Barging on ANJA

We had a good trip to Charbuy last Friday. We had a few problems at the start of the day because there was a big storm. I (David) was going to ride the 8km to pick up a rental car but we decided to get a taxi. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the taxi man understanding what I was saying and in the end, I rode my bike in the rain to pick up the car. Then when I rang Penny to say I was on the way and could she please get me some dry clothes, she could not understand me either. So, for some reason, people could not understand anything from my phone for a couple of hours (no problem since).

Anyway, things went really well after that.

We were very late arriving due to the problems with the storm, phone and taxi but Chantal and Christian very kindly served us lunch at their house and gave us the wonderful translations of Marriage and Birth Certificates. They are better than the originals!

Then it was off to the Mairie where Corinne was extremely helpful and assisted us to put together the two dossiers required by the Auxerre Prefecture. This took quite a long time due to all the various pieces of paper but was finally completed and all looked okay. Many Thanks Corinne!

We had a reasonable trip home, 'though the traffic was very heavy because the school holidays are coming to an end.

So, a big "Thank You" to son-in-law Steve, Corinne from the Mairie, Chantal and Christian from les Chouettes for all your assistance.

If you would like five star (or more) service staying at an excellent Chambre d'Hote, make sure to stay at:

While at Reims, we decided to try and get diesel fuel. We had not filled up for almost 1,000km. There are very few places to refuel. We had done it in Lyon and then "topped up" in St Jean de Losne.

We saw nowhere listed in our charts but did discover that a fuel company in Reims will deliver to boats if they bought sufficient quantity. So, we found the phone number and called them up. They said they would send a tanker but that it could not come for a couple more days. A little inconvenient, but we agreed. Then, they called back a little later (when David was in the shower!) and said they could come straight away and would that suit us? It certainly did. We were a little nervous that the might find difficulty locating us, but all was well and a large fuel truck arrived. So now, we again have full tanks with more than enough for another 1,100km.

We decided that we did not want to spend any more time in Reims. Fortunately we had visited it briefly last year with our daughter and son- in- law, so had taken in the major tourist sights. Instead we travelled a short distance along the canal to the small town of Sillery where we visited the Bellevue War cemetery. Here 11,300 white memorials mark the graves of French soldiers who died during the First World War. This is only one of 19 such cemeteries in this area and it is very confronting to see the line after line of white graves marking the last resting place of these men. Some are Christian, marked by a cross; some Jewish with a star of David; some Muslim with a crescent. Perhaps there are others which we did not notice. During almost the entire war, German and French soldiers opposed each other in this 10 square kilometre area. It seems to have been a stalemate until in 1918 the United States became involved and tipped the balance towards the Allies. 94,000 French were killed in a three month period in this small area of 10 square km.

Next stop was Beaumont and now we are in the Montagne de Reims Champagne area. There are some Champagne houses in Beaumont itself, but we rode up to Verzy, a Grand Cru town on the slopes of the Montagne de Reims with a beautiful view over the valley. Our route took us through the vineyards, between the vines of Roederer and Veuve Cliquot. We enjoyed being on our bikes again. While in Verzy we visited the Church and attended a Service for the blessing of the Wine Harvest. About thirty of the congregation brought to the altar laden baskets of grapes, which were put together in big tubs, to be blessed. We don't know what happens to them next- maybe there is a special Parish vintage? Several children contributed their smaller baskets full. It was a very friendly gathering. We were included in the greetings and asked where we were from- much surprise when we answered "Australia". We were probably "rubbing shoulders" with some of the great wine growers from Champagne.

Turning into the Canal lateral to the Marne we entered another Champagne area, the Marne Valley with towns including Ay and Mareuil sur Ay which together have about 60 Champagne houses. This whole area is very pretty with the Marne River bubbling along close to the Canal. Many houses have large grounds and the towns themselves very attractive. The area seems to have won the Fleury award this year and certainly there are flowers everywhere and beautifully decorated bridges and lightpoles.

We are next to a chateau and adjacent to a park full of huge trees. People- mainly elderly- come to collect the fallen nuts. There are swans around the boats. The cygnets of spring have almost grown to full size though their beaks have not yet brightened to red.

