Morverc'h: Of Lakes and Forests – The Beauty and Pleasure of the Sarre (31 August

No French TV Here

So now we are on the Sarre Canal. The official name is the “Canal des Houillères de la Sarre” which would probably translate into English as the “Saar Coal Canal” or the “Sarre Collieries’ Canal” though there is little trace of that now.

The Port de Houillon (should this be Coalport) is well-located and well set out, though the captain, who lives aboard a big old barge, is a little grumpy. “Hm. I could moor four hire boats in the length you’ll take up” he mumbles under his breath as nevertheless he fully assists in mooring, and only charges the standard rate. Mind you there is no competition for our space. 3 or 4 boats arrive later to moor, but there is still space.

After walking the dogs a few times, and eating supper, we settle down to see if we can pick up any TV. Only four stations! And these all turn out to be German. Maybe they give a better signal or cover easier terrain. Our German is not so good and we can catch only half the news stories, but enough to get the gist. We try another channel. Would you believe it – the Bayern Munich – Chelsea Super Cup match!

The next morning we walk the dogs early all along the dyke between the canal and lake. It is infested with fishermen (well it is Saturday morning). Topsy is excited by all the rods which she thinks are sticks so has to be kept on the lead much of the time. It is a cool but lovely morning.

A German colleague on the Jan Butz from Koblenz, on his way home, is very interested in the boat. How did you cross the “Kanal” he asks and is perhaps a little disappointed that it was on an LKW? He advises us on places along the canal, and especially recommends that we do not miss the restaurant at Ecluse 16.

The Glorious Lakes to Mittersheim

The day’s journey is past 13 locks to Mittersheim. All downhill now, so the going is easy. The first lock is on a stretch 9 kms long, with the lock in the middle of it. It is really beautiful country. We are surrounded by lakes all the way. And on a Saturday morning it is buzzing – but ever so gently – with fisherman, joggers, cyclists. We really do soak this all in.

The Etang du Stock as we cruise gently among the lakes

The Other Side of Etang du Stock from the Aqueduct

We could bore you with pictures of woodland and lakes along this beautiful stretch so we will try to restrain ourselves.

At the first lock the keeper is very jolly. He welcomes us heartily and passes over the tele-commande to zap the opening of the next 27 locks ourselves. He provides all sorts of information about the area, including a good food guide, and tells us that if the food is good we must tell them we got their name from the VNF guide, but if it is not good we must tell him on the way back. He makes sure we have any information we want before we leave.

The next stretch of locks (2-12) all come very close together as we descend the upper Sarre valley. The canal is beautifully maintained, as are the locks. They are also beautifully painted with an inviting air and colourful display that makes you feel happy to be here. They add to the glory of the lakes and forests.

The colourful locks (here Lock 2) of the Sarre Canal

The abundance of flora and fauna is also striking. We are not quick enough to photograph the deer. But these beautiful cornflowers growing even in the gravel at the side of locks add to the feeling of nature.

Cornflower in the lock gravel

The Wonderful Village of Mittersheim - of Wood and Milk

We reach our destination for the day, the village of Mittersheim. It has a good port but we decide it would be nicer for the dogs to be moored a little upstream where there is beautiful stretch of bank against open paths and fields. This is just before the abandoned Canal des Salines which also carried coal, and goes off the west proving itself an interesting walk. This turns out to be a perfect mooring. Not only can the dogs amble freely, it is a starting point for great walks, and there is even firewood to scavenge to help replenish our dwindled stock.

Above all we are light on food. The villages along the Marne-au-Rhin sadly all lacked shops. That at Mittersheim was a god send. Light and well set out. Not only plenty of fresh bread but fresh milk as well. The village is delightful, with only one minor negative which might have been sited a little more out of the village. But overall this was a beautiful place, and with the Etang de Mittersheim just a little outside the village another treasure for fisherman, sail boats, and all nature lovers. There is also a very pleasant cafe alongside the port.

