The Rain On The Seine
- clairesedgar
- Jul 9, 2024
- 8 min read
it was time to leave Paris, it was the end of May and the new gray water restrictions were to be enforced ready for the Olympics. We have yet to see if the opening ceremony happens on the river, or if the swimming goes ahead as planned in the river.
A friend of mine has recently sent me an article she read about the Parisian revolt to the clean up of the seine.
'Parisians are threatening to poo in the River Seine, to protest against the amount of public money that has been spent improving the quality of its water ahead of the Olympics, instead of on other services for the city. The hashtag 'JeChieDansLeSeine', meaning 'I shit in the Seine' has gained traction on social media, with locals vowing tocarry out their dirty protest on the day that the Paris's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, takes an inaugral dip. More than 1.4bn has been spent cleaning up the river...'
Lovely!
Leaving Paris was relatively easy, there not being so much river traffic downstream of the tourist atractions, and we are pretty used to the commercial barge traffic by now.
The Marne Route was our chosen path, there was a water draught of 1.8m and we draw 1.5m so should not have any problems of running aground. Previous years have experienced drought conditions and stories of canals being forced to close and not enough depth for yachts to continue. It was unlikely this would happen this year as northern europe has had a very wet winter and spring, and so far it isn't looking to change.
The River Marne runs from the outskirts of Paris to its junction with the Canal lateral a La Marne just north of epernay, 178km and 18locks.
The first part of the river includes two man-made cuts and two short tunnels.
We enter the Saint-Maur Canal and the 600m tunnel, thus avoiding 13km of a loop on the Marne.
The tunnel is controlled by the lock and we call on VHF radio to request passage as it is a one way system.
By now it has started to rain, we have learned from our previous mistake and are in full wet weather gear! I am grateful for the Barbour jumper I brought along for S[rocket too, as it is not warm.
There is a planned stop at Joinville-le-Pont for a fuel refill. The last time we refueled was in Honfleur; we weren't empty, but we were also not sure if the fuel gauge was accurate. There are not too many riverside stops to get fuel along our intended route, so the jerry can is also filled up.
Previously, people have reported many trips to roadside fuel stations to fill up jerry cans and then transport them back, sometimes a few kilometers, to the boat. This is something we plan to do as little as possible as it sounds like a bit of a pain.
There are a couple of places we can stop for the evening, but as the weather deteriorates and we get wetter and wetter, we decide to stop at Neuilly-sur-Marne for the night. There has been a noticeable lack of other boats on the river; we assume it's due to the weather, though it turns out we don't actually see another pleasure boat for a few days until we reach Château-Thierry!
There are, however, many rowing boats with very fit teams. Sometimes we are overtaken when they are doing their sprint training. They are so intense that they don't seem to notice the torrential rain, and their bodies are steaming with the amount of effort they are exerting.
The rowing boats are everywhere, in front, behind, alongside... difficult to see with the rain and we don't have windscreen wipers, so it is a relief as we approach our stop for the night.
The small 'Port de Plaisance' is run by the town council, as are many of the river stops along the way. They are often, as this one is, alongside campsites and thus allow the use of the campsite facilities and charge only a small fee.
I called the number that was in our guide and was told that someone would call me back, which they did somewhat incredulously. The marina was full with mainly 'live aboard' boats and there was very little space for a visitor. In fact, we had looked around and weren't too sure where they would put us, as the river was in flood and there were several tree trunks underneath the visitors' pontoon.
A poor young man came whizzing along on his electric scooter, totally underdressed for the weather, and convinced us to moor on the visitors' pontoon where there was a Ramukanji-sized gap between the longs. We were so fed up with the weather that we gave in and moored alongside, happy that we were safe.
It was a really pretty spot, next to the campsite which was relatively full. Later, we realized that this was because it is very close to Euro Disney. Those poor campers hoping for a fun time at Disney and having to cope with this awful wet weather.
Sprocket and I went for a wet walk. He doesn't care about the rain and is glad to be on terra firma.
We look for a shop a few streets away. It is like we are in a different country, with more rough sleepers and a very run-down suburb. I give up and trudge back to the boat. It seems to be raining even more, so we make do and I conjure up a tomato and sausage pasta, nice and warming.
The boat is warm and cosy with the heating on and the big duvet in use again and we have an untroubled nights sleep.
