SUR LE PONT D'AVIGNON
Except by all accounts the nursery rhyme is not correct and the dancing took place under the bridge, not on it,
Anyway we had a long day's sailing from Valence to Avignon - 12 hours and 6 locks - including the massively deep Bollene lock in which we were all on our own! In fact we saw very little traffic all day, commercial or otherwise. When we arrived at the town quay there didnt appear to be anywhere for us but there was a British Linssen and we were all set to raft up against her when the people in the boat behind very kindly offered to let us have their place as they were off in the morning and they then rafted up against us. We were sooooooooo grateful as quite tired by that time and desperate to actually visit somewhere. We were forced to have a glass of wine with them to say thank you.
And we have been here for two full days. We visited the Palace de Papes yesterday and the famous Pont Saint Benezet along with, what felt like, a million other tourists yesterday and today have done very little apart from search for an Observer. The Captain has been desperate for a paper to read.
Tomorrow we make our final trip down the Rhone to Port St Louis where we hope to arrange to take Sequel out of the water as there seems to be a problem with the port engine - the bearings have worn and are making a worrying knocking sound. C'est la vie. My French is really coming on!!
We have booked flights to come home on Thursday 03 June - can you believe from Avignon to Southampton? Have had a lovely time but looking forward to being home and catching up with everyone and the garden. We may return after respective stag/hen weekend on 18 June - but watch this space. Thank you again for messages posted - it has been great to get them.

les Roches-de-Condrieu

Thursday 27 May

We are now in a marina (Port de Plaisance) in Valence. A long time since I last blogged - we left St Jean de Losne last Saturday having had a really good three days. The weather had improved dramatically - it needed to, although we seemed to go from winter to hot summer with nothing in between - and we had a good trip down to Chalon-sur-Saone, where we spent the next two nights along with Stella and Mike on Lady Stella who are also heading south. On Monday - another bank holiday - we left Chalon, and Stella and Mike, and headed for Macon. Unfortunately the PdP at Macon was full and we decided against the town quay and spent the night on a fairly small pontoon at Belville with three other boats. On Tuesday we set off for Lyon - another beautiful day - but Lyon was uninviting and again only the town quay to moor against and we have been warned endlessly about the safety of leaving the boat for any length of time. Lyon is obviously full of vagabonds. We may return in the car on our way back to the boat later on in the year.
And then we left the relative safety and calm of the Saone and joined the mighty Rhone - and into our first massively deep lock - well, actually only 12 metres, we have yet to come across the Bollene which is 23! The wind picked up from the south and we had waves going over the front of the boat. The wind apparently only blows in two ways on the Rhone - north or south, the north wind being the mistral - dont know the same for the southerly wind. Sailed on for a while trying to find suitable berth for the night and finally arrived in a PdeP with a pontoon right on the river with massive cruise boats sailing past well into the night. Apart from these cruisers we have seen very little heavy goods traffic although we did share a lock with one very large barge.
Headed off again Wednesday with Gwen and Peter on Triton believing there to be a better chance in the locks with two bateaux de plaisance arriving together. First lock went very well and then we waited at least 45 minutes for the next two and went into the third with one of the cruisers - you would not think there could possibly be enough room for one of those and the two of us, but the lock swallowed us up.
Having had three fairly long days on the water, we are having a day off, catching up with washing, shopping, cleaning the boat yet again and tomorrow we will set off for Viviers and then on to Avignon some time over the weekend. We have been disappointed not to have stopped in Macon and Lyon so determined to stop in Avignon - having said that we will probably be in Port St Louis before we know it!

Thursday 20 May

We spent the night more or less where the boat had been put back into the water and were told at 9.30 a.m. that we had half an hour to move. What the Captain hadnt appreciated entirely was that we still had a very narrow lock to go through before we were actually in the River Saone - after all that! But he handled it brilliantly and we managed to get into the lock without the fenders rolling up and with about 10mm between the fenders and the sides of the lock.

We are now moored up in the marina as opposed to the boat yard and have spent all day cleaning the boat - again. And have another night out tonight - only problem is we are going to have to repay the hospitality and I only do mince and pasta.

We are planning to leave here on Saturday morning for Chalon sur Saone, about a six hour trip, and have been told by everyone that it is a lovely place to visit. Weather here doesnt seem to quite as lovely as in the UK - thank you for all your messages and hope you all have a great weekend.

ST JEAN DE LOSNE

Wednesday 19 May

Had a very exciting day - had a bit of culture Wednesday morning and visited the Musee des Beaux Artes in Dijon before getting the train to St Jean de Losne and then a mile walk from the station to see Sequel sitting on the back of the lowloader waiting for us and also the 120 tonne crane waiting to put her back in the water. The stabilizers actually went back on without any problem (so far that is - wont know for sure until we go back in the sea) and then Sequel was lifted up by the crane - a completely heart stopping moment and also the exact moment when my camera's battery decided to die too! But really very exciting.