We also notice that the ambient language here is not so much French, though we hear that as well. The majority amongst themselves seem to speak a form of German which we take to be the Lorraine patois. It is slightly confusing though, and we end up with French and German words buzzing in our heads.

Moored at Mittersheim – a Very Beautiful Spot

The next morning Glyn takes the girls for a long walk along the old Salines Canal and then out into open fields and woodland (though alas the latter is mainly closed off and clearly used for shooting).

Morning Sunset Along the Old Salines Canal

And after breakfast he starts sawing up some of the scavenged wood we have collected. Though someone thinks this is for her, not the wood burner.

This is My Piece of Wood

After a really enjoyable evening, good sleep and excellent morning we head further north for the next village of Harskirchen. We are pleased we chose the out-of-town mooring as the port is now heaving and overrun with a massive “vide grenier”. First lock in the morning and we’ve never seen so many gongoozlers, all asking questions about the boat, the dogs, where we’ve come from. There is even a four man coxed rowing boat adding to the jollity.

The Scenery from Mittersheim is Glorious

At the second lock a kindly VNF man joins us and asks us in German if we are alright. Fine, we say, it is very beautiful here. Do people speak German or French? In the villages, he says, about 90% speak the local Lorrain (German-based patois).

At the next lock yet another VNF man. It is a lovely day and we wonder whether they are enjoying it too. He thinks 70% speak the local patois. But he explains he is there is to look after the “bateaux aux rames”. Then we look behind us and see the four-man coxed boat coming up behind us. Are they really taking the locks too? Oh Yes.

We suggest they might go ahead of us but the lock-keeper says they can’t take next lock until after 13h00 (it is now 11h30) as he has to be there and they can’t get there before 12h00 and he has to have his lunch. Whereas we can let ourselves through. So we go ahead.

As we leave the lock we discover there is not one but three boats. We go ahead at our normal pace (about 6kms per hour) and soon discover the rowers are gaining fast on us.

Coxed Fours on the Sarre Canal

But then they stop. Are they taking a rest, for there is no point in them racing to the next lock?

Harskirchen or Not

We pass the Harskirchen lock. The port is in fact outside the village and technically in the hamlet of Bissert. The port primarily has pontoons, too short for us, but we find some excellent quay a little further along. There is no-one at the Capitainerie which doesn’t open until 18h00.

The rowers arrive. They look at the lock and then when have moored up we see they have come through on their own. We apologise if our wash was making it hard for them. The wash wasn’t a problem they say, but the fumes were. Ah! Yes. We sometimes get back fumes in locks and they are not pleasant. So we understand.

The whole group is from the Bad Godesberg Rowing Club near Bonn. A former DFG colleague used to row on the Rhein there. Anne, but we can’t recall the surname and they don’t recognise the name. Mind you these are somewhat older rowers.

They are in fact rowing the whole length of the Canal and then the river down to Saarbrucken. We wish them well. We are staying here the night, while they set off for the afternoon.

After skyping Lauren and Alfie, all kitted up ready for the Arsenal-Spurs match, Glyn wanders into Harskirchen with the dogs for a walk but forgets to take the camera. This is a beautiful village with two churches (Protestant and Catholic as had Mittersheim), some beautiful buildings, and - very French – a Boules competition with cups and trophies in the central square. An unscientific survey of the locals tell him 13/20 are normally speaking the Lorrain while the others more standard French.

While Glyn is away a German boater who has moored up in the port comes along and asks Linda if he can borrow a “Schlüssel”. Anyway, after some exchanges he borrows the water hose. So when Glyn comes back she asks what is water hose in German, but he doesn’t know. But Schlüssel is “key”. Maybe he wanted a tap lever or a connector. We wander down to him with all our fittings. No he wanted the hose. He has just bought the boat and brought it all the way from Holland down the Meuse, and doesn’t yet have a long-enough hose. The Capitainerie has found him a fitting.

