Uncategorized

Firstly thanks to everyone for your feedback on my blog. We are certainly exploring parts of the world that most have never heard of let alone visited. Sue Neales pointed out that she needed to get out a map to see where we are, so as a nod to this feedback I have included a Read more

We delayed our departure from Sixhaven by a day due to the inclement weather. Finally we we off, across the Markermeer and into the Nijkerkernauw to the old fishing town of Sparkenburg. Both these waterways are wide and shallow to they can kick up a bit of chop, even on a relatively calm day. We Read more

No we did not cruise our Joie de Vivre along the Italian canals. In fact there really are no canals to speak of in Italy. Leaving our precious barge safely tucked up in Sixhaven, Amsterdam we braved the journey from Schipole airport to Naples. And yes I do mean we braved the journey. Just like Read more

I know it’s taken a little time to update my blog, but the month of July was very busy, with very little downtime. We meet Margaret and Martin in Paris along with friends from the UK, Martyn and Nicola. Without a moment to catch our breath, our five days were spent exploring and shopping in Read more

Our mooring in Amsterdam was at Sixhaven which is across the Noordzeekanal from Amsterdam Central station. Easy access to the city is via the walk on walk off free ferry that runs 24/7 every few minutes. I even found a respectable supermarket with a huge liquor outlet on our side of the river. (Dirks for Read more

One of the joys of owning a barge is the ability to share our adventures with friends. Peter often comments that he never knew he had so many friends, but of course, as with a lot of his comments, this is very tongue in cheek. With the Covid lockdowns over the past few years not Read more

Just as in 2019 we turned around leaving France and retraced our steps northward towards the Netherlands. Jo enjoyed our company and the river for 5 days leaving us at Fumay to train it south to Provence . As usual there were still many discoveries to be made. Our next stop on leaving Charleville Meziere Read more

Finally leaving Auvelais with our new travelling companions we continued along the commercial waterway still going downhill to Namur. This city, featuring a medieval citadel is at the confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse and was established as an important post in Celtic times. The Meuse has its origins in France and flows through Read more

In an effort to stop my blog being hijacked by the skipper and am going to devote a little time to explaining to the barging novices the mode of travel on the canals. The skipper has decided my audience wants a bit more than descriptions of our stopping places along the way. So here goes. Read more

We finally arrived back at our Joie de Vivre after an epic journey via Singapore to Frankfurt then a train to Brussels and onto Brugge. The 8 hour stop over in Singapore was a trial and the flight to Frankfurt was an hour longer than expected, due to our path being diverted around Ukraine. Landing Read more