In Sillery

Canal de l’Aisne à la Marne

We had been told Sillery was a nice place to moor and so it is. The fees are very reasonable and include water and electricity. In fact, one of the other English boats we talked to thought that it would be a cheap place to live for the whole summer at €3.50 per day for a longer stay! Of course, it would be no good for a live-aboard winter mooring because they turn off the water and electricity, though you can winter your boat OK.

Here in Sillery there is an Ecomarché with fuel station only 200m away in one direction, a lovely bakery in the other, a post office, tabac, pharmacy, and one train and three buses to and from Reims per day. There is also a beautifully kept military cemetery on the edge of the village and 6 kms away is a windmill and a lighthouse – yes, we know it’s a strange thing to have a lighthouse so far inland but it was obviously somebody’s folly, and there is apparently a magnificent view from it!
There is also said to be an excellent restaurant close by but we just don’t seem to have had time to give it a try.

As we arrived we saw an English barge, Carolyn, moored on the outside of the pontoons and with their permission we hove to on the outside of them while we sussed the scene. Mike and Jill were very helpful and had been at Sillery long enough to know many of the other barges here. So it was only a matter of minutes before we were able to moor up to bollards on the quay between Varlyon (Lenny and Susie from Lancashire) and Carrie-anne (Jim and his wife from Yorkshire).

We had drinks with Mike and Jill and they had supper with us and we hope to meet up again in a month or so as we go opposite ways round the same circuit.

While Louise was away Alex was invited to supper by a lovely South African couple, Roy and Avril (Summertime V) and he helped Roy change his engine oil the next day. He also shared drinks with Andy and Claire (Albertine) on a couple of nights and with Jeff and Jane on Whisper 1700. So together with completing the list of to do jobs he had compiled, he was kept busy and entertained for the whole week.

Louise’s trip to the UK went well and she was returning with an extra suitcase full of things only the UK seems able to produce. At the same time, sister Julia was taking a night Eurotunnel train and was due to arrive at around 9 am. Alex had barely finished breakfast at 8.30 when Julia’s partner Steve appeared.

The timing of their visit was fortuitous as July 14th is Bastille Day, and there are no local trains or buses so Louise’s journey back to the boat from Reims was going to be tricky. As it turned out, having deposited Julia plus carers Tina and Lucy at their Campanile hotel, Steve and Alex were able to pick Louise up from the TGV station.

The weather was lovely and we all sat under the trees beside the mooring. Alex then found, on inspection, that his davit, primarily built for hoisting the inflatable off and on Riccall, did not go far enough over the quay to safely be used to hoist Julia aboard. So it was out with all the gear – make a new mounting position and weld it all into place for the next day.

After a trip round Reims cathedral, SPECTACULAR, and a quick bite in a McDonald’s (unspectacular) we all returned to Riccall to test the davit. It worked fine, and we all had supper on the back deck in the evening sunshine. Julia was so happy with it she asked for a repeat lift, plus a short cruise the next day.

As we left for our short trip, we were slightly concerned that our place may be bagged by another boat while we were away, so we talked to our English neighbours Jane and Jeff who kindly agreed to sling a rope of ours, with a 20 litre container attached, across our mooring to prevent anyone coming in.

Jeff then cheekily asked if their visitors could come with us! Alex, taken by surprise, agreed, but later made it clear that as it was our family outing, the friends would have to keep themselves to themselves in the well deck!

The trip was up the canal, through two locks, turn round and back again (about 2 hours). All went well till the turn-round which in itself was OK but when the boat behind us entered the lock to follow us up, the gates jammed and they had to call VNF to help. Nothing in boating is ever simple! Meanwhile two other boats had appeared behind us and were also waiting to lock down.

Louise sussed the scene at the lock (as we had a slight time pressure to consider with Julia’s planned departure time) and informed the little Dutch sailing boat immediately behind us that we were heading back to our mooring in Sillery, but that there was enough room for them there too and we would make room in the locks for them to come down with us.

This we did, but when we got to the moorings and Alex was performing the tricky manoeuvre amongst all the tupperware boats, to get back into our slot, this bloody little sailing boat went weaving round our stern, close as you like, at high speed, to get into a space opposite. I mean, how unnecessary was that? There were plenty of spaces and no time pressure for him. Alex nearly jumped out of his skin when the boat appeared in his line of vision, especially as, when you’re concentrating on missing all the moored craft, the last thing you want is to have a gnat buzzing around your stern end!

Our two extra guests said how nice the trip had been because they’d had such a good vantage point from the deck of Riccall, and it does make a huge difference on canals when you can see over the banks! They very kindly gave us two bottles of wine as a thank you.

So we had a very late lunch, back under the shade of the trees and then Julia et al set off back to England.

We took Friday off to get ourselves organised for travel once more, and had planned to set off for Reims on Saturday, but the morning was cold, wet and very windy so we decided to stay another night. We also looked once again at our software program for our trip to the Canal de Midi and decided that because we have had to meander slowly for the last month or so, to ensure Louise could get back to Paris for her flight, time is now seriously short to do what we would need to do at the snail’s pace we prefer. So we have had a major re-think and have decided to defer the south of France until next year and stay on the canals of the north-east for the rest of this year.

Actually changing the whole direction of our plans at a moment’s notice is one of the absolute beauties of what we are doing. It really adds to the sense of freedom. (The cost at nearly a thousand euros for the 6-month winter mooring in Toulouse had nothing to do with it of course!)