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.
Unpleasant noise from the engine room. Are we loosing the proppellar?
45° 38′ 57.12” N 4° 47′ 40.5888” E
July 8. – 2014
We get up early. Kirsten and Henrik send Ronja back into the river. We we are heading towards a new goal. We agree that we need to sail 75 kilometres in two days, so Henry and Susanne can disembark in the city of Epernay, where there are trains to Paris every two hours. The stretch we can either split into two days or do it in one day. We end up doing the whole trip in one day.
We have begun to hear a strange murmur from the engine. At irregular intervals, sounding unpleasant, as if the propeller is about to fall off, or something else is wrong. It is a sound quite different from the diesel engine’s otherwise very stable rhythm. We are trying to get rid of the sound by changing the engine speed. We close the door down the toilet. We stabilise all on the boat, that can go into oscillation. We really do know, that it is not that. But it feels good to act. As we open the door to the engine, we can hear that it is not the engine itself, that is the problem. The motor hums stable, as it should.
It must be something external. The propeller? The shaft? We sail cautiously with successive revolutions in order to find a level, which eliminates the new and unpleasant engine sound. We did not manage to do so. In fact, it is difficult to attach the murmur to a particular RPM level. It occurs when we run at 2,600 revolutions per minute, and when we run 1,600 rpm. What’s worse, the sound gets worse and worse every hour that we sail.
Along the way, we stop at a bridge. We let the motor cool down and examine, what might be wrong. We tighten the vibration dampers. We can see that there is a loss of oil at the cardan-joint (transmission shaft) between the horizontal shaft of the motor and the inclined shaft down to the propeller, and we can see that the concertina-membrane enclosing the cardan-joint, has been worn in pieces. Probably the problem is to be found here.
We decide to proceed. Gently. Preferably all the way to Epernay. For Epernay is a relatively large town (27,000 inhabitants). We think that in such a city there will be a marine mechanic or a truck mechanic.
We are approaching the – almost – only port in Epernay – Nautique de Epernay. In our river map it says, that the port can only take vessels with a draft less than 1.60 meters. But we continue anyway. Maybe they have deepened the harbour recently? Perhaps they have not got the real measure? Perhaps there is still room for us?
Yes! There is room. We put ourselves outside of a briton from Norwich. Harbourmaster Bernard accepts us with grand gestures and invites us for a welcome drink in the marina bar.
It is the world’s smallest marina. It has room for ten boats at the highest. Maybe rather eight. Yet, the head of the capitainerie, monsieur Bernard, acts if he is the head of a marina with 800 boats. Very helpsome, he is. We explain to him, that we have an engine problem, and he offers immediate help in finding a mechanic. His first call has no results. The mechanic has plenty of work and have neither the time nor the inclination to take a new job in.
Bernard says that he has asked the mechanic to ask amongst his colleagues, and soon one of them will call back and take on the task.
Log-book: Today’s distance: 75 km. Locks: 6 pcs. Sailing time: 8:00 to 17:00 = 9 hours. Weather: Grey, dry weather as long as we sail. The rain starts exactly when we arrive at Epernay (and continues for 24 hours thereafter).
Marne is a lovely river to sail on. Nature is wild and untamed
48° 57′ 22.3272” N 2° 53′ 18.4776” E
July 7. – 2014
Departure from Meaux 8.00. First we sail 300 metres to Meaux’s city centre to buy baguettes and croissants. We call at the local port, which turns out to be much more charming, welcoming and well maintained than the private. So much for private initiative.
We sail further, taking morning coffee along the way.
The Marne is a lovely river to sail on. Nature is wild and untamed. Tall trees and dense shrubbery surround the river. Now teeming with herons. Only occasionally nature is broken up by small villages, that are often located a bit back from the river, as if the water is something you should fear. It is as if the French have turned their “backs to” their waterways. Where the Dutch welcome water with open arms, build houses near the water, establish their gardens and build piers for their boats, so they appear as a tribute to the close affinity between water and land, so the French keep a respectful distance.
We keep a cruising speed of six knots, and as we acquaint ourselves with automatic locks, which we have to operate with a remote control, we think we are some sort of a lock champions.
The lock master explains in raving French, how we operate the locks. Henrik and I understand only a fraction of his tirade. Something about pressing a blue button. But only once. And only when we are just off the waiting bridges ahead of the locks. The rest we understood not a bit of.
