LEA CREST UPDATE - June 2013

 

 

Continuing on from our last update when we were in Toul…

 

We never did alter the rudder and the boat never came out of the water either!

 

The winter was very long but not the coldest one. Only down to -8°C and we have always had -12°C in previous winters.

 

As soon as we got back to Saint Jean de Losne in the autumn we made use of the little market garden at Echenon. Great value vegetables and what quality.

 

BARGAIN PRICES AT ECHENON

 

It's always good to get back after a summer's cruising. You get the best of both worlds really.

 

Good friends Jean-Pierre and Ilse went off on a little holiday and we shared pet sitting duties for their little dog Grenouille. Grenouille makes it very obvious that all she needs is for you to be kind to her and give her as much love and attention as you have to spare.

As you can see in our next photo she really is a cutie.

 

GRENOUILLE

 

Last spring (2012) we asked Catherine (of Bache et Grommet fame) if she would make us a new canopy for our back deck. As always, Catherine was very busy and we knew that it would have to be about a year before she could do it.

 

Catherine asked whether we had ever thought of making a solid top for it.

 

Well I had thought of it, but it was a job that wouldn't be easy unless I had somewhere under cover to work. I mentioned the situation to Jean-Pierre and he kindly suggested that I could use one of his buildings if we made some room in it.

For me, it was a big project. But the offer from Jean-Pierre was going to make it happen.

We knew that Tim from the old lock was an expert when it came to fibreglassing and he was happy to do the main part in finishing off the project.

 

Re-jigging the storage on Lea Crest was our next job and reducing the number of boxes on the roof was top priority.

We decided that if we got rid of the davits that we had made in the UK, our little boat (the tender) could become our main roof storage box, replacing the 3 that were already up there. Jo kindly offered to help with that task.

 

WINTER PROJECT STARTED

 

Before the weather got too cold, we decided to nip up to Pont d'Ouche and look at a friend's boat.
He had a few woodworking jobs that needed some attention and I said I would look at them.
Only being a stones throw away, we also visited Vandenesse and had lunch at one of our favourite little restaurants "La Lucotte". It was a Wednesday which was great as that's the day they usually do steak and frites. It really is a cracking menu for about 13 euros.

 

We couldn't help but notice this photo he had in a frame on the wall.

 

STANDING ROOM ONLY

 

The TV that we brought over with us in 2004 was still working but, as in life generally, the older it got, the uglier it seemed to become. So, as a treat to us both, we took a trip to Dijon for a new TV.

Whilst in town, a gourmet café was called for. It was really good and we may have to treat ourselves to one of these the next time we hit Dijon.

 

BREAKFAST IN DIJON

 

It was soon the Saint Nicolas parade when everyone is welcome to join in. Luckily all the liveabords usually make an effort and escort Saint Nicolas from one side of the river to the other and then through the streets. Murray and Cate were no exception and their dog Bramble was quite happy to be dressed up and become the star of the parade (Saint Nicolas excepted of course).

 

BRAMBLE, ALL TRIMMED UP

 

One little job that I helped Jean-Pierre with this year was cladding the underside of the terrace roof on his summer house, OK Corral. We used a type of clean white plastic boarding that we had used many winters ago to make some outside window shutters on LEA CREST. The terrace now looks very clean and bright and it gave us the idea for our new back deck roof.

 

CLADDING THE OK CORRAL

 

It was Chistmas before we knew it and Nathalie (Brasserie de la Navigation) had, as in other winters, let us use her back room for lots of different events. These included quiz nights, games nights and, once again, our Chrismas party. Sometimes we have a special meal that the brasserie supply and other times we supply the food. This Chistmas everyone brought something along and a great night was had by all.
We even had a special guest appearance of Santa himself!

For this a very special thanks goes to Paul and Mal on LAZY HERON and Jo and Janna on VROUW

JOHANNA, who went the extra mile to make a good night really great.

 

SANTA'S SURPRISE

 

Whilst tripping about between villages, we spotted the fella in our next photo hiding in a tree.
He didn't seem too impressed with the season of good will.

 

YOU'D MUCH PREFER A TURKEY WOULDN'T YOU?

 

As we mentioned in a previous update, a chap called Jean-Paul turned up with his video camera in the winter of 2011. Well last year he finished his film, edited it in Nancy and then, after a premiere for us in St. Jean de Losne, it was broadcast on French TV in February and March of this year (2013).

