Loading the car
The day we had planned to leave, it froze the night before – 6 degrees. We had to leave with ice on the decks.
It was a pretty hard job to load the car. We had to throw out a lot of stuff or pass it on to others. We brought the boat to a separate jetty to load the car. This proved challenging and now the car is jam packed with two bikes on the back.
- The day we leave Chalon it freezes!
We had our last voyage together this week when we brought the boat to St Jean de Losne, where it will be put up for sale. This was a journey that we wanted to do on our own. It was a nostalgic last journey as we have managed the boat from Douai to Paris, then on to Strasbourg, Berlin and back to Chalon in France. A total of 3819 km, 445 locks,15 aqueducts,7 tunnels and 1 boat lift.
The day turned out to be very sunny but so cold. So cold in fact that when we went through the second lock the water was frozen and we had to break our way through ice.
Marie Ange waves good bye- note our empty mooring beside their boat
After a six and half hour trip, we arrived safely in St Jean de Losne and H2O, who will take on the sale of the boat from the 1/3/15.
Bernard Touzet a friend we have made in Chalon, happened to be working in St Jean that day. He is a marine engineering manager and he offered to give me a lift back to Chalon to collect the totally overloaded car.
I left St Jean with Bernard to collect the car and arrived back in St Jean at 7.00pm that night. A 12 hour day for both of us but it all went according to plan.
The next step is to clean the boat and leave it ready for sale.
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- Ice on the Saone- we had to break our way through 2km of ice
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- Final view of Chalon sur Saone as we go
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- Bernard coming to collect Adrian and give him a lift back to the car in Chalon
Adrian and Nuala's Gap Year 
Congratulations Adrian and Nuala! What an adventure, but it is in our blood as a race! Wherever in the world you go your will find some link with this green sod! Welcome back – but don’t lose the spirit of adventure! Mike
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Hi Mike good to hear from you. Yes we Irish have an untapped value. Everywhere we went and people found out we were Irish they assumed we wanted to be friendly and they all had a positive view of Ireland. Don’t worry we made the most of it.
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It must be very hard leaving what’s be become your home, and heading back to what will undoubtedly be a new challenge “Life after the freedom of Gap Year”! I’ll miss your updates – they have kept me informed and interested for the year. Bon Voyage!
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Hi Robert we will be keeping the blog up for the moment- I am not sure what to do with it. It has been a fantastic tool for keeping people informed. We are looking forward to the new challanges after the Gap Year. Thank you for being a faithful follower
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What a fantastic trip. You have been so generous in sharing your travels. Since we heard your first radio interview we have been following your blogs and have found them so inspirational and interesting. You have rekindled a desire to do the same. Aussi Bon Voyage!
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Hi Bryan go and do it. We have had a great adventure. We are happy to go home now and have new chalanges to enjoy and look forward too.
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Bon chance x
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Hi Deni Merci beaucoup for Chalon sur Saone. Tres bonne port du plaisance
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