Strasbourg to Corre

Jul 10

As we were retracing our footsteps along the Canal Marne au Rhin we tried to stop at different moorings to the way out, though there was no real alternative to Lutzelbourg.  This time we managed to find a mooring at Saverne opposite the Chateau.

Chateau Rohan Saverne

We kept on meeting boats ex Strasbourg though traffic overall was quite light - a bad year for the Hire firms?  Not a lot of wildlife either other than swans.

The deep lock at Rechicourt (15.4m) was a squeeze this time - the Eclusier insisted on fitting in 4 craft and our jackstaff got damaged (more grump).

Rechicourt ecluse

Peter had to go back to UK to help daughter move flats in July, so we moored up at Lagarde and Peter did the 10 hour drive back to Bristol in a hire car - Angela was left with a can of varnish and brush (for the wheelhouse) - Kes to entertain and a boatload of Italians to fend off.

Lagarde - early morning

Peter got back a week later with a car full to the gunnels incl boat paint, new fridge and washing machine etc. While back he had also squeezed in an unplanned removal of a skin cancer - which was found on his routine check (too many years in hot climates).  The NHS is great but works on rather extended time frames so a speedy private job depleted the cash flow again.  The Bristol flat was now let  - so sonst ist alles OK.

Fascinated by some of the place names en route Xouaxange, Gondrexange, Xirxange, Xures which don't exactly trip off an English tongue - must do a Google search to find the derivations.  A lady sharing an ecluse with us gave us a fright by falling into the rapidly emptying ecluse from her hireboat (she thought it was funny once we get her out)!! Not sure filling out Inquest forms in French would be.

So we traipsed back past Nancy to Toul where we turned south on the Moselle - we had planned a shortcut down the Embranchement du Nancy but that was semi-permanently closed (to the surprise of our Navigo software). A few very long days in the absence of any good moorings - Angela tired and giving the crew a hard time again.  A few nice family sized chateaus on the Moselle which Angie fancied (I pointed out the cleaning and heating costs)..

Moselle chateau

We were looking forward to getting on the Canal des Vosges, though we were hearing rumours about possible Arrets de Navigation.  Richardmenil was a nice mooring but all the restaurants were closed - back on automatic locks - whoopee. The next day a green bank mooring just short of the Flavigny sur Moselle ecluse and aqueduct - a lovely spot.

Flavigny aqueduct

We pushed on through Roulle devant Bayon to Charmes, following a slow commercial most of one day. Saw a lot of Kia,  a swiss registered Peniche de Plaisance, first met west of Strasbourg. Charmes was busy and we found a slot at the Camping Ground, we spent the evening in an ad hoc canal side meal with some Australians from a campervan.

Canal des Vosges

At Thaon les Vosges a VNF worker told us that Ecluse 6 was 'broken' and we would be held up for 4 days -  luckily the town had all mod cons so Peter fuelled up by jerrican, we depleted the supermarket and when bored we gave Kotare some TLC (washing, varnishing and painting).  An adjacent barge was called 'Miss Marple' but was owned by a Frenchman (with a very noisy generator).  Angie took my stitches out (lots of previous practice with our dogs). Met Etoile de Soir, a very early, and small, Sagar owned by a Kiwi from Christchurch.

Off south again towards Epinal which we wanted to recce as a winter mooring, but the embranchement was closed so pushed on (an extra 14 ecluses) to Les Forges.  At which point we were told by VNF that Ecluse 37 was closing for 2 weeks + in two days! Could we do 37 ecluses in 2 days - mais bien sûr.  A pity as we were sprinting past places where we would have liked to linger.  Fontenoy Le Chateau was pretty little town - if slightly run down in places aka derelict - a possible wintering spot one year?  Managed to get bread and water before lunch closure.

Departing Fontenoy

We finally got to Ecluse 37 where we found three barges ahead of us, one of which was Vrouwe Catherina.   The water level was right down as the ecluse gates were knackered - VNF was pumping water into the ecluse from a lake to get each boat through.  We put our bow into the shore while waiting and were lucky to get off when we wanted to move as the water level had fallen further.  We were the last boat through before they pulled the plug.  Continued on to Selles where there was a nice restaurant, so we collapsed for a few days and, led astray by the Ramsey's on V. Catherina, squandered the housekeeping on wine and food.

