Farewell to Epernay. Hello to new adventures
49° 2′ 49.6348” N 3° 38′ 1.56” E
July 5, 2015
We have agreed with Monsieur Bernard, that we will sail at 9:00: He and his girlfriend are ready to wave good-bye at the quayside. He says tut-tut like a ferry, that departs from land, playing for Nellie and letting us know, that we have been some very special guests. Sure. In a port with a total of three boats, who winter there, we probably paid the lion’s share of his salary for a year, thinks a cynical man from Scandinavia.
It is a great trip. Damn it, it’s a relief to wave goodbye to Epernay, which has “bound us” for almost a year. Finally, we are back on track. Towards new adventures. Every day something new. The family spins. The motor hums pleasant. It was worth the wait. The new parts seem to be worth the money.
Log book: Today’s distance: 40 km. Sailed time: 10:10 a.m. to 17:00 = 7 hours. Locks: 8 pcs. Weather: Heat wave. Today, only up to 34 degrees to 36 degrees on Friday and Saturday.
We prepare Ronja on a new summer on the French canals and rivers
49° 2′ 39.6348” N 3° 55′ 1.56” E
July 4, 2015
The day is spent cleaning Ronja, soapy water and algae remover, water tanks and a gigantic shopping in Carrefour and – for Lasse, Tian Ling and Nellie – an excursion to the deep cellars under the champagne producer Mercier, who has so many kilometers of underground passages with fermenting bottles, that they have invested in an underground train to get around.
In the evening we barbecue dinner on the quayside. The sun grilling us from above. The heat wave.
Reunion with Ronja
49° 2′ 49.6348” N 3° 58′ 1.56” E
July 3, 2015
After a late lunch in the town of Bouillon on the border between Belgium and France, we arrive in the late afternoon to Epernay. Great reception.
Port captain, Monsieur Bernard, explains with grand gestures, how he has been fighting against nature’s unpredictable attacks on Ronja through the winter. Five times, the sea level has risen in the Marne River. Way up there, he says, pointing high up the slope over Ronja. Five times he has been out and reinforce the sloped path to keep Ronja clear of the quay.
There has been some progress in the fight, though we must understand, that it has been a struggle against powerful forces. Madame Bernard kisses his cheek and consents: Monsieur Bernard fought and won.
It is more than 11 months ago, we left Ronja in Epernay with engine problems. She seems fine now. Dusty, dirty. But overall in a better state than, when we revisited her last year after an entire winter in a port north of Paris.
We pick Kirsten up at Epernay train station at 9 o’clock p.m. She has had a meeting at the school Friday morning, and therefore she travelled to Epernay by plane and train. We ate a late dinner in the heavy heat wave. Even at midnight it feels like well over 30 degrees.
Let’s find granddads boat in France
49° 2′ 49.6348” N 3° 57′ 1.56” E
July 2, 2015
It is early afternoon, when Per meet Lasse, Tianling and Nellie at Fredericia train station in Denmark. Per had been to a few meetings in the media-company in Vejle, and the others came by train from Copenhagen.
They all enter Per’s car, which will with the air conditioning on full speed allow us to survive the current heatwave and bring us to the good ship Ronja, which are waiting in the Marne river in the champagne capital, Epernay, France.
Fine trip. Good mood. Nellie, who is 3 ½ years old, falls into the rhythm. She sleeps a lot, plays with Tianling. We rest along the way at Moevenpick Hotel in Munster. Excellent dinner, excellent rooms, excellent breakfast. And then off again.
Monday, July 14 to Monday July 15
49° 2′ 29.6348” N 3° 58′ 1.56” E
One week further has passed. We are still in Epernay and when we are on our run every other morning we stop at the local bakery in Magenta. The baker’s wife goes immediately to the shelf with the coarse baguettes added extra grain. She sees us as regulars, knows what we want and welcomes us warmly when we come.
Similarly, when we cycle into the café every day in Epernay for the strongest Wi-Fi, so we can read news, check mail and follow what is happening in the world. The waitresses greet us as customers, they know, although we are not quite like other patrons having come to a kissing level with the waitresses.
