Back at Pont-a-Bar
Wow! Where did that month go? Well here we are back in Pont-a-Bar on a
Sunday evening after a long drive across England and northern France. The boat is in good shape and everything
springs to life - electricity, water, gas, and engine. No water where it shouldn’t be. We make
ourselves a scratch meal and snuggle down for the night.
Monday morning we see Cedric at 8h30, collect our
keys, ask him to give our best wishes to Benedicte, and say we are on our
way. Well, Glyn is, to take the car into
Sedan and cycle back so that we can then take the boat. It is only 9 kms and he is back within the
hour.
Sedan is beautiful city, even if now a little spread
out. The mooring is excellent and we can
provision up at the nearby Leclerc store.
The Walled City of Sedan – Independent and Protestant until…..
We stay for two nights, one to look once again
around the town, and another to visit the area around. Linda is keen to visit the atelier for dried
flowers which is one the most famous in France.
It really is delightful, and the process is fantastic. They grow all their own flowers. It is in a little village called Illy, and we
find it funny that the next village is called Olly. Small minds!
Dried Flower Decoration Workshop at Illy near Olly
When we return to the mooring a canoeist is getting
his canoe out of the water at the slipway.
He bemoans that it is a camping site and will no doubt charge him
extortionately. The Italians never
charge he says. He only has his canoe and
a very small tent. But all turns out
well. The people who run the municipal
site make no charge when they hear he is on a humanitarian project.
Alex is actually a French ex-patriate marooned in
Montreal. But he has been canoeing all
the way from Tunisia – across the Med including visiting Lampedusa – to draw
attention to the plight of migrants in southern Europe, how the massive amount
of money being spent on managing this is badly spent, how there needs to be
central co-ordination to manage and control the migration flows, and how then
billions can be saved to be spent in the countries the migrants come from to
make the lure of migration less attractive.
We spend some good time ensuring he has coffee and
other things he needs, until the camp site take over for him. He is passionate and well versed in the
reasoning of his case, although we bowl him some tricky questions about how you
can stop the lure and adventure of migration.
After all, he has migrated to Canada.
He has a good cause and we wish him well. Certainly the billions spent on (not)
controlling migration could be better spent.
But whether he can convince a sceptical European public, and whether you
can ever stop people wanting to migrate, we remain less sure about. It was though great to meet him, and we hope
to keep in touch.
Alex, A Better World and Migration Campaigner, Tent and Canoe from Tunisia to
Brussels
From Sedan we motor up 15 kms but just two locks to
the beautiful village/town of Mouzon.
This passes through Remilly-Allicourt where we have stayed in the
excellent Logis, so the dogs get an extra walk here which they know and enjoy
very much. Mouzon is very well-kept,
comfortable moorings, and a very pretty centre including a quite interesting
museum on the history of felt making, which used to be the staple industry
here. It also has a very attractive
abbey and grounds.
The Abbey Yard at Mouzon IMG
The Abbey Inside IMG
The Abbey Gardens – at Mouzon IMG
Our next stop is another 15 kms and three locks to
Stenay. These distances may seem boring,
but Glyn is an old man and cycling back every day he tries to keep it to less
20 kms. Stenay is a bigger town with
very attractive moorings, and a welcome ice cream (the weather is trying to
accept it is still summer). The moorings
are though up an inlet, and of course we have to turn the boat. A boat up to 15kms would be no problem but we
are just that little bit longer. With
care though the inlet is just wide enough.
The Mooring at Stenay IMG
The Mill at Stenay
Next stop Dun-sur-Meuse. Effective but unenticing moorings and the
town is similar, though the old church high above the town and the river is
worth it for the view. Here we also
meet Ernest and Maria on the Elbe-Blu
which is but eight metres and they have made their way all the way from the
Rhine and then up the Meuse. We have some interesting chatter over a
coffee. They live in Malta now: Maria is
Maltese but Ernest was originally German but since 1955 he has lived all over the
world. Their daughter is at university
at York (England). Interesting companions.
We may see more of them as they are heading for Toul and then down the
Moselle/Mosel to Metz and Trier, and they travel at about our speed.
The River from Dun-sur-Meuse
Our next stop is Consenvoye. This is a very small village. The mooring is basic but great with easy
access to the countryside. The village /
town has most facilities and it is quite pleasant here. There are just three boats here – ourselves,
a Danish couple on the Beata who we also saw at Stenay (and
who are heading for the Saone), and the Elbe-Blu with Maria and Ernest.
Horses on Towpath as in Former Times
Our next destination is Verdun but we decide to moor
at Belleville just outside which is more rural and greener with good walks for
the dogs. Ernest and Maria “lock” with
us all the way but they are heading into Verdun centre. However they stop at Belleville for a nose
around and have some more chatter together before they go on the 3 kms into
town.
At Belleville we have a bit of a rest, but also sort
out some pills we are short of for Shady.
We ring the vet at Toul (an excellent outfit) but they can’t identify
the product. They tell to go to any
pharmacy and ask them to identify the French equivalent. In fact the pharmacy is right opposite us, so
we pop in. No, this product can only be
bought in the UK and Germany she says. But there must be a French equivalent. And she is like a dog with a bone. Computer – reference books – computer. There is now a queue of 4 people, but she
must help every customer and won’t give up.
