June 2014

1st June. Took a cycle into Seure through the fields and along the river where poppies bloom in the verges and lucerne has taken over alongside wheat from the Canola oil of May.

         

Just before town the river enters a huge lock 110m, moored outside it was one of the big commercial barges that are still used for transporting goods in Europe, it is 105, long!

Had a look at the town moorings and picked up a tariff sheet from the Capitanarie.

                

Visited a few historical sites which were well sign posted with story boards. They could only be viewed from the outside as being Sunday everything was closed.

   

The Hotel-Dieu is still used as a hospital today but some of the history has been preserved in the interior. I could access the old ward as you have to pass through this to get to the new wing.

     

6th June. Natalie, one of the staff from H2O arrived at 6.45 and we drove round to the Gare D’Eau where we picked up Jana before heading South to Gergym where ASTER and the crew spent last night. It is very exciting to think of the day ahead as she completes her last voyage into St Jean de Losne . Danielle was also there with Janine and another retired bargie who I later discvered live in the block of flats next to mine. We all had tiller time on the river and from the broard smiles on all our faces you can see that we really thought is was a wonderful experience and huge fun. Danielle looked particularly good with the Tricolor blowing out behind her as we all hummed La Marsellies!

      

We passed through two huge locks on the river including the one at Seure that I had cycled past last weekend. This is a taste of what I have to look forward to! Due to the age of the boat we had to have an escort so were followed by a handsome Dutch Barge decorated with bunting and a large H2O flag. 13 of us sat down to lunch in shifts, leaving crew toside to man the tiller and ropes. We arrived in St Jean to Helen waving the red ensign from the bridge and crowds lining the Quai cheering and hooting. We turned round after the bridge and headed back to the old lock where she will stay till the “Blessing of the boats” ceremony next weekend. What an amazing day!

      

 

  

 

9th June. A BBQ took place at Charles’ and Patricia’s home at the old lock this evening to say “Thank you” to the team that had been involved with ASTER’s move to St Jean de Losne and to discuss what would happen for the Blessing of the boats ceremony. Part of the off shoot of that was the Helen, Glenie and I were scheduled to go to the boat at 6am tomorrow to clean her up!  It was a very pleasant evening sitting on the veranda with good company, good wine, good food and a spectacular view out over the river enhanced by the lightening storm display.

    

Having finished the cleaning

of ASTER I turned my attentions to changing two of the shop window displays with the help of Glenie, Helen and Maggie. The jewel in the crown is definately the Nutcracker window with Charles’ wooden soldiers and the Mouse King and Sugar Plum Fairy that Steph so cleverly put together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25th June. I picked Di up from

Dijon station at midnight and we enjoyed a croissant breakfast together this morning looking out over the gardens towards the church.

26th June. Today we drove to    Corre to look at the Marina       there and arrange for winter     moorings. I also left the car there and Philip and Bogusia met us there to drive us home. On the way we took the back roads and came across two lovely Lavoirs at Motey-sur-Saône and Mercey-sur-Saône, both villages also had churches   capped with coloured tiles.

                                                                                     I was very happy with the         Marina and the staff that I        dealt with.

 

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27th June Di and I headed off into Dijon on the train, bought fish from the market for tomorrow evening’s dinner party and did the sights including the archaeology museum and the Musee de Beaux-Arts.

    

 

    

No visit to Dijon is complete without stopping in one of the delightful coffee shops and passing by the well fondled Chouette and giving it a stroke to ensure good luck for the rest of your day.

28th June. A showery day today. We badly need rain as there is a boat stuck in the middle of the canal we want to take and if they can’t float it off soon they may have to close the canal. After checking up on the boat we spent most of the day drawing, painting and playing with the many photographic images we had made yesterday, till it was time to get ready for our dinner guests.

 29th June, After breakfast we  called in to see Steve & Helen  While we were there Mike came by and offered to take us in to Dole where he was going to stick his nose in at the vintage car club. Since Dole is a beautiful city it was a good chance to show it off to Di and we went. On our return we had lunch on board Jubilant. A quiet evening was spent at home and I was happy to see Di getting some more work done!

 30th June. We had a long meeting with Phillippe at the boat going through all the outstanding jobs and trying to get a handle on when she will be finished. It is all incredibly frustrating but other than nagging there is not a lot I can do.