Blog 67: Winter update from Toul - Forts

One or two friends (probably our entire readership!) have noted that there have been no blog updates for some time, so despite the fact that we are iced in at our moorings and couldn’t cruise if we wanted to, we have decided that a mid-winter update might be appropriate.

At the end of our last cruise into Germany and back, we had a few days before we were due to drive back to the UK for Christmas and New Year. Alex had looked at the detailed map of the area and noted where all the late 19th century forts were located. As the weather was still mild and we had the car, we set off to investigate!

The first and nearest fort we headed for, Fort Mont St. Michell, is on a hill just on the outskirts of Toul above a housing estate: we can see its location from our moorings. It took us some time to locate the track up to the fort having taken several roads which turned into cul de sacs within the houses, but find it we did, and headed upwards round a series of tight bends. A big sign said “PRIVE” but we ignored that, eventually arriving at a closed entrance gate ‘guarded’ by several goats. The goats ran away as Alex approached and the gate was only held by a twist of fencing wire so we were soon in the fort itself. However, we did feel rather exposed, and it was obvious that whoever now owned it had done a fair bit of work here and there. That and the fact that all the outer passages we went into were covered in goat poo decided us to beat a retreat and pursue our hunt for the next fort on the list.

This turned out to be on a hill on the opposite side of Toul and a bit further away, above Dommartin les Toul. Alex stopped the car on the track just opposite where he thought the fort should be and we headed off through the wood: and there it was, but with a deep, dry outer moat that was impossible to climb down into. So we walked round the perimeter through brambles and thickets, until eventually we dropped down a slope to the entrance proper, which turned out to be about 20 yards from where we had parked the car!

This fort was great – no signs saying private, nobody else there but obviously visited occasionally by the local youths who had left a bit of graffiti about, and the ubiquitous burned out car (a Citroen of course judging by the suspension spheres!).

It was not a very big fort so there were only a few rooms and passageways to explore, though we did think that there might have been an inaccessible underground section under a large raised area of ground near the middle of the enclosure.

A few days later, and we were off again for the next one, Fort du vieux Canton. This was at the end of a one-mile hike down a forest track but the weather was again mild and sunny. The fort however, was obviously in the process of being worked on, judging by several large diggers and the razor wire that had been installed. Alex managed to get past the razor wire, but Louise decided to give this one a miss (something about razor wire …!) Alex said he’d have a quick scout round and be back in 15 minutes – not really enough time to explore much but it was not a very extensive fore, like the previous one, so no great loss.

The next one, Mont le Vignoble, was a gem! – through a little village and up an unmarked track among the trees. On and on, up and up round hairpin bends until eventually there it was, with rusting gates hanging open and at the entrance an ancient sign saying, “Defence d’entrée” (whatever that means!),

This place was very extensive with passages leading down underground and up again to a series of outer defensive walls. There was also masses of graffiti; some real works of art. Interestingly though, the graffiti artists obviously didn’t come with torches, as the walls became completely paint-free as we got deeper into the underground passages. We ourselves had come armed with torches of course.

These passages were quite confusing and several times we found ourselves emerging to a familiar place, having expected to be somewhere completely different, but it was great fun and we must have spent a few hours there before calling it a day.

We still have another couple to suss out, but Louise thinks enough is enough now and is happy to suggest that Alex goes with Ben (from one of the other barges) who would certainly be up for it.

In the meantime, we have been back to the UK for Christmas and New Year, visited and been visited by lots of friends and family, fitted an en-suite bathroom to the house, refitted the utility room and managed to find the only window in the weather to drive back to Toul without getting stuck in snow, ice or floods!!

Back here Riccall was fine; our preventative measures had worked and kept her ice-free and we are having a fairly quiet though occasionally sociable time with the only other live-aboards, Ben and Alex. During the night of our arrival 2 inches of snow fell, covering already thick ice on the verges and on the canal which left the whole place looking like a film set. Apparently the ice-breaker has been down the canal a couple of times during our absence, but we can’t imagine why – there are NO boats moving at all, not even commercials, but it would have been a great sight to have seen it crashing through the ice. Pity we missed that and it won’t be coming again as the ice has pretty well melted now.

Back to the UK in a couple of weeks by car, a few weeks at home and then off we go … next update end of March/start of April.