Arrival at Winter Mooring in Bruges

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know!!  All our avid readers have been champing at the bit as he and she await the final thrilling instalment of “What we did this summer on Riccall”!!!!!

Well as briefly as possible (thankful sigh) we left Compiègne and trundled our way up to the Canal du Nord and a meeting with David Almond, who was on his way back to CARMEN and Auxerre.  Graincourt Lock 7 on the summit is one of our favourite moorings.

A couple of days later we moored in the Bassin Rond – another favourite – then on to Cambrai for Alex to take his EGP (Extended Grand Plaisance) with Tam Murrell (which he passed).

We headed back north after Cambrai onto the Escaut which we know well, and were able to moor overnight in all our tried and tested spots.  However, we were overtaken at one point by a large and strangely painted converted peniche – strange because its whole hull was painted beautifully in a shimmering bronze-coloured paint.  It made a very strange looking craft but we each gave the other the “I like your boat” thumbs-up.

At our Mortagne-du-Nord mooring we were joined by several other commercial barges (as per usual) amongst which was one built to look like a submarine (as per un-usual).

We later learned that it, a hot air balloon barge and also the bronze barge were all headed to Mons for a weekend display (organised by that stalwart of the European canal system – David Edwards-May).  Also invited to take part in this display on a first-come-first-served basis were a total of 6 barges including our good friends Peter and Nicci on AURIGNY and recently-met Stu and Lyn on MATARIKI.

Apparently the whole thing was part of the celebration of Mons being the City of Culture 2015 but it turned out to be a bit bizarre by all accounts.

And so, for us, no stay in Mons but the onward cruise to Seneffe for a quick return to the UK.

On our return to Seneffe Jamie and Janine came to stay for a couple of nights.  It was good to see them both as it had been 18 months since they moved out to OZ.  We took them on a short trip by boat to the top of the Ronquières Inclined Plane for a beautiful evening of sunshine, and the following morning a visit to the Ronquières museum.

After cruising back to Seneffe we drove by car to show them the amazing Strepy Lift (which for the second time in 2 weeks broke down 3m from the top for some reason, and while we were watching!  It also had a faulty seal on the gates apparently which meant boats had to enter and leave as quickly as possible!)

A good look round Lille and a splendid lunch with Jamie and Janine on their last day and we waved them goodbye on Eurostar.  Then we started on the last leg of our cruise for this year i.e. up and down the Blaton-Ath Canal, onto the Dender and Schelde Rivers, then the Gent-Ostend Canal to Bruges.

Timing seems to have been the mis-order of the day here.  We booked a 10am start at Lock 1 of the Baton-Ath which didn’t happen until 10.30 – not a long delay, but when you are flailing around in the canal . . .

Similarly, the next day a 10am start actually happened at 10.40.

At Ath, where we stayed 2 nights, and after we had watched some of a 24 hour marathon for bikes and runners accompanied by the town band, we booked for a 10am start, which became 9.30 when the lock-keepers came by and asked us to hurry so as to use the lock with another boat.  We did this of course, being helpful Brits, only to find that the phantom boat never turned up.  This was the second time something similar had happened and we were convinced that the situations were engineered by the keepers so that they could have an early finish in the afternoon!

At Lessines we had a good overnight mooring close by a redundant mill and ‘booked’ our start the next day for 9.30.

The original turbine house on the ground floor with pigeonnier above.
Ripe for renovation Alex?

Nothing doing at 9.30 or 10am, until our lock-keeper arrived to say the next-but-one lock was inoperable – he thought later that afternoon it might be fixed.    While we waited we met Mike and Katie of ELSIE VIOLET who were also stuck, and we exchanged drinks and gossip as you do.  (We also had a long chat with the lady who lived in the house next to the mooring who was able to give us some history of the area when used commercially.)

Eventually after 2 days we were through and on our way to Geraardsbergen where we hoped to moor overnight.  On arrival though, the whole long mooring was taken up by boats whose home mooring it was, save for one space where ELSIE VIOLET had managed to moor.  They kindly offered to move off to let us moor on the pontoon, being the heavier boat, and then came alongside.  So very kind of them. 

The ‘linguistic border’ between French-speaking Wallonia and Flemish-speaking Flanders occurs between Lessines and Geraardsbergen (Gramont in French) and is even marked on maps of the area!  Such a strange situation in one country to have such a defined division in language.

We had come to realise at this point that we had missed the jewel of the region in Lessines, while waiting for the lock to be repaired – the 17^th century Hôpital Notre Dame à la Rose – so we took the train back to Lessines to see what we might have missed!  And it was certainly worth the 10 minute train ride.  What a magnificent building, cloister medicinal garden and excellent museum – its history very accessible and interesting.

Lessines - Hopital Notre Dame a la Rose - just wonderful

Following and avoiding other commercials through lifting bridges

So onward towards the north, passing through Aalst – the most southerly port for commercial craft coming from Gent and Antwerp nowadays.

Ghastly Aalst!!!  The town itself is better!

Ninove with its lovely church

Eventually we completed our trip down the Dender to its junction with the Schelde tidal river, and moored on the waiting pontoon 1km before the lock.  We were too late for the 3 hour trip that day, so instead we cycled the 2kms into Dendermonde – a really lovely town and well worth the visit.

Dendermonde Grote Markt

Mike of ELSIE VIOLET had given us the tide times for going out and up the Schelde (which, of course, were in complete contrast to those given by one of the lockkeepers!) and at 3.30 the next day we set off for the lock, getting onto the river at 4pm.

Lovely sky over our safe haven 

3 hours later, we were at Merelbeke Lock in Gent and managed to find a mooring with our stern just one metre into the ‘RESTRICTED TO 2 HOURS TO TAKE YOUR CAR OFF’ section.  No-one seemed to notice or care!

We had booked two nights in Gent Centrum, hoping to re-meet Martine and Pierre who used to be the havenmeesters there and arrived to find a lovely 20m space at the city end.  The havenmeester now though was someone different and he took our payment for one night but said the next night would be at the discretion of the ‘Winter Havenmeester’ who would be arriving tomorrow as this was changeover day – 30th September/1st October.

