Narbonne farewell

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 21:15:23 GMT

It has been a quiet six weeks here in Narbonne, where we were just getting too comfortable. So, on just about our last days the French treated us to one of their specialties...the Manifestation Politique. Some 7,000 young students and some old Socialists and Commies staged a noisy march to protest the CPE, a new labor law. There was no violence, just a lot of shouting and sloganeering from the crowd that was almost partying (see the pictures below). The march started off in the esplanade just above our mooring. I don't know if the Narbonne march scared Chirac, but it sure scared the bejeepers out of poor Luca, who is terrified of sudden and unexplained noise...he shook and quivered and tried to hide under the bed.

But spring is here and besides the sap and the students rising we managed to rouse ourelves to get out on our bikes. You can see from the pics that we go through acres and acres of bare vinyards, where the first signs of leaves are beginning to appear.

With the nice weather we went to visit and have lunch with some new friends, a retired English professor and his French born wife, who live in the tiniest, most obscure village we have ever seen. The total population, including the two of them, is 67 souls. The town of Albas is almost impossible to find on the maps, but it is in a wildly beautiful area that is actually the foothills of the Pyrenees. They have been living there for 40 years, the last 16 full time. For us it was a chance to experience a way of life in the French countryside that one only reads about.

One other interesting occurance...Jerry became legal! Actually to drive one of these barges one needs a license, which is called a PP (Permit de Plaisance). To get it you need a medical exam (which is a formality as only the French can do), a "driving" test, and a 32 question written test. The tough part of the whole thing is that the written test is given only in French, which to mono-linguists such a Jerry is close to an impossibility. However, in the cold month of March I took a 10 hour train trip to frigid Cambrai, a gray twon in northeren France, where an English couple give a four day course to get you through it all. And I got through it!! Cheers from all!! But keep in mind that having the PP doesn't make me a better boat driver, anymore than a driving license makes a 16 year old kid a good driver

Friday morning we are off. It is actually difficult for us...we have started to become very settled in here in Narbonne and we like the town very much...I'm sure we are going to miss it. So, we leave you with a couple of pictures of Narbonne, one of the main square in front fo the Archbishop's palace and the othefr of the weekly "marche" that takes place on the esplanade right above the boat (yes, the same one where the demonstartion started).

Our immediate goal is to make it down the canal about 100 kilometers to Aigues-Mortes, where we will await our opportunity to brest the "raging" Rhone River and make our way up to Burgundy....but stay tuned for future blogs.

La Lavande shoves off

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:26:55 GMT

Hopefully this is first of many “blogs” about the travels of Jerry and Suzanne Litner on the canals of France. We are posting this just before our June 29th departure date. The next installment will come when we manage to figure out internet connectivity in France…stay tuned! By the way, on the right side of this page you’ll see a slide show…to see any of the pictures full size just click the “square” symbol under the pictures.

The first question that usually arises about our upcoming “adventure” or “venture” on the canals of France is: “How on Earth did you ever decide to do this?”

The first and most obvious answer is that it is more than two years since we sold our last big boat (the 46’ sloop SUZE) and it was about time to get another and a bigger boat.

But that ain’t the truth. What really happened is that it started in a conversation about maybe getting a weekend apartment somewhere. First we rejected New York and then as we considered Paris we realized there was more to France than just plain, old Paris…so we said, why not get a barge and see all of France. Obvious, n’est-ce-pas?” But maybe it all started about 10 years earlier when we ran across a Texas couple who were living on a barge in Paris and that seemed like a highly reasonable thing to do.

Having gotten some experience on the French canals by twice chartering 35 to 45 foot “peniche de plaisance” (note: a peniche is a French designation for a freight barge, and of course plaisance means something of pleasure) We knew to start our search by subscribing to the French magazine (Fluvial) that is dedicated to inland waterway travel. It is full of classified ads for all types of barges and full of web site links. Within short order we were able to get a sense of what was available and to begin to put together our requirements list (a list that speedily got revised as we began to visit prospective barges).

List in hand we went to France in March. Within an hour of landing at CDG we were visiting a barge in the Paris area (a disappointing experience...it had looked great on the web site, but up close and in person it was a mess). Then in the next three weeks we put 5,000 kilometers on our car as we went to Burgundy, Belgium, Holland, back to Paris, back to Burgundy, and finally to the Med. We inspected 16 boats and found them lacking for one reason or another.

We came close to making a selection on number 16, which was moored outside a walled city on the Med. But then there was one more boat that was a little out of the way and we decided at the last minute to give it a try…and there in Narbonne we found “Saint Cynthia” (soon to be renamed La Lavande) which was everything we were looking for.

La Lavande is a Dutch built Steilsteven-type freight barge launched in 1930. She is 75.4 feet long, 13.7 feet wide, draws 2.9 feet and displaces 45 tons (give or take a few). In 2003 the boat was bought by Jon Komarek and his wife Cindy (Cynthia, hence the Saint Cynthia), who then proceeded to take it down to the bare riveted steel hull and rebuild her.

Komarek, a retired American naval officer, and his wife had been cruising the canals for 11 years and had developed very definite ideas of what they would want or need in a boat. So, we acquired all those years of priceless experience.

The boat now, as you can see from the pictures, has a lavender paint job on the hull, hence the new name, La Lavande (French for lavender).---Have you ever seen a purple boat??...There are three bedrooms, each with queen size beds and its own toilet, enclosed shower and sink (although the master bedroom also has the Jacuzzi). The large salon, in the center of the boat has a wood burning fireplace at one end and at the other is a full sized “American style” kitchen, complete with a dishwasher and refrigerator that can dispense white wine from the tap on the front of the door. And of course there is a washer and drier. Up on the large sun-deck with a table for eight there is the BBQ grill, a small fridge and the beer tap!

The barge is equipped with a 138 hp Dutch built diesel, and a 13 kw diesel driven generator. There are innumerable other features, but one of the best features is that Jon and Cindy had very good taste in decorating and equipping (the boat come complete with linens, cutlery, dishes, etc.)

So…where to now?

On June 30 we are meeting up with Jon and Cindy, who have been having a last great cruise on the barge, at the small town of Meilhan, which is on the Canal Lateral d’ Garonne, about 50 kilometer south of Bordeaux. John and Cindy are going to stay with us for a short while they give us a crash (hopefully not) course on how to drive something that big without bashing into things. Also, how to keep all the systems running. And of course there is going to be a period of time for Luca to get used to it all...it's going to be quite a culture shock for the poor dog...no more big yard to run in, going through locks, being yelled at in French...and all those lovely little French poodles.

After that we intend to spend the next three months cruising on the famous Canal du Midi,(www.canalmidi.com/anglais/indexgb.html) which connects with the Garonne canal, and making it a passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean. We already have a pretty full compliment of guests signed up, which should keep us pretty busy. But we intend to end up in October in Narbonne( www.mairie-narbonne.fr and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbonne) , which is a charming little city just off the Med and close by the Spanish border. (By the way, in those pictures the city in the background is Narbonne.)

Then we’ll be back in the states for Thanksgiving and holidays, going back to France, most likely, in February. And next year, who knows? Certainly taking the barge north into France (France is honeycombed with canals and cruisable rivers (www.franceway.com/rives_df/boat.html) , giving a wide variety of opportunity) and whether we end up living on the barge full time or use it as a vacation home…who knows. As they say in French, “On verra!” (which translates roughly to “whatever?”

So, stay tuned for the next episode in the voyage of La Lavande.

The End (for now)

The War Zone: Travel

Narbonne farewell

La Lavande shoves off