The family on the barge next to us seem to be experts at creating their own comfortable space. They have erected a small picket fence on the grass near their barge, together with potplants on the corners; they mowed the grass and raked the leaves within this private space. We have seen people on long- term live- aboard barges do this, but these people have just arrived here and seem to be on holidays- a home away from home.

Walking around Tours sur Marne we found a very modern and unusual building. This is an ecologically friendly primary school built of wood with solar panels and other energy saving devices. There is a meter which shows the energy situation. With the sun shining and the school occupied only by teachers preparing the the start of the school year, the building was putting back 150% of the energy it used.

Pictures show:

Our tidy neighbour

The Necropolis

People arrive for the blessing of the grape harvest

Grand Cru vines (the very best!)

Penny cycles through the vines

Vineyards along the canal

The Eco School

This tug used to pull barges through the Billy tunnel (2.3km). We went through on our own now that there is ventilation in the tunnel.

A balloon flies over us while moored in Reims. They would have had a fantastic view.

Best Regards, Penny and David

Just a brief update. We are near Epinay in the Champagne region.

With our visas, several "White Knights" have come galloping to our assistance.

"White Knight" Christian, our good friend from Charbuy, has been in touch with the Mairie who have themselves been able to get the form and information from the Préfecture.

"White Knight" Corinne from the Mairie has been very good.

We must provide more information than the Préfecture had told us when we visited them (birth, marriage certificates with French translations) and financial information.

"White Knight" Steve, our son in law, kindly got together our documents and sent them over. This was a lot of work.

"White Knight" Christian is very kindly translating the documents.

We are printing and copying lots of other material for our dossier.

As soon as we can, we will rent a car and go to Charbuy to submit everything.

A very big "Thank you" to all our "white knights in shining armour"!

Best regards,
Dave and Penny.

Well, we have just had a very sad day. We were going to Auxerre for the day in order to commence the renewal of our long term visas. (Titre de Sejours). Immigration had told us to go to the Prefecture in Auxerre and we had carefully looked up their hours of opening plus the renewal procedure on the Prefecture web site. Everything we found on the web site agreed with what Immigration had told us. We also discovered that the Prefecture is only open four afternoons per week for what we wanted to do.

We farewelled Liz and Abby (plus the two dogs) and had a peaceful night's sleep along the side of the canal in Reims.

The next morning, we were up bright and early before sunrise. We rode our bikes to the Reims railway station and carefully locked them up in the "Velo Parking" area which is next to the tourist bureau. We used an extra, third, security chain just to make sure they would be okay and threaded the chains through our bike helmets.

Then we caught the TGV to Paris. We had a one euro upgrade to First Class so it was very comfortable. Then two Metros and we were at Gare de Lyon for the slower two trains to Auxerre.

This all went well and we checked the location of the Prefecture to be ready for the 1330 opening time. Then a leisurely lunch at a pleasant restaurant where we have eaten before.

We were at the Prefecture on time and went to the correct floor and queued up. There were a number of people in front of us and most of them were given further forms to complete or went away with slightly unhappy faces. Finally, it was our turn. We explained what we wanted and the woman said "Sorry, you must do this at the Mairie in Charbuy". She gave us a sheet of paper and ticked the things we should take (passport, photos etc). We made absolutey sure she could not do it there but she was very insistent.

We checked the Charbuy website and found that the Mairie was open that afternoon (2pm to 6pm). Our train was at 4.09pm. So, we decided to get a taxi to Charbuy. No taxis in sight, so we went to the very helpful tourist bureau (we had been there before) and they kindly rang a taxi for us even though we only asked for the phone number. It was supposed to take 10 minutes but finally arrived after 25mins and another "hutty up" call from the tourist bureau. The taxi driver was very helpful and the car comfortable (Mercedes). He was very interested in our trip and why on earth we were going to the Charbuy Mairie. At the Mairie, he came in with us to see how long it might take and whether or not he should wait. In the end, he went off and said to call his taxi company when we were ready. All very kind and at no charge (in Australia, the cab driver would be very unhappy to wait as the rate is lower thantravelling and probabloy would not come into the Mairie [Town Hall] with us).

The ladies in the Mairie tried to be helpful but explained they had not done one of these renewals before and needed to ring the Prefecture, which they duly did. They got an answering machine message to say that calls would only be taken after 3pm. They asked if we could wait and we said "yes". Then they rang again and again at 3pm and every few minutes afterwards until 3.20. Then they rang the main Prefecture number and said that the Titre renewal section as not answering. They were told that they never answer n the afternoons- only in the mornings. So, the message must have been very old and wrong.

