After almost two years we finally made it back to France last week. Very strange flying again….. and this time with masks the entire way! We almost missed our connection at Dulles but United held our flight so we arrived bright and early at Charles de Gaulle last Wednesday to begin a four hour train journey to St-Jean-de-Losne. 26 hours after leaving the house we stepped off the train in St Jean to an empty station and no taxis.
After walking about half a mile in a mild drizzle (not complaining – temperature is a wonderful 65 degrees!) a nice lady on vacation from Morocco offered us a ride to our B&B, Les Charmilles. Beatrice, the owner, said we were the first Americans she has had since the pandemic started.
We hooked up with the shipyard manager on Friday and he took us to the drydock where they were working on Decize. She still needs a lot of fiberglass repair before the painting starts. Phillippe says it should all be done well before next year’s cruising season starts in the spring. Fingers crossed!
After meeting with Phillippe we met with the marina manager, Vasily, to discuss where our slip would be. H2O has two marinas on the Saone, here at St-Jean and about 30 kms north in Auxonne. We prefer St-Jean since it has more facilities and Vasily said that would not be a problem.
And then we spent the next few days exploring St-Jean and checking out the restaurants on the quai. St-Jean is a lovely French town of maybe 5,000 people located on the Saône river.
Our Adventures 
Just found your blog and felt very wistful. After having rented a 1160 & 1165FB for 2 canal trips with friends, I’ve wanted to take the final step like yourselves. I even contacted Locaboat in 2018 when they a 1160FB for sale, but haven’t taken the leap yet.
Good luck with your upcoming adventure, as I’m sure every bend of the canal will be beautiful.
The website unexcusedabsences.com is by a young couple that bought a hire boat in 2011 and has quite a bit of day to day information of canal cruising that you may find helpful.
All the best with the repairs.
David
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