Canal Cruise/Survey/Bath, England

May 30th - June 7th

After being back for a couple of weeks, it was time to head back to France for the out-of-water inspection of Antares.  The best part of this trip that we were looking forward to was the chance to spend 2 days on Antares cruising from Pont-de-Vaux up the Saone River to St Jean-de-Losne.  We arrived back at Pont-de-Vaux early afternoon on the 31st.  We checked into our Airbnb and walked across the street to meet up with Graham, the broker, to find out what time we would be leaving in the morning.  When we found him, we were greeted with the news that we would not be leaving on Friday morning, but hopefully we would make a Saturday departure.  The marina here has a maintenance shop and Graham had requested that they ready Antares.  Unfortunately, they did not, so Graham was getting Antares prepared for cruising.  One of the items was to fill the water tank, so he placed a water hose into the what he thought was the fill for the water tank and went about his business doing other chores.  When he went to check the water level, he realized he was putting water into the fuel tank.  Big Oops!  To resolve this, temporary tanks (3 - 15 gallon barrels) were placed in the engine room and a fuel pick-up hose was installed between them and the fuel filters.  This took all day Friday to resolve.  In the meantime, another problem revealed itself, a leak that had started in the forward bow locker.  It turned out to be a small hole in the bow thruster tunnel that required a temporary patch to stop the water intrusion.  With not much time to do anything else, Graham never did get the water system filled and running.  So, we had 2 days of cruising ahead of us with no pressurized water system available...fun, fun, fun.

      

      Leaving marina at Pont-de-Vaux

      

      Entering Saone River from lock

We left on a beautiful Saturday morning, making our way down the canal to our first lock with Antares to get on the Saone River.  Going thru the lock was just like riding a bike--no problems.  It was a nice sunny day for cruising and we saw some nice towns and even one of those massive river cruise passenger boats (think "Viking Cruise" commercials).  We spent the night at a marina in an old medieval town called Chalon-sur-Saone.  Very nice, we will be back there to spend more time.

Tournus, church in background dates back to 10th century

MS Lord Byron with Riviera River Cruises

We left Chalon at sunrise.  It was an awesome time to be on the river.  We had another sunny day for the trip up to St Jean-de-Losne.  By mid-afternoon, we had locked into the Canal Bourgogne and tied up alongside a huge barge that was being worked on at the shipyard there.  The dry dock that Antares was going into the next day was right next to the lock at the start of the canal.

Leaving Chalon-sur-Saone at sunrise

Locking into the start of Canal Bourgogne, dry dock to right

Friends of ours, Tom and Carol Cason (also from St Petersburg), had their barge "Vivante" in this dry dock two years earlier and had mentioned to us how interesting the process was to watch.  It was.

Antares being pushed into dry-dock

Philippe, the owner of the shipyard, dons his scuba gear and dives under the hulls to place the steel stands before the water is removed from the dry dock.  Antares was 2nd into the dry dock after a huge 38 meter barge, which made Antares, at 21 meters, look quite small.  They also squeezed a smaller 15 meter barge behind Antares.

The surveyor we hired arrived early and was already in the process of doing the survey as the dry docking took place.  He was very professional in his approach, which was good to see.  One of the biggest concerns we had was the condition of Antares' hull.  After the dry dock was empty we had a chance to see the hull and it looked in fairly decent shape, considering the age.  The surveyor's sounding of the hull the next day proved that it was.  Other than the bow thruster tunnel leak and a few rivet heads to repair, the hull was in great shape.

Diving under hull to place stands

Pressure washing Antares hull

Arnaud doing hull soundings

The next day, while the surveyor continued his inspection of Antares, we spent the morning and afternoon walking around another French city famous for its mustard, Dijon.  We found the Tourist Office and we were given a pamphlet to do a very nice walking tour of the historic center.  This is a city that dates back to the Neolithic period and was also a Roman settlement.

Top left: Dijon - Medieval shopping street, buildings from 12th - 15th centuries
Top right: Dijon - Notre Dame Dijon behind Lon, 13th century, bell tower is symbol of Dijon
Bottom left: Dijon - Good luck Owl on side of Notre Dame, rub with your left hand for wish
Bottom right: Dijon - Pat in the "Place de la Liberation", market square on weekends

 June 8th to June 10th

After the survey, we flew to Bath, England to visit friends who just recently moved there from the States, Stan and Kitty Vout.  We had visited here several years earlier and were impressed with the city.  Although some things felt familiar, much of the city seemed different.  But it is still an impressive old English town on the River Avon.  We also visited another old English town, Bradford on Avon, which was smaller, but equally impressive.

Top left: Bath - View from #1 Crescent.  The Royal Crescent, home to Bath's elite, built 1770's
Top right: Bath - Stan, Kitty, Lon by River Avon
Middle left: Bath - River Avon with historic Bath city center in background
Middle right: Bradford - Kitty, Pat by old Barton Farm farmhouse built 15th century
Bottom left: Bradford - Tithe Barn from the 14th century, belonged to richest nunnery in England
Bottom right: Bradford - Church Street, with some buildings dating back to the 8th century

We are now back home and waiting for the final survey report and then we have a decision to make!!