News for July 2007
We made our destination, St Dizier, for the beginning of July in readiness to meet up with our visitors Alan (Paul's brother) and Sylvia but not without some hiccups on the way. We were given a 'zapper' to activate the locks which at first worked well. However, we had not been told that on a Sunday the locks are closed between 12.00 and 13.00 and so we thought that there was a fault. A telephone call made at 12.30 gave us the necessary information so we decided to have a sandwich lunch whilst waiting to move on. The lights at the lock came back on at 13.00 but by the time we had unroped and moved into the lock we had been 'timed out'. This meant that we could not activate the lock. Another 'phone call and a lock keeper came to our rescue. At the next lock, another problem. Only one gate opened which in principle is not a problem with a narrow boat but we were unsure as to whether we would create a problem by entering the lock before a part of the sequence was completed. Thank goodness for the mobile phone. Another call and the same lock keeper once again came to our rescue. He decided to take us through the next two locks and then we arrived at St Dizier.
There were quite a lot of showers during the first few days of July with Alan and Sylvia but that did not deter our boating plans to move from St. Dizier to Chaumont. Alan and Sylvia have a narrow boat in England so are experienced boaters. Alan took the tiller and enjoyed the different experience of boating in France which Sylvia did too. We had a good variety in climbing locks using the 'zapper', turning rods overhanging the canal waters and having lock keepers to activate locks. At this time of year, on that particular stretch of water, VNF employ students looking for summer work as mobile lockeepers enabling them to earn some money. We had some very pleasant young people working with us and one person stands out in our minds. Caroline had a lovely personality and a smile to match. She was definitely part of the crew and during conversation we learned that Caroline was expecting examination results the next day. Delighted to report that we heard from her and the results were positive. One of the pleasures of boating is meeting people and taking an interest in their lives just as people take an interest in narrow boats and what we are doing.
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Sylvia & Alan at the tiller.
On our second day of boating with Alan and Sylvia we had been advised to make a 08.00 start to be able to keep ahead of a peniche (commercial barge) that was going to be setting off at a similar time but behind us. Good advice because although the peniches appear to be moving quite fast when passing moored boats it is due to the amount of water that they push. When following a peniche it becomes obvious that they are not moving fast, probably 3km per hour which we have sometimes experienced. That evening we moored at Froncles which has recently been established as a mooring and very well organised. Much to our delight there was a sunny spell which permitted us to make use of a picnic table to have afternoon tea!
Moving on to Chaumont we saw some lovely gardens by the side of locks and were helped on our way with another student, Christophe. That was a slower journey because on this occasion we were following a laden peniche. In fact, we had to use a peniche mooring to stop over the lunch period for Christophe. This may sound simple but as the peniches are much longer than us, many of them 38 metres and Idling By is 17 metres, it does entail a bit of juggling to rope up to the huge pipes set into the canal bed and away from the bank. After the lunch break we did 'ground' as we were trying to set off but fortunately that was the bow rather than the stern so it did not create enormous problems. After a few more locks and a short tunnel that lit up as we entered, we arrived at Chaumont. The Capitainerie was just as helpful as we had remembered from two years ago and after some difficulty managed to organise a taxi to the station for Alan and Sylvia enabling them to return to St Dizier to collect their car and continue their holiday in France.
We had a few days at Chaumont before doing a U turn and retracing the journey. We shared the locks with a British couple including the lock that we were left in whilst the lock keeper went for lunch! We had intended to moor up at Froncles that evening but an enquiry with a lock keeper alerted us to the fact that there was not much space so we decided to have an overnight stop at Vouecourt. We had a very quiet 'fisherman' to keep us company! We moved on to Froncles the next day, a very short journey but we knew that we could receive internet there and needed to sort out some important e mails.
