Port aux Cerises to Samois-sur-Seine

Some days you have a plan and everything goes beautifully. Other days you have a plan and everything goes pear shaped. On some, very lucky days you have a plan that goes pear shaped but the end result is even better than you hoped for. That was today.

Yesterday we stayed in Port aux Cerises. It is lovely, set in a huge and beautiful park with lots of things to do and has all the amenities you need. I managed to get some work done and do the washing and even managed a run, which I sorely needed. It was a busy and productive day. (Review of Port aux Cerises at the bottom of this page).

I slept very well and we set off around 9.30 this morning (4th May 2023) in bright sunshine, aiming for the town of Melun, known for its excellent Brie cheese.

At our first lock, Evry, we were told to proceed. The light to the lock was green but we saw a big barge coming up behind us. We decided to let it pass us as it's much more pleasant to be behind a barge than ahead of it in a lock. This is because as the lock gates open to raise you within the lock there is a huge influx of water. As you get further away from the incoming deluge you feel its effects less, important with a light boat like ours. Having a barge sufficiently ahead of you can further muffle the effects of the incoming flood.  On the downside, their engines kick up a lot of water themselves so it's important to keep your distance.

As the barge entered the lock the light changed to red. We called the lock keeper. He said he was preparing the second lock chamber for us. Although we had to wait a few minutes extra this was made up for as we had the lock to ourselves, so no backwash from a massive peniche. All in all it took around 30 minutes from calling the lockkeeper to exiting the lock.

We carried on up the river. When it got to lunchtime I decided to serve some swanky slices of pork pie (probably has an equally swanky French name) that we bought yesterday.  Big chunks of pork, soft pastry, even the jelly was golden and edible. Melton Mowbray should look to its crown.

The next lock, no. 7 de Coudray was very deep, over 3 metres to rise up. The walls were covered in slime which we did our best not to touch. I always wear gloves (fingerless). It's amazing how easy it is to get the gunge under your nails. It looks more disgusting than it is, it's brown and green and nasty looking, ugh, but actually it's just water weeds and slimy spongy creatures. If the colours were prettier people would make excursions just to see it.

What should have been our final lock, Ecluse Vives Eaux, was very easy. Again it was slimy and quite deep but we were in and out in 25 minutes.

This took us to Melun.  The guides said we could moor at a free wall by the bridge, or in a marina. The bridge area was very exposed and busy. If we'd stayed there the wash from passing barges would have got very tedious very quickly and possibly could be dangerous.  We continued but the marinas either didn't exist or were closed.  We weren't too bothered at this stage as it wasn't yet 4.30.

By 5pm we decided it was time for a snack. This isn't pure self indulgence. I read somewhere (on the internet so it must be true) that 95% of arguments are caused because people are hungry. We'd bought some prawns yesterday for just this eventuality. I made a sauce from ketchup and French mustard, surprisingly good I have to say. This meant that we were both in a calm and equable mood.

We continued upriver. No sign of anywhere to moor. Another lock, Ecluse Cave, came into view. We called the lock keeper for permission to enter. 'Pas de probleme' was the reply. As the light turned green we saw a barge, Girona, coming up behind us very slowly. We decided to let her enter the lock first and informed the lock keeper. When we followed her in we saw that she hadn't secured to the side of the lock and the way she was positioned meant that we couldn't access the ladder at the side of the lock to hold ourselves in position when the waters started to rush in. Very inconsiderate.

As we rose Girona moved forward. If she only could have done that when we entered the lock it would have made our lives a lot easier.

Sensing that I was getting irritable again I made a cup of tea, and we finished off the last of the chocs that lovely Lucy bought us. By now it was getting on for 6pm and we both were ready to stop.  We plodded upriver and turned right at Ile les Barbiers by Samois-sur-Seine. The French Waterways website promised moorings with water and electricity. All we could see were barges and abandoned boats along the riverbank. Past the barges was an old steel sailing yacht, another broken dream, the mast secured on the deck. We decided to raft up against it. A man came over, at first he said we couldn't moor there, then he said we could and helped us tie up. His wallet fell out of his pocket and nearly fell in the river. That would have been awkward.

We tied some extra ropes to the bank and then went for a walk to explore the town. As we proceeded along the quayside we saw the official moorings, sure enough they had electricity and several motorboats were taking advantage of this. We briefly considered moving but couldn't be bothered as our mooring seemed as secure and would be quieter.

We turned into one of the small streets off the quay. OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PLACE!!! It's absolutely stunning, old cobbled streets, beautiful houses, historic stuff left right and centre, all under a rising full moon. Wisteria blooming and scenting the air, birds singing, you name it. Wow.

We got some dinner in a restaurant. To tell the truth it was a bit rubbish, my chicken was cold and my dauphinoise potatoes were a bit too hot, like they'd been microwaved, but the cream and mushroom sauce was lovely.  The restaurant was busy, full of people chatting. A group of guys stood outside smoking and having a beer and the second hand smoke really hit the nostalgia/being abroad bit of my brain. Memorable for the wrong reasons but memorable nonetheless.

The walk home was even lovelier than the way there as it was downhill (the walk up to the town centre was pretty steep). By now it was getting dark. The whole thing was unbelievably wonderful - the beautiful buildings, the river, the moon peeping through the trees reflecting in the river, the smell of flowers and trees and water, the sound of the birds' evening chorus, the joy of walking after sitting down all day, a full stomach and the one I love by my side. It doesn't get much better, does it?

Marina review for Port aux Cerises (no review for Samois-sur-Seine as we didn't stay in a marina/halte fluviale)

Amenities: The clean and spacious unisex shower block (no stray urinals here) has 3 showers, two standard and one disabled. You have to push a button for a timed amount of water and turn the knob to adjust the temperature. Lots of hot water. The showers are pretty clean, but I still wanted to wear flip flops in there.

There are 3 toilets, two standard and one for disabled people. There is no toilet paper, but there's a sign saying that they had so much trouble with people stealing it that they no longer supply it. Forewarned is forearmed.

There are 2 washing machines and 2 dryers. You put your laundry into the machine and then go into the capitanerie and pay and they start the machine for you. My laundry was damp at the end of the drying cycle but the young woman in the office set it going for a second cycle, no quibbling and no extra payment.

There is a sink for washing clothes etc

There are electrical sockets.

All in all very well set up.

Marina office, boatyard and staff:  The staff in the marina office were extremely helpful and very pleasant to deal with. I didn't see a boatyard.

Overall impression: This is a lovely marina. It is as quiet and peaceful as Port Ilon but much better equipped and in nicer surroundings. There are a lot of liveaboard people which gives a nice, settled feeling (nice to see tubs of strawberries growing beside the boats).

It sits next to a huge park which has all sorts of activities especially for children. Within 5 minutes walk there is a corner shop selling 6x1 litre packs of water for a similar price to the hypermarkets, an Italian restaurant where we got amazing pizzas to take away more or less next to it and a takeaway chicken shop which we didn't try but had a long queue, so it must be popular.

If you cross the bridge and walk for about 15 minutes there is a Super U, but it wasn't as big as some I've seen. The weather is warming up and I'd hoped to buy a skirt or some lightweight trousers but they didn't have any clothing apart from sun hats.

There is a train station not far from the Super U but I didn't check routes. I guess it probably goes to Paris!

Port aux Cerises is a brilliant place to stop to recover from the stress and sensory overload of crossing Paris in a small boat. I'd happily have stayed longer (but having seen Samois-sur-Seine I'm glad I didn't).