Late in the evening the Winter Capitaine appeared and said, “You must move tomorrow because this place is booked for a winter mooring for a 23m barge”.  Right hand, left hand?!!  Our protestations of our prior booking were to no avail, so although a poor alternative was suggested we just upped and left the next morning.

And as luck would have it, there was a space at one of the 3 yacht havens close to the Ringvaart, where they were happy for us to moor for 3 days.  This was great for us as our good friends Paul and Diane were going to be with us for a couple of nights and needed to know where to find us!

Finally, after a couple of days exploring the local area in their car, we set off on the last leg of our cruise to our winter mooring in Bruges, spending one night at Mooerbrug where we moored up with Andy and Caroline, and enjoyed (Louise’s) birthday drinks with them on NEELTJE.

In the early morning gloom!

A VERY early start was called for the next day when a crane arrived on shore at 7am with a pusher and dumb barge on the river to begin loading huge baulks of timber and a massive generator.


NEELTJE was moored just where they needed to be, necessitating quick dressing and moving of the boat to free the space required!  An hour later we decided we were too close to the action and followed suit!

We had already done a recce by car to Bruges and had decided that although there was clearly enough space to turn round at the end of the port, it would be best for us to just go in forwards and moor up alongside VERTROUWEN - the boat designated as our mooring.  We could always turn before we left in the spring.

What we failed to realise was the occasional strong current that could flow through this mooring.  As we approached our designated spot Alex realised that we were being drawn downstream rather too quickly for comfort, so it became obvious to him that an about turn was absolutely necessary before we got dragged into the low bridge at the end of the port.  Yes, there was plenty of room, but halfway through the turn RICCALL hit something hard and unyielding under the water.  Everyone watching from the bank saw her lurch as she went over the obstruction but what could we do but complete the turn?  We touched again as we came back against the current for a nicely controlled mooring.  But what on earth was it in the middle of the channel and has it done any damage? We intend to get the inflatable out and go over to investigate the obstruction, and the question may be answered when we go into dry dock at the end of 2016.

So now we are safely moored in the Flandria Yacht-haven in Bruges not 10 mins walk from the railway station.  It’s a great mooring with a number of old friends and new acquaintances moored here too, a good clubhouse, and a great city to explore.

Oh and just for the record, we went slightly aground as we entered the port, just onto the silt thrown up by the passing commercials, and had to back out and try again.  (The River Dender had had a surprise in store on our last day on it too – we hit and rolled over a very large object hidden 3m off the bank: another stop and reverse off.  A very uncomfortable experience which we reported to the lock-keeper at the next lock.  He appeared honestly concerned and produced the ‘accident book’ so that we could record the incident in case in the future we discover damage.)

So, all in all, and taking into account our last blog, we’ve been a bit grounded this season!!

A happy Alex after another year's successful cruising!

This year’s stats?

1559 kilometres

  235 locks

      7 tunnels

    21 lifting and sliding bridges

Andresy to Compiègne via Rouen

We hoped to spend a night at Vernon, but an unattended ex-hire boat was in the only spot available so we motored on to Garenne Lock where we expected a quiet night and an even quieter following day as it was Bastille Day and everything closes (locks included).  But of course at 7.30am the commercial opposite started to needle-gun the paint at his bow!!!  This went on all morning.  Bloody Hell!! 

In the lock with a 110m container ship

The following day we arrived at Poses and spotted a 20m space on the quay: a delicate entry went OK.  Alex’s brother David and his wife Bun were due to join us for a couple of nights so this was a good spot to meet.  They arrived early afternoon, so we walked across the footbridge over the enormous weir and locks to get to La Guingette on the right bank – a live music bar – for a drink and a laugh, for on Thursdays every week a local band plays dance songs and anybody, young and old, can pay €13 to get on the dance floor and strut their stuff, or in many cases, shuffle!  But it was packed with all ages, men and women, all having a jolly good time.

We went on a trip upriver to a pontoon we had noticed about 2 hours away, moored up, looked round the village, had supper, then a guy appeared saying he was collecting passengers on his little trip boat next day at 10.30am.  We assured him we would leave by 10am and went to bed.  Next morning at 5.00am we smelled smoke!!!  Everybody, except, strangely Alex, got up for a suss round.  Well, (Alex knew) it was just a bonfire on shore suddenly come to life, so everyone went back to bed.  Then at 7.30am a knock on the hull.  “You have to move!”  A pusher barge needed to moor on this little pontoon to pick up fireworks for a display on the island opposite that night.  And sure enough not 5m away was a pusher barge breathing down our necks.  So 5 minutes later we were off (that must be a record for getting dressed and on station and this time Alex had to get up!).  Fortunately we had spotted a dumb barge moored up on some ducs d’albe (posts) half a kilometre away so we trundled over to it and moored up for a leisurely breakfast.  There then ensued an unheard-of Saturday morning rush-hour.  There were barges pounding up and down river for about an hour, and then total peace and quiet!

Louise, David, Bun and Alex at Muilds

Our lovely peaceful mooring at Muilds

The pusher tug taking our place on the pontoon!

We got back to Poses in time for lunch in a riverside restaurant before David and Bun had to leave to continue their short holiday.

Then in the evening we saw Peter and Marie-Michelle on PHOENICIAN and had a drink and catch up (3 years to bring us all up to date so we were still there at 9pm!) and the next day we caught the train to Rouen (20mins cycle ride to the station, 20 minutes train to Rouen – a better bet than the 5 or 6 hours each way against and with a tidal river we thought!)

Rouen proved to be as spectacular as we had heard, and we had a lovely touristy day with lunch out in a splendid little brasserie next to the cathedral.  And when we saw how paltry the moorings were, we felt jolly glad we had come by train!

