SATURDAY MORNING

Saturday morning a new town and a new marché. This time it was Bar-Le-Duc in Lorraine, where do they get these names from? Amongst all the fruit and vegetables, not forgetting the charcuterie we were accosted by three people interviewing willing people to answer question about Europe and the European Union. They originally started doing 2 questionnaires, one for Geoff and one for Margaret they soon reduced that to one. Must have been my French. All very jolly especially after I removed half a dozen eggs from Margaret's hands when she was gesticulating madly. Could have got very messy. Eggs and vegetables bought, time for cheese.

Margaret being questioned!

A new blog year and we have to have a new cheese for the cheese lovers out there 'Le Compostelle' a sheep's cheese presumably for consumption on the pilgrims route to Santiago de Compostela. We actually did not buy it and went for a Tomme de Montagne Cantorel - yummy.

Le Compostelle.

BONNE CHANCE

We recently had a prospective barge owner with us for a week. Cécile decided that she wanted to buy a barge to live on and navigate with. Having been on a course to gain her licence she advertised in the DBA magazine if she could join someone for real life navigation. Margaret contacted her and she joined us from Strasbourg to Nancy. All good fun with real life barge handling instruction and the added bonus of free French lessons for Margaret and I as Cécile lectures in French in London. Well she is French.

Cécile and Margaret in one of the many locks.

Finding the right boat for you can be very time consuming. Cécile has looked at quite a few and has a way to go but I hope her week confirmed her positive opinion about owning a barge. Bonne Chance.

Bonne Chance.

ON OUR WAY TO BELGIUM

We have a long way to go as we need to get to Ghent by 24th May for the DBA (Dutch Barge Association) Rally. We left Strasbourg last week and have already had two major river closures so have had to change our route. We had planned to go along the River Sarre and then north along the River Meuse which would have taken us straight into Belgium. However, the Sarre is closed until June and then just at the last minute we heard that part of the Meuse which is a major river going through France and Belgium was closed due to flooding and hence shifting of the river bed causing low depths in places. It only needs one section to be closed and that's it, no alternative route. You'd have to come all the way back. So we are now going west across France to Reims and then north towards Lille and Belgium. So it's full steam ahead, well 8km/hr and hundreds of locks plus tunnels and lifting bridges. Hopefully there'll be no more closures. 

One of the many lifting bridges and locks.

EGP

The EGP (Extension Grand Plaisance) is a French qualification to allow you to drive larger boats. Larger boats I hear you cry, Soraya is 24 metres and 80 tons, am I going for a bigger one? The answer is 'no'. We do however plan at a future date to go into other parts of Europe in particular Germany. Germany is more particular about qualifications and only allows boats up to 20 metres with my ICC British certificate. I could have done the course in Germany however they only run the course in German. Not really in my skill set. Order a beer or a meal but not do a full boat course. The EGP courses are very thin on the ground. Fortunately there is a British couple who run a boat school on the Canal du Midi who have a 20+ metre boat. This is important as the course has to be on a boat in excess of 20 metres. They are not qualified to teach the course, however, they have teamed up with a French boat school who have the licence to grant EGPs but do not have a boat big enough. All good. I signed up paid the rediculous fee and flew down to Toulouse.

Geoff at the helm during the course.

The course was unique in the fact that they had never run it before and Ian (third from the right) and I were their first EGP students. Hence there were 4 instructors, as they were learning the ropes just as much as the 2 students.

The EGP crew. With life jackets, a course requirement.

We both passed. You may ask why bother. Ian, the other student, and I both agreed that we firstly just wanted to do it and gain the certification, secondly the ICC certificate we hold is really only for visiting boats, not when you are in France 24/7. Along with this the French have legislation in place that could if they so wished enforce this. They have never done so to date. Thirdly there is Brexit. Who knows what that could bring? Having the EGP will definitely put you in a better place.

PREPARING FOR NAVIGATION

Before we set off each year there are always plenty of things to do, including routine maintenance and varnishing/painting depending on the weather. We were lucky to get a few days without rain but had the taupaulins ready as the sky was very grey at times.

Geoff sanding the 'pigeon box' that goes on the salon roof.

After several layers of varnish, 8 altogether!

Margaret sanding and treating the outside furniture.

And of course, gardening needs to be done.

THE BLOG

We are having huge technical problems with the blog at the moment due to incompatibility between Blogger (Google) and Apple. If you receive random stuff it's us trying to sort it out!! Very, very frustrating.

NAVIGATION 2018

After a fun winter in Strasbourg with plenty of time elsewhere, the UK, other parts of France and the Arctic, it's back to Soraya and off on this years adventures. Briefly we aim to travel east across France along the Canal de la Marne au Rhin then turn north downstream on the Canal de la Meuse to Givet into Belgium via Namur, Charleroi and Bussels to Ghent for a Dutch Barge rally. What I hear you say is a Dutch Barge rally? To be fair we don't really know. Apparently it involves a good number of Soraya like vessels jostling for room in a canal basin, lots of chatting, comparing barges, eating and drinking with a bit of sightseeing with maybe a reception by the Mayor. And of course a trip round a brewery, well as they say 'it would be rude not to'. Watch this space and all will be revealed later in May.

After the rally we are not sure where our travels will go. We were planning to head in a more southerly direction via Lille and Paris, however, next spring Soraya has to go to a cale sèche (dry dock) for her 7 year checkup. As there are a good number of dry docks in Belgium and virtually none in France, we may stay in Belgium for the rest of the year and winter. That is all too far ahead and a lot can change in that time...

Boat home motoring past our mooring just before cast off.