So, the Mairie was not able to help us but did get our fax and email addresses and offered to get in touch when they knew what to do (unfortunately, we have not yet heard anything and it is now the weekend).

We rang the taxi company and they said a taxi would be there very soon. We think the earlier helpful driver had told them to expect a call. The taxi did come quickly and got us to the train station in time. Then it was back on the trains for the return trip. This all went well (the French train system really is excellent). However, on the Metro, we somehow got all this black grease and carbon on our hands. We think it came from the sides of the seats. We were on the station, loking at our dreadful hands wondering what to do. A very kind lady noticed and immediately came up and pulled wet wipes and tissues from her handbag so we could clean her hands. What kindness!

We gt back to Reims Station on schedule before 8.30pm and our day suddenly got worse. Not only had we failed to start our visa renewals, our bikes were GONE- stolen. The security cables had been cut. Bizzarly, our helmets and the cut cables were still just sitting on the ground.

I (David) went back into the Gare and explained to the man who had just closed up the ticket office and asked if he could ring the Gendarmes for me. He was about to and then suggested that it would be better if I went there as it was only a few hundred metres away. He gave me directions.

So, we took some photos and went to the Police Station. They said they would not attend but would take the details and give us a copy of the Proces Verbal (PV) for insurance. We have since found that Insurance will not pay because the bikes are only covered if they are on the barge when stolen. The Police were kind and helpful but it all took a long time because they were just at a shift change.

So, we finally walked back to the barge at 10.30pm, tired and unhappy and about A$1,000 out of pocket with nothing to show for it all. Penny had been worried we would get back and find the boat gone or damaged but it was all okay.

So far this year, with two thefts, we have had more stolen from us in France than in our entire lifetimes put together.

On the next day (Friday) we decided we would not let the professional thieves spoil our holiday and went to Decathlon (the chain store where we originally bought our bikes) and bought new ones the same as before but with four huge locks and chains- the biggest and strongest available from the shop.

We have already used the replacement bikes to ride to one of the nearby Champagne Villages where Verve Cliquot and Roederer have their vines and wineries.

Best Regards,

Dave and Penny

Attigny is a small town steeped in history. It was formerly the residence of the kings of France, during the Carolingian era (5th to 10th Century. An interesting small tower is called the "Dome of Charlemagne" and several Councils of France took place here. A tiny plaque on the wall of the tower lists some of these important events.

Our eldest daughter Liz, joined us in Attigny and we were able to celebrate her birthday there. She lives in Guernsey and travelled across the Channel by car ferry, with partner Abby and dogs Harvey and Bailey. They slept each night in a tent next to the barge, rather than have the dogs on board inside. We were all very pleased that their arrival coincided with a return to summer weather, fine and increasingly warm. We thoroughly enjoyed their company for the few days they could spend with us. The logistics of relocating the car each day, and of finding a mooring suitable to pitch a tent were all taken care of without fuss. Harvey and Bailey behaved inpeccably and soon became used to sitting up at the bow watching the world go by. They particularly liked the chance to go for walks along the tow path.

At Nanteuil we met a man from the Netherlands who is a third generation commercial barge skipper. He had to decide to give up the life on a barge so that his children did not have to go to boarding school but he could not give up the life entirely so bought an historic Dutch barge as his holiday boat. His wife's name is Anja and she too comes from a barging family. They showed us their boat and told us of its history. His own life has been recorded in an impressive volume, full of photos of his own and his family's history in barging. This whole conversation was conducted in English- he could as well have spoken to us in French or German if that was where we came from. He showed us photos of his grandfather's barge (which was blown up by the Germans because it was unsuitable for their purposes) and his own. We also saw photos of his parents' barge on which he was born and photos of him learning to ride a bike in the hold of his father's barge. We could have spent days talking with him. He took some details of Anja and might be able to find out more of the history.

Without any fanfare, at Avaux, the Canal des Ardennes became the Canal lateral to the Aisne. Then 18 kilometres later, at Berry au Bac, we turned off that canal into the Canal from the Aisne to the Marne. The countryside is now becoming flatter in the extensive plains of the Champagne region. This canal is only 58 kilometres long.