We are close to taking root in Epernay. Instead of Friday, the mechanics come suddenly on Tuesday afternoon. We are up in the city at our regular café. “You’re not on the boat,” he says slightly reproachfully. “No, but I’ll be there in ten minutes. Should definitely stay. “He measures, he photographs, and he speaks in French to a warehouse, according to the dimensions of gimbal-membered nuts. The mechanic makes us understand that we are now, despite many hardships with cracked departments of Malö and holiday closures, close to a solution. But it will not be Wednesday. It will be, at best, on Friday that he can install the new part.
Two more days, we think. But we settle down for the evening by calling Bill, the English translator, but with an ominous voice he proclaims that the universal joint is so specific to our boat that it is not stocked anywhere in Europe but it must be produced at a factory in Holland after ordering it. It costs € 1,591.24 including VAT, and the money will have to be sent before he placed an order for the production of a new gimbal-joint. In addition, he will have 500 € for the work of measuring, evaluating and – for his time – to install the new part. From the time of placing the order it will take 15 days before the spare part is ready to be mounted. 15 days!!! We’re damn not retired with a lifetime ahead of us to wait. We are on a four-week holiday. And already two weeks we have agreed to wait for the solution to our engine problem.
Per agrees to transfer the money. Paying wages. But will not accept that it should take 15 days. Bill calls back to the mechanics. There’s nothing to do. The Dutch manufacturer is adamant. We agree for the mechanics to come to the boat Wednesday night with our bank details so we can get the financing done. But the French are apparently unreliable. For the mechanic does not come at six o’clock. He rings the bell 21 and asks if it’s okay that we meet the boat at 10 o’clock on Thursday morning instead? It’s OK, we accept, with a tired voice, only our deficient knowledge of French will hold us from expressing ourselves more aggressively. The mechanic does not show at 10. He rings the bell at 12 and asks if it can be at two o’clock instead. Frenchmen are unreliable.
At two o’clock he comes. Per calls the Danish Bank in Odense to transfer the amount to the mechanics. The agreement is that when the money is in his account, Friday, he will order the “la piece,” and he tells us that maybe he could get the spare part already after seven days, he has really pushed the manufacturer and explained our situation. We serve coffee, talk socially and separate with the best hopes for early solution to our problems.
Seven days! After all the bumps put in the schedules, we do not believe anymore in French assurances certain times, so now we are in the process of planning a whole new holiday. We agree with Lasse, we would like to come to Provence to live with them at a rural B & B. We call Mikkel and Helen and explain to them that we will hardly get a chance to visit Lyon as agreed. They propose, however, that we keep some day city breaks. So be it.
The days go by with chores on the boat. It will be painted. Screws on the railings will be tightened. The whole deck gets a clean with algaecide. Jørgen and Hanne come on Friday. And as always when they are on board, so changes Ronja’s character. There are more sports-camp on the boat, and there will be – paradoxically – even more decadent enjoyment of food and drink on the boat. She has her little red Michelin Guide for Frankrigst best restaurants, and wewith Hannes help explain to Per the new situation and the new plan for the port captain. We leave the harbour on Tuesday and we would like Ronja to stay in Epernay until October 11, when we will come down and sail Ronja further south. We would like him to take care of Ronja for us. We would like him to open for the mechanic when he comes and we would like him to shut down the engine and internal power when installation is complete.
Bernard is definitely ok with it. No problems. He’ll keep an eye on Ronja and intervene if something goes wrong. We agree on a price until 11 October. 4,500 kroner. It is relatively a lot. But it is important that Bernard has made a clear promise to take responsibility for Ronjas well-being. We get a port space. We also get a conscientious caretaker.
We even get discounts on some days. “We do not do this for everyone,” asserts Bernard.
A Swedish couple and a couple of their friends from Lomma Malmö attach to the side of us. The Swedish couple has retired and is in the process of a 16-month voyage down to Greece. Their boat is a Bavaria 34, which they have called “the dream”
Sunday – July 13
49° 2′ 39.6348” N 3° 58′ 1.56” E
We say goodbye to Donald and Kirsten, who without a single sailing day since they arrived last Wednesday, have decided to go to Paris and have a city break in the last days of their holiday week. Understandably. They should have been with the crew on Wednesday, but as Ronja is quiet and everybody pulls us into work, sanding wood, wash clothes, cleans portholes, removing algae and in general to prepare us with a week of Ronja on stand-by, so does 14 July with parades and airshow and subsequent things in Paris more attractive.