Bourgogne Magazine came around to do a small interview to advertise the programme and we made a double page spread in that month's issue. Our 15 minutes of fame!

GLOSSY MAG

 

Just a funny thought that I keep having…

We are all encouraged to eat healthily so, why doesn't one of the big manufacturers of butter or vegetable spreads, come up with a new healthy product called…

wait for it…………

 

"MIDDLE AGE SPREAD" !

 

The thought of it always makes me laugh and I for one, would go out and buy it.
NB: this update proves ownership of this product name (be warned)

 

Moving on, snow eventually arrived. But the timing of it wasn't too good for our neighbour across the canal. He was just starting to have the old roof removed from one of his buildings, in readiness for a new one. A bit of bad timing!

 

NOT A GOOD DAY FOR ROOFERS

 

In late January, and on our way to Uschi's birthday lunch, we spotted the tragic sight in our next photo.
Frank's boat was well alight, the fire apparently being caused by a leaking diesel heater. It was definitely not one that could be extinguished quickly.
Thankfully, Frank was stood away from the boat with all his gas bottles so he was safe.
Unfortunately however, in the spring of this year he passed away as a result of a long illness.
So R.I.P. Frank.

 

A BAD DAY FOR FRANK

 

We did eventually get to Uschi's, although we were a little late, and, as in previous years, it was wonderful. It must have been very hard work for Uschi and Steve, so many thanks to them both.

 

USCHI'S BIRTHDAY LUNCH

 

It was then my turn to organise something for Pamela's special birthday.

I had a few ideas but finally decided to arrange an overnight in a very special 3 Michelin starred restaurant/hotel near Dole. Some good friends, David and Buff had taken us there about 4 years ago. The food was fabulous so I thought a re-run was in order, with an overnight stay in the hotel too.

As you will see from our next photo, even though the light fitting in the bedroom just seemed to be made of plastic or Perspex, the results were a brilliant display of colours on the ceiling.

 

PAMELA'S BIRTHDAY

 

We both thought it was absolutely wonderful, especially as we had a bath (we only have a shower on LEA CREST). So, after a wonderful dinner, a wonderful sleep and 4 baths, it was time to check out. We can highly recommend the place.

 

http://www.lachaumiere-dole.fr/en

 

Another beautiful display we saw was the ice that had gathered around the tall grass stalks next to LEA CREST. Our friend Vivienne Waterer took some photos like these before I did so, all credit to Vivienne's observations.

 

WINTER JEWELS

 

A night out at Nathalie's is always worth going to and the locals definitely know how to enjoy themselves. Fancy dress!! They do it so well. It's not something I would normally do but I love to see the efforts of others and, as you can see, Nathalie always looks great.

 

NATHALIE

 

Not sure who this lady is but she certainly brightened the place up…

 

FABULOUS COLOURS

 

I seem to have found a new hobby over the last couple of winters……making pies!
It all began when I found a good recipe for pastry. Normally my pastry is quite poor but this one is really nice and can be adapted for sweet or savoury purposes.

 

This rather large pie was a mixture of chicken, ham and cranberry and as Pamela is not a fan of jelly, I use a stuffing mix from Delia Smith's recipe book.

 

THE PIES HAVE IT

 

I have since made a duck, rabbit and prune pie which was meant to have chilli and chocolate in it.
But I forgot the chocolate (stupid boy!!).

 

As I said before, Jean-Pierre and Ilse have a little summer house and last year it had a makeover.
The frontage only had a door and it needed a little something to set it off.
Jean-Pierre had the idea of a "Trompe l'Oeil" (a trick of the eye) and found a lady in Gray who did this kind of work. So one day we all four went out to Gray to have a preview of the work in progress.

 

VERONIQUE'S CAVE

 

Jerry Yell is a French entertainer who puts on a great one man show. We have seen him many times at Nathalie's and this year the evening came with an enormous portion of cassoulet. The funny thing was that we had forgotten that we had made a reservation for it and had already eaten out at lunchtime!
It reminded me of the "Vicar of Dibley" sketch where Dawn French ended up eating lots of Chrismas dinners. But we did it justice and just at the end of the evening, Nathalie's waitress and niece Pauline,
got up and sang a very popular song. She was brilliant too…

 

PAULINE DOES A NUMBER

 

We had an invite to our friend Robert Bond's birthday bash and that became a karaoke evening.
Not one for that either, I was quite happy watching everyone else having a go. But I've got to say, the ABBA tribute band were brilliant. Mama Mia…

 

MAMA MIA

 

Another much more relaxing evening was on Pete and Jan's barge "Rook".
Great food and excellent company.

