June 10th to July 9th - The adventure begins

Welcome to the Joli Roger blog. The idea is for those of you who are interested to follow our travels, also for us to keep a record to look back on this chapter of our lives.

We are a crew of two, Chris the Skipper, Jacqui the galley slave and deck hand and Roger the ships' dog. Previous experience of boating limited to a few narrow boat holidays in the UK with daughter and future son in law and a couple of RYA courses taken by Chris. Not wishing to waste our early retirement years meandering in the aisles of Tesco or on weekly visits to the garden centre we have taken le plunge and had a wide beam barge built and shipped straight to France. Our intention this year is to cruise some of the waterways in the Burgundy region. Eventually we intend to head south through the Camargue, up the canal du midi and onwards towards Bordeaux.

A map of the waterways in Burgundy

The low loader and crane were booked for the morning of Monday 10th June, the two of us having spent the weekend moving things onto the boat and sleeping in it whilst still in the boatshed in the boatyard located on a remote farm in the middle of the Warwickshire countryside. Thanks to Dave our driver from CPL Transport the Joli Roger arrived at the boatyard in Migennes in the north of Burgundy on Wednesday 12th June and we were there to see her craned into the water in France having driven ourselves down via the Euro Tunnel. 

Being craned into the water in France

 We brought her round to the basin in Migennes where we spent a busy week doing lots of jobs to prepare for our maiden voyage. We had heard of the camaraderie amongst boaters and experienced it for ourselves. We were the new kids on the block and will be forever grateful for the help, advice and support we received in particular from the Two Terrys on Renaissance and Ade and Lorna on Barge Ariana.

An evening of live music right in front of the boats

We needed to do 50 cruising hours before the first engine service back at the boatyard in Migennes. The two Terry's (and Gladys the dog) took us under their wing and headed down the Canal de Borgogne with us for the first 75 km from Migennes to Ancy le Franc. With 4 years of cruising in France under their belts their support was invaluable. Many happy evenings spent having apertifs on the boat discussing the day and being taught how to play boules. In Tonerre we met Pete and Glen on Slo Motion and the six of us spent an evening out on the town as it was Fete de la Musique weekend. We waved goodbye to our new found friends, planning to meet up in a few weeks time on the Nivernais canal, and headed back for the engine service in Migennes.

Moored up at Tanlay, lovely village, gorgeous chateau. Note hotel barge, wealthy Americans on board paying upwards of 4500 euros each for 6 nights!

 Arrived back in Migennes and were reunited with Ade and Lorna on Ariana who had also arrived back there to spend a week or so doing some painting and other boat jobs before setting off for Paris. Pete and Glen were also there before heading back to the UK for a couple of weeks. Spent a week there, Chris sorting out lots of things he wanted to do on the boat and gave me the chance to catch up with domestics, washing, cleaning and shopping. 

Nap time for skipper and ship's dog

Regular visitors to the boat whilst moored at Migennes

 We have decided to set off again now on the river Yonne to experience the wider waterway and different locks found on rivers. Migennes is at the junction with the Canal de Borgogne and the Yonne river. We still have much to learn and practice but the best way is to just get on with it, although a bit scary at times! We have learnt so much these last few weeks and still have a lot more to learn and experience, it has been a bit like being on an intensive training course but we are getting there. We are handling a much bigger boat than we have previously experienced with a crew of two not four. Now that I have finally managed to get this blog up and running I will try to write shorter more regular posts so you can follow our adventures/misadventures on the waterways of France.

 A Bientot!