It's a wrap!

 

                                                                 

Antiope is snugged up for the winter.

Antiope is back on dry land in Simon Evans' boatyard in Migennes. She has cruised at a liesurely pace this Northern summer, and is now back in France after four seasons in the Netherlands and Belgium. Her crew have scuttled off  home to New Zealand.

Haul out day for Antiope, at Simon Evans' boatyard, Migennes.

We have an an affinity with Migennes, as it has been Antiopes' winter base many times over the years that we have been cruising the waterways of Europe.  Putting the covers on and hibernating her life support systems is always a sombre task and with the exception of two 'covid' years we have now been doing this for 16 years and in five different countries.

On our last evening afloat on the Yonne river,

 just downstream from Migennes

Auxerre, on the Yonne, one of our favourite stops.

Nerac sur Baise, in south western France. 

A region we have yet to explore more, and preferably by boat.

In today's world of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc, this Antiope blog may be a bit 'old school' but it remains uncluttered by pop up advertising and is also a personal story since the day when we first found Antiope in 2009 languishing in a back corner of the London docks and just yearning for adventure. I hope that the readers may get just a taste of our life afloat exploring Europe. In these intervening years Antiope has taken us as far afield as Scandinavia, Berlin, the length of the Rhine river from Switzerland to the sea, through the Netherlands, and Belgium and up the Thames river as far as Oxford,  

Antiope is 'For Sale'. There! I have said it. Although it is often quoted that any boat is always 'For Sale', we have decided that it is time she needs younger hands on the helm. She has yet to be listed with any agents and we are in no great haste to find new custodians. We will be posting more details via this website in due course. 

In the meantime should you or anyone you know be interested, by all means email-                     charlesscoones@gmail.com 

                                       On a different track.

Off the water and once the packing had been done, we took time out to explore Migennes and its history as a railway town. Before the high speed TGV lines cut straight lines across France, by-passing Migennes, it was a hub for North-South traffic. Express trains to the Riviera from Paris would change locos here. Engine sheds and maintenance yards extended over acres of land. Sadly, while in German hands during the last war, the RAF did their best to destroy the town and its railway yards. A Railway preservation society held an open day at the yards, so of course I went along to see.

The historic engine turntable, then and now restored.

These engine sheds once echoed to the sound of steam locos 

This 'Mistral' diesel once hauled the Riviera express   

We got to ride this vintage railcar out on the main line!

Out of the museum for the day

                                            Tourists for a few days.

After leaving Migennes and before flying home, Annie and I took the TGV train down to Agen in South West France to visit my old shipmate David who now lives at Buzet-sur-Baise. This village lies close by the Garonne river and the waterway route of the lateral canal that links the Canal du Midi at Toulouse with Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast. I have long been fascinated by the history of this waterway which was originally proposed in the reign of Louis 14th. It was begun in 1820 and completed in 1843. 

A tranquil section of the Garonne lateral canal at Marmande.

David tirelessly drove us around, exploring the local waterways along with numerous refreshment stops.

  

This 580m long aquaduct at Agen completed in 1843, 

finally opened the through route 

The aquaduct crosses the unusually shallow and tranquil Garonne river

 Buzet is at junction of the main Garonne lateral and the equally delightful Baise river navigation, both of which when we visited had good water levels despite the drought conditions further north and on the Garonne river itself. A thriving hire boat base operates at Buzet. We may be customers next season, as the voyage South from Migennes and back with Antiope may not make economic sense.

The Garonne river, several metres below unavigable level.

Until recent years, a commercial link with the Lot river to the North was possible by locking vessels down from the Garonne Lateral canal onto the river itself, cruising a few kms and then locking up onto the Lot river navigation. Floods and droughts have made this link too hard to maintain solely for recreational navigation, but if conditions were to improve, this could change, as the lock structures have been maintained in good condition. By now, you may understand that I have an adiction for exploring lost waterways.    

This linking lock is high and dry above the river level

The start of the Lot navigation, now closed for several years

This lock up from the Garonne at Nicole, could easily become operational,

 if river levels returned to normal

Now back in New Zealand, we are preparing for a different sort of boating, and soon heading over to Melbourne for a classic yacht regatta.

Cheers, Charles and Annie.

Paris

 It has always been a thrill to cruise our own vessel into Paris, and it is a right of passage for anyone cruising the waterways of Europe. The replica Statue of Liberty is, however, an uncanny landfall marker. The more familiar full size version, for which Gustave Eiffel was involved with the engineering, was donated to the US in 1886. He also had a hand in constructing a tower in 1887, which was only ever intended to be a temporary exhibition piece for the World Fair in 1889.  

No, we are not lost. 

We have previously moored in the Arsenal marina, safely through a lock and just off the busy Seine, however on this visit we also cruised further up through the arts district to tie up in La Villette marina for a few days as well. 

We cruise for 1.5 kms, beneath the streets of Paris!

Emerging into daylight 

and climb four pairs of locks up to La Villette.

A magic way to cruise quietly up through Paris

Our temporary home in Paris..'La Villette'

  There is so much to see in and around Paris. Here is just a taste of what we found.

The night before cruising into a busy Paris we moored by the Ile des Impressionistes, across the river from one of the favourite watering holes of impressionist artists such as Monet, Renoir and Degas.

.