Abbey church and Hotel de Ville

Fantastic medieval old town

Stunning Eglise St Maclou

More old town

Just a few snaps to give a flavour of Rouen

Subsequently PHOENICIAN texted us to tell us their next mooring – at Les Andelys – and would we like to moor alongside them? which we did, then climbed up to the castle for a look round and a great view down onto the river and our two boats side by side.

Les Andelys Castle . .

. . . and the view from it!

We managed to get moored at Vernon on our way back up river and in due course Phoenician moored on us when they arrived.  We were entertained by the cruise ships playing musical moorings – one in, one out, swapping places etc etc.  Great fun and a really nice little town. Monet’s garden at Giverny came as something of a let-down.  Perhaps it was because of the hoards of visitors of all nationalities, mostly Japanese, so the peace was nipped in the bud!

 Just one of the many cruise ships plying up and down the Seine from Rouen to Paris

  

Quick stop at Meulan (again) but this time, Alex had broken a filling and needed to see a dentist.  The pharmacy alongside the mooring pointed us in the right direction and amazingly, we got an appointment for later that morning - even though the surgery was due to close for three days holiday at the end of the day! Try that in England!

No, not a cruise ship this time, but a car transporter!!

A few days later when we arrived back at Andresy, where this blog began, the pontoon had a scruffy cruiser moored on it, firmly plugged into free power and water.  We looked at the dilapidated quay just upstream and saw one spot which looked as if it might be just OK.  No sooner had we tied up than a guy on the island opposite started gesticulating at us to move up the quay.  We shifted about 10m until our bows were well into the silt, and asked him if that was better.  He came over in his little boat, shook hands and explained that this was where he and several others kept the little boats they needed to get across to their island homes, but that one night was OK for us.  The cruiser on the pontoon apparently had taken up residence there: we had just been lucky on our way down river as the cruiser was away on holiday! and the town Mairie just couldn’t care less about any of the moorings.  Unusually for us we wrote a strong letter of complaint and disappointment to the Mairie but have had no response (surprise, surprise).

         The best of 50 sculptures on the Isle de Nancy at Andresy during the summer months,

with a free ferry to take you across

Pontoise mooring was as good as ever and we met and had drinks and supper with Simon and Diny of HEBBES, a Dutch couple who are self-confessed Anglophiles – even lived on board their narrowboat in England for 3 years! so of course we got on well.  And while in Pontoise this time we took the train back to Conflans-Ste-Honorine, which is the barging town on the Seine, to look at the barging museum and the view onto the Seine from above, and had lunch in a lovely little tucked-away Italian restaurant.

Conflans Musée de la Batellerie

  

The view from on high at Conflans – six péniches moored abreast!

A few nights later, we decided to stop at Ecluse Verberie, which has a very long mooring quay and is such a peaceful country spot.  We moored right at the upstream end of the quay and over the next couple of hours the space between us and the lock slowly filled with péniche ‘doublers’ – what we call two 39m barges travelling in tandem.  As we were having our pre-dinner drinks the wasps appeared, then the doubler behind us moved his front barge beside his pusher barge to use his crane to lift off his jet ski!  The next 2 hours were spent cavorting with his kids up and down and round and round – noise, waves, noise, waves!!  So another idyllic mooring wrecked!  We went below at 8pm to watch the TV news, leaving 12 dead wasps on the back deck and the commercial doing another change around to get his car on board this time.

When we came back up on deck to close up at 10.30pm the commercial had disappeared.  Where to?  The locks close at 8pm.  He was downstream bound and at 8pm still hadn’t got his car on board.  Another mystery.  But he hadn’t sunk because we did see him the next day at our Compiègne mooring on his way upstream, now fully laden and giving us a cheery wave!!

  

Ever wondered how the French get their trees to grow so perfectly vertically?

Here is the devastating result after the hedge trimmer has been through

(8 huge brush cutters on an adjustable arm on a tractor!) 

And how about this amazing bit of topiary at Creil!

How do they do that?!

We are now moored in Compiègne, which we have always enjoyed.  It’s a nice town and even though we have seen all the local sights, we love just sitting watching the huge péniches roar up and down the river. 

We also found our American friends Don and Patty on MARIA moored up in Compiègne, so another enjoyable evening meal and chin-wag together.

Chateau-Thierry (River Marne) to Andresy (River Seine)

  

We found a good mooring in Chateau-Thierry upstream of the main town moorings – out of the possibly contentious zone on a Friday night.  We cycled up to have a look-see if anything had changed since our last visit, and found not only a new floating pontoon with water and electricity, but also MILOU the sister ship of AMAROK which we knew well in the South.  We introduced ourselves to Keith and Marilyn and chatted for a good while before doing our shopping, then looked on line for the nearest SFR phone shop as our dongle is now well out of date.  Yes!  One of the very few in the whole area is in the centre of this very town!

So in the morning we managed to buy a ‘Web Trotter’ and took it back to the boat to install it on our computers.  Managed to cock that up and lock ourselves out of the new dongle altogether, then had to return to the SFR shop to get it unlocked and then re-read the instructions!  Another night on the mooring, but that was OK.

We arrived at Nogent l’Artaud in time for lunch, but as we approached the mooring a little fishing boat snuck onto it.  We hovered and Monsieur called out that he only needed 5 minutes while he unloaded his fishing tackle into his car.  We contemplated moving on to the lock downstream, but as he was dashing about trying to be as quick as possible, we hung around and then ferried across to the mooring.

It seemed an idyllic spot: small town, with some supplies, good strong pontoon, free water and electricity, a few cafes, a restaurant: altogether a nice quiet place.  We had lunch – and then it started!  The male swan of the nearby family of 8 decided he didn’t like our boat on his pontoon. 

He began flapping in for the attack, pecking the portholes and even getting onto the pontoon itself to have a go at that side too! 

So we went for a walk round the village for an hour or more and he was still at it when we got back.  Alex decided enough was enough and when the Sunday picnic-ers had gone, he tried to poke the swan with the barge pole every time it attacked the boat.  Eventually it got the message and headed off a kilometre up river to where the rest of its family were, for the night.

