Paris to Rouen

Wednesday 17 August

Leaving Paris, the river snakes south west and then north east passing through endless high rise suburbs, factories and industrial areas, there being no clear cut end of Paris and beginning of the outlying areas – Boulogne-Billancourt, St Cloud, Neuilly, Clichy and St Denis.  When we eventually got clear the river was beautiful and the early autumn colouring had begun to vary the dense green forests.  The sides of the river were filled with a fascinating variety of live-aboard barges and boat houses.  We’d heard the usual horror stories of big barges and commercial ships travelling at speed and rocking the boat, but there were very few and, like in the Rhône, they left very manageable wakes.

The River Seine is less hospitable than the Marne or Saone from the point of view of stopping places and the first suitable one we could find on our chart was at Rueil-Malmaison (PK45), 45 kilometres from Paris.   After the Arsenal marina lock we had one other lock to contend with (Suresnes), no problem, though we had rather a long wait outside and the lockkeeper refused to answer on the VHF.  At Rueil-Malmaison there was a Halte Fluvial pontoon on the left bank with two boats already installed but there was also another pontoon on the opposite, island, side of the river - empty.  Information I’d found on a blog indicated that one shouldn’t tie up on the island side of the river as it was frequented by fishermen and ‘others’.  Well, there was no one there so we did tie up and it was perfectly nice and quiet all night long.

Thursday 18 August

The next day we covered 75 kilometres and took in two more locks (Bougival and Andrésy) and stopped for the night on the small arm of the river behind l’Ile de Limay.  Our chart showed an unencumbered entrance to the arm but on arrival we found it festooned with confusing buoys in green, red and yellow, some stripey, some plain.  My brave captain figured it out and we snaked our way through without mishap.  After that the channel was clear and pretty, passing through a couple of ancient (one broken) bridges before coming to the little marina.  Not wanting to pay for a berth, we tied up on the very rickety and broken public pontoon, nudging three young fishermen off.  Two of them, bold and curious young boys of about 10 or 12, hung around until we invited them in to see the boat.  They were suitably impressed. 

It was a very nice peaceful spot, but after we’d tied up we realised that the bank was infested with hundreds of rats and mice.  We closed the boat up tight, but even so worried all night that we’d be invaded – we weren’t.

Friday 19 August

On Friday we covered 82 Kilometres and another two locks (Méricourt and Notre Dame de la Garenne), passed the very beautiful town of Les Andelys

and finally, late in the evening, arrived at Muids where we found the promised small pontoon off a very nice little village.  There was a fisherman and his wife sitting on the pontoon who made no effort to move as we slowly approached, but at the last minute he beckoned us welcomingly and we all shared the pontoon.  He placed his two rods either side of the boat.  We got into friendly conversation and later I asked if they knew whether there was a bakery in the village.   They said they didn’t know, having only just arrived that day themselves.  Leaving his rods out they disappeared into their nearby caravan for dinner whilst we had ours and about an hour later Madame arrived with a half loaf of bread which she offered to us.  We’d not really been bothered about the bread, but I was very touched by the kindness of the thought and we accepted gratefully.

The next morning we woke to a thick fog covering the whole river - you couldn’t see further than twenty yards.  Our boat (and everyone else’s) is constantly laced with spider webs and that morning the heavy dew rendered them quite beautiful.

Knowing that we are not very visible to the big ships in fog (being a small plastic boat!), we decided we’d better stay put and took a walk through the little village, where we found more fresh bread for the day.  By 9 o’clock the sun was burning its way through and by about 10am it looked clear enough to navigate so we returned to the dock and set off.  This was later than we’d hoped for this our last day, as we were taking in OUR VERY LAST LOCK (or so we thought) at Amfreville after which the Seine becomes tidal and I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what the state of tide would be.

The trip was reasonable and the fog cleared, but after a bit a very large container ship bore up behind us travelling only marginally faster than us.  Eventually, we moved over and slowed down so it could pass us.  This was the start of what was going to be a bad day for us.  It wasn’t one ship but three – two container loads being pushed by a smaller tug. 

Very shortly after passing us the container ship came to a halt in a narrow part of the channel (we tried to overtake but got warned off).  The front container split off and a new tug took charge of it, so there were now two separate ships and the front one took off around the bend and went into the lock.  We circled around forlornly behind the second ship and waited.   Eventually someone from the second ship came out and told us we could go into the lock behind him in half an hour at 12.30pm, so we parked off against a wall and had some lunch.  Then a Dutch registered barge arrived and we all sat there for over an hour.  The container ship entered the lock, then the Dutch barge and we came in last having been told to tie up side by side with the barge.  Both the container ship and the barge left their engines running full blast throughout and before we’d managed to tie up properly (on the impossible bollards) the wash from the container ship pushed us violently backwards.  What a pig’s breakfast!  We swung around all over the show and ended up against the barge whereupon the Dutch skipper kindly took a rope from our bow and tied us to his boat to prevent us hitting the back gates.  The container skipper came out and shouted something at us but we couldn’t hear - we later figured he’d been telling us to put our motor in forward gear, an idea that never entered either of our heads, embarrassingly enough.  That’s what panic does.  The Dutch skipper was sympathetic but entertained enough to take a video of our struggles!  Anyhow, we survived the experience and so did Forever, but for us that was the worst of all the locks – just when we thought we had the whole bloody thing taped.  Thank god it was our last – or so we thought.

By now it was rather later than we’d hoped, but the tide was waning and we moved along quite nicely.  The Dutchman had said the tide was turning at 4pm but it actually turned at 3pm and we started to hit the reverse tide sooner than we’d hoped.  The two containers joined up again and the enormous threesome managed to pass us again later that afternoon.  We waved politely at the skipper whilst mouthing our rude thoughts.

Still some way out of Rouen at 4.30 that afternoon, a Gendarmerie Nationale speedboat came past us, very fast, setting up enormous waves which rocked Forever violently.  The mast didn’t fall, but the weight on the stainless steel pulpit caused the metal to buckle on one side.  We were, naturally, furious but the boat was long gone.  The police are supposed to be there to protect you from bad things, not cause them.

The rest of our journey passed without further drama.  We motored through Rouen and moored in the ‘La Crea’ marina in the Bassin St Gervais, near the docks.  The marina is wonderful, small but well protected from wind, waves and tide, inexpensive and has all facilities including free wifi, free washing machine and dryer and ICE!!!  The two gentlemen who manage the marina, Eric and Jean-Marie are charming and extraordinarily helpful.

In the Rouen marina, mast still down.