As any readers will have noted, we have seen and admired a large number of Churches. When we read in our cruising guide that, in the town of Asfeld, there was an exceptional church "laid out in the shape of a viol", we just had to make a special stop to see it. We were pleased we had. This Church was built in 1683 in Baroque style. The main body of it is perfectly round with a narrow neck leading into it. It is absolutely different from the many churches we have previously explored.

All too soon we had arrived at Reims, and it was time to farewell our guests.

Pictures show:

Church at Asfeld

Mairie at Asfeld

Attractive lock

Us going along- with dogs on the boa

Liz and her birthday cake

Abby and Liz

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

After leaving Verdun we continued along the River Meuse, into the Ardennes region, then soon onto the Canal des Ardennes. These stretches are very sparsely settled with few towns of any size. In fact the Lonely Planet guide for France does not even include the word "Ardennes" in its index! Again forests and fields dominate. This is still frontier country. In Mouzon, now a town of 3000 people but previously much larger, we were able to see how the various waves of history all add to the fabric of the town. There is a Gallo- Roman site nearby, an abbey established in 971 and now in use as an aged care home; twelfth century ramparts and watchtowers, and a group of Spanish houses built during the brief Spanish occupation around 1650. The 12th Century Abbey Church of Notre Dame is most attractive, enhanced by the gold sandstone of the area which gives a warm effect. There is a museum of Felt, a tribute to the type of industry which keeps this town thriving. Soon after our visit to Mouzon we turned onto the Canal des Ardennes then climbed to the peak of the canal, finally going by tunnel under a mountain at St Aignan. Then we dropped rapidly and had one of our busiest days: twenty seven locks which dropped us 80 metres over a distance of 10 kilometres. This sequence of locks was automatic and in a chain, so that in theory as we left one lock, the next would be getting ready. In practice, we met several boats going in the opposite direction, and always seemed to meet them while they were in the lock ahead. Also two locks broke down so that we had to use our VHF radio to summons help from the VNF who have staff on hand for just such events. The response was very fast on both occasions. Still, it took eight and a half hours and we were very happy to tie up at the town of Attigny. This was a pleasant little town with a shady mooring. There was one space left and we were able to squeeze into it with only half a metre to spare at each end of the boat. This was where we organised to meet Liz and Abby who were driving from Guernsey to be with us for Liz's birthday and a few days on the barge.

Photo show:

We are so close to the hay harvest

Mouzon (3)

Mouzon retirement home. What a grand place!

The canal at Mouzon

View from old Roman Fort over Dun sur Meuse

Best Regards, Penny and Dave

Hi Everyone,

Here are some photos which we were unable to upload from our location yesterday. We were next to a tiny village of about 50 people. There were chickens, roosters and hens running around while we ate dinner on a picnic table next to the canal and the barge. Needless to say, the quality of the internet was not high and we were also getting conflicting signals from Belgium, which was only about 15km away.

A Danish couple tried to moor their yacht nearby but got stuck in the mud. They were able to "raft up" to the barge behind us overnight (they were very tired) but this morning, both of us (barges) were moving and they were again stuck in the mud and unable to get to the shore. They had wanted to stay the day and go bike riding.

Photos show:

Verdun

Entrance to the Citadel at Verdun

Centre for World Peace (UNESCO)

Abstract art at the Peace Centre

Peace Museum

Sculpture at St Mihiel

16th Century wood carving at St Mihiel

Best Regards, Dave and Penny

Since leaving Toul we have been following the German- French front of World War 1. This beautiful, fertile and now tranquil countryside was the scene of very heavy fighting during 1916 and a continued stand- off until the war's end in 1918. Nine villages were totally destroyed and never rebuilt.

The bridge crossing the Meuse at the town of St Mihiel south of Verdun was held by the Germans and the 2,500 people of the town were held prisoner for 50 months. Stenay to the North of Verdun as well as various other towns in the area were also held by the Germans. Verdun, thanks to the excellent fortifications and citadel built by Vaubon in the 17th century, was able to hold out for the entire period of the war even though, seen as crucial to the German advance, it was heavily bombarded during that time. No trees survived. During the war 800, 000 men lost their lives here, many of them during the Battle of Verdun from February to December 1916.

