KEEPING IT REAL IN REUIL

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An early-ish start leaving Meulan with mixed feelings regarding the numbers of rough sleepers we were seeing now.

It is the year of the Paris Olympics 2024, and as we approach the environs of the big city we are seeing more and more rough sleepers. They are generally huddled underneath bridges, the weather still being rather cold and quite grey. I wonder, have they all been moved out of the main central area of Paris, or is this the normal amount of homeless people, it certainly seems a lot more, or more noticeable, than the outskirts of London. And, they all seem to have 'Decathlon' tents, is this the answer to homelessness in Paris? Whatever the rights and wrongs of solutions it can't be a very pleasant existence in this current weather.

Back on the main channel of the Seine, we can see numerous working barges transporting loads of sand and gravel, even though it is not as bustling as industrial Rouen.

The AIS was back in use and a valuable tool. It also quite interesting to look up the ships and get some information about them, though I have to admit that Mike found this much more interesting than did I, especially after the first hour or so!

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Todays destination was Reuil , Reuil-Malmaison in the Bras de Marly. it was reported to be a good halte, with no facilities but shops and restaurants nearby and Maison Fournaise on the opposite bank was the setting for Renoir paintings.

This stop would allow for a relaxed and leisurely following day to get to central Paris, taking in all the magnificent sights along the way.

The Seine is a river with many bends , I suppose it should be called meandering, and having been travelling for about four hours, we were still about two miles (as the crow flies) from where we had set off.

It was a good journey, we had to pass through another commercial and very large lock Bougival. The lock keeper spoke very fast French and I only just managed to realise he was telling us to wait for a large barge to enter first and we could fit in after it. Looking on AIS we could see it was about fifteen minutes away, we bobbed along waiting in the waves, as it was starting to get quite windy now.

There was rain forecast and we waned to reach our destination before its arrival.

The lock experience was good, even though we were sharing with a mahsuive barge, and we were finally getting to grips with it all, though Sprocket still had his doubts.

Approaching our stop we realised the boat needed to be facing the opposite direction. The current was really strong as there has been so much rain this winter and spring , and the boat must always be moored into the current.

Mike has a saying (into the tide, into the blo..y tide and into the f***ing tide).

At this point there was a massive clap of thunder and the heavens opened. I had retrieved our sailing jackets, but should have grabbed our full wet weather gear, as, by the time we were safely moored, we were both soaked and akin to drowned rats. Another valuable sailing lesson remembered, if there is ever the threat of rain have all the gear ready as there is nothing worse than being cold and wet whilst sailing.

Luckily we were at our destination and could have a lovely hot shower on board our boat. This partly helped by Mike fitting a new calorimeter and battery charger/inverter.

I'll let you bore, sorry tell, you all about that on his page!

Reuil was a great stop, we were cosy on the boat, (just about as the heating isn't quite finished) and there was a good dog walk along the towpath.

There were many restaurants just a few metres away and we chose one called Lulu and toasted our lovely faithful labradoodle Loulou who died last year at the age of seventeen, and who would have absolutely hated this trip.....

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Salut Loulou !!

Lucy, my niece who helped set up the web site, and Loulou at Tilford show many years ago.

They entered the dog show several times, and always won ,obviously 😊