The location for the 'Party at Rueil' - Renoir 

At Rueil is the Maison Fournaise restaurant, little changed from when

Pierre-Auguste Renoir created his 'Party' painting

 The impressionist painters sought their inspiration at this quiet backwater of the Seine.

The Paris Pantheon, a truly monumental building. 

In its crypt are the tombs of those honoured by France such as M and Mme Curie, Louis Braille and Victor Hugo.

A brass ball is suspended from the Pantheon dome.

Without any mechanical assistance,

 this ball oscillates by the movement of the earth itself 

Bastille Sunday market 

The waterway actually runs beneath La Bastille monument.

 

Jules Verne decor at the 'Arts et Metiers' metro stn.

Another day, another chateau, Chateau de Chantilly.

An Uber ride from an Oise river mooring at Creil 

Napoleon's office in Chateau Malmaison, Empress Josephine's home

 

Napoleon Bonaparte's bicorn hat,

displayed at Chateau de Chantilly.

We have taken time out to visit a chateau or two, and try to absorb a bit of France's turbulent history.

It seems that there is always a dramatic story behind each chateau and Vaux-le-Vicomte near Melun is no exeption.

In 1653 Nicolas Fouquet was the 'Superintendent of Finances' for France under King LouisX1V. Over a period of 5 years Nicolas managed to divert enough funds to build himself this modest little house in the country just South of Paris. The mistake he then made was to invite the King to a lavish house party.  As a result the King took a close look at the books, arrested Nicolas, threw him in jail for life and confiscated the lot.  Louis then commissioned the three lead craftsmen resposible for the building to build him a bigger and grander Chateau at Versailles.

After centuries of neglect and the occasional revolution, the Vaux-le-Vicompte has been faithfully restored, is now back in family ownership and is open to visitors.     

 

Nicolas Fouquet, 

 fell foul of Louis X1V

This modest Chateau, Vaux-le-Vicomte,

 completed in 1661, sealed the downfall of Nicolas Fouquet

The gardens alone extend for 1.5 kms

With a modest wine cellar.

Golden fountains. Is there a familiar trend here? 

Do I perceive a similar and singular greedy trait being exhibited across the Atlantic and beyond that other Statue of Liberty?

Warning, could there be a lesson here? In France they had a unique and swift way of dealing with people who got above themselves.

With Paris behind us, we head upstream for another 60 Kms to the junction with the river Yonne. 

Back out on the Seine, despite the drought,

 we have enough water flowing over the barrages.

However these cruise boats are moored up, empty of guests

and probably unable to cruise the drought struck Rhine 

 

We are alone in a big commercial lock,

 heading up the Seine

Montereau-Fault-Yonne, the confluence of the Seine and Yonne rivers. 

We turn right.

Napoleon gives us a clue!

On the Yonne river, evenings are getting shorter.

We are getting closer to our winter base at Migennes. 

Three men in a boat

Three men and a boat.Martin, Richard and Gareth.

 

 There is a certain trait among Englishmen that compels them to take on excentric expeditions. I have to confess that I once had similar leanings. So when a very British looking rowing gig tied up astern of us one hot summer evening in Amiens, I was compelled to learn their story.   

The much traveled 'Wossname' with 

'Montmorency' resting on deck. (Read the book)

Wassname carries the souvenirs of many noble voyages

These three retired gentlemen are the nucleus of a crew which has rowed Wossname up or preferably down rivers, voyaged out to sea and traversed many canals in Britain and Europe. They were in the flotilla that escorted Gloriana, the royal barge, down the thames at the 2012 Queen's Jubilee pageant, and have competed in the 2014 Great River race. Some of their epic rows have raised funds for charities of their choosing. Spoiler here, Wassname does the "boring bits" being towed on a trailer.

Farewell Amiens and the Somme

Amiens Cathedral rightly dominates the skyline

After sunset, the Cathedral light show is stunning.

In the porticos, lighting colours the stone carved saints,

 as they would have originally been painted 

Antiope finds a Somme mooring

This peaceful river once defined the front line.

we are just a few Kms out of Amiens

These lift bridges are managed by the roving lockeepers

Weed munchers, doing a great job keeping this waterway clear

Meanwhile, after a restful few weeks on the Somme, we will begin our own passage down to Paris.

It is hard to imagine while cruising quietly through this postcard landscape the horrors seen here, and the futile loss of thousands of lives during two world wars. Now on a bankside mooring the only sound is the rustling of leaves. 

Lovingly restored narrow gauge locos at Cappy

We take the tourist train behind a diesel loco. 

( Steam at the Weekends ) 

At Cappy, a narrow guage railway museum houses trains that once hauled munitions on both sides of the front line. Remnants of those lines through the woods still survive,  these days they carry tourists like us.

 

Another train on another day.

The Armistice Carriage. Another reminder! 

We had returned to Compiegne, this time with family guests aboard, and took time out to visit the site of the armistice signing in a railway carriage on November 11th 1918.      'The War To End All Wars'. 

This wagon, sadly, is not the original. Adolf Hitler demanded that the French surrender 21 years later in 1939, was signed in the same carriage, then had it moved it to Berlin. In 1945 as the Allies closed in on Berlin it was burned, reputedly by the SS.

 River levels permitting we continue South on the Oise river to join the Seine, Paris and eventually the Yonne.