July 2024 – Part 1 (1st to 15th)
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The very first few days of July and we were still in Nancy, moored with Csavargo and enjoying time with Rachel and Janos – a meal out at Nonnas, a meal together on Shensi and a meal together on Csavargo. Good food, drinks and excellent company, with lots to catch up on after so long.
Unfortunately for the last several days I hadn’t been well (breathing problems), and then Nicki fell in the supermarket and mucked up her knee so she was out of action for a while. Still, we had previously managed a visit into the town before things got too bad, so we didn’t miss out on too much.
On our final evening in Nancy, Otium arrived with David, Wendy and, of course, Monty – lovely to see them again after so long. Rachel, Janos, Wendy and David all went out for a meal later (I still wasn’t feeling well, so we ducked out), and they stopped off to see the light show in Place Stanislas, something that we had been intending to do but just not got round to it. Still, courtesy of Rachel, here are a few photos of what we missed, so maybe when we visit again we’ll manage a viewing.
Anyway, waking on 4th July (both the UK general election date, and American Independence Day) we waved Csavargo off on the next leg of their journey, and then readied ourselves to move on in the direction of Metz, merging from the Canal de la Marne au Rhin onto the Moselle river. Three and a half hours later saw us turn onto a diversion canal to a halte fluvial on a small island, with a lovely walk around a fishing lake within the island.
We decided to stay two nights there, and the weather was lovely again. Nicki made a dog walk on our first evening, and came back with a tick attached to her stomach. Yuk.
Moving on again, we made a short journey to our next stop at a sidearm of the Moselle at Pont-à-Mousson, spending a pleasant night before heading off in the morning in beautiful sunshine.
The next day took us just a little further along the Moselle river until we found a place at Malzieres to stop for the night. By now I was feeling decidedly poorly, so we had agreed to get to Thionville the following day and arrange to see a doctor.
Leaving Malzieres just after 9 am, we arrived at Thionville and found a nice little mooring near the lock at the end of a few what-looked-like long-term commercial barges.
Once we were settled in we walked into the town to organise a medical visit somewhere, anywhere, only to be advised by the local Tourist Office that we wouldn’t get an appointment with a local doctor (they only see registered patients) and that they absolutely wouldn’t recommend visiting the town hospital. Instead they suggested going to Luxembourg for treatment.
Off again in the morning, we made a five hour cruise to the only Port de Plaisance (Port de Schwebsingen) available, just outside of the city of Luxembourg, and secured ourselves a lovely mooring along the visitor pontoon.
Being later in the day, we delayed a hospital visit till the next day and researched ways to travel to and from the city hospital, settling on hiring a car at the airport as the easiest option. (That way, I reasoned, I could hire it for a week and then return it to the airport when I dropped Nicki off there for her flight to the UK on 17th). Practicalities dealt with, we eventually drove to the hospital emergency unit and after the usual finance preliminaries I was taken in to speak with nurses, doctors and consultants, put on a nebuliser, bloods taken, wired up for an ECG and then sent off for a CT scan. Allen to be told some five or so hours later that they could find no lung infection (my personal diagnosis) – the nebuliser had however given me great relief and they were happy to send me off, clutching a prescription for various medications. All in all, a bit of result.
As we had the hire car for the week (a hybrid Corolla upgrade) we made full use of it, taking a few days to drive to the outskirts of the city of Luxembourg, using the city’s Park and Ride facility along with its free public transport system. Unusually for us, we decided to leave the dogs behind on the boat for the day for one of our visits, which meant we could take advantage of a few of the dog-free attractions, namely a ride on a tourist train to see all the main sights in and around the city and to visit the Bock Casements.
The packed tourist train made an almost hour long tour through the streets of the old town of Luxembourg, with lots of interesting little facts along the way.
A trip to the Bock Casements seemed to be a must, and we duly bought our tickets to wander round inside just some of the impressive 110 metres of defensive installations with its incredible views from the loopholes along the rockface. It was started in 1745 by the Austrians, and later became known as the “Gibraltar of the North”.
The remainder of the available time we wandered throughout some of the many and various areas within the city, which proved to be a really delightful and interesting place altogether although quite exhausting to cover it all off.