At a crossroad in a nearby town, Consenvoye, signs point to local French, German and American War cemeteries and at Dun sur Meuse a plaque commemorates the American Army taking the bridgehead in 1918.

With this confronting evidence of war it is appropriate that the Worldwide Centre for Peace has been established in what was previously the Bishop's Palace in Verdun. We visited this memorial as well as experiencing the 7kms of tunnels of the Citadel by being driven around in a small train, seeing 3D displays and re- enactments of life in the underground fortress.

These towns are far more than World War 1 memorials. St Mihiel is noted as the home of a school of Religious Art of the 16th Century led by sculptor Ligier Richier. Beautiful examples of his work have been restored and are on open display in the ancient churches for which they were created. Verdun too has a very old Cathedral, dating back to 990. Though damaged during World War 1 (and 11) it has been carefully restored.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Good news. David has solved the problem of weed around the keel and propellor. When the problem became really critical- boat slowing and overheating- he decided to try solution 1, throw the boat into reverse and accelerate to churn up the water. It worked! We gained speed and are no longer overheating.

So far August has not seemed like summer. There has been a fair bit of rain about and only one day has reached moe than 25 degrees. Many days have been showery but the last two days have had more constant rain and today is only 15 degrees at 11am. Here on Anja we are very snug. We have been fortunate that there are few locks (our only reason for going outside) and those few have coincided with dry spells. Yesterday hardly anyone was moving on the canal- two boats were going our way, one a commercial barge, and we met one boat coming towards us.

Today is even wetter than yesterday but it seems as if other canal users have decided they can only wait one day before they get going again. After two hours we have already passed seven boats going the other way. We are quite sorry for many of the crews and realise why they waited- they cannot steer from inside so are stuck out in the open, or at best under a canopy or umbrella. We are very grateful for our comfy quarters.

The locks on this stretch are manual, staffed by uni students as a holiday job, and since David gets off the boat to help them with the gates, he has a chance to chat with them. They are unfailingy cheerful and polite, despite the fact that our presence in the lock means that they have to leave their warm dry quarters for the cold wet world.

On this stretch of the Meuse we have moved out of the forests and into farmland, with both crops and cattle, and rarely sheep. There are green rolling hills topped by forests in the distance. Because of the destruction of the First World War the houses are generally newer than in many other areas we have visited.

There is a good number of places to tie up at night. The spot in Verdun was particularly good as we were able to tie up in the centre of this major town. Other night time stops have offered us good facilities in quiet rural surroundings. The weather was too wet to allow us to take advantage of their picnic tables and boule courts.

Pictures show:

Verdun

Verdun monument

River Meuse plus town

Pont Canal building (built by Vauban in the 1600s. They used it and others to flood the countryside, thus deterring invasion). One of few left in France.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Today while we were passing through an automatic lock we watched a lock- keeper scooping weed off the gates and out of the water of the lock. We were reflecting on all the behind-the-scenes work performed by the VNF (Voies navigable de France) which celebrates 20 years this year.

We notice the work of "eclusers" most when we are working through manual or mechanised locks. On the big locks, they are in a huge tower pressing buttons and pulling levers to make sure that the lock operates properly. They also monitor who goes into which lock. On the Moselle, traffic signals indicated that we should join a big commercial barge in a lock when we were not sure we would fit- and of course, they were right.

On the Rhine there are parallel locks, one wider (22 metres) than the other (11 metres) so they decide which lock to use for which boat. At one stage, we went quickly through the "little" lock as directed while two huge barges were slowly going through the big one.

In the smaller locks the lock keepers are closer to the action and one can have a conversation with them, but they perform the same function, monitoring the traffic and making sure that everything works smoothly. In the "manual" locks they have to physically open and close the gates. We always help out by working one gate while they do the other and also assisting with the separate sluice gates. We find these keepers to be very friendly and helpful and they have a good knowledge about their canal and its surroundings. They have many times passed on information about a local mooring place, restaurant or shop and we have found their recommendations accurate.

With automatic locks there seems to be a trouble- shooter waiting in the wings in case he is needed. Yesterday we were waiting for a lock which looked ready to open but the gates did not move. While we were still talking about whether to ring up the "help" number, a familiar white VNF van pulled up and the wandering lock keeper pressed the right button to get the process underway. Presumably there is some sort of signal system to alert the team to trouble.

