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| Luciole powers up the river |
Being halfway through the cruise route and stuck at Mailly la Chateau for the weekend due the high water levels last week - it was decided to cruise from Mailly la Chateau to Auxerre in on the Monday and then spend the next 4 days cruising to Clamecy. One issue of the water levels meant we were unable to pass lowest bridge in Mailly la Ville, the boss of the canal was called and a dam was lowered - we were able to pass through 10 minutes later. Somehow we managed to do it all in one day, this in memory has never been done on the Luciole. Arriving the last lock at 5 minutes before the locks shut, every lock had been a race with the chef and girls helping us all along. Great team effort!
Unfortunately we never made it into the port of Clamecy as a sandbank had built up bellow the lock and on the river. A tractor was required to pull us off and we fell just 100m short of our final destination!
An eventful week, barging is never boring!
You and the crew were nothing short of stellar that first hectic day, as well as the entire week. We all (even the few non-Key Westerners) appreciate how you still managed to take such great care of us and keep up your sense of humor. While the beginning and the end had its share of sailing drama, the week was absolutely wonderful. I've been sorting through all my photos since finally coming home after my post-barge travels, and each one (and you know there were a lot of them) fills me with such fond memories.
ReplyDeleteBTW, speaking of Youtube, I actually have video of the tractor pulling us out of that bank. Perhaps I'll post it sometime soon, but embarrassed about my not-so-steady camera work.
In the meantime, cheers to you and the crew!