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3 days, variable am, warm to hot pm, windy
87 km – 54 ml – 8 locks – 10 hrs
30 April: After breakfast, we wait for yesterday’s helpful translator from the marina to call ahead for us again. He is a little late and is informed that Port de Seine Ecole has no spaces left. The irony is that we chose this place partly because the guide said good English was spoken! So we switch our hopes to Port aux Cerises at nearby Draveil, with a positive result (and no translator).
On our first day cruising down the Seine, we encounter a lovely river…
… and quite a lot of commercial traffic. Some of the newer pushers and barges have their cockpit on a hydraulic lift so that, approaching a bridge, they can press the down-button and sink to deck level until they’re through. Presumably driving blind for a short distance is fine!
Port aux Cerises turns out to be excellent, with friendly staff (no English but willing to make an effort to understand our French) and many big, old, interesting boats. Plus, all services are there and working, ideal for an enforced holiday weekend.
1 May:
After a bout of boat cleaning inside and out, we are rewarded with a superb Sunday lunch in the Gibralter, the most expensive meal of our voyage. Amusingly, when Colin asks for an Americano after desserts, he is brought a cocktail of that name instead of a coffee! It’s great that so much of France hasn’t been americanised yet, and no wonder the young waitress raised her eyebrows when taking the order.
The Seine is proving to be at least as varied as our previous waterways, with these flats enjoying much nicer views than the one they are providing for the rest of us.
2 May:
Now the holiday is over, we head down-river for Paris. Like many other places in France, notably Lyon, there is graffiti everywhere.
In Paris, we had managed to book in for two nights at Port d’Arsenal marina, adjacent to Place de Bastille and almost in the centre of the city. Hang the expense!
Getting into the marina provides us with quite a long wait outside its entrance lock, trying not to get in the way of all the Seine traffic, then a rather frantic lock-filling event once inside. We then spend some more time trying to find our allocated mooring, only to discover that (the French equivalent of) “before the bridge on your left” actually meant “after the bridge on your right”. Plus ca change, deja vu, etc.
As Marie’s knee is still very painful, we indulge in a drink at a noisy road-side bar close to the monument (it’s rush-hour) then migrate two doors along to eat a surprisingly good-value meal.
When we return, we reckon the marina at night is even more attractive than during the day. We are intrigued though at the amazing number of emergency vehicle sirens making themselves known all around us right into the small hours. Little do we know of the row brewing right here, following the French election.
Progress so far
984 km – 615 ml – 177 locks – 150 hrs