We started building "Saul Nomad" in 2002. The Fit-out began in 2004. The ship was finished in 2005...and most of the shots below are as she is in 2012. We have become a sort of Boating Blog...a kind of World View from the Wheelhouse!  We have found a perfect spot in Aigues-Mortes, and there is currently not alot of cruising going on! However living on a boat, does not prevent you from having to work on your ship whenever it is needed.  You neglect your lady at your peril!  We offer furnished cabins throughout the year. Aigues-Mortes is a great place to base yourself to tour the Camargue.

The Camargue (Occitan: Camarga in classical norm or Camargo in Mistralian norm) is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône.

Administratively it lies within the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, the appropriately named "Mouths of the Rhône", and covers parts of the territory of the communes of Arles - the largest commune in Metropolitan France, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer - the second largest - and Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. A further expanse of marshy plain, the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), just to the west of the Petit Rhône, is in the département of Gard.

Camargue was designated a Ramsar site as a "Wetland of International Importance" on December 1, 1986.

We were recently delighted and honoured (chuffed as hell!) to spot a photo of  "Saul Nomad" on page 94 of Imray's 2008 print of the "Bristol Channel and Severn Cruising Guide". This cruising guide is updated every 15-20 years. The picture is circa 2003, during engine trials, and before our fitout at Tommy Nielsen's yard.  It is definitely before our "shakedown" cruise to Ilfracombe in July 2003, where the mast shown had a coming together with the Sharpness lifting bridge...and came off worst!  The current mast is a bit shorter, but more practical for loading.


(the above two images are Imray copyright.) Our hull fabricator, R.W. Davis & Son Ltd,  is on the immediate right.

If you have a query about any aspect of your boat, or any boating matter, please email us below. Please do not bang on about things, I am doing enough about that already!

Tel: 0033(0)689 18 58 42 email: viacamden@msn.com

Our free two cents worth will come back to you by return!

...of course with our usual accuracy, this one was taken in 2007! Apart from the sad departure of the jetski on the stern, "Saul Nomad" still looks the same.

The master Cabin in 2012.  This is exclusively reserved for paying guests. You can stay in this cabin for 100 Euros per night, with a seventh night free. We offer a "family rate" for our two cabins at 125 euros per night, with the seventh night free. In return we give you the run of the ship at her permanent mooring. It helps to pay a few bills, and we delight in looking after you!

...with ensuite shower and vacuum toilet.

The Mid-Ship Cabin with two bunks.  Reserved for visitors or crew.

...with it's adjoining shower bathroom.  It has a 300mm "Drench" shower head, for the afficionado's.

 ...But this is the story of our build!

Up to the 31st December 2011, we have had a total of 6,394,492 hits on this website since we started in 2002!  By the 26th January 2012, a further 150,677 of you have graced us with your presence! (Figures provided by our webhost, netbenefit.com.). The whole thing is a mystery to me, but a pleasure none the less!

Anyway, thanks everybody for your continuing interest in our humble offerings of "gateaux avec les fruits", and we hope that our ever more tedious..almost weekly additions.. are keeping you suitably entertained!  We have recently re-arranged our 2012 diary, so I hope that it is more coherent!  Politically I am liberal conservative who believes in the theories of Bastiat and his "Parable of the Broken Window", but I must confess that some of the other mob do get me going in a bad way!  In truth I am a very poor man's Jeremy Clarkson, but without the wit, the intelligence or the bombast... Consequently most of my pronouncements should be taken with a pinch of gazoil! 

So dear Dorothy, you must get ready to travel!  Gather "Toto" into your arms, it is going to be a while before you return to Kansas City!

CATCH OUR LATEST NEWS IN THE "2009 Let's Go for it" SECTION which leads to "2010 AND ALL THAT!"...SEE BOTTOM LEFT BUTTON.  This Section also includes our 2011 DIARY, which gives a glimpse of the life and times of un batard anglais in France.

"SAUL NOMAD" on her mooring at Saul Junction - September 2003

Winter 2004

Dad and I decided a number of years ago to build a 1920/1930's Style Barge to cruise the European Canal and River system. It would be suitable for commercial charter.  A proper working boat. We did not want to build a poor British Replica of a what is known as in the United Kingdom as a Dutch Barge. However sometimes rather rudely described by the Dutch as an "English Bucket"!  The Dutch profess to be guru's of barge building. It has enabled them to unload a shedload of Luxemotors with wafer thin metal hulls to the gullible brits. Original Luxemotors do look pretty, but you have to ask yourself one question. Why would such sharp traders as the Dutch want to sell them off, and build their own barges in Poland?  "Saul Nomad's" definitive layout would probably not pass the Dutch anorak test, but it had to be pleasing to my eye.  I joined the Barge Association, (The Barge Association -  www.barges.org ) and have found it most helpful. (It used to be called the D.B.A. and affectionately called the "Dim Buggers Association".) However their Magazine "The Blue Flag" is a font of information written by experienced Barge owners, and their website discussion pages - occasionally lively and always very interesting. Bargees like Barges are all fairly unique, and you can pick up many different "best" ideas - even on the same subject. I have soaked up as much as possible and come to my own conclusions. (Admittedly, and in retrospect, not always the correct ones!)  We have aimed at Continental cruising because we feel that it will be some years before many of the current improvements to our native system bear fruit.

Sadly my Father, George, passed away aged 93 on the 29th October 2003 after a short illness. He was a retired International Water Engineer, and had lived in Ramsey, Isle of Man, since 1987. In 1947 he was appointed Baghdad Water Engineer.  By the time he left ten years later Iraq had drinking water to European Standards.  Whatever happened during thirty five years of Baath socialist rule?  During his retirement he wrote "Basic Water Treatment" which is a world standard reference to supplying drinking water. A hot topic these days, and the text book is required reading on University Engineering courses world wide. It is a shame that he will not get to enjoy the fruits of our labour, because he loved travelling and particularly cruising somewhere warm!  Some of his last words to me were that although he would miss the cruising, it was possible that he would be somewhere warm!  (Highly unlikely in my opinion, but he had an excellent sense of humour!).  I am John (66), who spent 35 years in the fashion industry. I also spent many years pursuing my love of tennis.  My competitive club tennis has been replaced by what  Billie Jean King  once accurately described as  ""Hit and giggle". (Her standard of "Hit and Giggle" being at a slightly higher standard than my own !).    I have also been a semi-professional photographer since the age of twelve. I added "semi" because "professional" on it's own, implies that I have made a living at it!  Nowadays I do it because I love taking pictures, and digital photography gives you such an economical way to enjoy your hobby. I am fond of pets, and my current collection is a Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot which I have had for twenty seven years and two wild French cats who have adopted us. Sadly both my large Newfoundland Bitches (9  and 15 years) died in 2009.  "Bobo" the Parrot says "hello!", sings in tune to any song that takes her fancy, and noisily insists on sharing whatever you happen to be eating!