Next morning at 6am however, there it was again pecking the portholes, wrecking the fitted mozzie nets, flapping around loudly, and spoiling any chance for us of staying in bed.  So we got up, had breakfast, threatened it with the barge pole again and set off for our earliest start this year!

We reached Meaux in the early afternoon and saw that the free mooring on the wall was all taken

up with a cruiser and tripboat, so we trundled down to the Port de Plaisance, and amazingly,

there was plenty of room for us on the end pontoon.

The next day, about to set off on an explore and picnic, we met an American couple Don and Patty from barge MARIA who were intrigued by RICCALL.  We chatted for a bit before setting off into a rather gloomy day.

           

We are very interested in this area, because the Marne river is very closely followed by a totally separate canal - the l’Ourcq - all the way from Paris in the west - some 108kms in total.  It was easy to get to the Ourcq towpath and follow it until we found the first lock.  Then we followed the canal along until it was at its closest to the River Marne. 

We had our picnic, sitting on an upturned shopping trolley, as you do, but failed to find real proof of the inclined plane that once linked the Ourcq to the Marne. 

On the way back we looked at a former lock onto the Marne which led to the old route down to Lagny, and stopped for tea and more chat on MARIA, which was moored on the Ducs d’Albe further upriver from us.  We invited Don and Patty for drinks the following evening, never realising that the weather forecast was for torrential rain, so they arrived pretty well soaked!  They have been cruising in France for 14 years throughout the 6 months of summer, much of it in the early years using MARIA as a hotel barge. 

She is a lovely boat with very good lines, and Patty has done a great job decking her out with flowers on her topsides.  (Louise now wants to know why SHE is only allowed 5 small troughs of flowers!!!)

After a couple of days moored at Lagny, and with time to spare before our first visitors arrive, we decided on an explorational detour up the old, now by-passed, section of the river Marne from Chalifert Lock upstream.  The sign at the junction indicates ‘Precy 10 kms’ and we contacted the lock-keeper that we didn’t need to pass through his lock as we were going up to Précy.  He said OK and thanked us for letting him know.

The first 6 kms is used by 44m refuse container barges and the channel is well marked by buoys.  But after the container unloading port the channel isn’t marked at all.  We knew that, and so continued carefully upstream, knowing that Précy was reachable, but were disappointed that there were no moorings at all on this bit of river.  So we turned round and headed back downstream.  After a couple of kms Alex suddenly realised we had drifted off centre a bit, but before he could steer back we went hard aground.

We tried everything subsequently, wriggling RICCALL back and forth, to and fro, ferrying ropes to distant trees on shore, using block and tackle to improve advantage, all to no avail.  Luckily we did have a mobile signal, so we finally called 112 – the emergency services – we waited a while, and in due course VNF appeared.  They said, “You shouldn’t be up this bit of river, so it’s not our problem.” 

We told them about their misleading sign at the junction but to no avail. 

The police appeared and thought about the possible options (none!) but eventually suggested we contact our insurance company as they had no solution to offer to the situation!

More interested in taking their picture with us in the background!!

Haven Knox-Johnson eventually sent us an email detailing three different outfits that might be able to help and also contacted a British surveyor, Barry Morse, who was coincidentally in the area and who might also be able to help. 

Well emails shot back and forth, contractors were organised, and then were pulled out, etc etc and in the meantime we had NO idea how long this might take, a few days, a week, a month or maybe until the autumn floods come, and though power via the genny was no problem, fresh water was a big worry. So, no showers, no washing machine, definitely no dishwasher, became the order of the day and the sun shone down on us mercilessly – 35^o and more for days on end.  Finally, after a whole WEEK, and Alex having to transfer €2500 himself direct to the salvage company (because H.K-J were not able to do it swiftly enough themselves {I mean, I ask you, insurance companies!!}) three men appeared in a small boat with a length of wire hawser, a rope and a turfer.  (A turfer can pull a wire cable through itself bit by bit, by use of a long handle – this one rated at 3,200kg).

Bruno, Rudi and Patrick attached the rope to the tree a little upstream on the opposite bank (the same one we had tried), the steel cable to the rope and the turfer to Riccall.  Finally, with much effort from the guys on the handle, Riccall started to be pulled back slowly into the deep channel.  Then at last we were floating again.  Sighs of relief, thank yous all round, and ‘au revoir’.

A VERY careful cruise back down the rest of the river, eyes glued to the depth meter till we were back in the marked channel, 2kms down river, then two days of water and electricity at Lagny to recover, regroup and relax.  When we arrived there was only one other boat moored, far away at the other end of the long pontoon, and we did three trips to the shops to restock and even ate out at the sea-food restaurant in town (very good it was too).  But the next night, a Friday, the pontoon was packed, two deep in places, including a French powerboat moored on us!  Not a problem of course – nothing is a problem when the boat is back on an even keel, but this time, our new neighbours talked loudly until 1am, until Louise politely explained that our bedroom was adjacent to their open back deck and they took the hint!  However, the nearby fishermen continued their chatting until Alex finally went up to the wheelhouse to make a similar point at 2.30am, but sadly to no avail.

So, somewhat refreshed and much less tense, we motored on, towards Paris.

Paris mooring opposite the Chinese hotel and restaurant

We spent a night on the low quay where the Marne joins the Seine – one of our favourite moorings – then had an early start to cruise right through the miracle of Paris on the river: great sights, and a marvellous experience, including coming upon a historic re-enactment of a ‘log flotage’ commemorating the days when logs were floated many kilometres down river to Paris to keep the home fires burning. 

  

Suddenly it’s New York!!!

We had taken the river route this time rather than the two canals St Martin and St Denis, so had new sights to look at, including La Defense, the financial and business ‘city’ of Paris.

Couldn't resist yet another picture of the Musée D'Orsay

The lovely mooring at Rueil Malmaison is now reserved for a trip boat at weekends in the summer season until after 6pm, so we motored on and moored at Bougival which was fine, if a bit noisy from the overhead road bridge. 

