Friday 26^th April

We returned to France on the overnight ferry Hull – Zeebrugge and drove to Migennes where Tesserae has been moored over the winter.  As usual we have a carload of stuff for the boat. This time it includes 30 litres of paint as we are having Tesserae’s bottom painted. The boat needs dewinterising before we can stay on board so we stayed at a local hotel for the night.

Saturday 27^th April

We are back on board and have a few things to sort out before we can move the boat. The river Yonne is not as full as last year as this area of France has had a dry spring. Everything seems to be working and we spent our first night back on board.

Wednesday 30^th April

We have spent the last 3 days shopping to stock on essentials like wine and beer also sorting the wifi and phone. D changed the engine and gearbox oil. Today, we took Tesserae downstream to Joigny, a short distance down the Yonne and moored just above the bridge.

Moored at Joigny

Friday 2nd May

Yesterday was a bank holiday in France and the locks were closed so we stayed at Joigny and cleaned the winter dirt from the decks and sorted out the plants that have survived from last year. Today we moved back upstream to a favorite mooring at Laroche St Cydroine.

 

Warm enough for sundowners on the back deck

Monday 5^th May

Returned to Simon Evans boatyard at Migennes and Tesserae was lifted out and the hull is pressure washed to remove 3 years of muck. By the afternoon we were up on blocks and have climb up a ladder to get onboard. We have views over the boatyard a bit like being in a first floor apartment.

There is a small community of boaters working on their boats including Mike from the Kalo (the admiral’s launch) who we met last summer. He is helping two friends restore an old barge. They hope to have the barge on the water in a few weeks, some of the other vessels being worked on look like much longer term projects. We hope our stay on dry land is not too long.

Ready to be lifted out

D anxiously  waits lift off

Tesserae on dry land

3 years of muck

Roger pressure washes the hull

The hull is clean

Now living one floor up.

Tuesday 6^th May

Nothing happening to Tesserae today so we went for lunch at the Restaurant du Canal, 3 courses and a glass of Chablis. At the restaurant we met an American couple who live in Paris and are hiring a “le Boat” with French friends for a four day trip. We gave them some suggestions for good mooring places, as we know this stretch of the Yonne so well now! When we returned to the boatyard the pompiers and an ambulance are parked by the old barge Mike and his friends are working on.  Simon told us that the owner of the barge had cut his leg with an angle grinder and had to be lifted from the vessel on a stretcher. The ambulance takes him off to hospital.  Mike and his mate continue working quite unconcerned.

Thursday 8th May

Painting is well underway, Simon is doing the bulk of it with the roller, D is doing the fiddly bits with a brush. And L spends the time varnishing the wheel house.  D and Simon chat over the painting. They both went to school in central London but D is a bit older. Simon came to France 30 years ago; he had been sailing to Greece but got no further than Paris. The boat he was sailing is here in the boatyard.

Painting underway

Living in a boat yard

Friday 9^th May

This morning we drove to Irancy in the spring sunshine for lunch but the restaurant there was fully booked so we drove a short distance to Vincellotes to a restaurant that we went to last October. The owner remembered us and proudly showed us pictures of his newly born grandson. After lunch we visited the Caves du Bailly to pick up supplies of fizz (Cremant de Bourgogne).

Moored at Bailly were the Americans (who had taken our advice to stop here) and John and Liz (and their beautiful cat Patrice) on Puddleston, they were at the DBA rally in Dijon with us last year. We spent a couple of hours with them swapping news.

Sunday 11^th May

Leon and his Mum have flown to Paris for the weekend and are driving our car home. We leave early in the morning (slightly later than planned as we couldn’t find the key for the boat yard gate) and drive to Paris. After waving Leon and Di off we walked through the Luxemburg gardens and stopped for a coffee. In Paris 2 coffees and 1 croissant cost as much as a 3 course meal in Migennes! The train back to Migennes takes just over an hour.

Tuesday 13^th May

The painting is finished (used most of the 30l of paint) and Simon craned Tesserae back into the water.

Back in the water

Simon and his Cockerel