Alouette is a Luxemotor barge built in 1910 in Zwartsluis, Holland. She was first used as a cattle transporter, and later as a shrimp fishing boat. In 2002, she was lovingly converted by a British couple into a liveaboard barge. We are her third owners - Randy and Deborah, two Americans from Colorado who escaped corporate life in search of an adventure. After a few years of searching for the right adventure, we discovered the barging life. Having sailed for most of our adult lives, it seemed a perfect fit. We spent another year looking for the right barge and in the summer of 2010 found her in Roanne, France. We've renamed her Alouette - the Lark. And so in her 100th year, together with our two Russian Blue cats, we're shoving off for a life on the canals and rivers of Europe.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

70 locks in 16 days and we’re in St. Jean de Losne!


We arrived in St Jean de Losne on Friday, and entered the dry dock Monday morning (Sept. 6th). One of the to-do list items that we put on hold was setting up our 3G cell phone account so we could have internet contact along the way. We have slow 3G access on Randy's Kindle so we checked emails along the way, but sending was difficult. We might be able to get our email up and running while in dry dock, or we may have to wait until we return to Roanne in October.

On September 2nd, we entered the last lock on the Canal du Centre, a huge one, over 10 meters deep, and shortly thereafter we turned left to head up the Saone River. We spent a night in Verdun sur la Doubs, a town we had visited last fall, very pretty, it sits at the confluence of two rivers and has been settled since the time of Julius Ceasar. We missed by a few days their big festival in honor of agriculture, but the entire town was still decked out with paper mache flowers and displays.

We passed through 2 large locks on the Saone River before arriving at St. Jean de Losne. This is where we started looking at boats last fall, and we've come full circle in less than a year. When we visited this area last year, we stayed on a barge on the Bourgogne Canal. Early one morning, we walked over to a nearby lock to watch a barge go through. The owners, Robert and Jill, asked us if we'd like to hop on board and go through the next lock with them. That boat was Danum, and in June when we were here boat shopping, Danum was moored on the steps of the quay here in St. Jean. We were happy to let the owners know that we had just found our barge. Yesterday we met them here again in St. Jean as they prepared to set off on the canal again. Small world.

We will be in dry dock for an entire week. The bottom is being pressure washed right now, and tomorrow the surveyor will be here to do an ultrasound of the hull to determine its thickness. If there are any thin spots, steel patches will be welded on, then the bottom will be coated with bottom paint. The topsides were painted this summer and look really good, the hull above the waterline needs to be painted, and we can do this while we are in the dry dock. Richard, the prior owner, is here with his tools – he and Randy are out sanding and chipping – I get the day off! I'll help with the painting, hopefully tomorrow, but it looks like rain. Dimitri and Anya are taking the day off as well. With the power washing and sanding going on, the boat is buttoned up, so it's a bit warm in the wheelhouse and they are enjoying their naps.


 
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