We are now in early July at the only remaining pontoon at Andresy, where electricity is still amazingly available and water too, after Alex spannered his way into the bourne and turned it on again!  A great spot, but a bit busier now than 6 years ago.  As part of the re-jigging of the town centre, a one-way road system has been introduced right beside the mooring – AND some of the trees have been removed, opening up what was a lovely hideaway mooring some years ago.

So, onwards to Rouen.

Spring Start 2015

Well, we thought we’d give up on all this blogging stuff this year, as we were under the impression that nobody reads our efforts! But we recently re-met two separate boating couples who do read them and would like us to continue. Two actual readers?! How could we resist? But perhaps in a slightly different format than hitherto. We’ll see how it goes.

Today’s youngsters want postings on Facebook, but that’s not our style, so instead we hope to give mostly pictures with fewer words. (“Thank God” I hear you say “A rest from some of the drivel”.)

Passing through shitty Charleroi just south of Seneffe!

So . . . we set off from our winter mooring in Seneffe and despite heavy flow against us on the Meuse we arrived a few days later at the mooring where AURIGNY had chosen to carry out some painting. This was a very low quay which gave us both easy access to the lower parts of the barges to apply a new lick of paint.

The sides were fine to paint of course, but the bow and stern presented a challenge to be overcome!

Kneeling the plank!! for a lick of paint!

The two barges look great with their new coats of paint

While on this mooring we were boarded and investigated thoroughly once again by the gendarmerie and all our documents checked. Insurance? Policy document found to be out of date –we’d just forgotten to print out the recent one for our file!!!!  But everything else was in order.  Thankfully.

Could be autumn with those colours

Also at this point our ancient dishwasher decided it had had enough, and died on us. Peter kindly offered the use of their car and we paid for a new machine from the Belgian equivalent of Curry’s. All good so far. But they would only deliver to a proper address, i.e. not the ‘Quai St Something’ in Dinant! So we gave them the address of the IBIS hotel in Dinant as we knew we could moor just outside! Travelling up to Dinant we took on water in a lock only to discover when we came to use it, that it had made our whole tank taste of rubber (and we had been charged €3 by the lockkeeper – strictly not on, we are sure). So disgusting it had to be used up asap and a refill located. Unusual on a barge to be profligate in the use of water which is such a precious commodity, but we had showers and baths and washed clothes that hardly needed washing etc!!! The dishwasher duly arrived as promised and we were ready to set off again.

Ploughing up the fast-flowing Meuse took a few days longer than anticipated, so suddenly Rob and Amy’s arrival in Reims seemed imminent. At last we had used up the foul water and were able to take on fuel and fresh water in Pont-a-Bar, ready for the 27 locks downstream, and a few days later we were in Reims.

Ready to set off tomorrow for the 27 lock chain

Rob and Amy join us in Reims

But on the way, an overnight in Asfeld acquainted us with a true marvel of a church. Built in the shape of a viola at the whim of a wealthy Baron, we arrived just as the morning service came to a close. We said our “Bonjours” to the 8 lady parishioners who were astonished to see us standing quietly at the very back, respectfully waiting for the service to end.  Then had a quick look round, which revealed the splendour and uniqueness of this marvelous building.

Viola shaped Asfeld church - quite stunning

Rob and Amy duly arrived in Reims and we gave them a short trip up the canal for 2 overnights and then returned to Reims for them to catch their train home. We ourselves had booked a week’s mooring with electricity for our own quick trip back to the UK for the usual dental and medical checks – this time carried out in London, so not so very far to travel. We managed to see two of our 7 grandchildren and their parents, so even if it was a short stay it was lovely to see them.

Near Reims at Sillery we spotted John and Martha’s boat DE GROENE LEEUWE (The Green Lion). An impromptu overnight was needed! After all, it is 3 years since we have seen them, so a lot of chatting was absolutely necessary. This was also a good place to replenish empty gas cylinders at the nearby Intermarché supermarket.

Surprise - John and Martha at Sillery!

Through the Billy Tunnel and down to Condé. We had decided on two nights there as this is one of our favourite moorings, but this time we were inundated with mosquitoes. Little bastards! Alex counted 15 bites on him despite an early retreat indoors and nets over portholes and air vents. He is usually unaffected by mozzies. Louise on the other hand, took slightly more defensive measures and only got 2 bites, though they did need a few days’ of anti-histamine medication as usual, whereas Alex’s 15 didn’t!!!

The weather has been good to us on the whole these past few weeks but here at Condé it reached over 40C! a bit hot even for us.

Cooler weather at the quay of a former silo (silo now demolished) at Epernay provided a more comfortable mooring, and as it is upstream of the official Port de Plaisance and almost at the ‘top’ of the navigable Meuse, we thought a quiet night was in store. But no! At 11pm we heard the sound of a boat engine and a fully-laden restaurant boat sailed upstream, to be followed of course, by the same boat 10 minutes later retracing its route!

So now we are following the Marne down to Paris, though we are taking it very slowly - not good to rush through such a beautiful area.  

Lovely skies follow lovely days

Champagne terraces are all around us and make for lovely scenery, with little white vans dotted amongst the fields as the proprietors and workers tend to the vines.

Lovely view of the vineyards from our mooring

A high spot of this part of the trip however, has to be the beautiful memorial in Dormans to the dead of the battles of the Marne in the 1914-18 war . We had missed this entirely on our trip up the river in 2009. And what a magnificent memorial it is: truly memorable.

The long view

And inside - just so peaceful

That concludes our first blog with the new layout.    It was easier for us to produce, but do let us know if you prefer it!  

Winter Update from Seneffe

We are moored for the winter here at Seneffe, as we were last winter, except this time we are on the fixed quay on the other side of the port which means we don’t have to shuffle about to get water and we also get a bit more sunshine (as if!).  The weather is the usual winter mix of wind, rain, cold, snow then occasionally bright sun for a few hours, sometimes all in the same day!