He’s a retired mineworker from the Saar and lives in Saarbrucken. Well, retired early he explains. There are no coal mines in the Saarland now, and not many in the Ruhr. We compare the situation with South Wales. Like many he sees losing the mines as no great loss in themselves, but losing the work with no other work to take its place is the tragedy. But Saarbrucken is great, he says, well worth a visit.

We wander across to the Capitainerie to pay our mooring, but the lady Capitaine is leaving and doesn’t see us coming. After loitering for a while we see another person who says no, the Capitaine is indeed his wife. He gets her out of the house. No you are not moored in the port, she says, but on private moorings. You are in Bissert. You don’t have to pay me anything. Can we stay there, we ask. “Not my problem” she says literally.

We wander back to the boat when we meet another boater also on the private moorings. She has a fantastic collection of field mushrooms, which she has collected from local meadows, mainly for the freezer. We ask about mooring where we are. It belongs to a German colleague, she says, but he’s not around. Surely you can stay there the night.

Glyn finally takes the camera and at least takes a photo of the lock-keepers garden full of animals and kids.

Kids and Things in the Lock Keeper’s Garden at Harskirchen

Sarreguemines – Saarbrucken or Not?

So Monday morning and our destination today is Sarreguemines. 20 kms and 10 locks is quite a journey for us, but we are going downstream so it is easier to travel faster. We will go more slowly coming upstream.

The area is now a mixture of rural and urban, especially as we go through the small town of Sarralbe. But even this looks very pretty from the canal.

A Flower Bedecked Bridge Leading into Sarralbe

The Aqueduct with the River Albe Below at Sarralbe

The mixture of the journey is fascinating, with a well maintained old-fashioned lock house at Herbitzheim, and constructions old new along the way.

The Lock House at Herbitzheim

A Block House from Yester Year

These Turbines Sit Gently on the Horizon

Lock Keeper with a Foot in Either River

So we arrive in Sarreguemines. The last town in France. We are within a kilometre of the German border. All along the way the question has been will we press on to Saarbrucken across the border before we turn back. Ever since Toul there has been information and discussion. Very nice to do but there have been issues of strikes on the German side and also the German authorities not recognising the ICC (boat driving licence) for boats over 15 metres.

We moor up in the VNF marina and go to see the lock keeper. The strikes on the German side are “imprevu” he says. They happen a day at a time with no notice. Ah! Wildcat strikes! The German authorities are threatening to close the last / first lock on their side, and the strikes are against that, as it will destroy the through traffic. We can’t tell you until tomorrow whether you can go then or not, he says. And of course we can’t guarantee when you can come back, though the strikes are usually no more than a day at a time.

He recommends we come back in the morning. He also recommends we go through his lock and moor down on the river where it free, and also a supermarket very close by. There is also the Vet further along the road, which we will need as Shady is having dry skin problems again. He is extremely helpful.

We drop down onto the river, and moor alongside a Dutch tjalk flying the red duster. We pop up to the supermarket, really only a minute’s walk, but alas it is closed for stocktaking today. Just our luck.

After walking the dogs we meet Nick on the Onderneming (the tjalk) who has just down the ring from Toul to Konz on the Moselle and then up the Saar. He says he is under 15 metres (just) and he’s sticking to that as there really are problems along the way with the German authorities for British boats over 15 metres. We should look carefully at the DBA website. Is this just one case which is being repeated endlessly on the canal jungle telegraph, or is there is a real problem? The DBA website doesn’t help – well it does, it says there is real problem. We decide we won’t risk Saarbrucken this year, unless the VNF tomorrow morning tell us we really don’t need to worry.

The Passerelle (Footbridge) over the Sarre at Sarreguemines to take the dogs on lovely walks

Next morning there is a stand-in officer at the VNF as the boss is at an important meeting about the problems on the other side. He doesn’t think there is strike today but will have to check. For the some reason our discussion switches between French and German – we trip over Mosel and Moselle - and he is easy with both. On the driving licence issue he thinks we should be OK, but there can’t be any guarantees, he says, especially if the German Water Police are in a bad mood because of the strikes.

