Auxerre and Guedelon FR 10-20 July 2023 We had travelled to Auxerre to attend the Barge Associate (DBA) Rally. Howard and I had become very involved in the running of the rally which officially started on the 12th July. Howard was the "Harbour Master", putting together a plan for mooring the 24 ships and helping them to moor when they arrived, so he wanted to be there before too many ships started arriving. And I had offerred to coordinate volunteers, and to manage the progressive dinner. Moondance was the admin ship, and the Membership Secretary and her partner were day visitors to our boat. Fireworks to celebrate Bastille Day When we arrived on Monday, Bruce, a close friend, was just arriving on his barge Matilda. So we had him over for dinner, a lovely confit duck meal that Diana created. The rally was a great success and we caught up with old friends and made some new ones. It was very busy for us though. I bowed out of many of the organised activities because of my sore feet, and wherever possible I used my bike for transport rather than walking. On Bastille Day Eve we were invited into the Port for a BBQ where we had a great view of the cathedral and the abbey. And then a great view of the Bastille Day fireworks which were spectacular. On Friday (Bastille Day), we had a boules competition against the local "Les Amis de Nivernais". Howard teamed up with Dave Brown. In the evening was the progressive dinner that I had organised, which involved people moving from boat to boat for different courses of the meal. We had 14 boats each hosting 5-8 people (including themselves) for 2 or 3 courses. It was a total of 75 people, and I had worked hard to try and get people to mix with people they didn't know well. Of course there were some last minute changes that meant I had to replan in the final afternoon, but it all worked out fairly smoothly. I had had the forethought to only host the starters and main on Moondance so that we could relax for the final course. On Saturday I risked my foot to go to Guedelon. Here they are building a mediaval castle using 13th century techniques. It has been going for about 27 years already and there is now plenty to see. It was about an hour away by bus and we had arranged a tour in English and then time to look around. I took a small stool with me, so I could sit during the talks. It was very interesting. On Sunday only Diana from our boat went on the trip to Chablis Market. Howard and Chris installed the new belt for our automatic greaser under the bed. In the afternoon was the forum, held at the Abbey, and then dinner at the nearby restaurant. The rally was a great event, but being in charge of much of the admin and questions was quite tiring so we decided to stay in Auxerre until Friday. Chris and Diana left on Monday morning so we were able to take it quite easy. We were the 2nd last rally boat to leave the mooring, although many just went into town to get water and electricity. Diana and Chris getting ready to leave In those last few days in Auxerre we caught up with some of the other rally attendees and had a good look around town, as well as relaxing and recovering from all the events of the previous couple of weeks. Of course one of the highlights was the cathedral. The city is quite hilly and has many old and half-timbered houses. Our last night we spent with Bruce and his dad Graeme. I had booked a restaurant, but when we turned up it turned out I had abooked a restaurant with the same name in a different city, so we grabbed some salad from a nearby supermarket and went to Bruces boat for dinner. A nice way to end our time in Auxerre.
2 Comments
Johanna Hersey
22/7/2023 09:06:17 pm
Looks like you had a very interesting and productive time there. Great photos, as usual.
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Jm
26/7/2023 07:11:46 am
It was great to read everything!
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