Logbook and Photos

Update 12 - Summer Update 2006 from Paris

(Reprint of our recent newsletter sent to family and friends)

Hello all, from the heart of Paris. We hope this quick update finds you and your loved ones well and enjoying the summer with friends and family. We wanted to get an update out, likely our last from aboard TIOGA, before we get too busy winding down our trip and are sucked into the vortex of rapid change, which will ultimately plop us back in Alberta in December just in time for a Canadian winter - that ought to be a shock on the system!

Our website is reasonably up to date with two new logs that take us all the way from Italy's Sicily in late April to Sardinia, Corsica, & then to the south coast of France where we make land fall just in time for some racing action in Monaco in mid-May. We then traverse westerly along the coast past places like Nice, Antibes, St Tropez, Cannes, and Marseille to the mouth of the mighty Rhône River, where our sailing adventures end and our river and canal cruising experiences begin. Amid a relentless wind that won't quit, we manage to get our mast down and prepare the boat for the journey up the Rhône and an intermediate August destination of Paris (yes, we made it!). Getting underway in early June, our route takes us through wonderful places like Avignon, Lyon, Dijon, and the wine country of the Rhone and Burgundy valleys.

One of the highlights for us lately has been a bicycle for each, which has really extended our range and enhanced our experiences on land. France has some really nice paved paths for biking and the canals often have a trail right alongside. Even here in Paris, we can cover miles effortlessly by bike soaking in the sights and the ambiance and not wearing ourselves out.

In a few days, we will get underway again and begin the last portion of our trip, being the canals and rivers between Paris and Amsterdam. We have lots of time with over 6 weeks remaining. Just north of here are the battlefields of WWI and WWII, which we will want to see before crossing into Belgium. In mid-September, Chris' mom flies into Amsterdam and joins us on board for our final two-weeks, and then we have the early October task of emptying TIOGA of our belongings and getting them in a container bound for Canada. TIOGA will be prepped for sale in Holland or perhaps England, or maybe we'll come back to her for summer 2007 vacation! As it looks now, we'll spend the rest of October and November visiting relatives and friends in both Holland and England before flying home.

Well, that's all the news from this end. Check out our latest logs if you have time. Our next and final update will likely come from back in Canada once we settle in.

Until then, all our best,

Chris, Sheila, Joel & Gerrit Richards

S/V TIOGA

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