June 7, 2026
Over the past few days, I have been working on some boat projects, riding around Western France and visiting a few towns and cities.
I have mentioned that I have been losing hydraulic fluid in my stabilizers, and it now appears that my problem is self inflicted. The hydraulic system does use a lot of fluid and it has a filter, that probably should be changed pretty regularly, but I have NEVER changed that filter. It’s a closed system and unlike a diesel engine, the fluid can go for a very, very long time. It now appears to this novice that the same cannot be said for the filters. There appears to be a hole in my filter (which hasn’t been changed in at least 8 years) and this may be the bulk of my problem.
Obtaining a filter has been a bit of a hassle as well, learning where distributors are, figuring out ordering processes and so forth. It has been a bit exhausting, but I have ordered two filters and am hoping they will be delivered within a week. There is no assurance of that either, and no tracking number from the vendor. I used the assistance of Franck at UShip Deauville because I needed a business number to put in an order (??) with Donaldson (the filter manufacturer). A pain, but Franck was very helpful.
I then realized that I was out of propane. That is another story . . . everything in North America is, well, North American and everything in the UK is British and of course France needs to be different, its all French. After a lot of messing about and even using the help of a very helpful asissstant and Bricolage (Edouard) and a service person (YachtGuard) I finally got a gas bottle, the right hose, connected it, repaired the gas sensor and can cook again. It felt like I was being productive, even though these are simple problems.
There was a plan to run about Normandy over the weekend, and so I selected a car from EuropCar and reserved it. Then, Friday morning, as I was about to ride my bike to the location (in Le Havre) to pick up the car, they emailed me to tell me the reservation was cancelled!!!. To say I was upset would be an understatement. Don’t ever rent from EuropCar!!
In the end I was able to find a car just 500m from the boat. Who knew that Carrefour (the grocer) rented cars? They do and despite some hurdles (international driver’s license, a lot of security checks, etc) I was able to get a car for three days at a much more reasonable rate and without the riding all the way to Le Havre.
That led to a trip to Honfleur for dinner on Friday night. Honfleur is a very cute little town about 20km from Deauville and it has a small port, cobblestone streets and a lot of tourists. Worth the visit. The restaurant I ate at was SaQuaNa and the food was interesting. I am no foodie so I can’t say much more than that but it was tasty and plentiful and not your average fare.
On Saturday I drove to Rouen. Although I have ordered new hydraulic oil filters for the stabilizers, there was one hydraulic shop open on Saturday morning so I thought I would try to get one immediately to get back to testing the hydraulics. After a long search, they didn’t have the filter that I needed and so that was a wasted effort.
Still, Rouen has a lot to see. The city was the place of death for Joan of Arc and they play it up quite a bit. The city is covered in cobblestone streets and beautiful old buildings. It’s also covered in tourists. Crazy, crazy numbers of people and it’s only the first week of June.
Perhaps the most amazing thing in the city was the Saint Ouen Abbey Church. The interior was stunningly beautiful. The exterior of the Notre-Dame is perhaps more amazing, but the interior of the Notre-Dame was not very appealing (blame the bombs during WWII if you want to cast dispersion!)
- Musee des Beaux Arts – Art Gallery
- Saint Ouen Abbey Church
- Le Gros Horlage
- Cathedrale Notre-Dame du Rouen
- Musée Le Secq des Tournelles – Museum of wrought Iron
- The Historial Jeanne d’Arc (a multimedia exhibition/show)
- Finally, the church and statue commemorating the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.
It was a lot to see in a short period, but well worth the visit (and overnight stay).
[I noted a painting at the Musee des Beaux Arts of Saint Matthew teaching and he was writing in Arabic. Again, we miss these details in our understanding of history. I didn’t take a photo of that image but it was from the 1500’s I believe.]
I have placed some photos below.
The above are from a church in Honfleur. (Eglise Catholique Saint-Leonard) and my French is too weak to have deciphered them at the time, but they show historical paintings or other art with black Jesus. This is a particular interest of mine (how did we mess up the messaging and how badly did we mess it up?) The transition occurred sometime in the early 1400, around 1430)
These are from the Saint-Ouen Abbey Church
From the Cathedral Notre-Dame, the external craftsmanship is stunning. The inside is clearly still trying to recover from the bomb damage in 1944.
From the spot where Joan of Arc was burned (supposedly at the spot of that statue) and the beautiful stained glass in the church marking that spot.
I finished off my day (7th) with a bike ride to Cabourg and back to the boat (50k) then drove back to Cabourg for dinner at an Italian restaurant. The veal was mediocre at best but the pasta was great.
A good weekend overall.