousse Rose……  In the evening we went for a stroll along the river to look at some of the posh houses which prompted a discussion on what we are looking for in a house in France.  We have started the search in earnest as it’s been mooted that anyone who lives in France before Brexit in March 2019, will likely have certain rights reserved for health care and pension for example, so I have been scouring the Gironde for a suitable property and we have some lined up to view hopefully later this month.

Wednesday was just a short hop to the town of Meaux, where we have been before via the Canal de l’Ourcq and it was a pleasant cruise with a couple of locks and a tunnel.  The commercial traffic was few and far between now but we did pass one barge getting filled with grain.

Another well-lit, wide, straight French tunnel

A long straight cutting to Meaux

Grain barge getting filled up

This motorway bridge looked really familiar - we had passed under it on the Ourcq, as it spans the whole valley.

 We had contacted the Port de Plaisance at Meaux a while back to book a space for a week as we were heading back to the UK for the Deer Shed Festival, but it’s a strange arrangement there.  The port is managed by the Tourist Office and whilst they were happy to say yes that’s fine to come for the week, they were unable to actually reserve a space for us, so we were relieved to pull in and see there was plenty of space.  Our relief was shortlived however as we tried to hook up and found the electricity points weren’t working on our pontoon.  Another pontoon had the power and water point all wrapped up and not working so boats from there had hooked onto the one working power point meaning there was no space for our plug, but our two cables joined together wouldn’t have reached anyway……  We headed up to the tourist office to ask them about it and the very nice but slightly ditsy girls didn’t remember us, were very sorry that the power wasn’t working but it had been reported to ‘Services’ a few days back but they had no idea when it would be fixed.  We really needed to hook up while we were away in case the weather was bad and our solar didn’t have enough juice for the batteries, so we were relieved (again!) when one of the girls advised that one of the boats on pontoon 4 (which had working power and water) was leaving in the morning and we could take their spot.  We asked when we should pay and they said someone would come round and collect the fees, or we could come to the office and pay at the end of our stay – they didn’t seem that bothered about it to be honest, but the next day we did have a little slip on the boat saying how much we should pay, 4 euros 50, but only if you use electric or water, which we didn’t the first day, so it was free.  That sorted we picked up a few bits and pieces at the supermarket, then headed to the station to see if we could catch a taxi to the cheese museum, that the lovely lock keeper at Varreddes had told us about.  There were no taxis so we took the opportunity to check the bus to Charles de Gaulle airport for the next day and headed back to the boat.  There were buses to the cheese museum but it was too late by now, so it would have to wait. 

The next day, Thursday 20^th, we had a lovely lunch at L’Authentique restaurant for a second time then caught the bus to Charles de Gaulle airport, which was a revelation in that it’s an hourly service, takes 40 minutes direct and cost 2 euros!!  Bargain.  So, any boaters collecting friends and family from Charles de Gaulle airport – Meaux is a great place to do it from!

A smooth flight and car collect from Edinburgh Airport and we were eating curry at my mum’s by 8pm, also meeting her guest, Tania, from Belarus.  Tania is chaperon to six Belarusan children who were brought to Dalgety Bay for a month via the charity Chernobyl Children Lifeline.  My mum and dad got involved in this charity after dad retired in 1996, with dad taking the role of chairman for a few years for the local branch of the charity.  The charity was started after the Chernobyl disaster and would bring children to the UK to stay with families here for a month and they would get eye tests, dental checks, new shoes and clothes.  A month in our clean air eating uncontaminated food could extend their lifespan by four or five years.  The children were tiny little scraps, it was quite heartbreaking, but the work done by the charity was amazing and you could see the improvement in the kids in the few short weeks.  Mum’s role has always been ‘The Shop’, for which she collects and sorts new and good quality second hand clothes, jewellery, shoes and the children’s first stop when they arrive is to go ‘shopping’ down at the church hall.  Mum also hosts the leader for two weeks of the month, so hence Tania was with her.  Sadly they are the last chapter of the charity in Fife and I believe the Edinburgh one is now closed as well, and it looks like the Fife chapter will not last much longer.  The problem is getting families to host the children for two weeks or a month.  It’s a huge commitment and quite hard work and sadly not many people are volunteering.  Mum’s lot only had 6 children this year as that was all the families they could get to take children – they used to get 12-14.

It was a flying visit to my mum’s and on Friday we packed the camping gear and set of for the Deer Shed Festival in Yorkshire.

Relaxing with a wine before the evening's entertainment

A typically British-Summertime-Sky

Yes!  The reason we're here - The Fannies!!  Saw them at their first festival of this tour and now at the last.

Mike moshed-down to Arab Strap but they were too loud for me.....

...so I went off an had some chocolate orange brownie and ice cream instead :)

What had been grass turned to mud - with friends Stewart and Debbie

Sunday Headliners: The Divine Comedy, and they were divine.

