Canal archive

Follow up on ATOL all British flights are supposed to be covered what an absolute ******** up I’m absolutely gobsmacked I hope it’s sorted to your satisfaction. Good luck.

Yes I know what I meant and should have made clear was that Scenics’ South of France cruise used to start at Chalon Sur Saone not Lyon. As far as I can see it starts in Lyon and cruises to Chalon. We traveled from England to Lyon by Eurostar then on to Chalon by local train, very straightforward and the locals are a breath of fresh air after some Parisians we met. 

Not only Viking, Scenic have done the same although where a Scenic  moored could not be classed as an industrialised area. It was a super mooring.

Well some do.

Just a note my county of Wiltshire, because of the amount of rain had every major and many minor roads closed last night plus no trains through the county. The water table is so high there’s ominous gurgling in various pipes and to top it all the house feels nude as the Christmas decs are down and the tree topping fairy is tucked away in her box until next December, all before 12th night.

Oh thanks I did and  interesting it’s under campfire stories I could have used it many moons ago around the real thing.

Basically a by-weir is a way of getting excess water past a lock.

A weir can be constructed of anything - reeds, brick, stone, concrete anything, they are used to regulate a rivers flow and can be used to produce power, many in Europe are. What may look like a dam beside a lock is actually a type of weir.

Have just returned from an interesting heritage discussion about by- weirs which reminded me that there must be something similar across Europe. 

I must admit to not realising there could be a right and wrong way of using Nordic Walking Poles until I watched our Scenic wellness guide take a very full class a few years ago, I then realised that as there were already walking poles in each cabin it wasn’t such a bad idea.

Our first cruise that left from Amsterdam our cruise director - a very attractive young lady offered to take a group on a tour of the red light district. Evidently a very successful walking tour!

My DH has a t- shirt, a gift from his daughters that on several cruises he could have auctioned it - the slogan - You can’t scare me I have two daughters - this seemed to resonate with quite a few of our fellow cruisers and the crew.

👍

Have just discovered that our Australian friends now have a Danish/Australian Queen. 🫶

I thought this might interest you all, taken on the Rhône in Lyon 2015 our Scenic river cruise vessel had to wait some time for the Amadeus Symphony to clear this bridge.

Wow there was a dip into the deep dark depths of older photos here is Amadeus Symphony squeezing under the bridge in Lyon, sorry photos are not up to scratch but you can see how close to the underside of the bridge it was and the Captain crept under.

Scenic used to cruise the Saone from Challon to the Rhône at Lyon at the conjunction (they now start at Lyon and go up and back )of the two rivers so that particular bridge could not be missed. At one time we had to wait for a vessel coming upstream to squeak under and the clearance was infinitesimal, before we could progress downstream (I must find the picture I took). On the twice we’ve taken this cruise we’ve never had a challenge with the flow but it is the Ardeche so there’s only one place for any exes water to go and that’s into the Rhône.

Oh yes and my tree. Plus thinking about it our Christmas is a real mixture of German and English and why not!

Notamermaid your menu sounds absolutely excellent it’s so quiet here no sounds at all. DH is off for a walk, no signs of life maybe just a little over imbibing. Very overcast day and loads of fireworks last night, but have you seen the absolutely fantastic photographs from the James Webb telescope, absolutely outstandingly beautiful. To go to the stars - in my dreams as I worked on the so called space race for many years. 

Has Spring sprung already? Day one of the New Year and 2 gentlemen Blackbirds are strutting their stuff across our decking for the benefit of a lady Blackbird who is completely unimpressed, I just thought it was a little early for that kind of thing but is it a good omen for smoother/lower waters on our European rivers, fingers crossed.

Back at you from over here, fingers crossed we get - peace - drained water - and smooth travels for all. Happy, happy New Year.

Our next doors Magnolia is budding there are loads of bulbs sprouting and our temperatures are not freezing the usual areas locally are flooding. We’ve also had shooting stars, flooded Eurostar tunnels a warning of tornadoes some snow in Scotland and most probably northern England and ice in the north of Scotland. I will let you know if anything else happens.

Haven’t read it all yet jazz but question why use Uber instead of local cabs? 
Salamanca to myself as a European is a must, not isolated because look at Spain it’s absolutely splendid cities are wide spread it takes time and effort (especially) on a scooter to see them all and then you add Portugal, my teenage youth was very European at every chance we took off and visited just about every historic site available, I’m just sorry we missed out Scandinavia.

(okay we were still enthralled by the Spanish civil war)

Jazz on our various forays across the pond with our girls we met several groups of snowbirds and all without exception took the time to talk with and answer questions from the girls. They are in their late 40s early 50s now and we’re remembering earlier this week and someone suggested we return to Bass Lake en-family again this year, you never know!

No snow here yet but lots and lots of water, we’ve had some really nasty accidents with cars going off the road and the occupants not getting out, so sad.
Just returned from a family few days in Market Harborough which involved lots of drying of two very wet dogs pity we can’t shake ourselves dry.

Thanks Kristelle now I know, must try to find one to watch on tv. We’ve just had an excellent programme about North Western, I think Australia with Bill Bailey so interesting.

Good luck and best wishes to all caught up in the floods. 
Happy New Year as much as possible.