Monday 25 th June - Lagny to Meaux

We left just before 10 a.m. in sunshine but still with a cool wind.  The river is still wide for our 5 km run to the first lock.......we were joined by a small French boat with a two man crew.  Then a short tunnel - less than a kilometre - and another lock.  Then a 9 km cruise to our final lock and the port in Meaux.
We were greeted by a man with a north country accent, but something else.......he was German born but lived in Britain for 50 years.  He invited us to moor next to his barge as there was no power further down and advised us to attach our central line first as the current was pretty strong.  Good advice!
Evidently the mooring was free as the Port was undergoing renovations and was not officially open yet - three other British boats had taken advantage of this fact.  Although we seemed to be in the middle of the town, it was quite peaceful, with lovely planting around.
We checked that the TV reception was good which, with a bit of fiddling, it was and decided on a two night stay!  We like the look of this town!  However when Skip went for a recce after lunch he came back a bit disappointed......he said too many fast food cafes and shops mediocre.
We decided to dine on board and make a foray into town in the morning - so a lazy evening with dinner on the back deck, then below for some TV before bed.

17 km. 3 locks. 2 1/2 hours

Sunday 24 th June - Nogent-sur- Marne to Lagny

It should have been a nice easy day with only two locks and just under 20 km but it started fairly hecticly dodging numerous rowers on the river.  Also a commerce was going our way and once we had passed all the rowers we caught him up just before the first lock!  These locks are only long enough for a commerce and so we had to wait on a pontoon for him to go up and for the lock to empty again!
We then had to divert to a canal as the river was not navigable and we very soon caught up with the commerce, who very kindly let us pass him.  We are not sure if there are any lunchtime closures on this stretch so we’re quite surprised that our next lock at the end of the canal showed a red and a green light.  The rise was less than a metre so it took no time at all.
We were helped in by a nice Dutchman in Lagny just after one o’clock and settled ourselves.  Now the big question was - do we have TV so that we can watch the England v Panama game??  Answer....no!  We had a very tall block of flats right by us, blocking the reception.
So, after a swift lunch Skip went across the bridge to a bar in the hope that the game was showing but alas,  they had horse racing on the TV!  Poor Skip!!  He wandered around for a while but to no avail and came back to Aphrodite a disappointed man!  A good job we’re nowhere near the final games yet!
We decided to eat dinner on board since the town was having some sort of fiesta with all sorts of games, etc. both on land and on water. It was like a big village fete, with donkey rides and lots of games for the children - many people walking on the quay towards the festivities.  In fact when they had decided on a water display with jet skis doing back flips and a strange water jet with a man riding it (see picture....not easy to explain!), Crew was trying to prepare dinner with the boat rocking like mad!  My job is not always easy!!
We ate dinner on the back deck, although the wind was still quite blustery, then watched DVDs before bed.

19 km. 2 locks. 3 hours

Saturday 23rd June - Draveil to Nogent-sur-Marne

Just two more big locks on the Seine today before turning off onto the River Marne - then two small river locks and a tunnel to our destination.  We shared our first lock with a passenger boat and a commerce but left the passenger boat behind as he was travelling so slowly for our second.
Then onto the Marne and our first lock going up now was four metres deep and no sliding poles, so had to move the line up as we rose in a fairly turbulent lock!!  Not Crews’ favourite one!!
We arrived in Nogent at 12.45 and moored front in with the help of some very friendly French boaters.  As the wind and current were both going the same way we had difficulty in keeping the boat straight but we did our best and settled, if a bit askew!
The fact that Nogent is on the outskirts of Paris is fairly evident with all the buzz of a city suburb going on.  As we had passed a rowing club on the river, the rowers were in evidence too, along with fast speedboats instructing the rowers so it was a bit bumpy.....we also have the occasional commerce passing by too.  We find we both have a yen for a quiet country mooring!
We decided to have dinner out as Sundays and Mondays were often difficult to find restaurants, so Crew would cook dinner ‘Chez nous’ on those days!  Skip had booked a table in the garden of an old ‘ginguette’ (a kind of restaurant of the people, so to speak) called Le Verger.
Well......as fast as the service was the previous evening, so this was extremely slow!  By the time we had received our main meal we had almost gone off the idea!!  Also, we are paying Paris prices for average food really.

We arrived back at the boat only just in time to watch Bridget Jones the age of Reason with a digestif, then bed.