In the morning, I drop off the key at the campsite. They can't be bothered to charge us (something which becomes quite frequent on our trip!) and we prepare to leave. But after the lines are released, the boat goes nowhere, even with the raging torrent of water beneath us! Yes, we are stuck on a tree!!
Luckily, Mike is used to running aground in various of his previous vessels, and after much to-ing and fro-ing and a lot of revs (which alarmed the poor dog), we were off at speed, only briefly hitting a small plastic rowboat!
It is again a very wet day, and our destination is Meaux. Most of the river is canalised so it is a pleasant enough journey and the locks are few and far between, there is another small tunnel and we reach Meaux just after lunchtime, and the sun comes out.
Ther are very few boats at Meaux, the current agsin is very strong so a bit of a challenge to moor up but we mange fine.
The port looks a bit battered from the river, and the facilities don't appear to work. The suggestion is to walk to the tourist office were the should be able to sort out the problem.
Meaux is quite an attractive town, there is the obligatory fancy church (sorry it is St Etienne cathedral), a bishops palace and a nice, but empty, town square.
The tourist office did Brie tasting, this being the centre of Brie cheese, very nice too.
But were not able to sort out the water and electricity situation at the port .Pfff...
The following morning was sunny. We cast off, accidentally leaving a line on the pontoon, but the current was so strong that we weren't going to reclaim it, and it was a horrible stiff old one anyhow! We set off without a real destination. The lock operation was to change soon, and we were to be given a remote control to operate the locks ourselves. We weren't sure how well this would work.
Also, more torrential rain was forecast, and it is really difficult to see with this rain, so our plan was not to have one!
The lock keeper at Charly gave us our remote control and some very basic instructions. We queried him about the lack of boats on the river and he seemed to think it was possible related to the Paris Olympics and that people were avoiding Paris. This makes sense but I think also the weather must be putting people off.
All is going well and we think of stopping at Ferte-sous-Jouarre but decide to press on- mistake!
The next lock does not open. We press buttons and nothing happens. There is a broken dock which Mike lets Sprocket and me off, and we moor up while I go and investigate.
When we approach the lock, there is a sign telling us to press the button to 'go up'. This should then set the lock to either fill or empty according to whatever state it is in. The lights should be green and red, and then change to green when the doors open and we can enter. We then tie up so that we can lift a blue pole and thus start the filling system of the lock. There are supposed to be intercoms at the locks allowing us to contact VNF if this doesn't happen. I was unable to locate the intercom; I even went to the lock house, but there was no one there, and it was obviously no longer owned by VNF.
Back to the boat and found a phone numer to call and have aquick chat in French to explain our situation. After a very short time, bingo the light changed and we are ready to set off again. However, this had all taken about an hour and we were now nearing lock closure time.
We had thought about going back to La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, but we had called out the lock keeper and didn't want to annoy him. He had asked where we planned to stop, when I replied he said it was no longer possible to stop there as the pontoon was now privately owned and suggested a small pontoon at Pont de Saacy just below the next lock.
Unfortunately, in our Captain's Mate App, it read, "Very difficult to moor here with any current running as the pontoon is only 15-20m from bridge piers. One for the supremely confident only!"
The river is pretty much in flood and I was a little concerned Pffff... replied Mike the captin, I think he's becoming a bit influenced by the French!
Here comes the rain. again!!
A textbook ferry glide to the mooring and we're all set for the night next to a lovely pontoon and a bit of a dodgy cottage. They seem to be tapping into the village broadband unit and have a fly lead from it to their house!
The village was a few minutes walk, it was a very wet walk and nothing much was open but there were adverts for a fete the folowing day.
Back to the boat and a nice supper in the coziness of the boat, lots of hot water for a shower and a peaceful sleep.
We wandered into the village in the morning, which was setting up for the fete. I feel really sorry for everyone with summer activities planned as the rain really reduces turnout, and it is great that people still put in the effort. There was a lovely farmers market where we bought some veggies and fruit and had a café au lait at the local tabac.
Today we were hoping to reach Chateau Thieery which is a fair sized town and should give us a chance to stock up, do some laundry and for Mike to go to a chandlery, e gets a bit twitchy if he hasn't bought something new for the boat for a couple of weeks!
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