Mike and Liz Afloat - at last Okay, this is going to be a long one as there is just so much to take in, but in true TV promo fashion, here's what's coming up... We take over Liberty, Giorgio Armani expresses his disapproval, a boat begins to sink at its mooring, and Monsieur Gerard shows us his builder's crack. Read on... Last Friday we arrived in Van Rouge back at the Burgundian inland port of St Jean de Losne at noon, and although we knew Liberty was bobbing ...

We are back in France and - finally - on the verge of starting the Mike-and-Liz-Afloat part of the adventure. But it's been a rocky ride getting to this point. If you picture the whole shebang as a jigsaw, it looks pretty simple; there are really only a few pieces. One piece involved selling up in NZ and then buying an apartment to rent out, either in the Bay of Plenty or Auckland. The second piece shows a picture of daughter/step-daughter Yasmin happily at boar...

Finally, after around seven weeks since leaving New Zealand, Liz and Mike are actually abroad together! Liz and daughter Yasmin arrived at her parents' place near St Marcellin, SE France on 2 August while I was still in St Jean de Losne shortl-listing boats. So I wasted no time and rode the motorbike down south to meet up with them... a lovely reunion... and to hear all about their adventures travelling via Hawaii, San Fran, and New York. But then, two days late...

Took a day off boat-hunting today and caught the train to Dijon, Burgundy's capital, just for a bit of a look round. Now, as anyone who's been to France knows, many towns and cities have a Notre Dame, Paris's being the most famous. So it should come as no surprise to find that Dijon has its own Notre-D, which dates from the 13th century. What is surprising however is the wonderful collection of gargoyles on the front facade. There's row upon row of the ugly cre...

Je suis arrive en France, enfin! Oui vraiment, yesterday I finally arrived at the small inland port of St Jean de Losne in Burgundy after a very long and tiring motorbike ride from Caen on the French north-west coast. This has been a much looked-forward-to destination because it's here that there are many boats for sale, and a major part of our Grand Plan is to buy a boat and live on the French canals and rivers for a year or so while exploring France at an esc...