Paris Arsenal to Paris Villette

The alternative Paris underground........

It more or less rained the whole time we were in Paris, so after our earlier than planned morning manoeuvres to see the neighbours off, we had a leisurely breakfast and sat and waited for the rain to abate.   Eventually, after lunch, we decided to take the metro up to Les Halles, an indoor shopping centre, so at least we’d get out and hopefully stay dry but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.  We had a quick look round Les Halles anyway, picking up some cheap DVDs, although we had a bit of a language fail in selecting series one of the Danish drama, The Bridge.  The title on the box was in English, so I assumed that, as is the case with the other DVDs we’ve bought in France, you have the option to choose English as the language.  What I had forgotten was that English wasn’t the original language for this series, so we have a choice, watch it in Danish with French subtitles or watch it dubbed in French………… might improve our language skills…… could end up fluent in Danish……

We spent the rest of the time wandering around the Maurais area which is full of gorgeous little independent shops and Mike purchased a new straw hat, shirt and stripey top; all lovely quality and not a chain store in sight.  After a coffee and people-watching stop, we continued our wander but back in the direction of the boat where we decided on a quiet night in having splurged on our dinner out the previous evening.

On Sunday 2 July, we filled with water, did a quick supermarket shop then went to settle our bill at Arsenal and head off up the canal Saint Martin to Quai de L’Oise at Villette, where we’d reserved a mooring for the night.  Mike had bought tickets for a Tindersticks gig that evening and the mooring was just a five minute walk from the venue.  The staff at Arsenal kindly radioed the lock at the top of the tunnel to tell them we were on our way and we were told there were a couple of boats coming down the flight, so we waited til 1.30pm then went to the top of the basin and waited for the green light for the tunnel.

Waiting for the green light to go..

It's a bit blurred, but this is the base of the Bastille!

Although it's not lit, there are air vents at very regular intervals and as the tunnel is not deep, they let in plenty of light.

At the other end you are straight into a lock, so the lock landing is in the tunnel - note the red and green light which means it's getting ready for us.

And into the first of four staircase locks.  Feisty, but with rising bollards so easy to manage.

We had 8 locks to get through which are formed as 4 staircase locks of two locks each, so it’s quite a quick passage through the centre of Paris.  At the top of the first pair the lock keeper appeared, though had we not seen him coming out of the control hut, we would have thought he was a local jakey asking for cash, clearly uniforms are not the done thing on the Saint Martin.  He asked the usual where are we going, where are we stopping, so I took the opportunity to ask about the special key we would need for the locks on the Canal de L’Ourcq.  He looked unknowing so I showed him the picture in the booklet we’d been given on the Paris canals, which include the Ourcq, and he disappeared into the hut.  He returned a couple of minutes later with the key which he handed over with strict instructions that it must be returned to this lock when we come back, not to anywhere else and then we continued on our way.

Bubble, bubble.......

The Saint Martin area is up and coming apparently - still quite a bit to go though before gentrification is complete.

Open sesame!

Just what is it that is so interesting????..........

One boat down........

Two boats down......

All was going smoothly, all the locks and bridges are operated electronically centrally, so you don’t see any more lock keepers and just watch for the traffic light system as to when you are clear to enter the locks etc.  We had the radio on and could hear communications between other boats and the lock keeper.  The other boats are large trip boats carrying a couple of hundred tourists up and down the canal, we didn’t see any other private boats like us.

After exiting the fourth lock, we had a red light at the next one, so slowed up at which point the radio blasted into life, “Quaintrelle – FOR THE THIRD TIME!!!”  This was the first time I’d heard them call us so can only suppose they must have been calling as we came up the last lock and of course wouldn’t realise that we are outside holding our ropes as the water gushes in and you can’t hear a thing.  I acknowledged the call and he proceeded to tell us we’d have to wait for the next lock as there was a boat coming down that had priority.  Well, yes, I knew I had to wait cos the light was red………  The French seem to get very excited about things like this, as if we are already heading into the lock on a red light – something we’ve never done and would never do, I hasten to add.  We seemed to add a bit of drama to their day and I’m sure they dined out a couple of times on the story of having to radio the English boat three times to tell them to wait……

So we waited and a boat came down, but the light remained red…..still red………..and staying red……..  We continued to wait and eventually another boat came down the lock.  Now, call me daft, but would you not think that after the first boat if you were having to fill it back up again for another boat to come down, you’d have popped the little English boat in while you were at it????!!!!!?????!!!!! 