Nice! We rule the locks ourselves. At the next lock we will be tested. We push the button. Nothing happens. We sail back to the waiting-bridge. We press the blue button again. This time we point the remote control directly at the gate, and then it works. A bright white light switches on at the side of the red, indicating that there is contact, and we can see, that the lock begins to drain the water out, and later opens the floodgates itself.
When we get into the lock, we do not know quite what to do. We moor the boat. Waiting a little to see if the floodgate closes and the water begins to cascade in. Nothing happens. We press again the blue button. Only once. Then once again, a little longer. Nothing happens. Per climbs up the ladder, and phones the gate guard.
“Parles vous Anglais”? No. Not at all.
Per explains in broken French what our problem is. The man responds in fast-fluent French, without Per understanding much of the reply. Then, the communication is interrupted. We press a little more on the remote, but decide to call the VNF – the french water-authorities – again, our best lifeline. This time, we understand one word, “arrive” – someone will come. And sure enough. Shortly after a man from VNF jumps into the old lock house and put the lock into action. A friendly waving but no explanation.
Not until the next lock we understand, that it is not the remote, that controls the gates to close after us, and makes the water pour in, but a blue tube inside the gate, that we must lift up, so that the machinery starts mechanically. Who could know that? We have an electronic remote in our hand, and yet it is a physical, mechanical force, that starts the lock. They are crazy, the French.
From here we go on without problems through the locks.
We sail Ronja to a rural pontoon bridge next to a village called Charly. Vineyards surround us along with Frenchmen with their fishing rods. No Wi-Fi. No water. No electricity. No toilets. Only a bridge and a large country of silence.
Susanne works perfectly as a sandwich maid. She is originally trained as such, and as she did not consider herself suitable for deck-work, she regularly brews coffee and prepares sandwiches in what she calls the kitchen. We live as admirals.
Log-book: Today’s distance: 70 km. Sailed time: 8:00 to 16:30 = 8 ½ hour. Locks- 6 pcs. Weather: Slightly cloudy, mostly cloudy. Only at the end of the day rain.
A beautiful sailing-trip out of Paris
48° 51′ 8.3376” N 2° 22′ 4.6992” E
July 6. – 2014
We sail from Port Arsenal at 10.10 in the pouring rain and wearing sailor clothes from head to toe. French summer? Hmmm, it looks excactly like the heavy-rained summers in Kalvehave and Præstø, that we are trying to put back us by sailing out in Europe.
We sail through the port gate with Göran Arvedahl from Stockholm and his two new guesting mates, as they are going the same way as us. He sails in Evanna III, a Halberg Rassy 34 with a draft of only 1.65 meters, where we are 1.75. We agree with him, that he sail first, just like the penguins in Antarctica, where the older penguins send the young penguins first into the water to dive for food. If they do not come up again, it tells the elderly that is dangerous.
He is somewhat older than us, has set aside 14 weeks for his trip from Stockholm through Göta Canal, Kattegat, Limfjorden, the North Sea, the English Channel and via the French rivers and canals down to Marseille. He sails in Göran Schildts wake and follow as closely as possible the route, that this Finnish art historian described in his book from 1947, “Wish Journey” as he and his wife and a friend sailed this route with the ship Daphne from Stockholm to Marseille.
Göran Arve Dahl calls his journey “Wish Journey II” and has created a blog with that name.
It is a beautiful trip out of Paris. Much more beautiful than the entrance from Poissy-sous-Carriere to Paris, which was characterized by derelict industrial estates and decaying retired riverboats. Here there are several green areas, campgrounds, parks and private gardens directly to the river. We see many herons and some anglers but meet only a few other sailors. A few riverboats. The total number of pleasure boats can be counted on less than two hands.
We follow Göran. But after his two inexperienced crew members go wrong attaching Evanna III in a lock, whit the result, that his stern are swinging dangerously, headed directly towards Ronja, we prefer to sail ahead of him, although we follow into the locks and wait for each other.
As something new we pass two tunnels, Saint-Maur and Chalifert, respectively 597 and 294 metres. Very different. A bit like the tub pitch in Tivoli.
In the evening we get to the peaceful city of Meaux – 48,000 inhabitants and in their own understanding the Brie cheese capital of the World. The city boasts both a municipal and private harbour. The private according to our river map has the most facilities, so we choose this.
It does not look like anything special, and it turns out also that the port is bankrupt and the area has been enclosed by fences and locked gates. When we want a ride into town, it is completely impossible to leave the port area.