Per hibernated with a lot of books. Kirsten grippers down to the cabin and starts a victorious campaign against the algae that give our teak deck a little tired and worn look.
Saturday – July 12
49° 2′ 39.6348” N 3° 58′ 1.56” E
Anders and Kirsten visit some more Champagne houses and return to Ronja with lavish plans for a big dinner. In addition, of course, champagne. Brut reserve.
Kirsten and him have spent all day on Ronja reading and changing the boat.
Perhaps we shall buy potted plants for Ronja like other permanently moored river boats
49° 2′ 39.6348” N 3° 58′ 1.56” E
July 11. – 2014
We start the day by attending a start of Tour de France. The whole Epernay is on the other end. Lots of audience along the route. Advertising cars in the hundreds. School children with flags. Tents with entertainment. Yellow leader-shirts and polka dot-shirts for sale and at one point: whousshh !, and all the riders has passed. That was that.
At 11 o’clock we pull into a quiet side street, because we are expecting a call about the engine. We have brought forward the best competences in french, that we possibly can. Anders and Kirsten have left Epernay to travel for Paris. They did not get much of sailing in the french rivers this year. Bad luck.
Now Kirsten’s older brother Jørgen and his wife Hanne is on their way to embark Ronja. Hanne is excellent in french, but her friend, Vivi, is possibly better, so we have Vivi call the mechanic at 11 o’clock to get clear information on the progress of our repair. When is it expected to be completed? Can it be speeded up at additional cost for the weekend? In there any way whatsoever that the repair can be accelerated?
The answer is no good.
Neither the warehouse in Holland or the manufacturer in Germany are able to deliver a new sparepart, so now the part has to be sent from Malö shipyard in Sweden. It cannot be done until next week because of Bastille Day on July 14. The mechanic will come Friday morning and photograph the shaft and measure the dimensions, so that he can order the sparepart – in the harbour known as “la piece“.
The new part will be mounted on Wednesday and installation will last one and a half hours. As the mechanic do not show up as agreed Friday morning, we probably should already have suspected mischief.
Sigh. We go to Bernards office and pay for the one night, we owe him, and for five additional nights. Overall, eight nights in Epernay. That is a long time for a boat on its way round the world. Perhaps we shall acquire some potted plants to the foredeck of Ronja like the other river boats, of which many are permanently moored.
“An hour without champagne is an hour wasted” (Winston Churchill)
49° 2′ 09.6348” N 4° 01′ 1.56” E
July 10. – 2014
Two mechanics come at 10.30 and remove the defect cardan-joint. They are polite but have previously written off any communication with these non-French speaking tourists. “Call the boss,” they say.
We give the port captain, monsieur Bernard, two bottles of Burgundy wine as a thank you for his efforts to obtain a mechanic. He is pleased. “Tres gentile“, “Tres gentile“.
Epernay is the champagne capital. Shoulder to shoulder you find one champagne company after another along the city’s exclusive main street, Avenue de Champagne, – Moet et Chandon, De Castellane, Perrier-Jouët and Mercier. It is all bursting with prosperity. The companies are housed in old and new palaces, with sumptuous towering, newly renovated facades. Many offers tours or tastings.
We visit Mercier, for here, Anders and Kirsten had a fine experience on a previous visit. It is truly impressive. Alone this company, Mercier, has dug 30 meters deep into the limestone and has a total of 18 kilometre long hallways and basements for the storage of champagne. We drive around the corridors in an electric train and hear, how champagne is made. How long it ferments, how often the bottles are rotated, how waste substances are separated, and how the bottles are filled again. Along the way artists have decorated the walls with pictures. It is bursting with prosperity.
On the way back along the Avenue de Champagne, we pass Pol Roger, which was Winston Churchill’s favourite brand. “In victory you deserve it, in defeat I need it,” he said. Churchill is also quoted for saying: “Avenue de Champagne number 44 in Epernay is the world’s most drinkable address.” And he also needs to have said: “An hour without champagne is an hour wasted.”
