Compiegne, Pont-Saint-Maxence, St Leu d'Esserent, Chantilly, Pontoise FR 13-17 July 2022 We left Compiegne on the Wednesday morning and had decided to stay just before the Sarron lock, which is only a short distance from Pont-Saint-Maxence. There was no wind in the morning. Before we left we went to the fuel barge to fill up with diesel. We had to wait for a commercial, but then we were able to get not only diesel but also fill up our drinking water. Then we we headed off stopping as planned before the Sarron lock. It was quite over grown on a slope, but as there were stairs there was no problem. in the afternoon Graeme and Di, friends from our Melbourne cruising group, stopped off for a drink. The were on their way north to Compiegne. It was lovely to catch up and show them around Moondance. It was the 13th of July, Bastille Day eve, and the town was planning celebrations, so we cycled in to have a look after dinner. The main attractions were food trucks and karaoke (loud, out of tune, and french songs we didn't know), so we decided to go home and not wait for the fireworks which didn't start until 11pm. Howard had a fish the next morning. And then it was a day for working on the boat. Howard decided that the best way to paint the hull was to get in the water. It was too deep for our normal ladder, so we hooked our swim ladder on the quay and tied our normal ladder to it which went all the way to the bottom. While he painted I had to stay on the boat, and move his supporting rope and get paint on his brush from time to time. It was quite hot by the time the painting was over so I also went for a swim. It was a good day for that job as the locks were closed for the holiday so no passing commercials to rock us around. The next morning we set off to St Leu d'Esserent. Howard spotted a kingfisher which I had been hoping to take a picture of. Howard and I had a ride around the town. There was an old abbey. The abbey church on the hill wasn't open, but you could step inside and see it through a glass wall. In the evening our good friends Leona and Jean-Marie arrived. They drove down from the Netherlands to spend the weekend with us. Unfortunately they got stuck in traffic in Antwerp, so didn't arrive until almost 7pm, and then we went out for a lovely dinner. The next day we visited Chantilly. It is only 7kms from St Leu, so we could have done it on a bike, but we had the car so drove there. The main part of the chateau is actually a reconstruction done in the 19th century and was owned by the Duke of Aumale (son of King Louis Phillipe). As he had no heirs, he left the estate to the Institute of France with instructions that the paintings are not rearranged or lent out. This is now known as the Condé Museum. This means that the galleries were laid out just as he had displayed them. After viewing the apartments we wandered up to the stables, built in the 18th century and now housing a horse museum and having regular horsemanship shows. I especially liked the carousel horses on display. Aparently the nearby racecourse is one of the most prestigeous in France. After following signs to a cafe, which we couldn't find and turned out to be closed, we went into town for a meal, sheltering inside away from the wasps that seemd to be everywhere when food was around. The plan was that we would hire a golf cart to look around the grounds. But, unfortunately they were all out when we got there, so instead we went on the petit train (the little train) which did a tour of the grounds with commentary in multiple languages including English. Leona and Jean-Marie On Sunday we cruised to Pontoise. Originally we had planned to stop on the way for at least a night, but Monday and Tuesday were forecast to be 40 C, so we wanted to be at a stop with power so that we could have the AC running all day. So we did the 5 hour cruise. It was a fairly easy day with Jean-Marie sharing the driving. Also we left the back canopy up as all the bridges were high, and we steered from the back. After sorting out the mooring and electricity we had a nice BBQ on the back deck. The mooring is next to a park area and on Sunday evening they have salsa dancing which was quite popular. Leona and Jean-Marie had to leave us in the morning, but not until after Howard had made us pancakes for breakfast. As usual we enjoyed having them come to stay.
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AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
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