I don’t think we’re cut out for camping.  The ten minute wait in a queue to go for a wee in the morning after I got up was unbearable, never mind the mud, cold and rain………  The music was fab though, really excellent line-up.

A night of drunkenness with Dave and Melissa at Pocklington where we were joined by Mike’s first love Fran, and his long-suffering wife Sally, followed and then on Monday it was back in the car and up to Fife, via Whitby where we called in on Mike’s Uncle Ron.  It was miserable, cold and wet when we set off but as we headed further north and into Scotland, the skies were blue and the temperature had soared from 12 to 20 degrees!!  Bizarre!

On Tuesday whilst I packed the dry camping stuff away, Mike went for his eye test and then it was back to the airport and homeward bound.

Unusually, we both bleeped at security and had to be x-rayed, but even more unusually Mike’s bag was pulled aside.  As frequent travellers we know the rules and are always well prepared, so wondered what it was. “You’ve got two roll-on deodorants in there,” the chap said.  “No I haven’t.  I’ve never used a roll-on in my life,” replied Mike.  The roll-on deodorants proved to be the two tubs of Smoked Paprika we were bringing back as we can’t find it in France.  So, you have to ask, how good is their equipment that shows up two tubs of powder as roll-on deodorants????  As the chap was looking for the offending items he pulled out a little plastic box and asked what it was, “It’s a mini-socket set,” one that we’d bought in the UK as it was £60 cheaper to do so than buy it France.  “Ah.  You can’t take that through, it’s on the banned list.”  Mike disagreed and explained that we’d taken small tools through before, the last time when we went through Leeds, we had a spanner in the bag!  They took Mike to a computer and showed him the list which mentioned, tools, which may be considered a risk……..  Mike pointed out he’d be more able to knock someone out with his laptop than the tiny sockets, but they weren’t having it.  He’d need to check his bag in if he wanted to take it.  This was at 12.40pm and our flight was 1.25pm, but the chap called the desk, they said they’d take the bag and they both headed off.

At 1.25pm a pale face appeared through the bus door just before it closed and pulled off to the waiting plane – Mike had made it, just, but the socket set hadn’t.  By the time he’d got back to check-in, navigated the broken self-service machines, found someone to speak to, they told him baggage check was shut.  He was fast-tracked back through security, decided to dump the three inch handle from the socket set, but was pulled aside and told he couldn’t take the little metal, ¼ inch (and smaller!) circular sockets on the plane.  So he dumped them out on their desk, kept the plastic case and then had to run to the gate which, typically, was the furthest away it could be – and all because of one person’s interpretation of what tools are a risk….  We weren’t happy.

Back at Meaux, it was warm and dry, although it had been raining which meant the plants were happy, and although it was Tuesday, we decided we needed a glass of wine.

The next morning we were up sharp and got the bus to the cheese museum.

 

Cheeeeeeeeese Gromit!!!  Brie de Meaux AOC

After tasting, you gotta buy!

We then went to pay our mooring fees, decided to stay another night and enjoyed a new drama on the BBC iPlayer after dinner.

This morning we set off under heavy skies on a lockless cruise along the tranquil river, and after only getting half on a pontoon at Poincy have settled on an unusual wall mooring a bit further on under a ruined bridge at the little town of Germingny-l’Eveque.  It’s nice to be back on board and underway again.

Lovely little treehouse - think we might need something bigger though.....

Moored under the ruined bridge at Germigny l'Eveque

France and the Fannies

(More time-manipulation, sorry - getting there......teach me to be a lazy-assed-sh!t...)  

Our next day’s driving was mainly on the motorway, so not much fun and we had to pay for the pleasure.  However, the roads in France are generally in much better condition than the UK and the toll roads usually quiet, and with a speed limit of 130KPH in dry weather Kitty Cate raced along and in a few hours with a brief stop at Le Mans for a look and an ice cream, we were at our next night’s accommodation.

Le Mans tram in the square

Chateau de Chambier - not too shabby at all

 We knew the first couple of days would be pretty boring driving until we reached the Dordogne where we would then only have an hour or two between accommodations and could take our time and explore, as we hadn’t been to this part of France before.  Our next stop was at the very pretty seaside town of La Rochelle, where the only thing to do, having been land-lubbed for a few days, was take a boat trip!!