An advertising agency could not wish for more.
At dinner on Ronja Anders recalled yet another of Churchill’s immortal quotes. Winston Churchill at a dinner had an English lady as a dinner partner. She exclaimed indignantly: “But you are drunk!” “Yes,” replied Churchill. “And you are ugly. But tomorrow I’m sober. ”
At Mercier we met Göran, Arvedahl and his two friends. He mentions to us that one of the crew, Ingelill, can speak some French, and she offers to call the mechanic, and ask the questions we want answered. It does not, however, bring much new. Only that the effort now is focused on obtaining a new sparepart from Holland or Germany. We can get a detailed message, when talking to the mechanic tomorrow, Friday, at 11 o’clock.
In the evening we are invited to coffee and strawberry tart on “Evanna III” Göran Arvedahl hosts. His two friends are respectively retired as a teacher and trumpeter. He himself is retired as CEO of a Swedish company that distributes TV signals for nordic broadcasters. Hi is a trained engineer. We all ready guessed that.
It was an interesting evening, where the talk is about the goal of life, dreams, ambitions and occasional setbacks.
Göran read Göran Schildts “Wish journey” many years ago, and it has stored in his mind, as something he would like to accomplish one day. A few years ago he lost his wife, an indescribable grief, he retired and thought that now his ambition to follow Göran Schildt might never be realised. But something in him insisted.
He began to plan the 14 week in Göran Schildts wake. He sought out a boat on display in Finland, he spoke with Goran Schildts wife number two. He acquired a first edition of “Wish Journey”. As he speaks, it becomes clear to us, that the implementation of the Wish Journey II is largely a therapeutic treatment of his own grief over the loss of his wife. A manual from the crisis, and he deserves respect for that.
He tells us how tired he was, when he reached England after tough sailing over the North Sea. He tells how he has been on the verge of giving up. But now, nine weeks are completed and only five weeks remaining, now he is committed more than ever to the project.
What happens when you reach Marseille? We suppose you’re going on to Italy, Croatia and the Greek Archipelago?
No, Göran thinks he is not. He likes the idea, that all options are open to him. But when he reaches Marseille, it is time to return home.
Finally. A mechanic who will take on the task of fixing our problem
49° 2′ 19.6348” N 3° 56′ 1.56” E
July 9. – 2014
Today, we have to find a mechanic. Nothing in the world is more needed, than the certainty that our engine problem will soon find a solution. Harbour Master Bernard, however, is disappeared from the surface of the earth. We find Bernard’s friend, who makes a dramatically french claim, that it is a very difficult task, monsieur Bernard is doing. “Tres difficile“. No one has time. No one calls back. “Tres difficile“. She lets us understand, that there is not much hope.
Later we find Bernard himself. We are sitting in his office, while he calls another three mechanics. Rejection after rejection after rejection. No one has the time. We show him a business card of a mechanic, that we got from a gate guard just before Epernay. Bernard is skeptical. He does not know the mechanic. Do not think he knows anything about boats either. We insist, and he calls. Bingo! The mechanic can be with us at 11.45.
We give high-fives to monsieur Bernard, proclaiming him our hero and feel certain, that a solution is near.
The mechanic comes. He seems competent and says the problem is, that the cardan-joint of our shaft (transmission shaft?) is kaput and needs to either be repaired or replaced. He cannot say a word other than french, but the communication goes on in the way, that he on his cell phone rings up a man called Bill, who is an Englishman, explaining his diagnosis, and then he gives Per the phone, to let Bill explain, what the mechanic just said. Afterwards Bill translates Per’s questions to the mechanic.
The cardan-joint will be removed on Thursday. Whether it can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced with a new one, is undecided. How long the exercise will take, he leaves us hovering totally in the dark.
We change the crew. We say goodbye to Henrik and Susanne. Half an hour later we say hello to Anders and Kirsten.
Outside it is pouring rain. That makes it six days in a row, and we wonder why every time we have news from Denmark, we get reports about both 28 degrees and 31 degrees. In France for almost one week we have had nothing over 20 degrees. Well, anyway excessive heat may be overrated?
Later in the day Göran and his crew arrive in “Evanna III”. We’ve got neighbours.