Our last posting left us just north of Reims back in September.  From there we headed north as far as Berry au Bac on the Canal de l’Aisne à la Marne, which was familiar to us from a previous voyage, or so we thought.  We remembered that the last time we had done this stretch, back in 2009, we had spotted an abandoned lock-side cottage which we thought at the time was just idyllic.  This time round we could find no trace of said cottage but no ruins either!  The tricks memory plays!

At Berry au Bac we turned left onto the L’Aisne Lateral towards Soissons, whereas in 2009 we had turned right towards the Canal des Ardennes –so new waterways ahead.

Our first overnight stop was at the junction with the Canal de l’Oise à l’Aisne, where we found free water and electricity on a substantial quay: and on a short foray to suss out the other canal were treated to an impromptu viewing of the hydro-electric station by the young man who was in the office there.  We had wandered into the building and seen him deep in a phone conversation through the open door of the office, so we quietly waited behind the door looking at the explanatory information posted on the wall.  A few minutes later he came round the door and saw us, and was so startled that he visibly jumped!  We all had a good laugh which broke the ice, and then, despite the working museum not being ‘open’ for visitors he offered to show us round.  Result!  And very interesting.

The mooring further west at Soissons at first appeared to be nigh on impossible but closer inspection revealed several hidden rings: difficult bollards did exist and we were able to moor up reasonably well.  It’s a shame that the moorings are so poor because the town itself was well worth a thorough visit, particularly the remains of the cathedral.  Though most of the site was in ruins the two high towers of the main entrance remain standing.  We dropped into the free museum which had several lengthy descriptions (in English) of life when the cathedral was in its heyday and what subsequently happened to it.

We also popped into an art exhibition (again free) which had an interesting display of heavy stainless steel balls on strings and springs.  In one exhibit, a large ball was swinging back and forth towards a huge concave mirror, so that it first appeared the correct way up, then upside down as it swung away (or was it the other way round?!).  In another exhibit a 6″ ball was trapped between the coils of a suspended spring about half way up.  The weight of the ball was causing the whole spring to rotate on its suspension, but the ball wasn’t getting lower in the coils: it looked like perpetual motion!  The picture doesn’t do it justice and the movie clip we shot was completely out of focus! Impossible to describe properly!  You’ll just have to take my word for it: it was intriguing.

At Vic sur Aisne we asked if the fuel depot just 100m from the mooring could give us white diesel (this was on a Saturday morning). ‘Yes, of course, I come in one hour’.  And sure enough precisely one hour later a fuel camion arrived and we shipped 540 litres of white diesel @ €1.34 per litre.  Later that day though, a VNF lock keeper came by and advised us to move a few kilometres downstream to Attichy to moor overnight, as a boat had been released from this mooring a couple of weeks ago by the local lads.  So with some regret we did that, but the mooring at Attichy was very poor indeed for us, and there seemed to be more lads there than at Vic, but all was well overnight. This was helped by a local fisherman who spotted the lads heading for the pontoon on which we were moored.  He gave them a Gallic mouthful and told them to leave us well alone and in peace, which they did.  Thank you Sir!

On our way to the Canal du Nord, we decided to stop for lunch on a 60m mooring which was listed in our DB mooring guide.  But as we rounded the bend where it was said to be, we saw that the whole length of it was festooned with about 10 fishing rods being operated by just two fishermen.  On this occasion there was a reversal of roles, with Alex all for giving up and moving on but Louise was of sterner stuff (this time).  An indication was made to the pêcheurs that we were coming in, so eventually they marched around moving their rods upstream to give us a space at the downstream end while Alex turned Riccall to come into the mooring against the current.  Unfortunately, what we had failed to note in the mooring guide description, was that the downstream end was very shallow indeed.  We hit bottom at least 2m from the edge, so had no chance of mooring and had to abort!  “Désolé, désolé, mes pêcheurs!  You can take up the whole quay again now.  We’ll go somewhere else for lunch, anywhere else, away from your black looks!”

By the next day we were back onto familiar territory on the Canal du Nord, finding moorings at all our favourite places.  We managed to stop this time at Péronne and visit the First World War Museum which was well worth the effort.

We had an uneventful trip through the Royaulcourt Tunnel and after a few days were at the penultimate lock in France just north of Valenciennes before crossing the border into Belgium.  The lock seemed to be taking an inordinately long time to pen through the boats ahead of us, but eventually the gates opened and we entered together with two other commercials.  A few moments later we understood the reason for the delay as we were boarded by a member of the French gendarmerie.  We then went through a third degree interrogation, though it was handled politely: ship’s papers, fire extinguishers, ICC insurance documents etc and then a surprise question ‘Where is your list of requirements for navigating on the French waterways?’  What list?  We admitted we knew of no such thing and certainly didn’t have it, but would acquire one as soon as we could and we’d get our fire extinguishers up to date.  Then, feeling the rage emanating from the two commercials which were also being held up, he left.  But by that time the lock keeper had also got fed up and started to lower the lock, so as we were busy saying au revoir to the gendarme, we very nearly got roped up!  All in all, not a very good display on our part.

A couple of days later, we headed into one of our favourite moorings at the end of the Pommeroeul -Condé link Canal (closed because the VNF will not dredge the French end of the canal).  On our previous three visits we’ve had this huge mooring quay to ourselves, but this time two other British barges were there plus a small wreck of an abandoned cruiser.  Still, plenty of room for us, so we moored up and introduced ourselves all round.

Diana and Chris on ESME and Dave and Carol on LA TULIPE were very busy carrying out routine maintenance on both their barges but made time for drinks and good chat with us and we with them before we set off after lunch the next day.

After a night n the sand quay in Mons Grand Large we had another solitary trip on the spectacular Strepy-Thieu Lift on our way back to our winter moorings at Seneffe Yachting.