The very pretty Old Port at La Rochelle

Fort Boyard

Entrance to the Old Port from the sea side

We both really liked La Rochelle, it’s a pretty town with a great waterfront and a nice ambience about it.  We agreed that it would be somewhere we wouldn’t mind living in or around even though it was on the Atlantic coast rather than the Med.  The next day was a shorter drive to the small town of St Jean de Blaignac so we went off the beaten track a bit and stopped off to visit St Emilion.  On arrival at our chateau late afternoon, we made use of the pool before heading off for dinner. Dinner was a first for me as the tiny village hosts a Michelin Starred Restaurant, “Auberg Saint Jean” and as it was only a five minute walk from our chateau, why not?  It was amazing.  I loved it.  I want to live there.  This was one of our favourite stops of the holiday, everything was just lovely; the chateau had one of the most tasteful renovations we’ve ever seen, merging the old with the new beautifully, a lovely pool, a room overlooking the Dordogne River and a great meal and wine a five minute walk away all in a really beautiful area.  Only an hour’s drive from Bordeaux, a little bit more to the coast and a couple of hours to skiing in the mountains, we decided we could also quite happily live there.  Our plans to eliminate areas for living were quickly going down the tube as we were now adding more on!!!

St Emilion - a pilgrimage for wine lovers

The gorgeous Chateau Courtebotte - or Corkbottle as Mike calls it.........

We continued to follow the Dordogne the next day passing through some glorious countryside and stunning little villages with their clifftop castles on our way to our most expensive accommodation of the holiday, thanks to Mike spotting it in the Guardian’s Top Ten Places to Stay in France.  Le Vieux Logis proved to be worth every penny, it’s gorgeous and we were very impressed when the receptionist excitedly told us we would be staying in the Arthur Millar room, named because he had come to stay three nights, once upon a time, and stayed a month!!  Mike was fantasising whether he had Marilyn there with him when we decided to check our receptionist’s facts and discovered that it was in fact the writer HENRY Millar, not Arthur that had stayed there……….

No trip to the Dordogne would be complete without dropping in to see Cyrano at Bergerac

Another lovely village with its Abbey

NOT Arthur Millar's bedroom.....

View down the garden from Henry Millar's room

Unfortunately dinner didn’t quite match up to our accommodation…. They did have a Michelin Starred Restaurant which was incredibly expensive and besides, we’d just had a Michelin Starred meal the night before, so hoped to eat at their Bistro, which was booked up.  We ended up having a burger at the little fast-food place across the street – and a bottle of wine.

We were spoiled for choice the next day where to go and what to do but settled on lunch at and a visit to Chateau des Milandes, once the home of Josephine Baker and now restored and run as a museum of her story.  Some of the rooms are as they were when she lived there, the bathrooms were absolutely amazing, and others house the museum which includes some of her costumes that were found in suitcases in the cellar!!!  The cellar had been flooded a few times over the years, so some of the costumes showed a bit of wear and tear, but amazing that they survived.  Her story is very interesting going from the slums of St Louis, Missouri, to top entertainer, to being active in the Civil Rights Movement, an agent for the French during WWII, creating a rainbow tribe family, to going bankrupt and losing everything.  She passed away in 1975 after a sell-out comeback show.

Unfortunately you're not allowed to take any photos at all inside the house.

But they have a great bird of prey team and display.

We spent that night in Sarlat le Caneda, a reasonably sized town which we wouldn’t mind having as our ‘bigger town nearby’ should we move to this area.

The next day, the sun beat down again and we were keen to get on the river.  We failed to find canoes at the first town we came to but headed on and soon crossed the river and saw a canoe sign.  We managed to canoe probably the prettiest stretch of the Dordogne, stopping off for a swim under the gaze of clifftop castles and dwellings.  The river was really clear and cool and quite fast-flowing in bits which made for a bit of fun.

Rapids!!!!

This could be Beynac, but I think it's the other village en route that I can't remember the name of and the maps are in the car, which is still in France - more about that later.....

THIS is definitely Beynac - can you spot me swimming??

Then it was back into the car for a couple of hours on the road to our next stop.  This seemed to be the longest two hours of the week as the tiny windy road climbed mountains and went down gorges.  All very nice, but we were getting quite tired and ready for a rest, so we were pleased when we finally reached our accommodation and its pool, near the historic village of Rocamadour.  We swam and read and then drove the 10 minutes to the nearest restaurant, La Troubadour, which was lovely.  Mike felt very French ordering just a half bottle of wine, as I was driving.  After breakfast the next day we made use of the internet and booked up the last of our hotels for our journey back up north to the Chunnel in a week’s time.  We were spending another night here so could take our time heading out to sightsee.  As we left at the hottest part of the day we decided to visit one of the caves the area is famous for, Gouffre de Padirac.  It was a good move as it was quiet cos it was lunchtime and it was deliciously cold!!

More horrible accommodation

Getting cooler the deeper you go

And then a boat takes you right into the caves - where you're not allowed to take any photos so we bought the tacky souvenir one!

