Paris to Melun on the Seine, FR 14-19 August 2022 We left Paris on the Sunday morning. We had three days of cruising to get to our next major stop Melun. Lovely house on the Seine on the way to Melun On the Sunday morning we had to go through the lock to leave the marina. We had to wait for one boat and then went through with a sailing boat Celeste, who was heading upstream the same as us. We hadn't spent any time in Paris heading in this direction and it was quite interesting. We only had one other lock to go through and we arrived just after Celeste. There was a commercial in the lock and we had to wait for him to leave. He was very slow, and eventually revealed that he was 2 barges wide and 3 barges long with a wide pusher for propulsion. We eventually went into the lock with Celeste and another cruiser. We planned to stop at the next lock, but weren't sure if it would be better to moor above or below the lock. When we announced ourselves at the lock they said that they wouldn't be open again until 13:30 so we decided to just more below the lock which looked quite good. After lunch Howard cycled up to have a look at the moorings above the lock, but there was no access from the shore so we were happy to stay where we were. After a quiet afternoon it looked like a storm was coming through so we packed up the bimini and canopy. That was a great plan as a major storm front came through with strong wind and rains. But in the morning the weather had cleared up - what a difference. We set off for Courdray lock on Monday which was a public holiday in France celebrating the Assumption of Mary. There were 2 locks on the way. The first had one sloping side, and the other had been rebuilt. At the second lock, we went in after a commercial (Captain Flam), who told us that he had been bumped by another boat in Paris, and had quite a big dent in his stern. The Seine Princess, a big 110m long cruise ship, was heading in the same direction as us but at about 15kms an hour. It passed us twice. The second time after stopping to drop off or pick up passengers. When we got to the lock at Coudray, there were 3 boats waiting - as it was a public holiday and the lock was closed for lunch. I called up the Seine Princess and then Captain Flam on the radio to let them know that we were mooring there, and we passed the Seine Princess which was kinda cool. The mooring was fine, just around the corner from the lock, so out of the way. I ended up taking a down-day on the Tuesday, so we stayed an extra day. The next day was our trip into Melun. At the seond lock, both chambers were on the left bank (to starboard of us as we were heading upstream), and another couple of commercials were coming from upstream to go into the lock, so we initiated a blue board sequence (meaning we would pass them to port) so that they could line up for the lock without worrying about us. The first of the captains called us on the VHF to congratulate us on that manoeuvre, as most plaisanciers (pleasure boaters) he said don't understand. We were quite chuffed. From there into Melun we passed a lot of nice houses and a few sailing and skiing clubs. We turned around to moor on the upstream end of the island. There was an Australian boat Vindi next to us with a very friendly crew. In the afternoon we headed into town to go to the supermarket and on the way home went to the opposite side of the river for a view of the boat - but it started raining so we headed home. In the evening we invited the crew of Vindo over for drinks. It was fine when they arrived, but we soon had to go inside as it started raining again. One of the highlights of the evening was watching the Botticelli (a sister ship to the Seine Princess) turn around just in front of us and then back into her mooring just upstream. Vindi crew - Ardon, Guy, Guy's neice Isabella, her father/ Guy's brother Robert The next morning we did a ride around the old city of Melun. It had many pedestrian streets and alleys and a nice church with great stained glass. There were also a couple of sights on the island. In the afternoon we took a longer ride downstream to the village of Boisettes, which was a quaint village behind many of the houses we'd seen from the river the day before. We came home via Le Mée-sur-Seine, which was a more modern town. In the evening we went over to Vindi for drinks and a tour of their boat which was nice. Great to meet up with such nice people. We had originally wanted to visit Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte from Melun, which is only about 9km away, but as my foot was so sore we decided to put it off, especially as we plan to come this way again next year. So we left the next morning getting a good view of the island from the river as we left, including the prison which takes up a large part of the upstream end of the island.
1 Comment
Karen Melchior
26/8/2022 08:10:20 am
Love your photos, Deb, and the travelogue. You are seeing such amazing scenery! Glad that you can share it with us! xx
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