Thaon to Corre

When we had come in to moor at Charmes a guy from a large Dutch barge called WILLIAM helped us with our ropes. He had helped us at the end of last year in the Port de France in Toul as well. It seems he sort of takes over as the ‘mooring commandant’ wherever he moors, but very helpful with it. He said he was staying at Charmes for 6 months, and we commiserated with him over the QUADRUPLING of the mooring costs at Port de France, Toul (the main reason he moved on).

He warned us that ahead in Thaon there was a rat run of 4 commercials through 4 locks between a gravel source and a gravel distribution depot/port, 4 kilometres apart on the canal. He also warned us that the depth on the branch canal to Epinal a few kilometres beyond Thaon was very limited.

He was dead right in both respects – we met three of the commercials returning unladen and followed a laden one through two locks. But what he didn’t warn us about was that one of the lock bridges in Thaon had a variable water level giving a clear air draught of between 3.5 m and 3.7 m. With our roof on we are 3.6 m and as we arrived at this bridge our height marker on our bow showed we couldn’t get under without removing the roof!

Emergency stop! Back off! and lower the wheelhouse roof. This is not a problem, only a surprise, as our book tells us that that all the bridges on this canal have a clear height of 3.7m.

Alex couldn’t believe this particular one and, after we moored up, he walked back to it, with a measuring tape. When he arrived, his first measurement showed 3.7 m. What’s going on? But as he took subsequent readings over the next 15 minutes or so, the water level rose till the air draught was down to 3.5 m. Scary!

We later spent a very interesting time at our mooring, observing the water level rise and fall by as much as 20 cms as these monsters passed through the locks.

A couple of days later and the branch canal to Epinal was signed at 1.6m depth but we could see that the water level was at least 300mm below normal: therefore the depth was actually 1.3 m. At our draught of 1.4 m we would surely have struggled. We had the same advice from VNF at their office at the junction where we moored up, and from the harbourmaster when we cycled into Epinal to have a looksee.

As we cycled past the moored boats there we suddenly saw a name we recognised - ‘VLINDER’, and on close inspection there were Rita and Eloy under their snazzy new canopy on top of their cabin roof. We had not seen them since our winter stay in Ghent Centrum, so it was great to be asked aboard, given drinks and snacks and to catch up with all that had been going on for the last year and a half, and most importantly, exchange mooring information.

We eventually left to ride back to Riccall just as it started to pour with rain. It stopped about half way back and though we were thoroughly soaked by this time, the weather was so warm that we had dried out by the time we got back to the boat.

While we were moored outside the VNF office we saw several boats pass this way and that – one of which stopped to moor on the VNF work boat next to us: a 15ft canoe with a small outboard! Ganot, a German, was spending 4-6 weeks cruising the Canal des Vosges and hoped to end up back at his home moorings on the Lahn River, off the Rhine near Koblenz in that time. He had everything he needed in his small canoe: tent, primus stove, food, plastic chair to sit in while steering or on the bank, plus leeboards for stability: altogether a simple but efficient way to travel and so easy to moor! He also managed a far faster speed than we can do!

He came for a drink with us in the evening and we learned how, with such a small boat, he paid no French licence fee, but because of this, the VNF were not always keen to let him use the locks unless there was another boat going too (a waste of water for such a small boat they said). We were going the next day so agreed that he was welcome to accompany us in the locks. It made a peculiar sight – us at the front of the lock towering over this tiny canoe tucked in behind with Ganot holding onto the lock ladder to keep his vessel in place. Some of the locks here are in such poor shape that here and there, there is no cement left between the stones which make up the walls, and they look as though they could fall out altogether at any time. In two locks, some of the teetering stones had been removed altogether and put on the lock side! Equally some of the lock ladders (there are at least two in every lock) to which Ganot was clinging, were only held on by the last two bolts at the top!

We found a place to moor on the summit level at a short new wooden quay with good rings. This was opposite a house on the other side of the canal which had a swimming pool in the garden. We were forced to listen as all the teenagers and adults kept leaping into the pool to cool down while we sweltered in the hot sun – temperature 36C. However, the following day Alex had a treat as Madame emerged and wandered around topless (and almost bottomless) for most of the morning!

Alex decided that this would be a good place to do a spot of painting on the back deck. We have, for some time, realised that the dark green paint absorbed the heat of the sun and radiated it off again – often too hot to touch, just when we wanted to sit there for our supper. So we set about painting a large proportion of it cream. (Good excuse to stay another day or so – you never know your luck – Alex!)

Our next mooring was just through the first lock down from the summit level. As the bottom gates started to open we could see a laden peniche about to enter! He was more than a little surprised to see us, as VNF had told him there was nobody coming through. (They had obviously forgotten all about us, as we’d been stopped for so long!)

The péniche jiggled about a bit and eventually signalled us to come past him on the ‘wrong’ side, which we started to do, but half way past we went aground. So there we were, locked hard up against Madame and Monsieur’s péniche ALAIN, with all of us pushing and pulling to get us past and off the bottom while protecting both boats. We would have been in real trouble if we had met him in the narrows above the lock. Up there it was like a tunnel but without a roof, for about one and a half miles, very twisty and only one and a half barges wide. One of us (US) would have had to back off!

However, this mooring allowed us to put on the first top coat of paint on the back deck and at a poor quality small supermarket, euphemistically named Ecomarché, the opportunity to stock up.

The next few locks, from 3 down to 8 are manually operated by VNF staff, (mostly student labour drafted in during the summer). As we reached the last of these Louise popped into the bedroom for something and spotted water all over the floor. Having to get back up on board to man the ropes, she assumed at first glance that the air con unit we have just installed was leaking. As it happened, a mooring which we had been looking out for was available just through Lock 8 so we stopped to investigate. When Alex got down to the bedroom he realised very quickly that it was not the air con leaking, but that water had been directed clean through the open porthole from one of the fountains of water that you often get from the leaky sides of a lock when it has recently been emptied (or in this case as we were descending).

So another trap for small children – always remember to close all the portholes when travelling through leaky locks.

However, the plus side was that the mooring was so idyllic, peaceful and remote, that we decided to stay the rest of the day. And . . . within an hour two cyclists turned up at the adjacent picnic table, then a cruiser to join them, and then the whole VNF mowing team – 6 men and machines - turned up to cut the grass. Goodbye peace and tranquillity! (but happily not for too long).

We set off again descending the locks and as we were about to emerge from one, Alex noticed our height marker on the front of Riccall showed lack of clearance under the bridge. He stopped, we looked again and it looked OK, so we started slowly forward. But the wave of water which happens when the lock empties must have been reflected back into the lock and raised the level again and the roof just started to catch – back off, and off with it, and two nasty scratches in the paint. When will we learn? And today we ran out of gas! We have a spare bottle of course but it too was empty. How did that happen? Someone said that gas can evaporate when it is hot, but we can’t believe that’s what happened!

To make up for it we found one of the most rural and ‘away from it all’ moorings so far; pity a German sailing boat decided to moor up in front of us an hour after we stopped there! But you can’t have it all!

We have meandered on, stopping where the mooring look nice, and have at last reached Corre, though not before another unexpected roof removal! We have restocked with gas, wine beer, and food ready for the trip south down the Saône. We have also realised that we need to get a bit more of a move on – after all, we’ve recently had a text from Paul and Diane saying they have just met Ganot in his canoe – 300kms ahead of us!!