Reculer pour mieux sauter

We skipped the blog post yesterday feeling that after the Not a Lot Happened one, Even Less Happened would not be riveting for our faithful readers. The previous one was described as desultory by one discerning follower – one would expect no less accuracy of language from a distinguished translator/editor! Claudia put it quite diplomatically - no need to feel obliged to post EVERY day!

Anyway, on Monday we progressed down the rest of the Champagne-Burgundy canal – mostly dead straight. It started off relatively weed-free, but then unleashed its secret weapon – algae. Thick carpets of the stuff, at one stage completely blocking the water intake. However we soldiered on and reached Vitry le Francois, in hopes of a fix for the shower pump – it’s getting hot here too! We located a man, but he couldn’t do it straight away. It should be done this evening, with luck.

On the way intro Vitry, which was a major barge centre, we passed the old Bourse, where bargemen would come to pick up contracts on a first-come-first-served basis. Our mooring was comfortable, with excellent WiFi, plus electricity and water, all for 10 euro. Not bad. Reversing out this morning was a challenge. Saskia, like many other boats, does not like going backwards in a straight line. However, we managed to avoid scraping our large Australian neighbour.

Soon we were on the Canal Lateral a la Marne, which is altogether wider and a bit more commercial. We saw a couple of peniches, including this one loading up with grain.

Later he passed our mooring at Chalons heading for Paris. Just before reaching Chalons, we stopped for a lazy canal-side lunch in a shady spot:

Once here, we set off site-seeing, the main attraction being the Cathedral of St Etienne:

Started in the 13^th century, it is impressively tall, almost perpendicular rather than classic gothic.

Terrific stained glass:

And an impressive war memorial outside.

Not a lot happened today

Not every day on the canal can be exciting … but this really was an exceptionally ordinary day. We disentangled ourselves from Joinville with some relief, though it took a few locks before we left most of the weed behind. In fact our efforts to make an early start – 8 a.m. – were stymied by having forgotten it’s Sunday, so the locks didn’t open till 9. Here’s some more weed, in case you’ve forgotten:

As we pottered along, our gaze was taken by a house falling down:

As the morning progressed, cocktail hour loomed, which is always welcome. Here’s the helmsman’s position primed for action:

At the tiny village of Eurville-Bienville we passed a museum dedicated to General George Patton, of WWII fame, with a tank from the period parked outside. However we only noticed it as we were about to negotiate a lifting bridge – with cars waiting – so couldn’t stop, and the other side there was nowhere to stop and anyway we had to go on through a linked lock. Checking out google, it seems to be a very small museum, owned and run by an enthusiast, so maybe we didn’t miss too much.

We arrived at Saint Dizier rather earlier than expected, but decided to stop anyway since the next stretch of canal is not very appealing, and in fact last time we came along there was a large gipsy encampment half way along, which seemed quite threatening. Saint Dizier is investing in a brand new pleasure port – but it won’t be fully open for a couple of weeks, so no electricity or water so far. Also, only one other boat, an Australian flagged barge, and the landscaping still to be done. However business is looking up – since I started writing this, two more boats have appeared!

Vitry tomorrow, and with luck the shower will get fixed!

Down the Marne

This canal is really a transit one, not a tourist one. Although some people seem to hang about, most are making passage, as we are, with an objective: Amsterdam in our case. So today we set off betimes, and covered some 50 kilometres and 20 locks to reach Joinville, which is infested with weed:

But we are at least comfortably moored alongside, and have internet through the dongle.

Early on we came across a linked swing bridge and tunnel (with a slight glance at the washing hanging out):

And later on some impressive horticulture at one of the locks:

Topiary too

Even a traditional honey extractor pressed into garden service:

We only met three other boats all day, including this English narrowboat.  You do see a few in France – I imagine they mostly get trucked across rather than trying to sail across the channel.

There were, of course, more boys bathing in the murky canal waters. This intrepid/crazy lad was probably showing off for our benefit, but an impressive leap all the same.

The landscape in the Marne valley here is mainly agricultural – wheat fields waving:

And also being harvested: amazing what one man and his tractor can do!

By the way, in case of worries on the hygiene front, we expect to reach Vitry le Francois in two days, where there is a well-known boatyard that can fix everything, and hopefully our shower too! Meanwhile we have plenty of hot water and are not too pongy yet!

Winding our way north

This was our first really hot day, and it coincided with a non-automatic section of 22 locks. The day started, however, with more shower pump problems, which meant more bailing and sponging. But I won’t whinge any more.