It’s very different on the other side, he says. You’ll have to speak in German. How do you feel about that we ask? He’s relaxed. I am frontiersman he says, (“du pays de la frontière”). My grandmother was from Cologne. Here people feel neither one nor ‘tother, but both. It’s good that there’s no real border any more. But on the German side they are more clearly German. He is very sympathetic to the German canal workers. Closing the last lock would be terrible he implies, without quite saying it.

We decide it is all too complicated for this year. We’ll have to find out about the German 25 metre qualification, as we would love to do the Moselle / Saar ring. But now we need to do shopping and go to the Vet, and then we’ll enjoy the day in Sarreguemines.

The Vet is very friendly. Shady has an allergy as well as dry skin so it is both antibiotics and regular shampooing. But her glands which have been problematic are clear. He, like the keeper at Rechicourt, talks about the 2,500 pottery workers, all now gone. Worse he says, some Far Eastern company has bought the right to the name, so you can still buy Sarreguemines pottery but it’s not made here, not even in France. But he shows us a back way out of his surgery to see one of the old pottery kilns.

The Old Pottery Kiln in the Centre of Sarreguemines

We spend an excellent day in Sarreguemines which has a good array of shops, and a real post office. We cross the river to moor in the “Club Nautique – L’Eau Reine” so that we can plug in (we haven’t since Houillon). The guy there is standing in for the captain. He is President of the Club, and is very welcoming and an excellent salesman. We even consider this as a future wintering station. He has a Breton first name and Lorrain surname. Yep, he says, half and half like everyone else around here. Then he laughs about the Welsh (when Glyn says not “Anglais” but “Britannique”). Great rugby, great singing, he says, but they’re all half and half too. So very true. All the world’s half and half now.

This is a town worth coming back to, though next time also with its twin down the river we hope.

The Marina and the Club Nautique L’Eau Reine at Sarreguemines

The Mill (and Bakers) at Sarreinsming (How Do You Pronounce That)

We will take it slowly back down (south) or up (upstream) the canal. More importantly it is now uphill. The locks are somewhat harder work. The VNF official at Sarreguemines recommended a stop at Sarreinsming, just 4 kms and 4 locks. And it’s up to you how you pronounce it, he says - Zar-ines-ming, or Sar-rance-ma!

The Mill and Weir on the Sarre at Sarreinsming

This again is a beautiful spot. The mooring is opposite the mill. There are beautiful walks along the river (as well as the canal) and the smell from the bakery across the fields from this little village in the morning is absolutely delicious. It is great for the dogs too, though they have to be alert for the occasional racing cyclist. Nick on the tjalk is moored next to us, but he is relaxed about Topsy’s over-excitement.

And Space for Shetties along the banks of the Sarre

Sarralbe in the Park

A longer cruise the next day down to Sarralbe, where we moor in a park just outside the town. This is beautifully laid out, and again excellent walks for the dogs in a very quiet setting. It is also very hot now. The afternoon temperature is reaching 31ºC. Lazily we take a nap during the afternoon, and just observe the town from afar.

The Thin Spires of Sarralbe in the Distance from the Mooring

The Restaurant at Lock 16

Friday and we just cruise just 11 kms and the two locks at Harskirchen to a very nice mooring at Lock 16. Lock 16 is actually near nowhere, just out on its own in a beautiful setting. The old forestry houses have been turned into a restaurant and this has been recommended to us by various people, French, German and British. It was closed for holidays on the way up, and this is its first night re-opened. And though a day late we have something important to celebrate. The meal is very good. We give it 8.5, but the starters and pudding even higher. We would certainly recommend this.

On the journey down we notice that just one or trees are beginning to turn for the autumn, but they are still very beautiful all along the canal.