A couple of days ago, we entered a lock and the gates closed behind us- then "nothing". The whole thing was "dead". We had to phone them up for assistance, whichg was quickly provided.

Behind the scenes work importantly includes maintaining the locks so that they keep functioning. We have seen people welding up broken gates, laying concrete to fix collapsing walls, clearing weed, logs and dead animals out of locks, as well as mowing the grass around the locks and canals and painting them. Without this ongoing maintenance there would be more damage to boats and more need of major maintenance which would close the whole canal.

Overall, our preference is for manual locks. It is the automatic ones that seem to break down. As well, if someone climbs up to assist the eclusier, we have found the manual locks to be faster. Perhaps more so for us because we are big and heavy so we can tolerate a much higher rate of flow of water in and out of locks whereas automatic locks must cater for small and big boats and so fill/empty more slowly.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Leaving Nancy we joined the Moselle River for a short stretch leading to the Meuse River, our alternative route to replace our originally planned Canal des Vosges. On both the Moselle River and the Meuse lengths of canal alternate with lengths of river.

The countrysida round the Moselle is beautiful, mainly mountains and forests, overlooked by the occasional town. As this is a major waterway the locks are enormous and several times we shared the lock with huge commercial barges. This is quite intimidating because of their size but they are reassuringly competent.

We spent one night along the river in a lagoon full of water weed and water lilies. The town nearby, Liverdun, is one of those which climbs steeply from the Moselle River. The climb is rewarded with a marvellous panorama over the Moselle Valley and forest. As David was busy doing other things, we don't have the photos to show you! Penny should have taken the camera but didn't realise how good the view would be (faiing as a photographer by forgetting the first rule of good photography, always have the camera handy).

We turned on to the Meuse River and Canal to reach Toul, again enjoying the Freycinet sized locks, at this point automised but manual further along the river.

Toul is another town where Vaubon built fortifications, in this case ramparts and a moat which encircled the entire old town. They are still in place, for the most part covered by grass. It is not clear if this was part of the original design or a later addition.

Toul was a Cathedral town in the middle ages, and it was here that Joan of Arc was dispensed from a proposal of marriage made by a young man from her home town of Domremy. Thus she was free to pursue her desire to lead the French in battle against the English. Most towns in Lorraine have a "Rue Jeanne d'Arc" to honour her.

In Toul we farewelled our friend Charlie who has been with us for a month. He was also a member of the crew on our 2006 voyage to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands- and yet he dared join us again! He and his brother John (for one week) joined David while Penny was in Sydney on her grandmother trip, so David could keep travelling. Thanks Charlie for your excellent lock work, your great company, your culinary contributions and your unfailing good nature.

The water in the Meuse is very clear so we could see prolific underwater growth and even as we were travelling along we spied many little fish swimming around within it. There is a negative to all this growth- it seems to be getting wrapped around our underwater protuberances including the keel engine cooling system, so our engine is getting very hot. David has not yet worked out how to fix this without swimming under the barge, not a tempting prospect.

Pictures show:

Toul Cathedral (3)

Charlie and Penny managing the lines with 120metre barge in front

The beautiful Moselle River

Priority to the large barge just in front

Chateau at Liverdun

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

On leaving Nancy we had intended to join the Canal des Vosges, otherwise known as the "Canal de l'Est Branche Sud" (East Canal, Southern Branch). We were already aware that we needed to make a detour to get onto it because the section near Nancy is closed until 2012. However by word of mouth, later checked with lock-keepers (there was no specific notice on the VNF web site) we discovered that the middle section of the canal is closed. This news of closure changes our plans as we had intended to do a circuit south down that canal and North up the "Canal from the Marne to the Saone". We were told that the canal embankement had collapsed and that work on it would not be finished until the end of August, which is too late for us.

Ironically, the collapse is at a town called "Charmes" which we had already noticed in the canal guide. It is described as being a town without notable charm, understandable when its history is discovered. In the 14th century its people suffered a plague and famine; it was burnt down in the 15th century, and most of its inhabitants killed during one of the regular wars in that part of the country; it was similarly affected during the 17th century and during the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Now it has a collapsed canal, probably the least of its many problems but nevertheless affecting the economy since a large number of boats would normally travel down that way and a proportion of them would stop to visit and buy provisions.

