Destination Greece
I hope that “adventure” is one of the values we can nurture and promote as custodians of wooden boats. As the world becomes more and more risk adverse, and our weekly screen time reports go up and up, perhaps we can be advocates for stepping outside the commonplace and doing things a little differently. That’s why I LOVE this story!
Thanks to Ian Ward for this correspondence
On a recent trip to France, our river boat trip on the Charente was cancelled at the last moment due to flooding, so we took an option to travel on the Garonne river from Bordeaux instead. Along the way, we began an ascent of the very impressive 4 locks and aqueduct of Argen.
As we entered the lock, along with a Pinochet astern, a small dinghy, with two blokes and an outboard snuck into the back of the lock. As the water rushed in, we overheard an Aussie accent from the 18 footer and so started a discussion of his journey. Here they are crossing the Garonne at Argen just behind us!
Finn Davey from Newcastle and his father 80 yrs old from Darwin were heading on a trip of a lifetime. They had bought their Drascombe Lugger in Cork, Ireland, repaired it and made their way to Bordeaux in France. Their plan was to make their way along the Atlantic to Mediterranean canals to Marseilles, then to sail the Med to Monte Carlo, Italy and make their way across Italy by car, then head down the Agean to Croatia, destination Greece!
Further along the canal at the Blue Lake, we had tied up to the river bank for the evening. It was drinks time, when a bike came along the cycle path beside us with a friendly face and shout of g'day. Finn stopped for a beer and told us their story. He then cycled back to their car and took it and the bike back to the boat upstream to his father where they camped for the evening. Quite an effort to support their own travel, repeated each day.
They are now well on their way down the coast of Croatia, exploring some surprising inland waterways. You can follow them here: https://www.instagram.com/sailing.thom.tuff/