The Maria

The Maria The Maria is a 82 ft Luxemotor, which is a Dutch type barge, built for the first time in the early 1920s.

The Maria is captained by Drew Hammond who offers charter trips in Europe every summer. Cruising aboard the Maria offers a unique opportunity to experience the local culture, and landscape. Drift gently through the countryside, visiting local art galleries, roadside cafés, castles and museums. Cycle through towns or walk along the tow path of Hollands scenic waterways while enjoying the fresh air and slower pace of life.

12/05/2019

Looking for the past photos of our trips.

Drew and I decide to take a quick cruise before we head back to the States on the 19th. The boat looks great. We had pl...
14/06/2018

Drew and I decide to take a quick cruise before we head back to the States on the 19th. The boat looks great. We had plenty of friends to gather with and enjoy some nibbles and wine in the evenings.

Drew’s lovely photo of sunset in the pound. Clouds continue to bring on a show!
12/06/2018

Drew’s lovely photo of sunset in the pound. Clouds continue to bring on a show!

We had some dramatic weather on our way to the L’Abbeye de Cîteaux. Never felt a drop and enjoyed the biking!
08/06/2018

We had some dramatic weather on our way to the L’Abbeye de Cîteaux. Never felt a drop and enjoyed the biking!

Drew and I biked up the the L’Abbaye de Citeaux. Originally commissioned in 1098 on St Benedict’s Day. The location was ...
08/06/2018

Drew and I biked up the the L’Abbaye de Citeaux. Originally commissioned in 1098 on St Benedict’s Day. The location was swampy and fit their need to live in a difficult and unfriendly location to add to their “work for God”. Cîteaux actually means reeds as the whole swamp was full of reeds. At its height it had 500 houses. The French Revolution, the Hundred Years War were the ones that did the most damage. By the 1800’s it was no longer an abbeye, but was taken over by a stone company and the stone buildings were dismantled. In 1898, a small sect of the monks - the Trappists were an off shoot who fled to Switzerland to avoid persecution - returned to L’Abbeye de Cîteaux and are still there working and rebuilding. They have hundreds of monasteries over much of the world.

The painting of the Maria is gaining everyday - that it doesn’t rain! She is looking so good.
21/05/2018

The painting of the Maria is gaining everyday - that it doesn’t rain! She is looking so good.

Finally have some gorgeous weather and we are making headway on sanding and painting! And one really nice photo from the...
19/05/2018

Finally have some gorgeous weather and we are making headway on sanding and painting! And one really nice photo from the Bridge of St Jean de Losne.

Greeting from Port sur Saone!We arrived in Toul on the 16th after a 12 hour day of traveling from the airport through Pa...
01/05/2018

Greeting from Port sur Saone!

We arrived in Toul on the 16th after a 12 hour day of traveling from the airport through Paris to Toul. The rail system was on strike so only certain trains were available. It took us 2.5 hours by bus to get into Paris from Charles de Gaul. Usually its a 20 - 30 minute train ride. The highways were jammed with buses, trucks and people in cars trying to get somewhere. Once we got on the TGV (fast train) things went a little quicker. Usually we only have 15 - 45 minutes between trains. Because of the strike we had a 2 - 4 hour wait.

We had planned on leaving on the 18th but as usual not everything goes as planned. I spent a couple of days changing our water pump and a couple of valves that didn’t survive the couple of weeks of -10C winter. It was just a matter of sourcing the pump and changing out the valves. Fortunately I was able to get an identical pump and things matched right up. There were 2 other boats with folks from South Africa and England when we arrived. The early evening wine parties and socializing was fun and a respite from our chores.

The 23rd of April found us underway and we headed up the Moselle to enter the Canal de Vosges which would carry us south. It joins the Petite Saone and further south becomes the Saone River that will carry us down to Saint Jean de Losne; our final destination this season. It’s a 310km trip with 113 locks along the way - and that is a ton of locks. We spent the first 4 days climbing (86km and 50 locks) out of the Moselle watershed and another 4 days (61 kms and 46 locks) descending down into the upper reaches of the Saone valley. Doing that many locks is time consuming yet the rural beauty of the French countryside can’t be beat. You just have to sit back and relax and work your way through them. Jude did some refinishing on the wooden hatches and wheelhouse (sanding and oiling) while helping me in the locks when I needed it. Once into the Saone valley distances between the locks stretch out further the more you go south. We were able to cover more distance.

Today is May 1st, Kings Day in France, hence a national holiday. Everything has stopped, families are out walking along the canal, playing soccer, bocci, fishing and gathering at each others houses for a meal. We forgot all about the holiday and were all ready to leave first thing in the morning. Oh well, time to slow down and do what the French do so well, take some time off and just relax. Our day was spent riding along the canal and across the open fields and woodlands to the next town to check out a rebuilt chateau. We were on a bike and walking trail beside the river trail enjoying the sites. Nothing was open and we spent the day just wandering here and there taking it all in. Enjoying a bottle of wine and light dinner on the deck in the long afternoon sun topped off such a lovely day.

Most evenings we either go for a bike ride or a relaxing walk. We’ve tried to keep our cruising to no more than 5 hours a day. Moving the boat like we are doing can seem like a lot of work after a few days. We try to make sure we have time for a bike ride or walk at the end of a day’s cruise. Most days have been either bluebird days or light puffy clouds hanging in the air. There have been a couple of days where we got some rain but nothing to really keep us from getting off the boat.

This is an educational piece to let everyone know that "mooning has been around for centuries!
14/11/2017

This is an educational piece to let everyone know that "mooning has been around for centuries!

Karen, Flo, Drew and I took a train to Metz to walk around this lovely walled city.
14/11/2017

Karen, Flo, Drew and I took a train to Metz to walk around this lovely walled city.

Drew and Karen found a deer swimming in the canal, unable to climb out. They rescued her with ropes. We covered her with...
01/11/2017

Drew and Karen found a deer swimming in the canal, unable to climb out. They rescued her with ropes. We covered her with towels and surrounded her trying to give her some warmth. In about 30 minutes she was able to stand and slowly walk back into the woods. Our guess is she would have not survived another 30-60 minutes. We were so stoked to bring her back!

Photos from the UNESCO Volklingen Steel plant. It started soon after the Bessemer steel making process was invented. Ver...
22/10/2017

Photos from the UNESCO Volklingen Steel plant. It started soon after the Bessemer steel making process was invented. Very instrumental in WWI and extremely important during WWII. Makes one wonder why it wasn't bombed at some point. The Jews were interned at a camp and used as forced labor. This point is only discreetly mentioned in their interpretation. The structure is mindbloggling in its structural dimension. HUGE

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