The good news for us personally is that we are at a crossroads of canals so can reorganise our plans to go to a different area. Perhaps we can get back here next year. The bad news is that David had organised some bolts to be sent "Poste Restante" to a post office along the route. We were trying to anticipate where we would be a week after ordering them. So today, having received an email from "La Poste" that they had been delivered, he caught two trains each way to the town of Epinal to collect them. As he had chosen a Post Office close to the canal not to the train station he had a fair way to walk to reach the right one. He located the PO all right but then they could not find the package as the PO was being renovated and they were squeezed into a small temporary location! All the staff at the Post Office were involved in searching high and low (filing cabinets, drawers, shelves....). At last it all came together for him to catch the two trains back and arrive at the barge four and a half hours later. Still, if we had travelled by barge it would have taken us a week.

We needed the bolts because strange noises from the engine room proved to be some damaged bolts connecting the gearbox to the drive shaft (which turns the propellor). A previous owner had stripped the bolts and they were very insecure. David made very temporary repairs while we were descending a lock and then we limped out and tied up to bollards nearby. Another 45minutes of grease filled labour saw us on our way again. We were able to order the American thread bolts from a French company and had them sent to the Post Office.

Pictures show:

Cathedral window Nancy

Old loom

Sled for sliding timber down hills to canals

NancyCathedral organ- over 4,000 pipes!

Nancy Gardens

Nancy buildings and town square& night time

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Along this stretch, we spent several nights in small villages along the way. In the middle of a forest we moved from the region of Alsace to Lorraine. The town names, the names on graves in the cemeteries and the architecture are becoming less German as we travel West again, though even the locals did not know the origin of the name of one town, "Xouaxange". David was delighted to find out and attempt to master the pronunciation.

We enjoy stopping in these small villages which don't feature on any "must see" lists and in fact are hardly a dot on the maps. Because we are on the canals we usually see people walking their dogs, pushing strollers or wheelchairs, fishing, jogging and cycling. As we walk the streets we see more every day behaviour and sometimes we find the unusual. Our friend Charlie reported a "first" the other day: he spied a woman walking her turtle. She would reach out to turn the turtle around when it had gone a few metres away. The turtle was working very hard but she hardly had to move.

Another interesting sighting was in a village which had only two shops, the usual pairing of a bakery and a hairdresser, plus an old church and the town hall. A tractor was driving around towing a flat trailer covered by a red carpet. Several middle- aged men and women were perched on the trailer. Every now and again one or two would hop off, another couple would hop on further down the road. On closer inspection, I discovered that they all had a clip board and pencil and were closely checking flower pots and window boxes. I wonder if they were judging the town for the number of "Flowers" it deserved? (Most towns have a "Fleuries" rating with 4 being the maximum possible and equating to beautiful, well-groomed, flower covered villages.

Regards,

Penny and Dave

By now the Canal de la Marne- au- Rhin had almost reached its highest point on this Eastern part of the Canal. We passed from Alsace into Lorraine, all the time enjoying dense forests lining the canal. To reach the top, we entered the St Louis Arzviller inclined plane, the only one in Europe (and we can't imagine where else there would be one). This giant boat lift was built between 1964 and 1969 to replace 18 locks.

Basically it is like a huge bath tub which travels sideways up 108.65 metres with a 41% slope. The lock- keepers fill it with boats, close the guillotine gates at each end, then press a button to send the tub, water, boats and all, up the slope. Counterweights balance the load so that the mechanism to achieve the lift does not need to be very powerful. In our case we were so tightly packed into the lock that the doors could not be opened at the end because our bow- sprit was in the way. Penny had been rather wary and wondered if it would be better to walk up, but in the end decided to stay on board and found the experience quite an interesting one and very gentle.

