Iles-les-Meldeuses, La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, Courtaron, FR 15-17 August 2023 OK - Perhaps not actual wilderness. But sometimes when we are cruising along the Marne, and all you can see is the river and trees and it goes on for kms, it feels like you could be in the wilderness. We set off from Meaux on Tuesday morning after having our Kabola central heating checked in advance of the winter. It was a straightford cruise, until we arrived in the only lock for the day, and found that the bow thruster didn't work. We had planned to moor just after the lock so that all went well. Howard then started to see if he could work out what was wrong. He did manage to get it working for about 10 seconds, but then it failed again. Luckily we were able to get the contact details for Remy, who we had met in Lagny and who does marine maintenance. He said he could come and see us on Friday at our next stop: La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. We had a little ride around the local area before settling in for the night. Cruising without a bow thruster shouldn't be too big a problem, as you rearely need it, especially when the locks aren't too small. So the next day we set off for La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. Remy had a job that day in Meaux that finished early, so he came to meet us that afternoon. When we arrived at La Ferté the port we expected to moor at was completely full, but we managed to moor against a largish boat at the very start of the port. This boat wasn't even on the pontoon, so it was difficult to get on and off, even using our ladder. Remy arrived. He had caught the train, and had brought his dog and his bicycle. It was a bit difficult to get the dog onboard but we managed it in the end. Unfortunately the outcome of Remy's investigations was that a nut had worked itself loose and fallen into the electric motor shorting everything out. Therefore we would either need to get this motor reconditioned, or buy a new bow thruster motor. We decided on the new one because this one is already 26 years old, and the people who do the reconditioning are on holidays at the moment so we may have had to wait a while. Remy went off to the train and said he'd be in touch with a quote. We obviously couldn't stay where we were as we were blocking the route behind the island, so we took off, very slowly, to pass behind the island, where the waterway was quite narrow and overgrown. We then travelled down to the next lock, and moored above it. We originally planned to stay 2 nights at La Ferté sous Jouarre, but after the debacle at the mooring we decided to move on to our next stop which was Charly sur Marne. The river was becoming less like a wilderness as we headed towards the Champagne region. Plenty of fishing platforms along the river. Of course any time that you are in the wilderness you see plenty of birds - in this case herons. Still in search of that perfect shot ! above: This is the same bird below: Heron landing We have heard back from Remy and he has ordered the new bow thruster which will be delivered to him in about 10 days, and then he'll come to install it for us.
In the mean time we are heading into Champagne.
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AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
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