Then off to Corre and the junction with the River Saone

Nancy to Strasbourg

Jun 10

So ever eastwards with time to spare to get to the Rally.  Nancy, other than the centre, was a bit grotty but nice big supermarkets on our route out (a full refuel of food, gas and diesel - Peter's arms are stretching as all the refuels so far this year have been by jerrican).

Trundled from rural mooring to rural mooring until Lagarde (a hire base) where we tied up for a few days and improved the takings of the bar/restaurant in the village - the best crepes to date and the worst omelette! We hired a rattly 2CV from the hirebase to investigate - Angie drove as she had 'prior experience' with a 2CV gearchange (!).

The villages were fairly useless as we moved east (poor alimentation's where they existed, the bars all seemed shut and in some cases no boulangeries - quel horreur).  We overnighted at Niderviller before the excitement of the Niderviller tunnels and the Arviller Plane next morning. One of the minor tunnels:

The Arviller plane was exciting and/or fun in that it was our first plane incline and we weren't quite sure what to expect - in the event no sweat..

Arviller Plane

Onward to Lutzelbourg - an attractive village a bit like Monschau in Germany (prices to match) - spent a fortune on delicacies in the Epicerie. One more chateau to climb to.

Lutzelbourg

After a few days we moved on to the Foret du Brumath - where three other barges were waiting to go into Strasbourg - we gathered for an evening meal in the local forest auberge - but it was a bit of an Irish bargee closed shop.  Then off to the Bassin Dusuzeau in Strasbourg past the EU Parliament and a few interesting river cross currents en route.

More taxes

The Rally was 33 x DBA barges all shapes and sizes - a number of other Sagars so we could check out the mods on the newer barges. Vrouwe Catherina alongside - but no mains electricity (despite all the promises) so some boats left early.  The main Rally events were a Dinner and cruise on some of the closed waterways but the organisation wasn't up to Army standards (lets blame the French)

Strasbourg Rally

The Bassin was being developed and was very active at night (except on Kotare).

We collected the mail, did the shopping and lots of sightseeing.  The Rally visit coincided with a music festival so there was plenty of action in the streets. Petite France was pretty but full of those pesky tourists.

Petite France - Strasbourg

There was even some wildlife.

It was the longest we had stayed static since Kortrijk but after 9 days it was time to cast off.  We considered heading up the Rhin towards Basel but chickened out and went west again retracing our steps.

Givet to Nancy

May 10

We were slow timing it towards Strasbourg for a DBA Rally, so often we would only do 3 hours a day when travelling. We crossed the border near Givet but didn't see any signs to show it.

Givet

Givet was our first experience of automated 'point and zap' locks, an excellent system providing a hire boat hasn't stuffed it up.  Past Givet a German boat jammed two locks in succession so we moored up and had lunch. After motoring on we misread the Marina mooring instructions and missed our turning at Revin ecluse - at which point the River shallowed and we came to a grinding halt - no way off - so we inflated the dinghy and headed for shore and let Angela practice her French with the Eclusier - a lot of Gallic arm waving and shaking of heads - I mean the locals don't need signs do they!  A few hours later a friendly VNF man raised the river level a bit and we scraped off (incl any moss and barnacles at a guess).  The Eclusier was so pleased to see the back of us he even worked 10 mins overtime.

We passed through the Revin tunnel at dusk and a fellow bargee let us raft up in the adjacent marina.  A good stop as there was a giant Intermarche about 100 metres away. A late start therefore towards Chateau Regnault where we moored to a concrete landing with some Dutch boats - as the largest boat we ended up with another one rafted up.  We are going to miss all the English speakers as we move further into darkest France.

Although we are both moderately competent, Angela has dodgy knees for scrambling over the boat and pontoons/banks, add in a a more cautious (aka safe) temperament and we decided that Angela should officially become the Helmswoman/Radio Op and Peter (with a strong right arm) the Deckcrew.

Off through Pont a Bar to Mouzon where we got cut up by a small Dutch boat, who stole our  mooring while we were manouvring to reverse in (grump). We found another one but no electricity.  An attractive town with a nice Abbey church.