After the lift there were still two one- way tunnels (one 2306 metres, one 475 metres) to be negotiated to take us through rather than over the mountain. All this was quite slow as this stretch of the canal was teeming with charter boats and with the one way system in the tunnels there was a long wait while the boats from the other direction came through both tunnels and the intervening canal. The total distance was four kilometres which took a minimum of half an hour at the 8kmh speed limit, in practice more as it was unlikely that most barges would travel fast in the darkness of the tunnel. As we were first boat in line we waited over an hour, for the boats travelling in our direction to get through before the boats coming towards us started their journey. A train of eight boats came through at once before we set off for our turn. We had a comfortable lunch. The family on the boat behind played badminton. At the other end of the second tunnel we had reached the peak of the canal and travelled along this plateau for 26 kilometres of delightful countryside, a mixture of forests, lakes and farming land before we reached our next lock, Reychicourt. Just as we had risen fast, we started our downward movement with a large drop of 15.385 metres, the highest Freycinet lock in France. Because so much water was used to operate this lock the lockkeepers waited until there were three boats inside before they allowed the lock to operate. We arrived to find that the boat ahead of us had already waited two hours because there were not three to come up. We only waited 40 minutes. A third boat, a Dutch cruiser, sped up and went straight in behind us, then annoyed us by overtaking Anja just before a narrow bridge, dashing into the next lock ahead of us, and closing the gates so that we could not go in. This is the worst behaviour we have yet encountered and is not typical of the behaviour of most canal users.

Pictures show:

War Memorial (Saverne)

1,200 year old chapel at Citadel Lutzelbourg

Views from top of hill to Lutzlebourg (3)

Our steep climb to Citadel

Tug previously used to haul barges through the tunnels

Inclined Plane

2.5km tunnel

Butterfly

16M lock

Saverne Palace

The Canal Marne au Rhin

Regards, Penny and Dave

We had looked forward to spending time in Strasbourg and it did not disappoint us. The city is very accessible from the canals (and also served by excellent public transport and bike paths) and a good size to explore. There are impressive, stately buildings and many others that are very colourful, with many old half-timbered houses. Strasbourg is the capital of Alsace. As this whole area has changed nationality many times, its identity as "Alsace" seems to be very important. It went from being a Sovereign state, minting its own coins and maintaining and equipping an army, to being French (1681). Then in 75 years its nationality changed four times: annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian war, regained by France after World War 1, annexed by Germany at the beginning of World War 11 then back to France after that war. The war memorials in Alsace remember those who have died in war, either in the German or French armies. The architecture was different from what we have become used to in the rest of France as much was built when it was independent or German. Also, at the crossroads of Europe there would always have been a variety of influences. The three highlights for us were the Cathedral in pink sandstone with beautiful 12th to 14th century stained glass including a beautiful rose window; the canal area of "Petite France" with well-kept old and colourful houses made more attractive by the masses of flowers in their window boxes; and the impressive new architecture of the European institutions including the Palace of the European Parliament and the Court of Human Rights.

These are built along the Canals so we had a great view of them from the water. Vaubun the fortifier had been active in Strasbourg as well. He built a dam whose walls still survive, to serve as an extra protection for the city.

There is quite a lot of German spoken in Alsace- not surprising given the history. Other places we have been in France, French has been the only language spoken.

On leaving Strasbourg we entered a new canal, the Canal de la Marne au Rhin (which, as its name suggests, goes from the Marne River to the Rhine River), much of it in Alsace and built in the first half of the 19th century. We will be travelling along this Canal as far as Nancy this year, no doubt joining it again in later travels. So far it is a very pleasant canal with mainly automatic locks. There is a great deal of traffic, much of it from rental boats. It has so far offered many convenient places to stop along the banks, frequently with bollards or rings and sometimes with electricity and water. 

Our first main stop was at Saverne which has an enormous palace, built and rebuilt first by the bishops of the area and later completed by Napoleon 3rd. It is in public hands and houses a museum and also a youth hostel, and the massive park is also open to the public. Saverne has a number of very attractive gardens including an interreligious garden developed by the Christian, Jewish and Moslem communities, with plants and landscapes symbolic of each faith tradition, but emphaising also their commonality.
Further along the canal and before the summit we stopped at Lutzelbourg which is at the junction of five valleys. We walked through quite dense forest up to a ruined chateau built of the attractive pink sandstone we had first seen in Strasbourg's cathedral. In amongst the chateau ruins we also noted the entry to a 10th century chapel. The view from the chateau over the five valleys made the stiff climb worthwhile.

Photos show:

Old Alsacian House

Cathedral doors

Petite France (x3)

Astronomical clock

Museum

Suburban House

Town Square

Cathedral

Streetscape

Cathedral (x2)

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave