Paddy's flyin !

Hello everyone.
Those of you who enjoyed 'Ireland to the Mediterranean Part 1' and 'Windmills and Wine' may enjoy this next post starting in 2 weeks time on the 22nd of September 2017.
During a superb lunch with Oliver, fellow TF member 'OMC' and his beautiful wife Pilou I explained our plans to them and they coaxed me to start this new thread, I checked with TF first to see if its acceptable subject matter as its a non boating article.
To explain, I've a son serving in the RAAF in Australia and as we've been messing around in boats this last couple of years spending the kids inheritance it was time to get my priority's in order.
It seemed a shame to whizz out to the other side of the world and back without seeing anything other than the inside of a Boeing so we booked a trip starting in Narbonne, France, stopping off in Singapore for a few days, then Canberra, the great barrier reef, the Whit Sunday islands (y'see there's just gotta be boats in it somewhere) Sydney, Hawaii, San Francisco, Miami, change flights in Lisbon Portugal, Barcelona and back to our cruiser 'Snow Mouse' moored in Narbonne.
I plan to use a similar format to the previous posts with lots of photo's and information I can pick up along the way. As before the idea is that people who don't normally have the possibility for various reasons to be able to see and learn from our experiences.
You will be welcome to come and join us when Paddy's flyin !

Of course as were on the move the posts will depend on Wi-Fi access.

Looking forward to reading your posts.

Thanks Steve, will do my best for you.

Just before we head off on our trip to Australia and back the towpath telegraph alerted us to an approaching commercial barge, called a peniche in France.
The barge was en route from Lyon to Port La Nouvelle to promote commercial use of the waterways it was carrying a 14 tonne transformer. The normal carrying capacity of this type is 350 tonnes replacing 16 25 tonne 18 wheelers.
Unfortunately due to the Waterways authorities lack of investment in keeping the canal cleaned out this one embarrassingly ran aground.
Many telephone calls, a long rope and big tractor soon had him on his way again. Apologies for the photo, it was taken from a phone while I was chatting to the skipper of the barge.
My interest is simply by promoting barge traffic because apart from being eco and cost effective their passage up and down the canals scours them and keeps them open for our use.


Here at the moment the vineyards are going flat out with the grape harvest, called 'The Vidange' and there are signs warning of slow tractors and grape juice on the roads.
Sorry to disappoint you if you thought attractive dusky maidens picked the grapes, those days are long gone.
The photo's show one of the specialist machines that harvest the grapes, two vertical brushes(like a car wash) turning opposite to the direction of travel brush the grapes out and away from the vine where they are cut by a moving row of vertical teeth and carried up into a hopper. The machine empties the hopper when full into a trailer for transport to the winery.


Photo 1, Ooops ! turn the photo. This shows the barge in the unique oval shaped lock on the canal du Robine, en route to port la Nouvelle.


Photo 2, Barge stuck on a sandbank.


3, Ex working barge, now privately owned getting a paint job, it takes over 45 gallons to paint the outside of one of these.


4,Grape harvesting machine.


4, Warning sign for the grape harvest.


6,7,8 Grape harvester, look at the rear of the harvester and through the dust cloud you can see the two vertical rows of cutting teeth.


9, Small narrow tractors are used because they can pass between the vines when using other implements.

Following on from the previous post I have attached a map to follow the commercial barges route. The small cross on the Med coastline is Port La Nouvelle, the barges destination.


For those who've never seen the Mediterranean sea I've also attached a photo, if you click on the photo to enlarge it you can just see a fine dark shadow on the horizon which is the Pyrenees mountain range dividing France from Spain.

Steve did you make any of that equipment that is in post #4. Steve was in the agriculture manufacturing business his business made pineapple pickers to sugar cane cutters.

Ok folks, hands up, I made a boo boo on the date ! the date we start off is actually the 26th of September. This has given me a couple of days extra to do some research.
When we began the planning, price was obviously a factor and when we tried to book through any French travel agency the flight costs were astronomical and all departed from Paris meaning a 2 hr flight up there from the South of France. That would mean flying back over where we'd left from equalling 4 hrs wasted flying time/cost and all the hassle.
That was a no no so we looked to an English company and damn me if they also didn't want us to fly from the South of France to London and then back South over the South of France to Singapore which seemed stupid so we insisted on a more direct flight. Through personal choice we will not fly on an Arab airline or stop in any Arab country. These travel agents work on commission so over an interview without coffee we found we could fly from Barcelona direct to Singapore cheaper.
That sorted we then had to arrange to get ourselves to Barcelona and the recently opened direct high speed rail link fit the bill perfectly which in turn led to some interesting discoveries which I'll explain in the next post.

Airlines just suit themselves. Is Barcelona>Singapore on SQ? Your view of certain airlines is spot on,Etihad narrowly escaped a bomb onboard out of Sydney in July.
We were Lauda enthusiasts until Austrian took them over and closed the Vienna-Sydney route. Fastest way to Europe, one quick stopover, no change of aircraft, even faster when Niki Lauda was Captain.

G'day Bruce.
We're using Singapore airlines from Barcelona, Singapore and the same to Canberra.
Sometimes the planners screw up a perfectly good route when they consolidate and exchange landing slots with other airline's.
Nicki would've been quick off the grid alright its a pity they were taken over.


We tried the Irish Farmers airlines, they said with all the PC equality that they were now obliged by the EU to employ blind pilots.
We asked how it worked and they said with all the new aircraft technology of automatic landings and automatic pilots everything went fine, so I asked what about taking off ?
Ah ! they said, we just leave the pilots door open.
Says I, what for ?
They said when he revs her up and heads off down the runway, halfway along he can hear the passengers in the back clicking the rosary beads and praying.
When the passengers start shouting in the back Ah for fecks sake we'll never make it !
He knows then he's very near the end and just pulls back on the stick and up they go !

Irish.

As always great stuff Mate. Look forward to your posts. Keep up the good work!

Cheers Mate.

H.

Great story about Irish Farmer Airlines! Qantas/Jetstar has ex Ryanair Alan Joyce as CEO for 5 years,this year he gets paid 21M! In fairness he turned it from near death to triple the share price,. even grounding the whole airline for a period, and restored it to good profits. He also has it supporting a certain controversial plebiscite/opinion survey/vote you`ll learn about when you arrive, but that`s another story.

irish rambler said:

g'day bruce.
We're using singapore airlines from barcelona, singapore and the same to canberra.
Sometimes the planners screw up a perfectly good route when they consolidate and exchange landing slots with other airline's.
Nicki would've been quick off the grid alright its a pity they were taken over.


We tried the irish farmers airlines, they said with all the pc equality that they were now obliged by the eu to employ blind pilots.
We asked how it worked and they said with all the new aircraft technology of automatic landings and automatic pilots everything went fine, so i asked what about taking off ?
Ah ! They said, we just leave the pilots door open.
Says i, what for ?
They said when he revs her up and heads off down the runway, halfway along he can hear the passengers in the back clicking the rosary beads and praying.
When the passengers start shouting in the back ah for fecks sake we'll never make it !
He knows then he's very near the end and just pulls back on the stick and up they go !

Click to expand...

lol

Hi Bruce.
The concept of a cheap and cheerful flying bus service started with a Mr Ryan who adapted the business model to what we now know as Ryanair. Michael o' Leary the present CEO worked as an accountant in Dublin in his office. Then went out on his own with newsagent/tobacco shops using the same business principles.
Mr Ryan took him back and when he started he wouldn't take a wage and opted for a share of the profits, the rest is history.
We're looking forward to our trip very much as I haven't seen my son for nearly 15 years as he was working in sandy places.