Now we are in the middle of our usual dashes back and forth between Seneffe and Newton Aycliffe taking in family and friends as we travel in each direction.  On one of those trips we came back in Alex’s sister Julia’s big van, because in it we had a replacement fridge-freezer, sofa, washing machine and large roll of vinyl flooring for us plus 4 PV panels for Peter and Nicci of AURIGNY.  Getting all these into Riccall and installed was quite a business, but helped enormously by Peter and Nicci.  It had all been carefully measured up beforehand, but it was still tight, in one case very tight, and entailed some dismantling of the kitchen skylight window frame!  But all went well in the end.

And this year for the first time ever, we spent Christmas on Riccall, and were joined for the festivities by Paul and Diane of ELEANOR (soon to be replaced by their new-build barge BEATRICE – well, in 18 months when she has been built!). They had kindly brought the turkey from the UK, as you can only buy small turkeys in Belgium, and also other goodies including delicious home made Xmas cake, port and fizz. Thanks very much to them for that and for their good company

So that pretty much sums up the final stages of the cruising year and brings us up to date.

Our stats for the 2014 season are:

1678 kilometres

310 locks

12 moveable bridges

1 vertical lift

6 tunnels and

1550 litres of diesel (white)

The Burgundy and North to Reims

It has been quite a few weeks since our last blog and what a few weeks it has been!  We did at one point contemplate not carrying on with blogging but having re-read some of our earlier stuff and the memories they kindled, we decided that we just had no option but to keep on writing.

So, we left Tonnerre after waiting a few days for the weather to improve (the very first bridge was going to be a ROFF – Alex had been up and measured it).  Our first attempt at mooring at Tanlay was rather hampered by a land and aquatic fun day for the village youngsters.  The best moorings were full of kids in canoes but we managed to squeeze in on the opposite side in the shallows – only 2ft from the quay.  The chateau at Tanlay was pretty impressive with some amazing trompe d’oeils.  Our very next mooring in the middle of nowhere left us so far from the shore even our 8ft gangplank wouldn’t reach, but we had no passing boats thankfully and enjoyed a spectacular thunderstorm overnight.

Another ROFF to start the next day but around lunchtime the day looked a bit overcast so we put the roof back on.  Lucky we did, because as we travelled up through the next few locks together with a hire boat full of lads, the rain began to fall in earnest and suddenly blew into a minor hurricane.  We all got absolutely soaked, as in ‘up’ locks we have to be on deck holding and adjusting our ropes, and while we all had a good laugh about it, the fat Madame Eclusiere couldn’t crack a smile.  She was of course soaked too but . . . miserable cow!

On exiting the lock and before the next suspect bridge Alex spotted a lone bollard.  We moored up for the night and there was even plenty of depth – a rarity on this canal.  That evening as the sun came out again we walked up to the local village.  But in the morning, the approaching hotel boat had one hell of a job getting past us and lining up for the lock: not that he seemed over concerned: all part of the job I suppose.

In due course we got to a mooring at Pouillenay, where the notice board offered us two delightful and historic villages and towns to visit, Flavigny at 5kms or Semur at 10kms.  Flavigny won for obvious reasons, but we didn’t realise that 3 of the 5kms was steeply uphill, and the rest steeply downhill.  The village itself was just great, totally unspoilt and complete with its protective surrounding wall intact.  We sat in a café in a square having drinks and pouring over our map for a better way back – longer but flatter – definitely better!

We also noticed that there was a bus to the town of Semur which also passed through our next proposed mooring at Marigny.  So the next day we moored up for the night and asked our kindly lockkeeper if the bus was still running to Semur.  (We had given him a jar of Riccall chutney for his efforts that day in working the locks.)  And he said (all in French of course) “Be ready at 12pm and I will give you a lift”!.  So he did just that in his lunch break, and collected us again just after 5pm – so kind.  We had a nice day in Semur but got soaked again when we ran into another rainstorm.  This time though we were trapped on the Petit Train, with no hope of keeping dry.

Our next mooring at Port Royal has to rate as another one of the best.  The moorings were adjacent to a beautiful Chambre d’Hote village house which operated them (water and electricity included) in what had once been a thriving village with charcuterie and boulangerie, now sadly all closed, but mine host happy to provide baguettes and croissants in the morning.  The restaurant across the road run by Basil Faulty’s French cousin did excellent Charolais steak and chips, with massacred French beans as the side veg! - surprisingly common in France.

A few days later we were finally at Pouilly with the 3km restricted-dimension tunnel to negotiate ahead of us.  Alex spent the day installing lengths of split plastic pipe over the handrails at the front to protect them from the tunnel walls (a good use of time as it turned out) and fixing some old 4 foot long 8” x 2” baulks of wood which we had once used as glissoires years ago, through the bollards front and back.  He used luggage ratchet straps to fix the wood at an angle between the bollards so that each protruded about 50cms each side to keep us near the middle of the tunnel.  As it turned out it all worked well, but the handrails only cleared the roof of the tunnel by about 6” each side so it was slow but steady as you go.

At Vandenesse we had to leave the lovely moorings after just one night as the town was about to hold a firework party, so we moved on a couple of kms and moored between locks on a post and a makeshift G clamp on the armaco just behind the barge IBAIA.  We met the new owners Richard and Lynda and we all walked up to Chateauneuf in the warm sunshine.

Our descent of the Bourgogne Canal from the tunnel went without many incidents, most of the bridges being JUST high enough, and with the number of hotel barges on this side, the depth was absolutely fine.

We did come across one unexpectedly low bridge between two locks near Epoisses, which were being worked for us by an eclusier and had to do an emergency stop.  The lockkeeper came scooting back on this VESPA and we explained we just had to take 5 minutes getting the roof off.  “Pas de problem” he said, and watched as we did it giving us a thumbs up when the job was done.  The fisherman beside this said bridge never raised his eyes!  (Of course, he’d seen it all before!  Yeah!  Typical!)

Finally we got down to St Jean de Losne and a long wait in the basin waiting for the lock out onto the Saone.  The town quay moorings were predictably full, but the ‘secret’ hidden ring on the sloping wall of the launch ramp which Jill and Robert of DANUM had told us about, was free so we hooked on there.