Log-book: Today’s distance: 49 km. Sailed time: 10:10 a.m. to 17:00 = 7 hours. Locks: 9 pcs. Weather: Day rain but snug and ok
We have to change the route. There is not enough water in the canals
48° 51′ 8.3376” N 2° 22′ 4.6992” E
July 5. – 2014
We are moored in Port Arsenal. In the heart of Paris. We almost feel, that we are moored to the Place du Bastille. Additional danish flags of paper adorn Ronja. It is Per’s birthday.
Henrik and Susanne explore Paris. Kirsten and Per use the first half of the day to check the water depths in the canals further down to the Mediterranean. People keep telling us, that they do not think we can get through with a draft of 1.75 meters, so we research with the French water authorities, VNF’s website (which is pretty poor), we knock on the door of other sailboats in the port (in addition to us there are only two, the other 110 are motor boats), and we get the port captain to call the lock posts along the Briare Canal.
It turns out that there is a problem. Briare Canal cannot meet the minimum depth of 1.80 meters. There has been too little water from the Alps this year. It is missing 10 to 20 centimetres, in some places more. It is a no-go. We buy new charts at the port office and plan a new, more northerly route along the Marne River and two canals, the Canal Lateral de Marne and the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne. The very name of the latter channel makes it easier to swallow that a whole winter’s preparation for one specific route has changed totally with the snap of a finger.
Improvisation requires thorough preparation.
Arriving in Paris by boat at night is a marvellous experience
48° 58′ 49.8324” N 2° 2′ 12.2208” E
July 4. – 2014
We sail from Poissy-sous-Carriere at lunchtime. Henrik and Per has bought food in bulk. Huge. Two stuffed supermarket carts. 24 bottles of water, beer, wine, garbage bags, disposable tableware and food for many days. Meanwhile, Susanne and Kirsten have made the boat ready and scared a million spiders off the deck and from the cockpit.
We fill the tank with diesel, pay the port captain and say goodbye to him and his son with thanks for taking good care of Ronja through the winter. It cost 250 euros extra for oil, oil filters, and battery recharging. Well, it had cost the same in Denmark.
The port’s uncrowned king, Hans, get a new handful of canned beer and a hug from Kirsten. He looks like a happy man.
The trip to Paris is ok. We know the route in and out. For Susanne and Henrik it is an experience to try the locks for the first time and also to see Paris from the sea. The last – to see Paris from the sea on a Friday night – is a great experience for all of us.
Paris has just lost to Germany in the World Cup in Brazil. But it is not visible from the Parisians when we sail the last kilometres towards our destination, Port Arsenal. There’s a party along the Seine quay edges. Thousands of young people sitting in groups, smoking, drinking, eating, having fun, listening to music or dancing at the special dance places. It’s a beautiful experience to sail through Paris so late in the day. Party Ships. Holiday Atmosphere. Stuffed restaurants. Festively dressed Frenchmen. Great.
Log-book: Today’s distance: 80 km. Sailed time from 12.30 to 21.30 = 9 hours. Locks- 4 pcs. Weather: heavy and hot.
Locked out from our own boat
48° 58′ 49.8324” N 2° 2′ 12.2208” E
July 3. – 2014
Damn! Damn! Damn! Here we have driven 1220 km since 5:00 am this morning to arrive at the port of Poissy-sous-
Carriere at 21.00 – the port captain has promised us, that if we get there before 21:00, he will be at the port, so we can get the key to Ronja.
It’s only 20:00. We are knocking on his door. Locked. He has gone home. Only he has the key to Ronja. Damn!
We find another boss, King Hans, who from his motorboat keeps an eye on everyone, who come and go in the harbour. He is a bit eccentric and lives alone on his boat year round. We know him from last summer when we were immediately hailed from his boat, “No, You cannot be here, you have to get away! And You cannot lie there either.”
We melted his heart with a summer surplus stock of beer and soft drinks, which we gave him before we went home to Denmark and asked him to pay particular attention to Ronja through the winter.
King Hans was touched by the reunion. He assured us with sign language – pointed first at his eyes and then Ronja – that he had kept a sharp eye on our boat, and that Ronja was well. He is virtually impossible to communicate with, but he understands our problem anyway and tries immediately to find someone, who knows where the port captain is.
The captain himself has gone home. King Hans assures us that the captain’s son will come to the port in about twenty minutes and find the keys for us.
Everything is good.