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.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Springtime in the Port

We haven't had good internet coverage here in port, so I haven't posted anything since we returned, but I'll do a little recap later.  In the meantime, its not all fun and games here in barging land. We spent the past week prepping the boat for new coats of paint on the side.  We power washed, sanded, ground out the rusty spots, hand washed the boat with a special degreaser, treated the rust spots with a neat oily thing that stops the rust, hand washed again, and painted.  That was the red part, the lower part of the hull was power washed, the rust chipped out, cleaned again and then coated with braie vinylique.  We are nearly done! I ran out of red paint today, and its Sunday in France, the stores are closed, and we shouldn't be out painting, but we had to take advantage of the beautiful sunny weather, and the use of the port pontoon.  We plan to shove off some time this month - we are having the wheelhouse settee's cushions recovered this year, and as soon as they are finished, we're outta here!!  Hopefully no later than the 20th. 

Work pontoon tied to the side, painted from the bow to the pontoon



Randy in his official workman's jumpsuit.
We are planning to head towards Strasbourg this summer.  The Canal du Centre, however, just opened, and is scheduled to close on May 20th unless there is an abundance of rain.  That leaves us only one way back, a big loop around  to either the Loing/Briare and Lateral a la Loire, or the Nivernais to the Lateral a la Loire.  So, we don't know where we'll be going for sure yet, but we sure will look pretty with our new coats of paint, new brass stars and signboards on the port and starboard sides of the bow!
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