Of Maps and Wood, and DVDs and Pacos
So Monday morning of our third week arrives. What shall we do? We have brought some Video box sets including “Spiral” (in French with English sub-titles) which we tried to watch in 2008 but Glyn was always away for key episodes. So we try to get the DVD working. We can never get a TV signal in Briare but that shouldn’t stop the DVD player. It should be simple, but try as we may we can’t succeed.
Meanwhile Philippe called from the Folk Abeille last week and we arranged to pop over to visit them again to finalise some details of their visit to England. And then Annie rings to say she has got the map we wanted from England. We arrange to pop into Annie’s on the way to Philippe and Marcelle.
At Annie’s we ask if she can recommend a TV repairer in the area, but she has a different idea. She calls Paco – her man for all seasons mechanical – and says he can probably fix it. We arrange to meet on the way back from Philippe and Marcelle. They as always are so inviting, and ask he we found the cold at the weekend. Philippe’s wood was excellent we say, and get another small supply. It is time we bought our own.
Annie and Paco come back with us to the boat, but we can’t get the DVD working. It may be the SCART! (We did learn the French for SCART but didn’t write it down so of course we now can’t remember.) We say we’ll try to talk to the technicians in Barcelona who know what to do, but they can’t help either. We’’ have another go tomorrow.
Tuesday evening and we have had no luck so Annie and Paco arrive again. Paco tries a new SCART but no luck. And then he seems to try every button on every remote control in every contribution. We don’t know what he does but – presto – there it is. And he explains what we have to do. Not the SCART after all. What a hero. We almost needed God’s help, but Paco scores first. So now at least we can watch the DVDs. Canalling is so “back to nature”!!
Shopping for Friends
The rest of the week we kick our heels again. The weather is gorgeous again (just because we have a firewood supply), so we walk a lot, and keep thinking of some shopping to do while we’ve got the car. We bump into Martine Renard and Gilles Dazin, and feel guilty about all the people we haven’t contacted. But we only expected to be here a few days.
All Go - Maybe
Wednesday, and we are getting various messages from different sources about whether the canal will open this weekend. So we go back to VNF directly and our chief engineer has returned from his obviously wonderful weekend in Portsmouth (English pubs do win us friends). He is discussing it with his colleague. The leakage problem seems solved but the query now is how fast can they refill the canal. Understandably it has to be done slowly. They will start tomorrow. Maybe Friday or Saturday. Definitely Sunday.
So we make our plans to depart. We arrange with Richard – the joint harbour master with Bruno – to fill with diesel on Friday, and Glyn arranges to take the car to Migennes (our eventual destination this journey) on Saturday. Richard is not so sure Sunday will be OK, and other boaters have various opinions. We’ll stick with the Sunday plans and if we have to wait another day, so what?
Ils Manquent de L’Eau
Meanwhile one or two other problems emerge. The Canal du Centre (which we need to get from the Lateral to the Saone) was closed early for shortage of water last year. Now this year it is said it won’t open until April and will close in May. We check it out. In detail indeed it only opens from 29 March to 20 May and may not open again after that. That’s OK for now, but how will we get back after the summer? Well, we can always come back up the Burgundy and then down the Nivernais. Ah! But the Nivernais has a problem. (We learn more about this later.) Who-ee! Will we have to go right back north to the Seine? This is going to be an interesting summer.
A Farewell Meal
Friday comes and we fill up with diesel. We also have a meal with Annie, Patrick, Nicole and Michelle. It’s a nice “au revoir” meal especially as we will not see Patrick again until at earliest October. We feel we are on our way.
A Really Good Cuppa and Trains which Follow Canals
Saturday morning and Glyn sets off just after 9am. He gets to Migennes just before 11am and has a nice cup of tea with Simon and Roger, neither putting the world nor the canals to rights. They are excellent with boats though. And everything is arranged for May. Simon kindly gives Glyn a lift to the station (this limp really helps, but he would have probably done it anyway as he was going that way).
And then the four hours back to Briare by train. This time however it is much more interesting. Having done the Yonne and Seine by boat it is interesting how the train follows the rivers. Nearly all the stops are mooring places from our last journey in the autumn – Joigny, Villeneuve, Sens, Pont-sur-Yonne, Montereau, St. Mammes, Moret!! And then Souppes and Montargis.
Hold on There
It’s been a nice journey back, and he gets back an hour earlier than Linda expected. Alas, her new is not so good. Richard popped in to say the canal will not after all be open tomorrow. OK. We’ll wait till Monday.
We walk the dogs in the evening and bump into Bruno (like Richard he’s not working today) who is helping another boater with her tender. We explain the delay to Monday. No, no, I think you can get away tomorrow he says. Call round to my boat about 10am in the morning and we’ll see.
So the next morning with no expectations, after walking the dogs, Glyn is getting his bike ready to go round to Bruno’s. A knock on the roof. The man himself. You can go, he says. The first lock is ready, and the canal is full. Twenty minutes and we are away. Do we believe it? Not sure until we are over the Pont Canal, but then we are sailing, sailing. Hurrah!
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