Were all boaty people but as I'm going to be using a train for the first part of our journey I thought a little background wouldn't help.
The first mechanical invention that's still with us is the wheel, it started a revolution, pardon the pun.
The first wheels were thought to originate 3,500 years BC and the first recorded wheel was of a Phoenician war chariot. Those early chariots had fixed axles and it wasn't really until the spreading Roman empire that their use became widespread.
The Romans modified this system and used fixed axles and greased hubs.
The Romans were the forerunners at building straight roads and they were built to take columns of legionnaires marching 3 abreast.
The carts/wagons using these roads formed ruts, if another gauge of wagon was used it would be in and out of the ruts and eventually break up so the standard gauge was here to stay.
The Romans had regular 'bus' routes around their cities using four wheel carts as well as for transporting goods. Their warehousing was called Loges and the people that worked in them were called Logisticians. On their main roads there were regulated stops just like today's motorways the intermediary stops were called Relais, here horses could be exchanged, meals supplied for marching men etc., the larger overnight stops were called Auberge, these had overnight accommodation, blacksmiths for repairs and stables for exchanging horses.
If there was no stream or river nearby for water they built an aqueduct to supply these Relais and Auberges.
This amount of movement around the Roman empire led to an industry of coach and wagon builders and much like today a general standard was agreed and the wagon/coach builders set up their jigs and equipment to work to this agreed standard
Much later when trams were invented the same wagon/coach building jigs were used to build them.
An Englishman called Robert Stephenson invented the steam engine train and the builders carried on using the same jigs to build wagons.
English rail way engineers designed the train system in America and a Mr Thomas Brassey was responsible for the French rail way system and they all used the same familiar gauge dating back to Roman times.
When man decided to conquer outer space the rocket boosters were built by Thiokol in Utah and were transported by train to Cape Canaveral and their size was dictated by the size of the Cascade tunnel on the railway which was only slightly larger than the standard railways gauge.
Without those rockets you would have no mobile phones and no GPS to guide you safely and its all down to ?


The standard gauge ?


It's 4'8''1/2''.


Why 4'8''1/2'' ?


It was determined by the width of a horses ass between the shafts of Roman war chariots.


This information and much more can be found in my little book called 'The Wolf's Lair' by Geoff Woolley.

I understand that me talking of this region means nothing to a person many miles away so I've some maps to help orientate you.
The Iberian land mass comprising of Spain and Portugal is joined to the greater land mass of Europe by a relatively narrow neck of land. The Pyrenees mountains form a barrier for most of its length, apart from narrow mountainous roads there's no passage except at the Northern end via Biarritz in France around to Santander in Spain.
At the Southern end of the Pyrenees the access is via Perpignan in France to La Junquera in Spain.
These two passages have motorway and rail links, recently on the Southern passage a high speed rail link has been opened slashing journey times by more than half and it this link we'll be using.


1, The first map gives you an idea of our position in the world.


2,This map shows the old coastal train route before the new high speed link was opened last year.
If you click on the map to enlarge it you will see the mountain range running North West and the little state of Andorra which you may have seen photo's and descriptions in the posts 'Windmills and Wine'.
Our journey will be from Narbonne to Barcelona.


3, This photo is of a French TGV, Train a Grand Vitesse. The fastest recorded speed for one of these trains is 357.2 Miles per hour and they regularly get up to 180- 200 Miles per hour on suitable track. The tracks are obviously specially made with gentle curves and gradients.


And the gauge ?


Yep you guessed it !


Its the width of a Roman horses ass !

A bit more information on trains, I'll explain as not everyone has the possibility to visit.
France has 2,647 kilometres of high speed TGV network, on t'other side of the border in Spain they have 3,100 kilometres built to our old familiar gauge.

There are 4 train gauges in Spain to complicate things.
The broad gauge system is mainly for freight at 5'5''1/2'' has 11,829 kilometres.
Metro lines have a gauge of 3'. 3 1/8'' of 1,926 kilometres of track, the small narrow gauge only has 28.4 kilometres.
Before the advent of the high speed link, trains travelled via the coastal route and stopped in Port Bou on the French border and there an engineering shop changed the axles on the train. This specialised operation was so slick and well organised it could be done at a slow walking speed.