She identifies the active ingredient, and then the French
equivalent. She can get it by 9h30 in
the morning she says, though she is little shocked at the price (it is
expensive in England but in fact only three-quarters of that in France). We were going to get it from the vet in Toul,
but after all her work we feel we have to order it with her.
After some shopping we visit the centre of
Verdun. It is a lively and lovely town,
though somewhat smaller than we expected.
We pop into the cathedral but it is a cathedral. Next door is the international peace
centre. The entrance is impressive, but the
exhibition on WW1 we find somewhat disappointing. More about France and the glory of war than
about the horrors (though there are some of those), the absurdity and
reconciliation. We wouldn’t go again.
The
Entry Gates to Old Verdun
The International Peace Centre at Verdun
We are now on the last stretch of the Meuse - we
have done 250 kms since Namur, and only another 70 to go.
While at Verdun we use the car to look out the
moorings ahead. At La Cassine Sylvie and
Gilbert on La Caminaïre warned us that Dieue-sur-Meuse, which
would have been our next stop was very poor and unusable, so we go to have a
look. They are definitely right. We also look at Ambly and then Lacroix and
begin to feel we will have to go there, even though Lacroix is 30 kms from
Belleville. We also meet Carrie who is on an old Dutch barge in Verdun and
checking out moorings too. She is
managing this single handed and like us sees little options at Dieue or Ambly. She is staying at Verdun longer than us. We offer our card if she needs help, but did
not hear in the next couple of days.
Glyn decides to break the cycle ride into two. He goes off early in the morning to leave the
car at Dieue, and then he will cycle back from Lacroix to collect it from there. An added reason for not trying to stay
there. They are setting up a Fete
Fouraine (Fun Fair) right next to the mooring.
The journey to Lacroix goes well. It is beautiful country. We catch up with the
Beata
as they are leaving Verdun but after locking together for two locks we feel we
need to let them go on. They are heading
for St Mihiel in one day, but travel faster than us.
Our big worry is whether we will get in at
Lacroix. If not it may be St Mihiel for
us too. As we first arrive we think Oh!
No! – but around the corner there is just enough space – right next to? Ernest and Maria! Later we have coffee with them, and another
good chinwag. We have things to agree and disagree about, but that’s life; we
are all different. Ernest turns out to
be a Dortmund supporter and they have been drawn yet again in the same group as
Arsenal. But like last year hopefully
both can qualify.
And so to St Mihiel.
Although out on the river the moorings are good, and town has everything
you could want. We are now getting in
the mood and have Ernest and Maria come round for drinks before evening meal
(very French!).
The Church at St Mihiel
Sculpture of St John supporting the Madonna by Ligier Richier
Moored at St Mihiel
Four the Seven Dames of the Meuse
And so to Commercy.
It is a greyer day today, and we have visited Commercy before. The 22 kms by bike is also quite hilly. We just collapse that evening.
Next day we are finally back at Pagny
(-sur-Meuse). It is Ernest’s birthday so
we go out for a meal together at the local restaurant, very good fare, but they
insist on paying. We feel very indebted
as tomorrow they go on to Toul and then Moselle, while we will stay to get fuel
(good cheap diesel here quite adjacent to the moorings) and do some boat work. But Glyn might see them when he cycles in
Sunday morning.
There were five boats overnight, and suddenly there
are just two of us, at either end of the pontoon. The French boat at the other end wants to go
but he has battery problems. They are
from Nancy and are waiting for some friends to help. Their big beautiful golden retriever and
Topsy eye each other cautiously but are alright together. We lend Giles, whose boat it is, our
generator so that he can at least charge up while the other problem is
fixed. He kindly also refills our petrol
can. Re-Dieseling the boat with jerry
cans goes well but we are surprised that after only 150 litres we look almost
full. We seem to be getting good
consumption this year.
Back in Toul
Sunday 31 August and we nudge the final 13 locks
down to Toul. How wonderful now to be
going downstream / downhill after 77 locks upstream / uphill. We need to do some shopping Monday and have
an engine service booked for Tuesday. We
check things out and are pleased to see that the Elbe-Blu is still in
port. So we cheekily organise a meal out for the four of us, just upstream on
the Moselle at Pierre-la-Treiche. Maria is at a Bach concert, but happy with
the invitation when she returns. So we have
a very pleasant evening together and this time it will be goodbye tomorrow.
e Elbe-Blu Sets Off
A Happy and Sad Cheerio to Maria and Ernest
And so it is.
We have only been together for 10 days, but it seems we have known each
other much longer. It has been great
cruising together, almost like having Chris and David on board. It is sad to part. But hopefully only Au Revoir / Auf
Wiedersehen.
So this stage of the journey is almost over. We nick down the two locks to Loraine Marine.
Duncan has boats queueing up for work but we get our service down on time as
booked, and collect our old alternator.
The Moorings at Lorraine Marine
Toul is excellent for the dogs, whether in the port
or the boatyard there are always great walks.
Between the junction of the Marne-Rhine canal and the Moselle itself
there is great wide open field. Cats,
rats and god knows what other animals to chase.
The dogs are in their own Elysium.
The end of this journey. Next (to
follow) we have only the slow relaxing cruise down the Moselle, the Marne/Rhine
East to Nancy and Rechicourt, and then down the Sarre for wintering at
Sarreguemines.
An Excellent Field to Run In – Can You See the Flash which is Topsy
And Now She’s Gone