All too soon with lots of Gongoozlers waving and people asking if we’d come across the Channel, we reached the Bassin de Villette, and cruised through until we reached the lift bridge at the end.  We waited a while for the light to change, the bridge to lift and continued on until we could see the theatre boat, Le Nez Rouge, who we were to pull in above.   

Bassin de Villette

Lift bridge ahead.....

The arched part of the bridge stays put so people can continue to cross whilst the lower road part rises vertically.

Within minutes of pulling in, the owner of Le Nez Rouge came to say hello and introduce himself.  He didn’t speak any English but we managed a conversation and he was very enamoured by Quaintrelle.  The previous owner of Le Nez Rouge used to tour around the whole of France putting on shows, but since last December, he has owned her and keeps her here at Villette, putting on theatre, dance and music performances.  It seemed very popular as there were two performances that Sunday afternoon and evening and both had queues to get in – I wish him bonne continuation.

We headed off to explore the Parc de Villette and find our way to the venue for tonight and the place was heaving.  It had turned into a glorious sunny afternoon and the Parc is amazing with lots of different spaces, venues and exhibitions.

Looking very tiny next to Le Nez Rouge

Philarmonie de Paris - we thought this was our venue, but it turns out we were in the smaller Philarmonie 2 a couple of minutes away.  Both very impressive performance spaces.

Parc de Villette across the Ourcq

A raised walkway for those who prefer looking down on people ;)

We returned to the boat to get changed, then had a quick tea at the pizza restaurant across the way and headed to the gig for 8,30pm.  Showing our age, we were delighted to find ourselves in an air-conditioned, seated auditorium for the next couple of hours before heading home and being tucked up in bed by 11pm…….rock and roll!!

Tasty pizza whilst keeping an eye on the boat.

Tindersticks!

Why would you want to run along this?????

Oh..., because you're young and a bit of a knob.......

There were still people milling around and at 11.30 I heard a thud from the back of the boat, then again and voices, I sat up boltright, “Someone’s on the boat!!”.  Mike leapt up, grabbed the baseball bat from the cupboard as someone ran along the roof amid much hilarity and squeals from their friends, but by the time we got outside they’d run off out of sight…..  Slightly shaken, we stayed outside looking for a few minutes and a French couple came over and said it was just some teenagers mucking about and they’d run up a side street.  The woman went to look for them, but they were gone, but her and her husband assured us they were just 14/15 year olds being naughty, and that we wouldn’t be troubled here, it was safe.  I think they were a bit shocked by the baseball bat, but in the middle of a city you never know what you might be facing……  So it was just a bit of teenage nonsense but it was a while before my heart stopped racing.  You do feel quite vulnerable on a boat.

The next morning we were up and off to head up the Canal de L’Ourcq but called in at the office for Villette first to pay for our night’s mooring.  With the usual language barrier, this took longer than usual but eventually were told we didn’t need to pay, it was just for one night, we’d paid for our year’s vignette for the Paris Canals (54 euros – it’s a separate licence from the one we have for all the other waterways in France!), so it was fine.  When I said we were going up the Ourcq that opened up another whole can of worms until they realised we were a narrowboat and we’d fit.  They were very nice at the office but things always seem to end up being a lot more complicated than they need to and I’m not quite sure if this is the language barrier or simply ‘France’ and the French being a tad melodramatic……….

Due to its size restrictions, the Ourcq is a Road Less Travelled (to use Mike’s phrase of the week) and the few people we have spoken to who have navigated it have loved it so we were quite excited as we headed on to it……

(Yes, yes, I should have a picture of us going on to the canal, but I don't.  Je suis desole.)