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Annette and Tom |
Saturday, 18 June 2022
Arrival - first 2 days work
Friday, 17 June 2022
Xavier leaves Mylor Creek - destination at Gweek. Home!
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Cockwells Boatyard Mylor Bridge |
Saturday, 4 June 2022
We really are aboard!
Getting aboard is a little tricky at the moment,
but finally we are able to get on Xavier at its temporary mooring at Mylor Bridge boatyard. The boat arrived at Mylor on Sunday 29 May
We are on a tidal mooring next to the barge you see above on the left, and we have started to get to know the boat. Julian has been looking at all the technical stuff and thinking about how we will get hot water through batteries, solar panels and shore power, as well as how we will renovate the interior.
I have been desperate to remove the peeling varnish on the wheelhouse exterior, so that's what I'm focussing on, using paint stripper (trying not to get the scrappings on the painted deck or in the environment). Many of coats of paint stripper are required and each needs scrapping off, followed by scrubbing with a metal sourer and finally sanding before applying a thin coat of Indial Rosewood Coloron wood dye followed by Osmo UV protention oil. It is in pretty poor condition, but thankfully not rotten. There is rot on one corner of the wheelhouse roof, and I think we will try to cut that out and repair it.
Here is a video of the boat coming to rest on the tidal mooring. Note the hand signals from the bank!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JELUuveAN1z1txVv5
We have had two days of brilliant sunshine, but today it is cloudy and wet, so we are going over on our bikes, it's just a few miles from Falmouth, to have a tidy up and wash the decks and side rails.
Saturday, 28 May 2022
Xavier arrives in Ramsgate, but disaster strikes, a spud pole drops to the seabed. The boat cannot move.
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Our mooring still awaits us, an empty space in front of this other large barge. |
Sunday, 22 May 2022
Xavier is somewhere between Dunkirk and Ramsgate!
Thursday, 19 May 2022
Will our 1940's Dutch barge ever cross the channel?
We first saw Xavier our 1940's Dutch barge in Medemblik in Holland on Wednesday 5 May 2021
The owner had been wrangling with the local council as he was one of the last liveboards, in a posh marina and the authorities refused to renew the resifential permit if he sold the barge. Unsurprisingly they did not want these big old barges with their occupant pumping raw sewage into their marina full of holiday yatchs. Xavier had no black water holding tank. We were something of a dream come true for the owner. He had plenty of potential buyers for this lovely wide barge 6x30 metres. A perfect size to make into a home. But the buyers all wanted to make their home im Medemblik, who would not! The owner could only sell it to someone who wanted to take the boat away. Or start a legal battle with the council.
Fast forward a few months. Xavier was ours and she needed a complete de rust and paint and a survey before we could even comtemplate finding a crew to cross the channel to Gweek, where we had arranged a permanent mooring.
Gweek, Cornwall |
Xavier needed a lot of work internally, but we do up houses for a living and we have owned a Dutch Barge before. That did not phase us.
Our mooring, Gweek, Cornwall |
Our broker found a yard called Geertman in Zwartsluis Netherlands, near Zwolle. It seemed ideal as it was littered with old Dutch barges in various states of repair over a huge site. A family concern and the young owner spoke English which was quite essential as we were not going to be there to oversee the survey or the work required. We were in the first phases of the first lockdown and we had only been able to travel to see the boat as our own house was under offer and this was to be our permanent home.
By the June 2021, Xavier had been taken to Geertmans and a surveyor was commissioned to look over the boat. He identified quite a bit of work. We negotiated a small discount with the owner bought the boat.
What should have followed was a smooth process of painting the exterior of the boat whilst the boatyard worked through the list of jobs the surveyor had provided. What followed was months of delays and excuses. Work on our boat always seemed to be at the bottom of the to do list, yet we really were at the mercy of the owner of the yard to manage the list of works as we were unable to travel over to supervise.
By December the work was apparently complete. Hefty bills had been paid for the entire exterior paint and the work to make the boat seaworthy including sealing up the lower portholes. But by then the weather had turned - we were in the middle of winter and a .crossing on a flat bottomed boat was not safe. Never the less we got back intouch with the skipper that we hoped would take the boat across the channel and we waited for good weather. Waited and waited. By March and April, we hoped that a crossing would be possible, but unfortunately our skipper had his own problems and everyone he know and we knew that could tackle this work was busy preparing their own boats for the coming boating season.
