The journey begins . . . here.

H2O was gearing up for their bi-annual boat “Open Day” which happens in April and September. Since our boat had been sold – subject to a survey of course – we would have to tie further out so potential buyers could view boats on the market. We took a walk along the jetty and – either boats sell for a LOT less in France – or boat prices had dropped significantly since my other half bought Shangri La.

Back in 2012, barges commanded high prices. Yet here – there were huge barges – going for €80K. I can’t speak for the condition of them, but that’s around half of what they were going for when we first looked to buy in 2012.

There were a lot of boats for sale in the marina. And pics of boats on their ‘For Sale’ board. Some of those boats were possibly in a shed. Or maybe still traveling?

We were selling for what exactly we paid 6 years ago. Zero capital appreciation.

The unresolved boat leak still had to be dealt with. No-one seemed to think it was anything major. There are loads of pipes in a boat hull – water, fuel, cooling, oil and discharge pipes. It’s quite common for the bilges of boats to be filled with grey slushy muck.

But it was upsetting that this leak had been fixed, and recurred, and fixed again, and recurred again, and fixed and recurred – can’t remember how many times by H2O. My husband had been charged for the time and parts. And we were no better off.

It was decided to take the boat out and observe the leak in action. We made another appointment for the next day. My husband took the boat out on a run to warm the engine, the oil, plus the water system – properly. To get all the mechanisms going. He placed a bit of load on the engine and then come back to let the engineers join us for a short trip. Hopefully, this time they would figure out what was actually going on.

Between them they decided it was yet another loose pipe. This time it would be repaired at the workshop. And Shangri La would also get a deep clean of the inner hull. By now a bunch of pipes and connections had been replaced or repaired. This was hopefully it. The end of the issue.

We had to move Shangri La from the marina over to the boatyard for her repair. We’d enjoyed sunshine and great boating weather for almost all of our 2018 trip, so it was a bit of a shock when we woke up to driving rain. The lock entering the Bourgogne Canal to get to the boatyard can be quite a vicious one depending on where you tie up and who’s managing it. Exiting the lock, we headed to the boatyward and tied up at the slipway. And waited.

At the slipway I recognised so many cars and faces of staff we had encountered over the years at H2O. Some characters are quite distinct. There’s a chap who gets about on a motorised stand-up scooter with a cigarette hanging from his lips. There’s an engineer who has spray painted snow capped mountain peaks on her van. The ever smiley cleaning ladies. The chap with his quirky hat. Landmarks in St-Jean-de-Losne were now familiar and we knew our way around the local supermarket. It almost felt like home.

The journey continues  . . . . . . right here.