24 km. 4 locks. 3 3/4 hours

Friday 22nd June - Chartrettes to Draveil

Since we had four locks today, we left at 9 a.m. and snuck in behind a very long double barge.....he only just fitted in the lock length wise!  On exiting the lock the barge was very slow and it took a while for us to be able to overtake him.  In the event it made no difference as we had to wait for him at the next lock but he spoke to Skip and said we could exit the lock first......nice man!  Thus we avoided sharing our third lock with him.
The Seine is very wide with plenty to look at.......some very lovely houses on the river front.  Although it was a lovely sunny day, there was a cold northerly wind blowing - the speed at which we were travelling added to the wind chill factor!  Most of these big locks involved a wait of some kind but all in all - not too bad!  So we arrived in the Port aux Cerises (the port of cherries!) around two o’clock.  We had called ahead and had a berth allocated which we found without too much trouble and got ourselves settled in.
After some lunch, Skip did his usual recce, looking for a restaurant......the Capitaine had said that the nearest one, Le Gibraltar, was good so we settled on that.
We walked over just before eight o’clock and settled on a table on the terrace overlooking the river.  Although the food was of a reasonable quality, the service was much too fast and we struggled to keep up with the wine consumption at the appropriate time........yes, we really did!!  They asked us three times if we had finished our main course which, in my opinion is not good hospitality!
Back to the boat for a bit of TV and a digestif.

45 km. 4 locks. 5 hours

Thursday 21st June - Moret-sur-Loing to Chartrettes

Crew slept in again due to our late night so we didn’t leave until 10.30 a.m........must do better!  We went down our last canal lock, before stopping to top up with fuel as our fuel gauge was still not working.  Just over 2 km from the fuel pontoon was our first big lock on the Seine -a completely different operation from the relatively peaceful canals!  Here, the commercial barges always take precedence and sometimes there is a lot of waiting around.  We didn’t wait too long however, as a barge slowly manoeuvred in beside us and we went down in the lock fairly quickly.  This was to be the only big lock of the day, which was good.....easing us in gently!
We arrived in Chartrettes around 1.30 p.m. and were greeted by the same affable Capitaine that we remember from 5 or 6 years ago.  He got us settled nicely on the exterior of the port, which wasn’t too much of a problem as the river was very wide here and the wash from the barges not too bad at all.
Another late lunch and a rest, then Skip walked into the little town for a look around.....nothing much to report and we decided to have a relaxed evening and to dine on board.......still recovering from our late night!!

22 km. 2 locks. 3 hours

Wednesday 20th June - Nemours to Moret-sur-Loing

Crew overslept so we didn’t leave our mooring until 9.45 a.m.  It promised to be a beautiful day for our last sojourn on the Loing.  There was a bit of a question mark about our mooring for the night at Moret because all reports said that a lot of unmanned barges were moored there and not much space for visitors. So, spotting a space just before what was to be our final lock we decided to tie off there and Skip walked past the lock to see if there was space in the other side.  The answer was ‘no’ so we made ourselves comfortable on the quay.  There was a notice informing us that we should pay for the mooring even though there was no power or water - where to pay was a mystery so we decided to wait until someone came to ask for money.  We haven’t paid anything for quite a while, even when we’ve had facilities, so it’s not really a hardship to pay here!
After lunch and a rest, Skip walked into town to look for any likely restaurants.  He found quite a few and reported back that it was a very beautiful town.  By now the temperature was over 30c with not much wind, so Skip took a chair and sat under the trees in the shade.
After freshening up we walked into town - the first restaurant we came to looked very nice but alas, it was closed so we carried on.  We both remembered being here before five or six years ago with our friends, Gary and Tina and indeed we ended up eating in the same restaurant as we had that time.
We asked for a glass of champagne as an aperitif but the waitress apologised, saying that it wasn’t cold enough, so we opted for a glass of Cremant instead, which was very good.
The waitress was working alone and the terrace was full so the service was pretty slow, not that it mattered to us.  The food was very good, if a bit expensive.  At the end of our meal the waitress came and said that the champagne was cold enough now and brought us a glass each on the house - nice touch we thought!  We didn’t get back to Aphrodite until just before midnight so no TV - just some music and a digestif!

18 km. 6 locks. 3 hours

Tuesday 19th June - Souppes to Nemours

We left late again, just after 10 a.m. as another short day for us to Nemours.  Then after one more overnight, we will be on the mighty river Seine - a different experience from the canals!

We were very lucky to find a slot in front of a Dutch cruiser, although the bollards weren’t too well placed.  Again we tied off before midday.......could get used to these short days!!
There was a restaurant just a short walk from the boat called L’Ecluse which we thought we should try for lunch as we had arrived so early.  We tidied up and walked over - their menu was €14.50 for three courses and a drink.....can’t be bad.  As we sat on the terrace, the restaurant rapidly started to fill with locals, giving the place a buzzing atmosphere.
Replete, we ambled back to Aphrodite and took our usual siesta - lazy life!  Before Crew surfaced Skip had paid a visit to a small supermarket nearby for supplies (red wine getting low!).  Around five o’clock he decided to walk into town and came back with two more bags of shopping - he gets a bit jittery if he doesn’t shop for a while!
Unfortunately we were not able to get any TV so we started to watch our DVD of Worricker - more Skips’ kind of thing really but it whiled away the evening nicely.

10.5 km. 3 locks. 1 1/2 hours