As we leave the Loire Valley, we stop off at the village of Meung sur Loire to visit a rose afficionado's garden. He works as a professional rose grower and for relaxation has created a rambling garden crowded with roses and perennials from a weed-infested pasture. As with many of the gardens we visit it seems huge as it meanders around with many 'rooms' and spaces.
Lunch is from the bus, created by the guide Lucy and bus driver Fab as we stroll around the garden, then it's off to collect our boats at Migennes.
David and I have been here before, 10 years ago, when we collected a smaller boat and cruised up the Yonne to Vermonton and back. I have complained ever since about the awfulness of negotiating 64 locks, me climbing slippery ladders and winding stubborn lock gates while David drove - BUT that was much better than the incompetent skipper boat 5 has. We are always last out of the seven boats, always the one floating around hitting things and it would be much better if David and John could drive. All they are allowed to do is coil the odd rope. However, Merryle has provided abundant wines and nibbles so we are happy, cruising slowly along a canal towards Benoit - even the dogs on the tow path can walk faster but it is a very pleasant way to travel and we have dinner on board with fresh GREEN BEANS that Bette found at a market.
David and I have been here before, 10 years ago, when we collected a smaller boat and cruised up the Yonne to Vermonton and back. I have complained ever since about the awfulness of negotiating 64 locks, me climbing slippery ladders and winding stubborn lock gates while David drove - BUT that was much better than the incompetent skipper boat 5 has. We are always last out of the seven boats, always the one floating around hitting things and it would be much better if David and John could drive. All they are allowed to do is coil the odd rope. However, Merryle has provided abundant wines and nibbles so we are happy, cruising slowly along a canal towards Benoit - even the dogs on the tow path can walk faster but it is a very pleasant way to travel and we have dinner on board with fresh GREEN BEANS that Bette found at a market.
Day 7 Friday 11th Sept
After overnight at Benoit and early morning delivery to each boat of criossants and baguettes by Merryle, we meet our bus and Fab for a pleasant drive to the next garden, owned and restored by two dedicated brothers-in-law. This is the best garden yet, and I wonder if Merryle can keep up the standard.
It is formal and absolutely beautiful, no expense spared to have everything just right.
We start with morning tea beside the swimming pool or very strong coffee which we indulge early in the day and an introduc
tion to his 2 full-size schnausers. (We are proving ourselves suckers for animals.)
tion to his 2 full-size schnausers. (We are proving ourselves suckers for animals.)
Then Msieur the elder (the one with immaculate English) takes us for a tour of his estate and this time it pays to stay within earshot to listen to his fount of knowledge and huge justifiable pride in his accomplishments. Around the forecourt of the chateau are 12 huge terracotta urns containing quince trees, an ancient chapel, the stables, kitchen and servants' quarters.
Through an arch in the yew hedge is revealed the first of many garden 'rooms' with views across paths unfolding in increasing intricacy.
Through an arch in the yew hedge is revealed the first of many garden 'rooms' with views across paths unfolding in increasing intricacy.
The schnausers hate the stone dogs that guard the pond and keep knocking them off so one statue is "een ze ospital" being mended.The Msieurs have the yew hedges trimmed once a year and Dr Bill remarks knowledgeably that they would sell the yew offcuts for production of taxane drugs for the treatment of breast cancer.
Madame oversees the butler and the cook in producing a lovely light lunch with plenty of wine
and we are very happy customers heading back to the boat and an afternoon cruise to Joigny where we are moored for two nights.
Dinner is at a local restaurant which has an excellent buffet entree, mediocre mains and strikingly presented desserts with an aftermath of indigestion.
Day 8 Saturday 12th Sept Vezelay
We have been here before and loved it so were looking forward to seeing Vezelay again and I was so excited on arrival that I rushed off the bus without my camera. As the bus disappeared from view for the next four hours, that was it - until I remembered my mobile phone camera but those photos will have to wait until we get home. The female members of our group were more interested in shopping than listening to the local guide whose French had to be translated by Lucy but as she slowly wound up the long steep slope we kind of kept up. The ceramics were amazing but totally un-buyable because so heavy. I went to half a service at the Basilica while David attended a club meeting on flints and axeheads and then lunch of Bouef Bourguinone was served in a local restaurant. As we waited for Fab to reappear with the bus we were entertained by wedding guests arriving for a wedding at the Basilica - rather a long trek for the ladies in high heels. Hats seem to be brim only and very fetching. The ladies had fun giving points for outfits.