The day was complete when we met fellow Linssen owners who kindly invited us to eat with them and two more couples who we met in London earlier this year and we had a great evening. I think it may have had something to do with someone other than each other to talk too.

DIJON

17 May - Maasbracht
Another wet, cold, grey day in Maasbracht after two, fairly sunny days. We assisted Sequel being taken out of the water and visited her inside the Linssen factory with the variotop lowered and the cover being put on. No sign of the boat transporter and after a bit of a drama about whether the stabilisers should be removed or not, which they had to be, we abandoned Sequel and hope (now Tuesday afternoon in Dijon) that she is safely on her way to St Jean de Losne.

After a long train journey starting from Roermund in The Netherlands at 1.30 p.m, changing at Maastricht, then Lille, and then via Paris, we finally arrived in Dijon at 9.40 p.m. tired, hungry and then very grumpy as hotel was awful. But happy today as we have changed hotels and walked all around Dijon, particularly enjoying the market this morning and lunch. Next big decision is where to eat tonight!
Short train journey tomorrow a.m. to St Jean de Losne - cant believe we have - nearly - made it there. More tomorrow when we have!

378 nautical miles, 51.33hrs, 7.3 av. speed

Thursday 13 May

We reached Maasbracht at approximately at 4.30 p.m. today. We did finally have some better luck on Monday evening and in lovely, though not very warm, sunshine went from Vlissingen to Veere in 2 hours with two other boats and hardly waited at all at any of the bridges. In fact it felt a little like a race because as soon as the lights went green they seemed to go back to red. Spent Monday night in Veere and then a long grey, miserably cold and finally wet Tuesday getting to a place called Heusden. On Wednesday we were a little late starting off but got within reasonable striking distance of Maasbracht and found somewhere to spend the night moored up behind another Linssen from Cowes! A public holiday today so very quiet and everything closed.

Kathryn: new chart plotter great and cameras are fantastic in the locks, especially when Bruce remembers to turn them on!

Have managed not to fall out in locks and they are so much more gentle than in France - lulling us into fall sense of security no doubt for when we eventually arrive there.

Forgot to say in my last blog that whilst rolling over endless waves in a horrible North Sea on Sunday the best moment came in a text from my boy telling me Chelsea had won the Premier League title - great news!

Three days here before our next exciting adventure and the big move to St Jean de Losne, France. Have been so busy concentrating on how Sequel is going to get there we have no idea how we are!

09 - 10 May 2010

Left Eastbourne at 05.40 a.m. on Sunday 09 May. Had a good journey crossing channel at Dungeness to Cap Gris Nez in 6 hours and then the fun began. Tide turned reducing our speed from 8+ knots to just below 6 and the sea got rougher. Finally gave up and went into Nieuwport for the night at about 20.20hrs BST - no-one around to allocate a berth so we tidied up, had some pasta and a bottle of wine and went to bed!
Left Nieuwport by 09.20 a.m. (now on European time) into equally unfriendly sea and had to head out to sea for 2 miles as found ourselves in a firing practice zone. Arrived in Vlissingen by 3 p.m. only to be told at first lock that the first bridge would be closed until 7 p.m. No problem - lovely sunny day and we needed to stretch our legs. And then we had a visit from two Customs Officers - they were very thorough and although reasonably friendly felt they were trying to catch us out. Fortunately the Captain was well prepared and was able to produce everything requested - except for proof of ownership of our VHF licence. Great. We rifled through everything and fortunately found an old copy of licence granted on 2005-2007 which showed our call sign and they accepted that. Twenty minutes to go now before bridge opens and we hope to get to a place called Veer tonight, which we stayed in 5 years ago, and then hopefully on to Maasbracht by Wednesday evening - but watch this space - we could do with a little bit of good luck!

Eastbourne

Saturday 08 May

We didnt get very far - although it took nine and a half hours to get here! The last three being quite uncomfortable with a 'moderate' sea - according to the Captain - looked like fairly big waves to me. We are in Sovereign Marina now - Bruce is fixing the generator - and we plan to go tomorrow whatever the weather - bet you are glad you are not here, Hev.

Monday 03 May 2010

Still waiting for a leaving date - now thinking it could be Friday. We cant really leave it any longer than that as we need to be in Maasbraacht before 17 May, although we will probably do the journey in record time and then we will have time on our hands in Maasbraacht - possibly not somewhere where you would want to stay for long!