A Visit to Gordon and Kate’s ‘Farm’

Five years ago Gordon & Kate, some friends that we have known for many years, retired and moved to France with their two horses. Previously they had owned a lovely cottage in Kent and stabled their horses locally. They had decided to take early retirement and needed to accommodate both themselves and their horses. The cost of doing so in Kent was prohibitive but, near Laval in France, they found exactly what they required. Over the past few years they have done an enormous amount of work on the property. It is now both a beautiful home and has well cared for fields for their horses (now three and also retired) to graze in their retirement.

The day started with our first ever journey on the French TGV railways. Gordon picked us up from the station and we enjoyed a pleasant look at the local market. This was like a step back in time with everything from clothes to hens being available for you to buy. I managed to talk Ann out of buying a crate of ducklings and she eventually settled for a bunch of beautiful garden flowers.

After an excellent vegetarian lunch (being a vegetarian is not easy in France) we had a walk around the farm, with their two dogs and a cat, and admired the excellent range of vegetables being grown by Kate. All too soon we had to head back to the train and swap the twitter and rustle for the hustle and bustle of Paris.

Rodin

There was still time for one last bit of culture before we leave Paris on Friday. Tomorrow we travel to Laval, by TGV train, to see Gordon and Kate. But today Ann wanted to see some of the famous Rodin sculptures in the English Garden at the Musée Rodin.

You enter the garden under the gaze of what is probably Rodin’s most famous statue, The Thinker, set up high amongst the roses with a view of the Eiffel Tower in the background. Unfortunately, I found a number of his other famous statues somewhat repulsive e.g. The Burghers of Calais and Balzac. However, many of the others showed his incredible skill at producing such anatomically precise bronzes e.g. The Thinker and The Shade. Which is no doubt why he is recognised as one of the greatest sculptors of all time?

Leaving Paris

The first part of the journey, when we leave Paris on Friday, will take us further up the river Seine. This will mean that we will go past the junction with the Marne and through the industrial suburbs of Paris. After that, the surroundings should become more countrified with the Forest of Senart on the right bank and then Fontainbleu’s forest on the other. When we reach St. Mammes we will turn off the Seine onto the Canal de Loing. This is mostly man-made, it was opened in 1723, and runs for most of its length alongside the Loing river. There are a number of holiday boat hire companies on this route so, hopefully, there will be more places for pleasure boats to moor than we have experienced on the Seine.

We will be entering a region where vines are grown so we are hoping for good food and wine along this route.

Where to next?

I have been asked, now that we have reached Paris, where are we going next? From Paris we would like to head south towards the Mediterranean. Probably not all of the way this year but at least as far as the river Saone, which leads down to the river Rhone and the Mediterranean. We have been told that there is a good marina, called H2O, at a place named of Saint-Jean-de-Losne which is just south of Dijon. To get there we have a choice of three routes:

Bourgogne: The most direct route but with 61 more locks than the Bourbonnais route and a long tunnel.

Bourbonnais: The most westerly route and the one we intend to take.

Marne: The most easterly route which has been less developed for pleasure use and many miles of countryside with few signs of civilisation.

For some boats it would be possible to go via Auxerre and the Canal de Nivernais. A beautiful route but, with only 2.5m of head room, it is too low for us.

I am sorry that the map is so small but I will show sections of it as we progress.

Place des Vosges

If you head north west from the marina you come to the Marais area. The highlight of the Marais is the Place des Vosges. This is the oldest square in Paris, and its name is in honour of the first French department to pay its taxes to the new Republic. The red brick arcades give it a singular appeal and fashion boutiques, Restaurants, tea rooms and some interesting shops line the square. The centre of the square is taken up by a lovely park that is popular with young children and the inevitable jogger.

At the far corner of the square, at No 6, is Victor Hugo’s House, which is open to the public. Hugo, the author of a mammoth body of work including Les Misérables, was also an expert carpenter, and some of the furniture on display was crafted by his own hands.

The Canals of Paris

When people think of water in Paris they think of the River Seine. But, there is a 120 km network of canals, conceived by Napoleon, actually in Paris. The prime purpose of Napoleon’s Ourcq canal system was to provide Paris with drinking water, and a less hazardous means of moving wood, stone, sugar beet and flour into the capital. The Port de Plaisance end of the canal St Martin was enclosed in 1835 for military purposes, to provide the army with free movement in or out of the city, where, five years earlier, uprisings, barricades and revolution was rife. That area is now where the marina is situated.

The canal was abandoned as a source of supply for drinking water in 1832, after an outbreak of cholera, but to this day the Ourcq provides water for the public gardens and for cleaning the streets of Paris. We decided that we would take a guided tour of the canals, from the marina, on one of the tour boats based here. We could have gone by our own boat but the low roof level, in the 2 km tunnel, would have meant that we would need to lower the radar arch. Also the four double locks, that we needed to go through, would raise the boat by 25 m above the level of the Seine. That is more than we were raised, by all of the locks, during our entire journey up the Seine to Paris. We therefore decided to let somebody else take the strain.

Rain Stopped Play

This morning I went for my usual morning walk to buy a baguette and a newspaper. This, unfortunately, had to be extended considerably because so many of the local shops were closed. After a walk of three times the normal length, I returned with the Sunday Times and the Observer as well as an excellent baguette. That meant that I was set for the day, however, Ann decided to go on a guided walk. This was to be in the mainly Jewish area, about one mile from the marina. All went well for the first hour but after that it rained. Ann returned to the boat without completing the walk and, worse still, no photographs to add to the web.