We had now completed the Canal de Bourgogne, one of the jewels in the crown of the French canal system, and we would be travelling north again by the Canal du Marne à Saone, now called the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne (we prefer the old name).  There is much to commend the Bourgogne with isolated stretches and few boats but the manual locks, operated by roving eclusiers make it difficult to make unplanned stops, as the VNF like to know what your movements are at all times, and you don’t know what you might like to do or see if you haven’t done that particular canal before!

At Auxonne we stopped for lunch on the town quay and Alex fashioned an ingenious (Louise says) system to get water from the push and hold tap close by.

Then at the next lock just before our turn on to the Marne à Saone, the rain started again.  We took pity on a middle-aged couple of cyclists, who were sheltering under the bridge over the lock, and invited them on board for a warming cuppa and shelter.  They gratefully accepted and we took them with us through the next couple of locks to our mooring at Maxilly.  We managed quite a good chat with our limited French and they were delighted to have spent a short time on a barge for the first time in their lives.

The next day the first thing we met was a fully laden peniche.  Crikey!  We thought they had pretty well stopped using this canal!  But it was one of very few we met up with on the canal.

That night we moored in front of an Australian couple on a cruiser, who had seemingly moored right in the middle of the long quay, leaving us just enough room to get in in front of them.  The guy took a rope for us, as the moorings were rings and that is helpful, and we motored forward on that to get the stern into shore and our other rope on, whereupon Mrs came out very flustered and said in no uncertain words, that we were too close to her boat.  Fine!  We’ll move back a bit to give you 2 metres clear instead of one – not a problem, if that’s what you want.  No need to get your knickers in a twist!

She was just as twitchy the next morning when we left, convinced that we would scratch her precious cruiser.  Needless to say, we didn’t fraternise with them, but thought it unusual behaviour for Ozzies, who are usually so friendly.

We now had more of a target for meeting Mary and Martin who were due to visit us for a few days’ cruising.  There was definitely a station at Joinville, where two trains a day still stop on the line that runs down this canal. We had plenty of time to get there for their arrival, but in the meantime we found ISKRA at the Chaumont mooring, together with a South African boat called SEA HAWK.  We had kept in touch with John and Hilary since we met them 4 years ago on the Canal du Centre and had even visited them at home near Nottingham, so it was great to catch up.  And we also got to know Alan, Liz, Richard and Lorraine of SEA HAWK and had drinks with them.

We spent the next few days leapfrogging with these two boats till Friday when we got to Joinville at lunchtime.  We knew in advance from them that there was room for us on the quay so that was a relief.

Louise had been longing to have her hair cut and on Friday afternoon went into town and had the job done.  Liz and Lorraine coincidentally had also gone into town for the same purpose though to a different hairdresser.  Seeing Louise’s new short hair, Alex decided he had better try on Saturday morning for a ‘coupe normal’ too.  Having ridden all round the town twice looking for the best deal (!) he suddenly saw a little coiffure on the corner which looked his kind of place.

‘C’est combien pour un coupe normal?’ €11.  Great, and she could do it now.  Best haircut he’s ever had so when he got back to the boat and told John about it, John set off hotfoot for the same place.  A great deal for Chaumont – 12 boaters and 5 of them had spent money on hairdressing in the town!!

Mary and Martin duly arrived late on Saturday night and the next day we set off for the mooring at Bayard which only had room for one boat. Unfortunately SEA HAWK had beaten us to it so we motored on to Chamouilly.  The next day was a short one into St Dizier, though this did require a quick ROFF at the railway bridge (not unexpected) and a treat for Mary and Martin who had never seen the procedure before.

St Dizier is not a bad place despite the rather dilapidated moorings, and we had a nice amble round and lunch courtesy of Mary and Martin (another thank you to them) in one of the pleasant squares.  It is the birthplace of Hector Guimard who designed those famous cast iron entrance porticos for all the Metro stations in Paris in the 20s, and also many balconies, gates and other functional or decorative ironware in St Dizier and elsewhere.  Much of this was evident, not unnaturally, in the town and we waited till 9.30 the following morning to have a look at the town museum where some of his work and other artefacts are held.

Apart from ISKRA and SEA HAWK, we saw only a handful of other boats on the canal, so we were not surprised to see them at Orconte when we arrived.  What did surprise us though was that by 7pm that evening another FOUR boats had joined us on the quay and a hotel barge which had wanted to moor up had to decide to motor on a couple of kms up the canal for his mooring spot.  Weird!  Amongst those four boats was another we knew of old - AILSA - with Mike and Sally aboard.

Finally we got to Vitry-le-Francois and managed to moor behind a VNF workboat above the lock into the town.  This was an excellent spot as it was close to the station for Mary and Martin to catch their return train next morning and peaceful being away from the town centre, the only downside was the loss of the sun behind a huge silo in the evening.

Vitry marks the end of the Canal de Marne à Saone and we had loved it.  In some ways it is better than the Bourgogne partly because all the locks are automated and therefore don’t need roving lockkeepers watching your every move, and also because the canalside vistas of countryside seem wider and more spectacular.

From here we are on the Canal Lateral a la Marne - a more industrialised waterway – but attractive nonetheless.

We gave Chalons en Champagne a miss, as since the last time we were there, the moorings have been updated with a new capitainerie, finger pontoons, water, electricity, and of course costs, and much less quay space suitable for barges.  SEA HAWK and ISKRA had managed to squeeze in but there was no room for us, so we carried on to one of our favourite moorings at Condé.

At Condé we were joined by Hubert on his barge DEWAALST whom we had first met at Auxerre and later at Clamecy, and he came for drinks with us.  We saw him again a couple of days later when he pulled in to our mooring north of Reims just before we set off for a morning shopping trip.  His new inverter had stopped working: so Alex had a look and managed to get it going again, and also suss what had caused the problem.  One very happy Hubert went on his way, and we went off and did our Lidl and Leclerc shopping.

We are now about to join the Canal Lateral à L’Aisne to Compiègne, another new canal for us, and then head north for our winter moorings back in Seneffe.