The new Spanish trains now have dual gauge running gear.
The Spanish high speed trains are referred to as Renfe, short for Red Nacional de los Ferrocarrieres Espaniols. Sometimes they're also referred to as AVE meaning Alto Velocidad Espaniola, Ave also means bird in Spanish.
These luxury trains have conference carriages, video screens, music, buffet car and restaurant car with all facilities.

There was a bit of a political stalemate between the French and Spanish railway managements before the opening of the high speed link as the Spanish can operate cheaper than their opposite numbers in the French socialist system, finally the Spanish agreed to a cartel on prices to appease the French and allow the project to go forward.


The photo below is of a RENFE Spanish train with the Pyrenees mountain range in the background.

I`ve driven Paris to Lisbon overnighting in Burgos, crossing the Pyrenees was stunning, like being on top of the world. But do the trains to Barcelona use a tunnel, or series of tunnels?
We recently took the train from Frankfurt to Rotterdam,very quick, using a combination of German and French trains. You lose a day any time you fly, trains avoid that.

G'day Bruce.
I know Burgos well, very nice it is too. Trains in Germany are second only to the Swiss for timekeeping. Alles in Ordnung.


The trains on this new high speed line use an incline on either side of the Pyrenees and the tunnel at the summit is called 'The Pertuis Tunnel', named after the old nearby border crossing.
The older service around the coastline is still running and well worth the journey for the scenic beauty alone.

To help others who may not be world aware I've attached a map showing point to point from Barcelona to Singapore, aircraft obviously have to follow strict flightpaths so it would vary from the map shown.

1, World map.

2, Self explanatory.

3, This map would be more representative of an aircrafts flight path.

Here's a pic of the old coastal route from Narbonne to Barcelona.

So we cast off on our adventure leaving our 'Snow Mouse' in the early morning shadow.
All went well, on time etc. until we got into the train station, le Gare (lay Gar), time for a few quick photo's and then a security alert to evacuate the station, is this an omen ?


1, 'Snow Mouse' all secure while we head off 'down under'.


2, Narbonne Gare, scene of our early morning security evacuation.


3, Destination board, we got on the Madrid ATOCHA, stopping in Barcelona. These trains run a service from Lyon to Madrid 4 times daily.


4, For anyone buying a conventional ticket you must get it time/date stamped before entering the platform. It's called 'Composting' in France.


5,These are the local trains. Forgive me for simplifying things but many people have never visited France before and I'm trying to make it easy for them to get around if they visit in future.


6,This is our Renfe train approaching.
Our tickets were bought in advance online and don't need composting as the ticket inspector simply reads the barcode on your e ticket, we bought ours through a company called LOCO2.co.uk for the very keenest price.


A WORD OF WARNING.
These trains a very fast ! you need to be very careful, you could lean out of the window to kiss your girlfriend goodbye and if the train gives a bit of a jerk find yourself kissing a bullocks ass 20 miles away !


Seriously, they are extremely quiet and comfortable.

Irish me Mate.


The word of warning part had me rolling Mate.

Great info and photos. Thanks Irish.

You and your Lady have a great time and be safe Mate.

Cheers.

H.

Thanks for the photos and info! FYI, you can also walk over the Pyrenees, as I did two years ago while walking the Camino de Santiago from St Jean in France, to Santiago

Henri you know us Irish lads love a bit o craic and banter. PS For you non Irish the term craic refers to fun and laughter not the crap some people shove up their nose.