Rocamadour clinging to the cliff side

We then headed into Rocamadour for a wander before heading back for a swim and a short drive out to another restaurant for dinner.  It was another hot night, but a different story in the morning, as I looked out at the drizzle remembering last night’s conversation as we came back from dinner, “Should we put the hood on the car?”, “No.  I mean, it’s not going to rain, is it???”  (My part of the conversation was the latter……).  Not only was it very wet, it was quite cool, so I put a jumper on and we dried the wet seats and put the hood on the car.  It’s not a great car in wet weather but at least we had the hood and the heating to keep us warm.  We were heading into real rural France today, so filled up with petrol and checked our emergency stash of wine in the car was intact – you never know.  We cheered ourselves up with a visit to a laundrette and finished off the bag of M&S toffees I found in my handbag.  I can’t remember the town we did the laundry in, but it was quite nice, though wet, but one thing was the same as most towns in France.  When you park in a car park where you have to pay, the hours to pay are 8-12 and 14-19.  Yep, even the carparks in France have a lunch hour!!!  We arrived at 11.45, and you got 30 minutes free anyway, so we were able to stay until 14.15 free!!!  Love France.  By 14.15 the sky was beginning to clear and we were able to take the hood down for the afternoon’s drive.  Our checking in time was 17.00 so we stopped off at Maurs for a wander and then headed on past our accommodation to Le Rouget, the biggest town near our Chateau.  We found the local Cave there and bought a bottle of white before seeing their little kegs which you could fill with Merlot, Rose or Muscat.  We took the Merlot, a keg for 8 euros – our cheapest wine yet!!  Gregoire greeted us at his lovely chateau, showed us around and although he hadn’t received our email asking if we could have dinner at the chateau (sometimes when they are very rural you can book an evening meal), he was delighted to provide a spread for us.  His mother bought the chateau fifteen years ago, and when they opened it up, it was the first time it had been opened in 65 years, when it was locked up after WWII.  French resistance had been housed there as the area was used to drop English agents in as it was so remote, and there was still a picture of Hitler pinned to one of the mirrors with little marks on it where they’d thrown things at him.  The restoration they had done was amazing, having to remove much of the floor, treat it, then re-lay it, and re-build some of the walls.  He and his wife were lovely, inviting us to join them for some amazing pizza before dinner that he had made in the outdoor oven.  Another bonus was the lovely bathroom with a large bath – perfect to chase away the chills of the earlier day.

War time secrets went on in this chateau - fascinating.

We were up and away sharp the next morning, well, as sharp as we get, as we had arranged to be at our next accommodation by lunchtime.  Mike had discovered a while back that Teenage Fanclub were playing at a Festival in France, so we had planned our route so we could take this in.  We knew it would be a late night so felt it only fair to check in a bit earlier so they wouldn’t have to wait up for us.  Benjamin was incredibly accommodating and showed us round the transformed cheese farm that he now runs as a B&B, then handed us the keys and left us to head off to the Heart of Gold, Heart of Glass Festival at St Amans des Cot – yes, we’d never heard of it either.  The festival was being held at a holiday camp, on a lakeside, so a beautiful setting, and with hindsight, we should really just have booked one of the bungalows for the night.  We arrived too early for non-stayers, who wouldn’t be admitted until 5pm, but it wasn’t a problem for the French.  We were told to take a seat for 15/20 minutes and they’d sort it out.  They did.  The girl came back with our wristbands and said we could make use of the pool, bars, food stations etc.  And we did!!  The festival was a completely different experience from those in the UK.  No one started drinking til about 7pm, no one was drunk, no one was being sick, weeing against trees, pushing to the front of the venue – it was all incredibly civilised and we really enjoyed it.  The weirdest thing was, like all festivals in France apparently, it was a cash-free zone.  You buy Jetons (little plastic discs, 1 jeton = 1.36euros) and you then buy anything you want with them.  This does make it very expensive as a large beer was 4 jetons!!!  Mike was getting very excited as the time for the Fannies to come on got closer as having inspected the venue, realised how close and personal this gig would be.  Then we spotted Norman Blake.  Then he was suddenly walking behind us and Mike turned and said, “All right??”  Norman chatted with us as if we were old friends – what a lovely, lovely man and Mike managed to have a conversation without crying or getting tongue tied.  They came on at 9pm and were brilliant.  What a great gig.  Mike started crying round about the second song and I think Norman clocked him as he kind of smirked at one point………  Afterwards we hung around but as they had a flight back to the UK the next morning I think they must have decided on a quiet night.  We had a really good time; the people were nice, the pool was great, music fantastic, just a really nice experience and I’d highly recommend taking in a French festival if you get the chance.  I then drove us back to the B&B along pitchblack winding lanes and slept like a log once there.  The following day would take us back on to familiar territory as we headed South towards Carcassone.

It's Festival time!!!!

Mike dreaming about being in the mosh pit

Personally I prefer Quaintrelle

The Fannies!!!