Rouen

Back to Rouen today and now on tidal waters again. I had to take on some diesel for the trip down the Seine. The diesel price on the fuel barge, just upstream of Rouen, is the most expensive (1.40 Euros/Litre i.e. approximately £1 per litre compared with 1.08 Euros at the supermarkets) we have encountered during the whole of this trip. I therefore only took on board 200 litres. Fortunately, the fuel consumption at slow speeds on the river has improved from 1 mpg to about 3 mpg.

We spent a couple of days in Rouen so Ann took the opportunity to have a look at some of the places that she missed on our first visit. The building shown in the photograph is the Aitre St-Maclou. These are now the studios of the Regional Art College. However, in the 14th century Rouen’s victims of the Black Death, believed to have numbered 100,000, were placed in a plague pit just in front of the buildings. Fortunately, apart from the carvings on the buildings, there is no sign of them now.

Rouen

It was a long day yesterday so it was agreed that today would be a rest day. However, we needed to shop for food and also buy the VNF licence to enable us to use our boat on the non-tidal waterways of France. The cost for Jomima, which they measured in square metres, was 377.20 Euros (cash only) for the year.

After completing these vital tasks, the next thing that Ann wanted to do was, of course, to explore Rouen. We viewed the cathedral and then visited the tourist information. We rapidly discovered that a large part of the history of Rouen is associated with Sainte Jeanne D’Arc (Joan of Arc) – who the ‘English’ burnt alive at the stake on 30th May 1431 when she was only 19 years old. It would appear that she was leading a small army, by the age of 17, and she went to the rescue of Orleans which was being besieged by the English. There was no way we were going to let her get away with that!

The beautiful modern church of Eglise Sainte Jeanne D’Arc (see photo) was erected, in the Old Market Square, near the spot where she was supposed to have been burnt. Some of the windows were rescued from a nearby church that was bombed during the war.