Port Ilon
Once we'd moored at Port Ilon and eaten our dinner we decided to go for a walk. It's an absolutely beautiful spot, calm clear lakes surrounded by forest, lots of birds, geese with their goslings, cormorants on the buoys, magical. We needed some exercise and the nearest village is about 2.5km away, alongside a quiet road. There wasn't much traffic and the few cars we saw veered well away from us.
The village seemed very quiet, just one corner shop open. We bought bread and dark chocolate and walked back. It's good to stretch your legs properly when you've been on a boat all day. It was so pleasant in Port Ilon that we decided we'd stay tomorrow as well.
When we woke up next morning it was bright and sunny. We decided to go for a run, and found a very pretty path between fields and another lake. I covered about 4.5km there and back, Igor went a bit further and found somewhere even more scenic and covered 5.55 km.
After this I had a shower and finally washed my hair, then ate breakfast and started my work. I wanted do the washing so wandered over to the Capitanerie around 12.30 to get tokens for the machines. Oops, closed from 12-3. Nothing must disturb the three hour lunch break I suppose.
Never mind, we had lunch and I finished my work and at 3.00 pm went and got the tokens. I also enquired about hiring bikes and, joy, they are free! I put my first lot of washing on, we collected bikes and set off to ride to the next bigger town, Lemay. We mentioned this to the guy we got the bikes from. 'But it's 10 km!' he said. We told him that was fine with us, we're so fit lol.
I'd pictured a nice gentle 10k cycling along flat tarmac. Oh no, that would be far too simple. Our route took us down bumpy stony footpaths and through fields. Then it started to rain, intermittently at first. We sheltered under a bridge. We were only half way there. Then there was a hill and a busy road. Our initial intention had been to go to Carrefour but I saw an Aldi, and, much to Igor's disappointment, we went there instead. Nowhere near as exciting but the thought of cycling in the rain for another 3 minutes was just too much for me.
The way back was much easier. We took the road and much of the route was downhill, except when it wasn't. The rain grew heavier. My hair was soaked, my glasses covered in water so I couldn't see. We passed fields of oilseed rape and I think the pollen mixed with the rainwater and my sweat, stinging my eyes. Eventually we got back to the marina. It was the sort of experience that's great fun - in retrospect. We covered 26 km. It's probably the longest cycle ride I've ever done.
Back at the marina I made dinner, finished the washing and had an earlyish night. In retrospect our route was maybe a little bit ambitious but at least we didn't get sunburn.
Next morning we made a slow start then cleaned the boat, filled the fuel tanks and set off for our next destination. Port St. Louis. As we were leaving a Finnish guy came and started chatting. He said that in his opinion Port Ilon is the nicest marina in this stretch of the Seine. He wasn't terribly complimentary about Port St Louis. We'll see. I'll let you know. In the meantime here are my impressions of Port Ilon:
Amenities: The amenities in Port Ilon are basic but entirely adequate. There is a unisex shower/toilet block. The most offputting thing in there was the urinal in the corner by the furthest shower with its 'funny' sign:
Maybe I've had a sheltered upbringing but this was a bit of a surprise. I've got nothing against mixed blocks in theory but it's always the details that get you.
As you walk into the shower area there is a big, disabled type cubicle with toilet, shower and the various seats etc that disabled people find helpful when showering. Next to that are two toilet cubicles, one lacking a seat. Then at the end are two showers, the last one opening out to the urinal area.
The showers have glass doors but the cubicles are so tiny that you can't open or close the shower doors with the main cubicle door closed as the coat hook gets in the way. In other words, to close the shower door you have to open the cubicle door.
There is very little room to dress/undress. If this was a women's shower block I'd have gone outside to get dressed but wouldn't feel comfortable doing this in a mixed block. I think men would feel the same way. The answer, of course, is to use the disabled shower as there is plenty of room. The only downside is that the shower head fitting is at waist height (as opposed to being at such a height/direction it sprayed me right on the head in the other two showers) but it's a flexible hose so easy enough to hold it where you want it.
The shower blocks aren't disgusting but they are definitely grubby. There are signs asking you to squeegee the floor once you've finished and when you do this you collect so much fluff that I concluded that the floors aren't cleaned very often.
There were no electric sockets for my hairdryer. Thank goodness it was sunny outside so my hair could dry naturally.
The laundry area has a washer (8kg), a dryer and a sink with draining board. You have to buy tokens at 4 euros each for the machines. The wash cycle I used was 2 hours, the dryer cycle took about 1 1/2 hours and the clothes came out clean and sweet smelling. The previous users had kindly cleaned the fluff filter on the dryer as requested so I did the same.
The pontoons have electricity but no water, and there is a fuel pump and pump out. We tried to get fuel, around 2.10 euros/litre, but the office, surprise surprise, was closed so we couldn't.
Bicycles are available free of charge from the Capitanerie. They are nice bikes and well maintained. You'd need to have your own helmet if you like to wear one.
Marina office, boatyard and staff: Everyone we dealt with at the Capitanerie was friendly and helpful. Some speak a bit of English but they preferred speaking French. We didn't use the boatyard but the Finnish chap we spoke to seemed very happy he'd overwintered here.
Overall impression: Port Ilon is a lovely spot with everything you need for a couple of days of relaxation. The surroundings are tranquil and beautiful and the more we explored the better it got. It's not swanky or glamourous but it's well worth visiting and, apparently, better than most mooring places nearby.
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