Mouzon Abbey church

Carried on south to Duns sur Meuse, where we met Roy and Beryl Ramsay on Vrouwe Catherina for the first time (also en route to Strasbourg). Then off to Verdun where we did the conventional sightseeing - not sure getting a million men chopped up is that Gloire though.

Verdun memorial

Angie took her life in her hands and had a haircut - excellent but it was a significant % of the monthly income.  Organised a French sim card to cut phone charges and bought a load of geraniums as our trough flowers are wilting in the heat. On return we appeared to have sprung a leak (see below). We shared a bottle with a Kiwi from Hastings (Clive Snow) - a lot of Kiwis and Australians seem to spend the antipodean winter barging in Europe.

Verdun fountain

Carried on south through a lot of nice villages/moorings.  At St Mihiel we ended up knee deep in Gendarmes and helicopters as a couple of jail prisoners had escaped while on a canoe outing. At Commercy we visited the Chateau (Duke of Lorraine) and then to the end of the Meuse (now officially the Canal de Este (Nord)) and turned east on the Canal de Marne au Rhin.  We lost our automated ecluse zapper as the locks are manned (in chains of ecluses) from here to Toul.

Downhill to Toul - Peter managed to trap a bow rope in one of the ecluses so quickly cut it clear - a splicing job for Angela.  Into the marina at Toul - a bit tight - met up with Vrouw Catherina again and a friendly french barge also heading for Strasbourg.  Checked out the fortifications and Cathedral and after an idle weekend headed towards Nancy.  No moorings en route, so a long flog into the Nancy outskirts (through the grottiest ecluse to date incl dead goat, birds and ?).  Found a free mooring close to the centre but no utils.

Place Stanislaus Nancy

Maastricht to Givet

May 10

We wandered off from Maastricht very early (misread the time) on Sat morning and headed south along the Maas - we knew moorings would be in short supply (as they are on a lot of rivers ) but squeezed into a tiny and expensive marina at Huy.  Most of the towns en route had Vauban type citadels perched above and all the climbing should have slimmed us down. We were colocated with a circus and Kes thought the lions and tigers were fairly threatening - compared with our farm dogs he is a big wuss - prepared to protect the boat against all comers providing he has a skirt to hide behind if the going looks tough.

Huy citadel

Then it was Namur and then a few nights in Riviere swapping war stories with an Australian bargee. Then off to Dinant near the French border.  A perfect, if expensive, mooring in the centre of town and off we went to explore the town.

Dinant waterfront

It was all a bit touristy for us,  but we were also looking for the main Post Office to collect Post Restante mail. However, the town PO had closed a week before and the replacement, once found, was 3 km uphill in a shopping mall on the outskirts of town - unimpressed especially with the dodgy directions 'near the Hospital' which consisted of 3 sites spread around town.

Our last Belgian sight was Chateau Freyr and gardens - even Angela didn't fancy the upkeep.

Anseremme - Chateau Freyr

Anyway - next stop France.

Boom to Maastricht

May 10

We were looking forward to getting out of the tidal rivers and back to safety on the Canals so we pushed on up the Nete to Lier. Chris (No 1 son) had met us in Boom for the weekend and met up with us again in Lier (Kes being sick in the BMW - disgrace! The Red Cross parcel or three from NAAFI - a mix of essentials like Glenmorangie whisky and nice to have (cheddar and bacon). Plus a load of mail so it was Xmas in May. Even the navigator seemed to have recovered.

Lier has become quite touristy since I served there in the early 80's so we had no problem finding a 'good' restaurant  - Angela has a talent for fund depletion (or is that all females).  Once Chris had departed we headed off along the Albert Canal to Herentals where we moored by the Sluis.  The Albert Canal was quite choppy and Angela who can get seasick looking at a bath was glad to get off it. The next day was a trek into town to stock up on 'kuchen' for the visit of Belgian friends.  It is amazing how many people say 'how lucky you are' (having a barge lifestyle) - what has luck got to do with it - I thought it was just a case of itchy feet and a willingness to make it happen!

From Herentals we headed east along the Bocholt-Herentals Canal - It was mainly pine forests with not a lot of moorings.  The canals were lined with pillboxes - good fields of fire but they don't seem to have done the job too well - I felt sorry for the poor squaddies who manned them in the dark and damp.