The trees with just a hint of autumn between Harskirchen and Mittersheim

Two Old Men and Their Memories

Glyn takes the girls for walks in the afternoon. There is beautiful woodland here as well as open rolling fields. At the lock nearby an elderly gentleman is sitting gazing out at the scene, almost lost to the world. He says “Bonjour” and we ask whether he is from here.

No, I live in Saverne now he says, but I was born and brought up here, in a forester’s cottage just behind the restaurant, where my parents lived all their lives. He retells a story of a cold winter when he was two or three and the canal was frozen over. A family arrive on a barge, breaking the ice as they go. There is little girl on the barge about his own age and she beckons to him. He steps on the ice but it is a piece broken by the barge, and suddenly it tips over and he is in the canal. The mother on the barge races to him with a boat hook and fishes him out unceremoniously. His mother arrives and he is not allowed near the canal again. He still misses his mum and dad, he says, which is why he comes back often, just to relive his memories.

A cyclist comes by, a little younger than our friend but still older than us. He jumps off his bike and starts to chat in German or is it the Lorrain? (Actually, for just a few kilometres, we are in Alsace at this point.) Our French friend switches to German or Lorrain or Alsacien and the conversation carries on in that. Our German friend lives just 6 kms away in Germany but he is not from the area, not a Saarlander. He is from the Pfalz. He was a policeman.

Our first friend talks about the history of the area, and when it was French or German. It depends upon who won the last war, he says, and recites the times it has changed hands since Louis XIV. He is clearly an historian, and recites some of the earlier history too. Well, it’s all settled now, says our German friend. He recalls a meeting between Adenauer and de Gaulle when he was on duty, and how pleased he was to see the two countries together.

Equally amazing we have quite an intricate conversation between colloquial German, Lorrain and Glyn’s very poor German, but the discussion rolls very easily. Glyn makes his goodbyes. I have to get back to my wife, he says. Ah! Says our old French friend. You look after her. I wish I still had mine to look after, and he shows her wedding ring on his little finger next to his own.

Back to Mittersheim

The next day we head down to Mittersheim, just 8 kms. We have been cruising gently and never plugged in so power is a little low. At Mittersheim port it not clear how the power system works, but a well-settled French colleague advises us that the meter system is out of order. Just find a “borne” that works if you can, he says, and plug in. There’s no-one here to help you. Luckily we find a power supply quite close to the boat. Water is a different matter, and in the morning we will have to manoeuvre slowly to the one tap which is still delivering water.

We use the wonderful local shop again, and ask how we contact who is responsible for the port. The Mairie will be shut they say, and there’s nowhere else unless you want to cycle 10 kms out to the hut on Mittersheim lake where you might find someone. Oh well, perhaps someone will come tonight, we say. But they don’t and we get free water and electricity for the night.

The Village of Mittersheim from the Port

A Village in Burkina Faso

In the port there is wonderful exhibition about a project this village is running to provide tractors, tools, irrigation and water to a village in Burkina Faso. It adds to our respect and fondness for this village, set in such a beautiful area.

Exhibition and Fundraising Point for the Mittersheim Project in Burkina Faso

The People in Burkina Faso for whom the Project works

Lakes and Locks in the Grey

From Mittersheim we had planned to spend a day right in the middle of the lakes. We pass Lock 12 where the lock cottage has been lovingly restored, with fascinating metal art sculptures all over the garden. It is wonderful entry to the lakes.

The Cottage and Garden at Lock 12

But the weather has turned now, and the day hovers between occasional sunshine and dank and grey. The woodlands are less inviting in this weather, and though we thought it would be easy to moor here on the bank side, nothing seems quite right.

There are also an enormous number of boats – one if not two out of every lock. We must pass 20 or 30. Then we twig that it is Sunday. Nearly all the boats are hire boats. All those from Hesse can only come this way, as may many from Lagarde. Saturday is obviously “changeover day” and they are all now on their way up the Sarre.

