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The barge owners who were not taking part had a relaxing afternoon with sunshine and drinks and some pirouetting boats to amuse them. It's alright for some! |
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Lorna had to wield a long boathook and hit the ships bell that was mounted in an anchored dinghy and formed a part of the slalom course. |
Luckily the wind dropped as we reversed the length of the bassin to end up under the bridge again. |
Finally we had to go alongside in a space marked out that should have left 2m to spare at each end (in actual fact the judges had got it wrong and not left us any to spare)! No crushed dinghies though, so that went well! We tied up as though we would stay the night and that was us finished. AND WE WON !!!! :-) By virtue of good teamwork and completing the course without hitting anything (very hard) except the bell. |
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For this manoeuvre we were gently accused of showing off as we reversed back through the bridge to approach our berth without two more 180 deg turns. |
And back alongside Aleida, relieved to have not made fools of ourselves in front of fellow bargees. We had shown all what a British barge could do :-) |
Our neighbours (Jan and Ian Fergusen) were privy to the result as Ian was one of the judges and somehow managed to keep the secret for 2 days until the prize giving evening. We were presented with a bottle of champagne and the news that the trophy shield was missing and no-one knew where it was. Oh well, it's the taking part. More socialising followed and the atmosphere around the Bassin de la Villette stayed like a fete throughout the stay. |
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After 10 days we were ready to move on and started our descent through 4 sets of double locks to the tunnel to the river Seine. The tunnel started out as an open canal but was built over. |
The tree lined canal was quite a nice way to go through Paris even if it was very slow. Nearly 4 hours to go 4km was not fast. Ahead of this lock is the entrance to the tunnel. |
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It was a really great experience to pass through the tunnel just underneath the parks of Paris down towards the Seine! The image to the left shows bright sunlight shining through the air shaft onto the water, back up to the tunnel roof and also a second reflection just by the bow. The tunnel was made up of 2 long basins called 'Voute de Temple' and 'Voute de Richard-Lenoir', at their join is a bend in the tunnel which you follow in the dark, this is the image to the right. After the tunnel and the Bassin de l'Arsenal near the Bastille we exited the canal Saint Martin, turned left on the Seine and then left again to go up the Marne. |
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