Dinner back on the boat was a much lighter affair than lunch - still plenty of wine though. Merryle drops it off with the baguettes every day as if it were the milk and in fact wine is cheaper than bottled water.
We have been here before and loved it so were looking forward to seeing Vezelay again and I was so excited on arrival that I rushed off the bus without my camera. As the bus disappeared from view for the next four hours, that was it - until I remembered my mobile phone camera but those photos will have to wait until we get home. The female members of our group were more interested in shopping than listening to the local guide whose French had to be translated by Lucy but as she slowly wound up the long steep slope we kind of kept up. The ceramics were amazing but totally un-buyable because so heavy. I went to half a service at the Basilica while David attended a club meeting on flints and axeheads and then lunch of Bouef Bourguinone was served in a local restaurant. As we waited for Fab to reappear with the bus we were entertained by wedding guests arriving for a wedding at the Basilica - rather a long trek for the ladies in high heels. Hats seem to be brim only and very fetching. The ladies had fun giving points for outfits.
Dinner back on the boat was a much lighter affair than lunch - still plenty of wine though. Merryle drops it off with the baguettes every day as if it were the milk and in fact wine is cheaper than bottled water.
Day 9 Sunday 13th Sept
David and John have elected to stay at the boat and do the laundry, as Joigny possesses a rarity, a laundromat. The boat people elect for the planned trip to a tiny village La Ferte Loupe-Pierre to see a private garden built around an old priory.
It is famous for its huge pumpkins on an overhead trellis which looks like a really good idea, and I also love the morning-glory. David says it's a weed and others tell me of cars left for a week and smothered with morning-glory vine but I think it's so pretty silhouetted against the
morning sky with the very old church spire in the background. The church is in poor repair but boasts a striking ancient fresco was covered with whitewash until being rediscovered in the early 1900s: it is a Danse Macabre, one of the five best in Europe and shows skeletons mixed with ordinary people of all walks of life, on their way to the Day of Judgement.
This shows the tithe barn, even older than the church, from the Priory Garden. It is set up for a village lunch for about 40 people: women are preparing the food while the rest of the population runs over the village on a treasure hunt. One of the questions is: "What is the capital of Australia?" because the organisers knew we would be in the village at that time.
This afternoon the boat flotilla is cruising to Villeneuve through very pretty stretches of canal running alongside the river, through locks: this one only opens once a day at 1.30 so we are early and waiting (im)patiently while the lock-keeper cooks a barbecue for himself and family on the canal-side. Then promptly at 1.30 Madame le Lock-keeper presses the button and the water-level begins to sink. My cabin is the front pointy one with a very odd-shaped but comfortable bed. The shower is awkward, nowhere to get dry except the passage or a scurry to the cabin and the toilet is unspeakable. It suffers badly from reflux and there's a constant battle to remove solids permanently. We cope with the aid of a bucket of water but others lay claim to constant constipation.
It's a lovely all-afternoon trip - to travel about 10kms: canal travel is not for those in a hurry.
At Villeneuve we explore the town which is deadly quiet and walk around the old city walls. I try out a public toilet where you have to squat and decide it's marginally better than the boat's!
Day 10 Monday 14th Sept
The boats are going back to Joigny without us while we bus north to Sens to a big market. This is the big shopping opportunity we have all been waiting for (females that is, not males) and we hit the market stalls and shops with a bang. Thes ladies are practised shoppers! I didn't buy much, just some leather shoes, of which Merryle bought 3 pairs: being a tour guide is tough on shoe leather.
Yesterday was Harvest Thanksgiving and the cathedral is beautifully decorated, especially this little side chapel.
Just after this was taken, Merryle was there watching an old lady with a shopping trolley selecting her very own pumpkins and asking Merryle's advice as to the best -looking pumpkin to pop in her bag.
Good on her, I say!
Back at Joigny we board our boats for a last cruise to Migennes again and an exciting trip through the 5.2metre lock.
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