Then the run down the Zuidwillemsvaart to Maastricht on the Dutch border- all a bit boring until we had to find a mid River mooring on a River Maas (Meuse) pier.  Once again Kes had to practice his ladder climbing over my shoulder every time he wanted to cock his leg!

Maastricht is a nice city with lots of sightseeing (and shopping) potential, unfortunately it was very cold (and I forgot the camera) but this is a farewell shot of St Servis.

Blaton to Boom

May 10

We had decided to do a figure 8 route through east Belgium having done a lot of the west in 2009.  The Canal Blaton-Ath and River Dender (Dendre) was our selected scenic route north. As the route is very shallow in parts it is seriously underused, so the Sluis team on Day 1 were pleased to see us and got us through the first 10 locks in record time.

One of the few straight stretches

We took a day off to see the chateau at Beloeil.

Chateau Beloeil

At Ladeuze we found a  Bar (run by a little old lady with a border collie) that was the nearest to an English country pub that we have found in Belgium, add in free electricity at the mooring and heaven was in sight.  A major bout of washing and cleaning but no shops so two days later we pushed on towards Ath - supplying the sluis team with beer to make sure we got through before closing time. There was some dredging underway but it hadn't been finished so we were pushing through mud at the summit (with a .8m draught).  It was quite hot and fleeces were temporarily a thing of the past.

Helmswoman

Ath was a shopping, eating and drinking week out before entering the River Dender (crossing back into Flanders at the same time).

We found a nice little mooring at Tenbre with a Cave in the old Mill building - just in time for a major replenishment of stocks.  At which point the combi inverter expired - luckily the nearest Mastervolt dealer was at Boom en route.

Tenbre

The Dender was very scenic but was also shallow in parts - the navigator became quite concerned at times.

Port a bit

We re-entered civilisation through the Dendermonde sluis to the River Scheldt. The Sea Scheldt is highly tidal so we planned to sprint down with the outgoing current and then turn up the River Rupel at Rupelmonde to Boom.  All went to plan,  other than a loss of steering soon after our 7am start.  The hydraulic piston had come off the rudder post, with lots of current and no moorings  Peter found himself in the rear cabin using the emergency steering with his knees (port a bit, starboard a bit commands from the wheelhouse management) whilst reconnecting the piston with his hands - funny in hindsight but slightly buttock clenching at the time.  As a result we had to fight up the Rupel against a strong current and the squeeze into the Boom mooring at near low tide was a bit of an effort -not a lot of water.

Boom at low water - note the mud

 At high water the pontoon is up to the white ring on the piling!  The Mastervolt agent (Vennekens) decided the combi inverter was kaput and at 10 years old a new one was called for - so now seriously poor. Some time while waiting for a new unit to sightsee/socialise/admire other boats both in Vennekens and en route to sunnier climes.

Watching the boats trying to turn into the Boom sluis at right angles to the Rupel current :)

A week later we pushed onwards towards the Albert Canal - hooray!

Kortrijk- Blaton

Apr 2010

The first part of the Bossuit-Kortrijk Canal has three small old sluis manually operated by a small team which was a nice intro to the 2010 cruising season - how much to tip - the perennial question?

Kortrijk Sluis 9

After completing the next few sluis we tied up at Bossuit for two nights. At which point the generator cooling impeller failed - Peter's fault for not replacing it overwinter (new rule No 1)

The Bossuit sluis onto the Haut Escaut was our deepest drop to date 9.5m and we were back into the commercial world.

Bossuit 1

Entering Wallonia on the High Escaut meant getting a new 'vignette' - no charge but every move is logged y to z (keeps civil servants in business) Peter managed to do it all using sign language and waving arms as we were back amongst the French speakers.

Tournai Bridge

After passing through Tournai, the little basin at Antoing sheltered us for the weekend which allowed a visit to the Neptunia chandlery and a bit of sightseeing.  We noted that the Chandlery fuel barges have big engines and/or cheap fuel..

Then it was on to Peronnes where we found a nice little boat yard (Roelens-Maes) to get a welding job done. Marjorie who ran it was very helpful, but like most boatyards it was always 'tomorrow' probably because confusion reigned and ad hoc solutions seemed the order of the day - it was though cheap and cheerful which helped. Four days later we got away along the Canal Nimy-Blaton-Peronnes to join the Blaton- Ath Canal at Blaton

Marjorie in action