Foxtrot Charlie, I had to check your call sign as in the military there's a similar one which means go away in short jerky motions
Yes, I know the pilgrims walk, its called St Jacques D' Compostela.
The delicious shellfish dish Coquille St Jacques also takes it's name from the shell.
It's reputed to be where the remains of St John's brother Jacques were found in a cave in the mountains of Northern Spain beside the sea . Walking trails from all over Europe converge there, a person whose completed the walk carries a clamshell. Originally to be held for alms and second to signify they've completed the journey.
If I'm living and spared next year and you stick with the blogs we're planning on visiting one of the hostel places on our summer cruise up to Bordeaux next year.
Talking of Bordeaux, you remember last year we spoke of wine on our thread 'Windmills and Wine' and I mentioned that the vintners have to empty their storage to make way for the new crop.
Ah'm ver heppy to shay we supped sum of'th new shtuff n is ruddy gud sthuff !
Seriously the supermarkets run a 'Wine Fair' and we bought some 14 cases, purely in the interest of boat ballast you understand.
Most wines have a shelf life of 2 years so they're condemned already !
We also bought some special wines from the Macon region to lay down for a 5 or 6 years. I'm not sure they'll survive that long though because when the drinks in, the wits out and if were having a spree some night the cork could well be pulled long before 5 years.

We made it to Singapore, not at all bright eyed and bushy tailed after a 14 hour flight from Barcelona via Milan in Italy where the aircraft changed crews and got serviced, we had to stay on the plane while Luigi and his mates kicked the tyres checked the engine oil etc. before topping up with passengers for the overnight flight.
Unfortunately neither myself nor my wife Evelyne can sleep sitting upright and we're too tight fisted to pay for Premium economy of First class. Think of all that cruising money we'd be wasting. ?
I must say the Singaporean stewardesses are very efficient, friendly and down right gorgeous, they reminded me of the time I was here in another life full of testosterone on a 48 hr pass after spending 4 weeks in the jungle. Being a farmers boy and used to the ways of birds and animals and familiar with a 12 bore for putting meat on the table it gave me an edge, I came out of it unscathed, many didn't.


Enough of the war stories were out and about tomorrow for some photographs so you can share our joy to visit beautifully kept and sparkling clean Singapore.

Arriving in Barcelona we took the wrong train from the main station ! fortunately we realised our mistake and hopped off at the next station and caught the right one. I hope things go better from here on in ? We took a hotel to chill out and get in the holiday mood which meant a bit of a trek around the terminals to catch the shuttle bus. Barcelona El prat airport is very large and they're building on yet another terminal to cater for the flow of passengers.
We checked in for our Singapore airlines flight and after taking off the pilot told us we'd be going via Milan (Italy). The aircraft was spotless and the stewardesses both efficient and very pretty. A 2 hour stopover while we changed cabin crews and the aircraft was serviced, engine oil checked, tyres and toilets and off we flew this time direct to Singapore.
We can't sleep sitting up so we were pretty tired after a 14 hr flight, the first thing that hits you as you get off the aircraft is the humidity and heat and everything so spotlessly clean.
The ride into the city took us down the Changi road and in a copy of Hitler's autobahn concept, the central reservation of massive flower tubs can be removed in a time of conflict to be used as a fighter runway.

Modern day Singapore's roots date back to the late 1700's and early 1800's when the British navy were seeking to expand their empire and create safe repair and supply ports for its ships of the line. Meanwhile under the general protection of the British navy the British Honourable East India Company were also busy setting up trading posts around the region and of course the main tea and spice routes to India and China, this was called the maritime Silk Road.

The British appointed Stamford Raffles to be the founding governor of Singapore which is known locally as SP.
He'd previously served in Java and Bencoolen so he was familiar with the way of life here. He made a treaty with the locals and began to build schools and hospitals. SP has a terrific deep water port and a fort was built on the only hill in SP called Fort Canning for security.
Stamford Raffles banned slavery, gambling and drug trading on the island of SP, he was unpopular at the beginning as many people were making money from these nefarious activities and by the early 1800's he had transformed the island into a thriving trading post which continues to this very day.
Later knighted Sir Stamford Raffles he later returned to England and founded the Royal Zoological Society of London and the London Zoo.
Leaving behind a wonderful well structured city.
For anyone whose never been here before English is the main spoken language and spicy local food as well as traditional English food are to be found side by side.
The water is safe to drink and English electrical plugs are generally used, you just can't escape the British colonial feel. What also strikes you however is how pleasant, well mannered and helpful the local people are, as always no matter where YOU go manners are the key, from a shoeshine boy to a Maitre'd manners matter most in this very polite reminder of Britain's colonial past.