We left early and through the morning we were accompanied by a pleasant young student called Maxim:

He comes from the Langres locality and is studying geology at Dijon university. He has the canal job for June, then he is off with his earnings  on a climbing holiday in Chamonix. I expect winding all those locks gates will have helped get him fit. And he can study the geology as he scrambles up the cliffs. He scootered ahead from lock to lock, getting them ready for us to arrive.

The thing about these manual locks is that it is good form to lend a hand. Actually since we are descending, all one can do is close one of the upper gates – here’s the captain in action:

And here's a rabbit – not quite sure why.

In the afternoon, our lock person was a lady called Sandrine – not so chatty as Maxim, but we did establish that she is in her forties and desperately trying to find a full-time job. She just has this month on the canal, then a month in a supermarket – and so it goes on, one short-term contract after another. Not easy here in France.

By late afternoon, as we approached Chaumont, back on the automatic system, there were lots of boys swimming in the canal. The water didn’t look either clean or inviting, but they didn’t seem to mind. Some even jumping off a bridge over the canal.

We found a convenient spot on the dock at Chaumont, with electricity and water to hand, and put on a wash. I dismantled the shower pump, found the impeller bunged up with gunge, but even after clearing that out, it wouldn’t work. So we will have to find a boatyard to fix it or replace it – there seems to be one in a couple of days. Till then, showers ashore.

A not entirely restful rest day

It was nice not to be setting sail at crack of dawn – a bit of a lie-in before getting ourselves set to play the tourist. We walked to the station close by to find we had missed the bus – the next would be an hour or so. We went in and found an oldish couple chatting at the ticket counter – not buying tickets. Eventually we cautiously intervened to ask about taxis – there were none outside – to find that the old guy was a retired taxi driver and would be delighted to take us up to the town himself. This he did in his smart Kia SUV – telling us about his visits to the Ford plant at Dagenham, and Land Rover at Solihull.  Then he refused a fare. Very welcoming.

Our first attempted visit was the church of St Martin. But it was closed. An impressive tower, though:

So on up the attractive main street:

To Diderot square:

Apart from being an attractive fortified town dating back to Roman times, Langres, later fortified by the ubiquitous Vauban under Louis XIV, has as its main claim to fame the 18^th century Enlightenment philosopher Diderot. He pervades the place. But before checking out the Enlightenment museum, we looked into the cathedral:

Pleasant and impressive gothic architecture, apparently some fine tapestries, but they were covered up, and this 14^th century sculpture:

Diana commented that depictions of near-naked Christ figures like this always seem somewhat homoerotic. However the sign on the wall did not mention this aspect, deeming it rather: “A masterpiece of exceptional earliness.”

On we went, passing this agreeable wall niche, before we reached the museum:

Then lots of early books etc.  Didactic in an impressive French way. Here’s the famous Encyclopedia Diderot helped edit.

We had a good lunch in the Grand Hotel of Europe (actually not so grand), starting with a local speciality called Ouyette, which is a kind of pasty made with apples and goose confit, and was delicious. Apparently it is a dish resurrected from the middle ages. Diana then had snails and I had an andouillette, which was very nice. We finished up with delicious local Langres cheeses. I don’t think much supper will be required!

Back to the boat by taxi – paying this time – to spend the rest of a rather hot afternoon relaxing on the quayside on deck chairs in the shade of trees. Here is a view of the countryside from the ramparts:

Tomorrow off early to Chaumont: one of the few sections of manual locks on the canal. Should be interesting.

From Burgundy to Champagne

Once again we were up early and away, and had a very good run with barely any holdups. The shower pump worked fine, which was a relief. The weed was not so bad as yesterday. We have now negotiated 43 locks to get up from the Saone to the summit (plus three on the Saone) – not bad for two days, but in fact with little traffic and the automatic systems working – either a remote or radar – you get through pretty quickly.

The final flight is eight linked 5-metre-deep locks, which look daunting, but in fact a lock keeper told us not to bother mooring up, just to activate the system and hold the boat steady with the engine. It worked fine. This gives a flavour.

At the top we went through the 4.9 kilometre Balesmes tunnel – quite a feat of engineering, but cold, dank and rather boring to navigate. Quite a lot of concentration needed to keep straight. Here we are going in:

…and coming out.

We then dropped down a couple of locks to a mooring below the town of Langres. We intend to stay here a couple of nights and do some sightseeing and shopping tomorrow. Here’s a photo of Langres in the distance – against the sun! We’ll try to do better tomorrow.

