(Haven't been able to post blogs as often as we'd like recently, so this one dates back to 30 July...) Yay! We finally fixed the leaky propellor shaft in the stern of Liberty. Okay, to you this might not seem like anything momentous, or even worth a 'Yay!', but it was for us, and we learned a lot along the way. It all became possible - after months of worrying about the endless drip from the propellor shaft - thanks to an ex-Naval bloke called Simon, who these ...

We left Cezy in hot sunshine and cruised only a short distance to the town of Joigny, which provides an attractive backdrop to the river Yonne. The town is built on a hillside, and above it are acres of vines stretching to the hilltop. Joigny used to be a port from where charcoal was barged, but its canal commerce days seem to be over, other than having a boat hire place for those who want to rent a boat and explore the Yonne, or the Nivernais or Bourgogne Cana...

We stopped for a day at Sens, on the river Yonne, which is dominated by Sens Cathedral, an enormous structure. Unlike Paris's Notre Dame, Sens Cathedral is closely surrounded by shops and other buildings, to the point where you can't stand back far enough to get it all in shot when trying to take a photograph. It is one of those neck-craning things - you can look up, but not at. The interior was cavernous, as you'd expect. Liz and I are a bit cathedraled-out - t...

Been a while since the last blog, so time for a progress report, because it seems like we've come a long way since then. Cause for celebration? Not really. In fact it's something of an illusion, due partly to there being so many different canals where we are in France at the moment. If you look at a map of the French inland waterways, south-east of Paris you'll see a spiderweb of canals and rivers, comprising the Haute Seine, the Petite Seine, the Yonne, the Can...

Dear folks Let us introduce you to the Loire Valley. It may sound familiar, in the same way that Burgundy or Bordeaux does, or maybe Meursault. And if you're thinking it likely has something to do with wine, you'd be right. We recently meandered ('steered' doesn't seem quite right) our boat Liberty into the heart of Sancerre country - Sauvignon Blanc territory - in central France. The weather'd been glorious, with most days in the high 20s or early 30s, and the...