Money is commodity we're all familiar with and the agreeable terms for banking make SP a giant in world currency trading markets in this part of the world rivalling Hong Kong whose ratings have slipped since the British lease expired and the territory was released back to mainland China.

Following on from the previous post.
We took a water bus tour to show you some sights.


1, Everywhere you go there's an Irish pub.


2, Cead Mile Failte in Irish means 'A Hundred Thousand Welcomes'.


3,Colonial buildings, now a retail street which comes alive at night.


4, More colonial buildings.


5, Yet another street of pubs, restaurants and clubs for the young.


6, these two water taxi's are based loosely on the old Sampan style.


7, The skipper, all these taxi's are electrically driven to ease pollution.


8 A retired Sampan.


9, Self explanatory.


10, Traditional and modern buildings live side by side.

Singapore occupies 719.2 square kilometres so land here is very precious. There is no freehold property here everything is on 99 year lease from the government. SP is home to 5.7 million.


1, Banking makes money.


2, Stunning structure.


3,4,5, And your government tells you not to bank offshore while these guys are allowed to play fast and loose.


6, Entrance to Chinatown.


7,8,9,10 Chinatown.


p.s It's not only in France they eat frogs, here in Chinatown you can have them fried,boiled, grilled and in curry sauce. I'll give them a miss !

No visit to Singapore can be complete until you've had a Singapore Gin Sling.


The recipe is a tall glass with ice, a measure of dry gin, a measure of Cherry Brandy, a dash of lime and topped up with Soda, a cherry and slice of pineapple.
Make one for yourself but be warned, warm balmy evening, thirsty person, several Singapore gin slings slide down real easy = screwed up internal GPS for navigating home.

The local beer is 'Tiger beer' and a very nice refreshing beer it is, boy I bet you don't appreciate all the testing I have to do for you ! Hic !

Irish pubs everywhere??? Me kind of place Irish! Did you stop at a pub before you got on the train Mate? Well you got it right in the end that is the main thing Mate. Great stuff keep it coming Irish.

Taisteal sábháilte Mate!

For the non-Irish folks out there (Taisteal sábháilte)Means safe travel in Gaelic.

Cheers Mate.

H.

Glad you enjoyed Singapore. Redevelopment means you need to make an effort to find the old Singapore, and you certainly did. I like the Indian quarter as well as the old Chinatown part.
Singapore Airlines is a top class airline, it`s no surprise you were impressed. Aussies are used to long haul flights,it must be testing if you are not. As a camera buff, beware of the photography dealers on Orchard Rd, they can be very tricky.
From memory you can drink the tap water in Singapore unlike some other places. The Tiger beer is great,as you discovered, even safer to drink.
During WW2 a group of Aussie Commandos known as the Z Specials "sailed" from Australia to Singapore on an Asian style fishing boat(a single for anyone wondering) called the Krait, sneaked into the Harbour at night, using kayaks successfully mined some Japanese ships. They escaped, returning to Australia,the Krait is kept in the Maritime Museum in Sydney in the water. My late and ex father in law was in another Z Special force which operated behind Japanese lines in Malaya during WW2, he was one tough guy.
Canberra is going to be a surprise. It`s the capital city of Australia, situated half way between Sydney and Melbourne as a compromise as the 2 state capitals could not agree on one or other becoming the national capital. Spike Milligan once described the town of Woy Woy on the NSW central coast as "an above ground cemetery". Canberra is like that, beautifully "laid out" around man made Lake Burley Griffin(aka Lake Barely Tolerable). The National Parliament dominates. A visit to the War Memorial Museum is an absolute must, especially the "Last Post" ceremony at day`s end. Black Mountain is worth a visit too.