The next port of call was Joinville. A good stopping point with electricity and water and, at the moment, no charge. The town is within easy walking distance and is well decorated with floral displays. We were not the only narrow boat, a couple, Tony and Doreen who spend a few months each year on their narrow boat in France were also moored up. We had met them last year and so this chance encounter provided an opportunity to catch up with each other. We found that there was a small market in the town on a Friday morning and a visit to the tourist office resulted in us being given a medal commemorating 100 years of the canal between Champagne and Bourgogne. The Friday evening was spent with Tony and Doreen in the mooring gardens and late in the evening, watching from a distance the firework display to celebrate Bastille Day. A bit of research on internet gave us some interesting background into the storming of the Bastille.
For more about Bastille Day, try these links:- shttp://www.hightowertrail.com/BASTIL.HTM http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A745049
As arranged with VNF we started cruising again on the 15th. We had a lock keeper for the first lock and then we were back to using the telecommande for locks and a student to work the lift bridges. That evening we moored at Chamouillery outside a bakers. The smell of freshly baking bread was delightful and the walk to buy fresh bread took less than a minute! Whist moored a couple who live in the area had a long chat with us about the boat and the history of narrow boats. They wanted to take photographs to which we have no objections. In fact it is a frequent occurrence. We exchanged information about e mail addresses and a few days later when we were on the move again we received a lovely message with some very good photographs of the boat, so thoughtful.
Using Chalons-sur-Champagne as an overnight stay we continued on our journey and on to new water for us. The intention was to visit Epernay, the capital of Champagne. Then started a series of events which could have created some frustrations had we allowed it but, overall the planning works well and if occasionally it does not then, that is part of the adventure. On the 22nd we arrived at a lock in Tours sur Marne which was out of order. We tried using the lock intercom but continually received the busy tone. Obvious thing to do was to use the mobile phone, no response, so the next choice was to organise lunch. About an hour later someone from VNF arrived and set things moving but as we were not in a rush and were settled in a pleasant enough mooring with some greenery and flowers around us we decided to stay until the next morning. We set off the next day on a lovely stretch of water, very picturesque. Everything was fine until we reached the lock at a place called Ay mid morning. The hydraulics were out of order and the lock could not function. The VNF explained that they hoped it would be repaired during the day. In fairness it was repaired by 17.00 but once again we decided to stay put until the next day.
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The silent fisherman.
Next stopping point was Epernay, at least that was the plan. We went through two locks and made a left turn to boat a few kilometres to the port. As we approached the port we realised that we were going to struggle. Boats were moored abreast of each other and although one kind boater invited us to go alongside him there was no way that we could rope up the bow and the stern of our boat. No choice but to turn around and retrace our steps without visiting the capital of Champagne. At least we had some beautiful views of the Champagne and Wine fields on a sunny day. Problems were not yet over though. Unusually there was a queue to pass through the lock taking us from the river into the canal. The lock would not respond when it came to our turn. Not our fault, the lock gates upstream had not closed properly. Another phone call and within 15 minutes someone was on the scene to move us through safely. We continued to cruise through to Mareuil-sur-Ay which had impressed us as a port when we had journeyed in the direction of Epernay. However when we took a closer look it was clear that the pontoon moorings would be difficult and we were not sure if there was enough water to moor up against the wall. It turned out that we had no choice, we ran out of diesel!! Fortunately we were sufficiently close to dry land to use the bow thruster and limp in to jump off the boat and moor up. Our intention had been to do necessary jobs like buying diesel at Epernay but of course we were thwarted. A taxi had to be used to do the 5 km journey to buy diesel which made it quite an expensive 20 litres. Since then we have spent a couple of nights at Sillery and Paul did nine cycle trips trailing the jerry can attached to a trolley to fill the tank at a nearby supermarket and we have our 20 litre reserve.
With water and diesel tanks full, fridge and cupboards replete, we are making our way to St. Quentin with a mix of weather. Some showers, some sunshine but certainly not cold. July started off wet and over the last few days it has been wet again but there was a couple of weeks when it was hot, sunny and we were glad of shade. Many French people have spoken to us about the terrible flooding in the UK and been sympathising about the flood damage. We hope that we have some more sunny days ahead of us as we continue on our travels over the next two or three months.