 

DINNER AT PETE AND JAN'S

 

Friends from Mirfield, Pete and Betty, called by on their way home from Spain.
We had a good few days together and one was lunch at the L'Ecu restaurant which is always good food and great value. Even the local Gendarmes go there for an annual get together and lunch.

Here, we are just exchanging pleasantaries and not trying to leave without paying (honest guvner!).

 

CAUGHT OUTSIDE NUMBER 10

 

At the end of March it was time for the roof project to start proper.

Tim, the master of all things in glass fibre, had taken me to where he buys his wood so that we had enough to start and finish the job.

Initially the roof was going to be 3.4 metres by 2.2 metres.But luckily I spotted that the headroom in the workshop was only 2.1 metres so a slight reduction was called for.

 

BACK DECK HARDTOP PROJECT

 

The other part of this project was to make 2 large cupboards for the back deck to contain/hide all the bits and pieces that you need on a day to day basis. Ropes, boat hooks, brushes, mops, spare chairs and some wet weather gear. Of course, other things are bound to end up living in them as time goes by so I thought, the bigger the better. The cupboards will go into the corners (where the davits used to be) so won't encroach on the useable area of the back deck.

 

NEW CUPBOARDS PROJECT

 

The top of the roof was to be 3 sheets of 10 mm exterior ply glued and screwed to one another.
This needed to be performed at speed as there were plenty of screws to screw before the glue started to go off. So after a site meeting and demo, it was all systems go.

 

PAMELA WORKING ON THE HARDTOP PROJECT

 

As you can see in our next photo, the headroom in the workshop was tight. So reducing the size of the project allowed us to keep it inside the building and reduce the risk of extra humidity in the wood. As Tim quite often said, "we don't want any extra humidity in the wood or in the air when we start fibre-glassing".

 

A TIGHT FIT

 

Luckily, we always had someone on hand when the roof needed to be turned over. Early on in the project, Pamela and I managed. But it did start to become too heavy and awkward.

The next photo shows us adding the insulation and before that, the wiring for anything we might need…12 volt, 220 volt, and some coaxial cable.
Whether we use it or not, it was better to be in there before we started to clad the underside.

 

ELECTRICS AND INSULATION GOING IN

 

The roof was then ready for Tim to do his handywork. This was in my opinion, the icing on the cake and it was this that would make the whole project totally weatherproof.

 

TIM DOING A GREAT JOB

 

Eventually, it was the day of reckoning. Was it going to fit onto the stainless steel frame?
The frame was put together 10 years ago in Huddersfield. It wasn't square (by design) so lots of measuring went on in the workshop, on the boat and in my head in bed. Everything was like a mirror image and drove me mad at times.

Well, Radio Gare d'Eau was always the best jungle telegraph in Saint Jean and this was the time to put it to the test. So on Thursday morning, 16th of May, I asked for about 6 volunteers to help lift and move the roof. They all turned up on time and it was time to find out.

WILL IT FIT?

 

 

YES IT DID!

 

As we said earlier, just over a year ago we booked Catherine (Bache et Grommet) to make us a new canopy. In 2004, Catherine had made our original cover/canopy which served us very well and we knew the the timing was quite tight for Catherine and for us leaving port.

 

Our next photo shows Catherine fine tuning and fitting clips to hold everything in the right place…

 

BACHE AND GROMMET AT WORK

 

Our friends Sylvie and Gérard had been waiting for the right moment (time and weather) so that we could have a barbecue. It did eventually happen and the wisteria not only bloomed but actually matched Pamela's scarf too!

 

BBQ AT LES CHARMILLES

 

The solid roof was on and the hard work now behind us. So all we needed to do was to check and service the engine (oil and filter), fill up with fuel in both tanks and then give the boat a good scrub down.

 

JUST ABOUT FINISHED

 

In the next photo one of our neighbours had just popped around for a bite to eat whilst I had a well earned rest.

 

TIME FOR A BREAK

 

The roof is looking quite smart now that it is underclad and 2 DVD's that didn't copy properly found a new use as LED lighting on the back deck cupboards. It really was a good idea, putting that wiring in the roof space !!

 

READY FOR ACTION


Here is a link to a Cote d'Or video for the next update. Showing off the area where we live…

 

http://www.saone-tourisme.fr/index.php?page=videos

 

Bye for now from

 

David and Pamela


 

Go to September 2012 update

 

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