Rethel to Sedan

Canal des Ardennes

We left Rethel after Will and Laura’s visit for an entirely uneventful day to Attigny, where we moored on the town moorings in a downpour at about 4 o’clock, the only boat there. However, at about 5.30 a Dutch cruiser joined us and on talking to them we learned that they also intended to tackle the flight of 27 locks the next day, but whereas we had been asked by the lockkeeper to start at 9 o’clock they were not going to begin before 9.30.

This suited us both as we agreed going through a chain of locks is quicker if you are alone than if you are going through each lock together. This is because you can’t start each lock operation until both of you have entered and both tied up etc, which takes nearly twice as long as if you were alone. So if water is not an issue (and at the moment there is masses) it is quicker alone. Sounds a bit strange, but it is true.

In this particular case there were a couple of hitches with the automatic operation of two locks and we had to radio VNF to fix the problems, but in the end we ascended the whole flight in just under 5 hours.

The Dutch cruiser behind us had rather more problems and it took them 8 hours! (The following day we learned one of the more troublesome locks was closed for repair, meaning that several of the descending boats had to wait at least another day.)

There was no room at the official town moorings at Le Chesne when we arrived but 100 metres further on we were able to moor on a disused quay, with the help of one Dutch guy who moved his cruiser forward the moment he saw us coming, to let us in. Our Dutch helpers (from the incident where Concordance had been such an arsehole) were also on hand, as was Englishman Richard from a moored Linssen boat who had seen us arrive, so with all their help and cooperation we were quickly tied up safely. Our faith in the help and camaraderie of other boaters is nearly restored!!

The town has a (poor) supermarket but we found a friendly internet café which let us use our own laptop to post the next blog (great) and a local ‘coiffure pour hommes’ where Alex had a ‘coupe ordinaire’ for €10.40. Despite the price Alex decided he just had to do it, even though it was around double the price of his English haircuts, but two-thirds of anything else he had seen in France!

One of the interesting features of the haircut (we can’t believe that we are discussing haircuts in this blog; what are things coming to?) was that the guy used hand clippers to do 80% of the cut, finishing off with three pairs of scissors and finally a cut-throat razor!! During that last bit Alex dares’n’t move a muscle. But at the end of it all it was an excellent haircut (if a little short). The result is to be seen in the pics below.

The Brits Richard and Jane were delayed by the lock closure and invited us for sociable drinks that evening where as usual we exchanged boaty stories.

We moved on to our quietest moorings so far, at a place called La Cassine, where the countryside stretched for miles around with no road, rail or airport within hearing.

Another short day and we were in Pont-à-Bar at the end of the Canal des Ardennes (River Meuse ahead) where we sensibly moored at the first available place, so we could go on by bike to suss the scene ahead. This turned out to have been a good move despite some lack of depth, because moorings above the lock were non-existent where the much needed fuel and water are on offer, and it would have been a pain to have had to go through the lock and then turn round and come back up for fuel and turn round … you get the picture!

On our way down here from the top of the 27 lock flight we encountered a couple of unladen commercials and just squeezed past them. How two laden commercials get past each other we have no idea. And while we have been moored here two fully laden commercials have sidled past one after the other so the canal is still used commercially, even if intermittently.

We have also met a German couple, Andy and Petra (Centurion) who have been here at this boatyard since September 2008, reworking a 14m barge, which they bought specifically to do the French canals. They love this area, The Ardennes, which is apparently largely overlooked by the French who prefer to go much further south, as it offers some of the most stunning scenery in France. We have loved the part we have passed through so far and shall see more as we venture further up the River Meuse.

However, on the 27 lock flight up the Le Chesne we did note (and take photos of) quite a number of abandoned lock cottages. We have yet to contact VNF to find out if it is possible to buy any of these, but none of them, so far, surpasses the one we saw just north of Reims, which we thought was just the bees’ knees. Unfortunately (can you believe it?) we neglected to take a photo of it, so stunned were we with its charm and beautiful setting. We really must ring the Reims branch of VNF where there is a lady who speaks good English, to find out if any deal is possible!

The River Meuse makes such a change from the Canal des Ardennes. It is so wide and river-like that it presents a different world, the like of which we haven’t seen since we turned off the Marne some months ago. However, the downside of this river is the lack of places to moor. You can usually rely on something either above or below each lock but on this stretch even these seem non-existent or pretty inaccessible.

In due course we arrived at Sedan and allowed the light current and wind to sweep us onto the pontoon moorings, which fortunately had a space that was Riccall sized available for us to moor on (even though our weight presented a testing time for the pontoon’s securing system – strong chains down to the river-bed – but they survived).

We liked Sedan, despite Marcel’s (Djamilar) description of it as a ‘focking city’! We found an SFR shop where the manageress spoke good English and helped us try to access Neuf wi-fi and she may have been successful! The tourist information shop had a free wi-fi connection where we could use our laptop as much as we wanted. The castle - a fortified chateau - is the biggest in Europe, and for €7.50 each we spent half a day looking round it with a hand-held guide in English to tell us all about it.

In addition to all that, within biking distance of the moorings were the ubiquitous Aldi, Lidl and a huge Leclerc hypermarket to build up our stores.

The mooring fees, which we would normally prefer to avoid, were €12.50 per night inclusive of water and electricity. Quite a lot, but every so often we like to give the batteries a long equalise charge to bring them back to best performance, which is something they don’t get from a few hours engine running or one and a half hour’s generator charge.