Week 3
Friday 3 August 2007
Left Vernon about 11.30am and headed to Mantes la Jolie. On the way we moved over for a large barge but he was not happy that we were almost on the river bank, he seemed to think we should have moved further over (to where we don’t know) and started shouted at us in French – the first unfriendly one we have come across. Arrived in Limay about 6.30pm and moored on the riverbank and walked to Mantes la Jolie which was a pretty, lively, young town – the first time we had seen young people in bars, not just the old men! The church (Notre Dame!!) was apparently designed on a scaled down version of the original in Paris.
Saturday 4 August 2007
Walked into Limay to find a petrol station, which was quite a walk and it was very hot. Saw a guy carrying a jerry can so checked we were heading in the right direction, he was going there too so we walked with him. He said his English was not very good but it was much better than our French! He very kindly offered to get his car and give us a lift back to the boat. Left mooring and rather than following the usual commercial route we took a route through a beautiful village of wooden houses. We decided to stop at the next island which the Navicarte said was 2m deep, as we pulled off the main river we hit a mud bank and got stuck, managed to reverse off but the propeller started to make a funny noise so we stopped and Darryl dived down to have a look, all seemed to be ok and when we set off again the noise stopped. The Navicarte referred to a “beach and swimming pool” on one of the islands so we thought it would be nice to stop there but when we arrived it was completely derelict so we carried on to Poissy and moored there and had a bbq.
Sunday 5 August 2007
Up at 10.00am and walked into Poissy, not much there at all so headed off on the boat. Didn’t go very far (about 6km), through a lock and stopped at Andresy as we wanted to look at the next village – Conflans Sainte Honorine. Had a walk round Andresy – it was extremely hot – very pretty town with about 6 shops. Saw a lady swimming in the river with what looked light a float strapped to her back but when she got out and untied it, it was her flip flops! She then got in a little boat and punted across the river to get her friend (she must have been in her late 60s). Cycled to Conflans where there is a whole town of people living on old barges – looked a bit like a shanty town! One of the boats was even used as a the community centre/chapel.
Monday 6 August 2007
Woken about 6.00am by torrential rain followed shortly by the loudest, nearest thunderstorm we have ever heard, the windows on the boat were shaking! It lasted about an hour and a half and then it rained, and rained …… and rained! In a short dry spell I popped to the Patisserie opposite the boat and we had a lovely warm baguette for breakfast. Left Andresy when the weather eased off a bit and passed all the house boats. Went in our smallest lock yet. Arrived in Ruiel and moored up on the Ile de Impressionists. Another British sailing boat came in later and it turned out he knew Steve Birch from the Albin Vega club as he used to make masts for him – small world! Cycled to Ruiel, a very up market town where all the houses have electric gates.
Tuesday 7 August 2007
Cycled to Chatou, not much there really so came back to Ruiel and went to see Josephine Bonaparte’s house – but it is closed on Tuesdays!! Found a swimming pool and were going to go swimming but you cannot swim in France in shorts you must have trunks – and Darryl doesn’t have any Speedos! In the evening watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show movie – neither of us had seen it before – very bizarre movie!
Wednesday 8 August 2007
Up early as had a lot of motoring to do to get to Paris. It rained most of the day. Not much to see between Chatou and Paris as it is all very industrial. Once we were in sight of the Eiffel Tower it got far more interesting! There were lots of beautiful house boats along the river bank on the way into Paris. It was very exciting entering Paris on our own boat, even if it is absolutely pouring with rain and the visibility was appalling! When we saw our first Bateaux Mouche (tourist glass domed boat) it was pretty daunting – they are enormous and we are quite small! Going under a bridge with one was scary. We saw the Grand Palais, the Louvre, Musee d,Orsay, Notre Dame and many more beautiful buildings from the boat on the way in – all very exciting. We entered the Port de Paris Arsenal via a small lock along with another British boat. Moored up, had a shower and then headed off to Charles de Galle Airport to meet Mrs Bean. We are very proud of her for getting the plane to Paris on her own. By the time we were back at the boat it was about 11.00 pm and none of us had eaten so we treated Mrs Bean to some posh French cuisine – a MacDonalds!!!
Thursday 9 August 2007
Took Mrs Bean to the lock at the Marina so she could see her first working lock and then headed out to see some of the sites of Paris. Walked along the riverside to Ile de la Cite to see Notre Dame and point zero, where all distances from Paris are measured from – not surprisingly at this time of year there were thousands of tourists getting in our way! Wandered on over some of the beautiful bridges, including Pont Neuf and to the Louvre which is just the most spectacular building – all 750 meters of it! At this point the battery in the camera ran out so we decided to head back for some dinner and will return to take photos on another day!
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