Metz , left in fairly good weather but definitely cooler. All on our own, moored at Pont de Mousson, on the River Moselle. We had moored here in the marina with Wok and Sam on our way up to Metz.
The obilgatory town square …. And the view of the bridge at night. We have to say that the French do light up their bridges and decorate everything with flowers..
TOUL.
Showing the Cathederal and old city walls surrounding the old town.
Back in TOUL.. .. Well, since Dawn and Alvin left us back in beginning of August the weather has just got worse.. Gone are the suntans and the lotions are packed away. We now have the wet weather gear out, heaters on sparodically as weather goes from cloud, to rain, to torrential rain, to cold of 12 degrees…
We are to say not happy bunnies… We just want to go to Greece Turkey or Portugal where the weather seems to be above 28.. but its not to be.
This fashion gear should not be worn in mid August..( sorry about the flag! )
NANCY .We took a bus ride to Nancy, about 30 kms away so Lucy could catch a fast train to Luxembourg as she flew back to UK for a few days.
Again we didn’t have enough time to really explore or go on the noddy train in NANCY. As I write this we had thought to take the boat over the loop to Nancy on a side trip to explore more, but we changed our minds as the weathers crap, and the lock keepers are doing random strikes..
BACK in TOUL
For those who have been on Kiwirose, they will know we have a lovely little Candy washing machine that we got installed back when we were in Holland 3 yrs ago. . They will also be aware that we have not used it since Colleen was stuck in the toilet, braised against the wall, trying to stop it leaping out of its cubby hole under the stairs when on high spin. Since then we have just pretended it is a lovely picture on the wall each time we go to the loo. Well, with time on their hands, Bill Caddey and Max tackled this issue, taking off the toilet door, managing to side the machine out,,, and yes,,, found that not all the polystyrine packing had been removed on installation…SO.. YES<YES YES< we now have a washing machine that works… Of course now the weather is terrible we need to use dryer in the marina so it does lessen the joy a bit...
Weather is really crappy, wet and cold.. but its great that for the last week or so we have had playmates… Jan and Bill Caddey,, ( our friends from UK and Estapona), And Tex and Anthea Jones, (ex pilot), UK/NZ (met on our first trip down from Holland).
So lots of booze, food, with cards and other games played to wile away the evenings… No sitting on deck, its toooooo bloody wet ands cold…
HOW ABOUT THIS? Not all boats are equal… yet another effort in enginuity… a floating deck, a caravan and a ramp… just think how little maintenance that needs,,, AT THE END OF YOUR HOILDAY YOU JUST TOW THE CARAVAN OFF…..
The Marina at Toul….You can see Tex and Antheas’ boat in the foreground, then on the right Jan and Bills boat with all the flowers on the back, and then Kiwirose a couple further down.( with the bright orange bouy…. On the other pontoons there are a few other oz’s and kiwi boats, some we have had time to meet, others not. BUT everybody you talk to has either toilet, battery or pump issues….nobody is immune. So it always makes Max feel a lot happier when others have problems too.
Jan and Bill have to go to Munich to their daughters wedding in a days time, .. so Jan and I set up a production line, making little corsages for the guests… We made over 90 !!!Little sprigs of Rosemary, green leaves from ?? and some lovely embroidered ribbon in little bow with safety pin attached…
27th.. all set to go, decided we will brave the rain, as the forecast doesn’t look any better in the next week!! BUT ENGINE WON’T START!!!
NOT sure if we have told you of the whole issue with the batteries, it has been going on since before Wok and Sam joined us. Duncan Flack, who has a yard here in Toul, has been the sorter outer. We thought for a while it was going to be a 1200 euro cost and a months wait for a new battery charger, but, thank-god….Duncan found it was the battery splitter which was 100 euro’s and 2 days wait.
Quick visit from Duncan revealed a weak link, so now sorted and we have to wait for the starter battery to recharge and we will start tomorrow… with or without rain!!!!!!
Yep, Its 0900am ….we will set off today but can we catch the good weather???????
(settings on live writer have changed and locked so this blog looks different)
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