April was also the time that we had agreed with Gweek boatyard that we would start paying for our mooring. Never guessing at the time, that the work would have taken so long. In fact the work did not take that long, it was the fact that work on our boat was the least priority. We were not on the spot to make sure things got done. No one at the boatyard really had our interests at heart.
Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Jack de Crow
The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow by A. J. Mackinnon 2007 Seafarer Books
Wednesday, 8 January 2020
Sunday, 2 December 2018
End of cruising and Quercy goes to new owners
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Near windmill at Santenay |
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Rochepot |
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Hotel barge at Santenay mooring |
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Interesting gate near Chateau Chamilly |
Although the town of Chagny is uninspiring, we got around the whole area on foot and saw a lot of the rugged beautiful countryside. Hillforts, quarries, caves and vineyards.
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Wine estate Chateau Chamilly. This does not do it justice. |
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Jo, Mark, Julian and Me after our wine tasting st Chateau Chamirey |
Impressively woven Willow Chagny
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Rully Square |
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Walk near Chagny |
Saturday, 15 September 2018
Paray le Monial - twinned with Wells
I'm afraid that I have little confidence in either Julian's ability to pronounce French words or his memory going back 30 years, and I seem incapable of saying it in he insists is he correct way!
The Basilica is a fantastic building from all angles. It does not look 800 years old. I think a lot has been rebuilt as it says her from Wikipedia. But still very impressive.
The town of Paray is another of those whose shopping area has contracted and the shops are staggered amongst the old streets between many vacant properties. Some km East of Paray le Monial we enter an interesting section of the Canal du Centre where the former scale of industry, and working people in this area, especially ceramic tile making is evident by the number of huge derelict factories, almost as big as cathedrals themselves.
Tuesday, 11 September 2018
South Nivernais and a bit of the Loire
We have been travelling through the Nivernais where we saw many cyclists but not that many boats.
We then turned right and cruised a few miles up the Loire Canal before turning back and beginning our cruise along the Canal du Centre. The first time we did this route, we explored just about every side road, town and village that we came to. This time, we spent more time alongside the canal, and just revisited some of our favourite spots. The coutryside is beautiful in the remote area and there are plenty of small chateau, fortified manoires and ruined castles to see (if you are prepared to leave the canal!)
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Cafe at Fleury sur Yonne |
The bridges on the Nivernais are a great topic of conversation amongst boaters, especially those whose air draft is borderline for going under some of these bridges. Quercy just squeezed through, and I noted that the bridges South of Chatillon en Bazios were the ones that cause the problem. These are beautiful stone structures built I think in the 1830's. To make things extra difficult, you have to go through them slightly off centre as the path runs along the inside of some of them.
After a while the arches on these same bridges have been removed and replaced with horizontal metal structures, keeping the stone sides. So although low, there is no problem in navigating under them if you have managed to get through the ones further North.
Very occasionally one comes across a lively cafe just near the canal and we found the best of places at Fleury sur Yonne, on the Nivernais. Popular with local and boaters is served good food from a limited menu in a former lock keepers cottage, the tables and chairs spilling out onto the tow path and a quirky marquee outside.
Other notable rural or unexpected cafe spots are Chitry Les Mines on the Nivernais, also worth a mention is the lock keepers bar/cafe at Marigny sure Yonne. Lovely mooring and cafe at Pont d'Ouch, pizzeria at Tanlay on the Bourgogne, and Samois-sur-Seine on the Haute Seine near Fontenbleau.
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Martigny near Cercy la Tour |
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Water meadows of the Loire near Decize |
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Dipping my toes in La Loire on evening after cycling a few km down a fisherman's track near Avril sur Loire |
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The Ruined Chateau of Luthenay-Uxeloup with a working farm inside the walls. |
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Not open to the public unfortunately, not even to peek in through the archway. |
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Outside the Chateau on our fold up bikes. Fine for going up to 10km on fairly flat. |