Week 49
Week 49
Mark Twain
It's much easier to fool people than it is to get them to admit that they were fooled.
I was listeneing to a BBC Podcast (The Infinite Monkey Cage) before I ventured out of bed this morning.
This particular episode was about Conspiracy Theories - hence the above quote.
Another Sunday morning treat is the Al Franken Podcast - this week with Alexander Vindman, discussing the war in the Ukraine.
Still battling the cold. We only have the wood heater on in our house - although Janny is getting a bit growly now and then. She's set up to watch the World Cup and do jigsaw puzzles - and I can do my boat research on the computer - and watch a bit of cricket. I get rugged up with beanie and gloves to take Boeke for a walk - it's always a delight in the forest no matter what the weather is doing.
Ice forming on one of the pools across the road...
Some relief with energy prices...
For November and December we got a rebate of €190,00 for each of our gas meters - one is for our house and Janny's Mum's apartment. (We haven't put any restrictions on her but I think she keeps an eye on it herself).
From January, household use will be capped at 1200cubic meters (at a rate less than €1,50 - thereafter at market price) but again the apartments are not set up to take advantage of that. I'm going to see if I can find a website with information about making a case for the residents. Their gas meters come after the big meter and were only ever intended for my own use. There is also some question that the "business" gas meter may not fall within the cap (at least we could get 1200 cubic metres at the lower rate).
Janny has been keeping an eye on our Gas Usage...
Our big meter (business - not our house) documents show that we used just over 6000m3 for all of last year. Up to the end of November this year, we have used 2500m3. That's for the three apartments and our work area. We discovered that the kids bedrooms were set to 12 degrees and that the heater was coming on over night - even though the kids are not there. So we pulled the plug on that and are keeping an eye on the temperatures - just in case it freezes badly. We'll have to plug it in again just to stop the pipes from bursting, if it gets cold enough. (One year, we had minus 22 degrees! - must have been around 2008/9). The power fell out that year so the pump that would normally keep the hot water circulating, stopped.
Around the farm
Shuffle Board
The old TV was a "show model" and cost only €400,00. At that price, it has served well for about 12 years.
The jig is up
I've been experimenting with making a jig for the wooden houses project. I slowly worked it out and now have to make a one piece model that reproduces the angle of 65 degrees (45 +20). Three separate pieces with the angle iron will give me the 3 different lengths.
We finally removed the Covid screen at the main work table...
It feels much better to have the screen removed (after nearly 3 years!).
The Boat Trip
My charts of Northern France arrived during the week, so I have been scouring them for more information. In book form, they are far better than I had imagined or hoped for.
This trip planning stuff is taking up a fair bit of my spare time as it is too cold to do much outside. Rather than put it all in here each week, I have made (yet) another blog to save it all in one place.
Early days yet...but one option appears to be:
From Maastricht
Meuse (Canal de la) 272kms
Marn au Rhin (Canal)-O 132kms
Marne (Canal Lateral) 67 kms
Marne (to Paris) 179kms
BUT, if the Canal des Ardennes is open then another route will be planned.
This would include the Aisne a la Marne (Canal)
I was able to photograph the text using my phone's built-in OCR, and transfer it to here.
The Meuse has its source at Pouilly-en-Bassigny on the Langres plateau at an altitude of 450 m. It crosses the French departments of the Haute-Marne, the Meuse and the Ardennes before entering into Belgium at Givet. Its catchment area, which covers a surface of about 32, 900 km, is bordered in the south by the Rhône basin and in the west by that of the Seine and the Escaut. In the north, having become the Maas, it joins the vast Rhine delta. From Commercy to Sedan, the river becomes navigable thanks to a lateral canal, previously called the Eastern Canal (Northern Branch), and now officially called the Meuse Canal. This Freycinet gauge canal (locks 38.50m by 5.20m) occasionally rejoins the river but for the majority of its course it remains an artificial waterway.
Descending gently towards the north, it follows a wide valley covered with farming lands interrupted by the occasional dense forest. The bloody battles of the First World War which took place here seem far away but their memories are present at each turn of the canal.
Downstream from Sedan, it keeps the title Meuse canal but you will be cruising on the river Meuse itself, made navigable thanks to a series of attractive old needle weirs. In this section, to remind ourselves that we are cruising on a river with its currents and weirs, we call it the canalised Meuse or, quite simply, the Meuse.
Here the river cuts a deep furrow in the Ardennes plateu and the countryside is spectacular. Commercial navigation has slowed down and you will mostly meet leisure craft coming from Holland and Belgium.
Here the river cuts a deep furrow in the Ardennes plateu and the countryside is spectacular. Commercial navigation has slowed down and you will mostly meet leisure craft coming from Holland and Belgium.
When you arrive in Belgium, you will find the big tilting gate weirs and locks of the European network. The commercial traffic becomes more intense downstream from Namur and you will discover the activity, often quite intense, of a big gauge European waterway. In this guide, to facilitate the map reading, we are going to sail up the Meuse valley from the beginning of the navigation at Maastricht right to the confluence with the Marne Rhine canal.
Two tributaries on the left bank of the Meuse are navigable. The Bar, which it receives at Pont-à-Bar, feeds the Canal des Ardennes, a summit level canal which links it to the Aisne valley. We will follow this canal from its junction with the Aisne Canal. The other big tributary, the Sambre, which flows into the Meuse at Namur, assures the link with the river Oise. Unfortunately, navigation on this river is, for the moment, interrupted but projects for reopening this waterway are being studied.
Robin reminded me that we also have a rich source of information in Tom Sommers' Cruising Guides. I think Andrew put me on to these years ago (2009?) on CD or DVD.
I was trying to order some from America but it was going to cost me more to transfer the dollars than the actual CD itself! I emailed the chap (Tom Sommers) and asked if I could send the cash in an envelope? Which worked so well that he changed his website to include that option for other people. I still have the CD "somewhere" but Robin has uploaded everything to Google Drive, which is more in keeping with todays digital storage.
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