Heading up to Champagne - Tuesday

We enjoyed barbecued chicken thighs last night, with enough left over for a salad at lunch time today. Afterwards, however, a bit of a storm came along, cutting our internet connection, and bringing wind and rain with it. This tested, so some extent, the repairs done to the leaks above our bed, and we remained dry.

We woke early, as usual on the boat, showered pleasantly and then encountered the first crisis of the voyage: the pump that removes the waste water from the shower had stopped working, and the bilge was flooding. Fortunately I had thought to check the bilge, being early in the trip. Anyway, much cursing and swearing and bailing and sponging – before breakfast. But the pump started to work again. We will be keeping a close eye on it!

We set off about 8.15. There was hardly any traffic on the canal – in fact we only met two boats all day, so we made excellent progress.

This gives an idea of the canal:

Though later we heard that an automatic lifting bridge, which we negotiated successfully early on, had broken down (a key term on the canals is en panne). Our informant was a canal guy who came to rescue us when one of the locks jammed shut in our faces. We lost half an hour, but otherwise everything was fine.

Frustration!

We stopped for half an hour for lunch, tied to a tree, and arrived at a pleasant little quayside halte nautique at Cusey, which generously provides free water and electricity, at about 5.30. The barbecue was in action again for supper:

The only downside of the day was the profusion of weeds growing in the canal. They get sucked into the engine cooling system and need to be regularly removed from the filter basket – twice at least today.

A canal lady has just been by and says we should have no trouble in reaching the summit of the canal tomorrow – where there is a long tunnel – and the pleasant town of Langres the other side. This first stretch has been very rustic, missing most of the villages, so not much to see or photograph. It should be better the other side.

On the road again ....

We set off on the great journey about 9.30 this morning, after settling up with the office and doing some last minute shopping at the supermarket. We had arrived in St Jean on Saturday evening, to find Saskia in good shape – all clean and tidy. On Sunday we had a lot of sorting out to do, stowing vast amounts of stores etc. Fortunately when we arrived it was cloudy and quite cool, so carrying everything down to the boat from the car was not too bad.

On Sunday evening the two-day festival of Blessing the Boats came to an end with a big parade of boats down the river and through the town. There were a couple of dozen, mostly gaily decked out with flags, ranging from 38 metre barges to 11 metre Saskia.  We didn‘t have many flags, but joined in anyway, and got a cheer for the red ensign – entente cordiale?

Here are some photos of the festivities: water jousting seems to be a major feature.

Boats moored up for the festivities:

Here's an eccentric tug in the parade, and others boats parading more sedately:

Anyway, this morning’s run up the Saone was uneventful, but always good to find the engine running smoothly etc. We stopped for lunch in Auxonne, and also to catch up with a few e-mails. Now we are at Maxilly sur Saone, at the start of the Champagne-Burgundy canal, which will take us north for the next few days.At least to start with it’s pretty rustic, as indeed is the Saone, so not many photo ops.

Here's a picture of Saskia after the day’s run, for those who don’t know her

Here's the captain writing the blog:

Oh, and Diana successfully negotiated her first lock ladder of the trip. I expect there will be plenty more!

Waking up like Philae

Goodness me, it's summer 2015, and Saskia has woken from a deep sleep - like her owners. I feel for the little robot sending out calls - is anyone there? can anyone hear me? in Philae's case, it seems we have - only 300 million miles away! In Saskia's, I'm not sure, but I will try to drum up some business through facebook and e-mails to long-suffering friends and relations.

Anyway, departure is imminent for the great summer 2015 cruise, and despite the suggestion in the final post last year that we might go south this summer in search of the sun, we have in fact decided to head north, taking Saskia back to her home territory - Holland, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Delft, all sorts of nice places. We plan to meet up with friends from California who are hiring a boat near Utrecht for a week at the beginning of August. The blog will have photos, but probably fewer castles, and rather more windmills.

The trip is long, so we will not try to do it both ways this year: we have found a nice marina near Utrecht where they can store Saskia for the winter in what they quaintly call a shed: I think that we PR professionals would suggest a little rebranding: heated onshore dry store perhaps?

Anyway, this is the timing: we will drive up to St Jean de Losne on Saturday. It is the weekend of the Pardon des Mariniers, or Blessing of the Boats. It includes a float past of boats on Sunday, all decked out with flags etc. Not sure if we will participate, or simply take photos. Then we will set off on Monday morning - Reims will be the first major destination, quite a few days north.

Over the winter we visited Morocco, also the UK by way of Mont St Michel, and Omaha Beach.

Here we are at the Ouzoud Waterfall in Morocco.