The Quiet and Dark of Albeschaux

We carry on until we have passed Lock 2. Maybe the day is brightening up, but the mooring at Albeschaux is the best we’ve seen all day. Not only is the mooring good, but it gives a good area around, no-one else in sight except the occasional fisherman. We settle down for the evening. Before dark the fishermen move off, and we are left in this rural paradise on our own. When we take the girls for a late night walk there is no light at all except for our torches, and a faint glimmer from the cabin.

In the morning there are beautiful walks, and again Glyn scavenges for some more thrown away fire wood.

View from the Mooring at Albeschaux

Leaving the Woodlands on the Canal de la Sarre

A Long Day to Hesse

We are not sure what we are going to do today. We have some time in hand so first after completing the Canal de la Sarre we will turn eastwards towards Strasbourg as far as Hesse. We can at least recce this areas for future reference.

First we have 11 kms of the Sarre today. There are still quite a few hire boats making their entry to the canal. . After a couple of hours we reach the junction, and will have a look at Gondrexange, Heming, Hertzing, Xouaxange and Hesse itself.

The moorings at Gondrexange look reasonable, but they are high and bleak. The village has reputedly a reasonable shop. These are not ideal but perfectly possible.

Heming is maybe a kilometre off the canal, and is very small. There are some possible places to moor nearby but no fixed moorings. On a lovely summer day this might be ideal.

Hertzing’s frontage is dominated by a huge cement works. We are not sure where the moorings are, if any, but the cement works are very off-putting, and when a lorry kicks up sand grit which floats across the canal and gets into our eyes and mouths we think maybe there is somewhere better.

At Xouaxange the mooring is high and looks unstable. Worse there is no quay, and we are too low to keep ourselves from going under the pontoon, or worse gashing the boat on the supporting metal struts.

Hesse is a big port, with maybe 40 hire boats moored there – Le Boat, Locaboat and Navig France. Maybe they’ve been trapped here when the Arzvillier Boat Lift went out of action, or moved here (though less likely) when the through traffic came to a halt. But there is nowhere for us to moor and plug in. We find a reasonable quay for a lunch time stop, and then decide it was a very useful recce. This is primarily an area of passage (or have we been spoilt by the Canal de la Sarre). The weather is not the best, and it is quite windy, a cold wind.

Leaving the Border Country at Rechicourt

So we decide to head for Rechicourt – it’s only 18 kms away and no locks. Rechicourt and its deep lock is for us symbolically the border of the border country. We twice try to ring Rechicourt to signal that we are coming, but no response to the telephone.

We arrive just before 4pm, with now another boat just behind us. The lock keeper is there. The lock is beginning to fill he says, it will take half an hour. And he wanders off to work on his garden. Now we know why we couldn’t get him on the telephone. But it’s more sensible perhaps than sitting twiddling your thumbs in the lock house.

The German boat behind us is the Albatros. He hasn’t understood what the lock keeper has said, so we explain. We also joke that we are not sure we wanted to be followed by an Albatross. But the “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” it appears has no recognition in German folklore.

We have to wait half an hour and the weather is not too bad, so we make a cup of tea and sit outside chatting to Wernher and his partner. Our German is faulty but it is adequate and he has a few words of English. They are from Koblenz, though his father’s family are from the east, far east, Ost Preussen he explains. He has a Rhein Patent (permit to cruise on the Rhein) he says, but to get it you must have at least three training trips on the Rhine, and then a test. When we tell him of the narrow boat trapped in Strasbourg when the Arzvillier Boat Lift closed, who had to hire a Rhine Pilot to get him back to Trier / Konz which cost 600 Euros, he thinks that more than bit steep.

Then we ask what is water hose in German? This leads to great fun. “Wasserpfeife” clearly has a completely different meaning in German. We explain a Pfeife to take water from the tap into the boat, he and his partner say. Ah! A “Schlau”. Now was it a Schlüssel or a Schlau our friend on the Liesl asked for back in Harskirchen / Bissert?

And so together we descend the Rechicourt lock, dare we say it, into France proper.