Châlons-en-Champagne (our French home)

Friday 15 May

A little bit of history first to help quell the myth that we’re on holiday.  We bought our first narrowboat in 2010 having hired boats for many years previously. We loved boating so much that in 2014 Karen took a year’s sabbatical from work, we let our house out and moved on board. During her year out we enjoyed life on the water so much that we stayed on board and designed a boat to suit our needs which was built and delivered in 2016. We continued living aboard until we moved the boat to France just over seven years ago. From that point on we spent as long as possible each year in France but the pull of the growing number of grandchildren (and their parents of course) meant we’ve started spending less time over here.  Last year this was fewer than six months and this year we may not even make three. We’re fortunate in that we were over here before Brexit and qualified as French residents therefore we're not subject to the 90 days in 180 malarky.

That paragraph was a long winded way of saying to people there’s no need to feel you can't contact us or to apologise if you do because we're not on holiday, it’s just another life we lead.

Back to Friday. I decided that to make things easier for Karen getting back from Norway I would get to Châlons-en-Champagne by next Tuesday ready for her return on Wednesday. Châlons has plenty of trains from Paris where she will change after landing in Amsterdam and taking Eurostar into Paris.  All other destinations I toyed with would mean she would have to take a taxi or Uber and that’s the last thing anyone wants to do after a day’s travelling, let alone the stress of wondering whether or not they will arrive late at night. I also decided that I would travel whatever the weather; I may as well be stuck outside driving as opposed to cooped up indoors if it’s raining. Anyway, although it was cold, rain wasn’t forecast until the evening, so I set off from Pargny-sur-Saulx as soon as the locks opened.

At the third or fourth lock an éclusier was forking out weed from the water and he came over to tell me a péniche was on its way upstream. Surprised that it was coming I asked him where it was going and he told me that it was the steel works at Contrisson. So whoever told me that péniches no longer operate there, they were wrong. Of course, I met ‘Bethesda’ just coming around a bend.

Shortly afterwards I met a French river cruiser who was probably going to get held up by the slower moving péniche. I was aiming to get to the end of the canal and join the start of the latéral à la Marne so it was going to be a long journey but with fewer locks at this end the journey was faster than of late.  I’d gone for the long journey as there was only one other place I could moor before the end and that was only a few km from the overnight mooring. It was at a place called Bignicourt-sur-Saulx which is actually a nice shady mooring when it's needed in the summer:

Bignicourt-sur-Saulx

We have put up some different solar powered lights this year and I promised Karen I’d get a picture whilst she was away. This was moored at Pargny-sur-Saulx last night when it wasn’t raining:

After 19 km I reached Vitry-le-François and the junction with the latéral canal:

The latéral à la Marne canal was opened in 1846 and runs the relatively short distance (67 km) from Vitry-le-François to join the river Marne at Dizy near Epernay. Before then boats used the Marne to get to and from Vitry but it was so treacherous in places that the canal was built alongside it, hence the name.

The canal used to run straight into the centre of Vitry but in the 1960s the wharves became disused and a bypass canal was built. The bypass provided links to the canal I’d just been on and also to the Champagne et Bourgogne canal which runs south to join the river Saône. I believe much of the bypassed bit has been infilled and built upon but the end can still be seen where the bypass joins the canal proper:

Right: old canal to Vitry. Left: bypass

I've always thought of the bypass as new because it was built in the 1960s but it hit me today that it was 60-odd years ago so it's not really that new any more. Once I left the bypass I was heading for the first lock and my plan was to moor immediately below it as it’s a lovely quiet spot with no one around. Just before the lock, the canal crosses over the river Saulx which joins the river Marne a few hundred metres further on. To operate the locks on this canal a pole hanging over the water has to be twisted and then the rest of the operation continues as normal with respect to lights and using lockside rods to drain the water and open the gates.

Twisty pole as we call them

As luck would have it a second French crewed river cruiser was already coming up in the lock so I didn’t have long to wait to make the descent.

Moored below écluse 1 on the canal latéral à la Marne

After making the boat secure I had some lunch and went for a walk as I’d been standing on the back deck for a little over five hours so needed to stretch my legs. First port of call was to find a way down to the river Saulx to get a picture of the aqueduct.

I then made my way to a nature park on the outskirts of Vitry and then back to the boat along the V52 cycle route that runs between Paris and Strasbourg, mainly along the Marne from Paris and then along the canal we’ve just finished travelling on.  It’s not complete in some parts on the Paris outskirts and when we last came this way it was also being upgraded around Vitry. A line of plane trees along the canal edge had protection around their bases when we passed them. The protection took the form of thick foam wrapped in black plastic.

April 12 2022

Walking along the same stretch today I could see why they were wrapped up. The trees were being protected whilst railings were being installed. I assume this was because the path is rather narrow at this point:

Unlike the previous canal, this one has nearly all its kilometre stones still in place. In fact we’re only missing four of the original 67. We found number 2 in the line of plane trees and had hoped the cycle path works wouldn’t remove it. Happily, it was still there although somewhat buried when I saw it today:

On Friday I cruised 21 km down eight locks and saw one commercial and two private boats.

Saturday 16 May

I fancied a day off from cruising on Saturday so carried out some local historical investigation instead. I mentioned above that we’re missing four kilometre distance stones on this canal. These are pk 1, 56, 65 & 66. As I was moored near pk 2 it was a matter of following the original line of the canal before the bypass was put in to see if I could find pk 1; sadly, I could not. On the way along the old towpath I saw some pyramidal orchids in flower:

I reached the end of the old line which is where more investigation started. (Just skip a couple of paragraphs if your eyes are glazing over). This is looking back down the old line to where it joins the bypass in the far distance.

From this point (behind me in the photo above) down to the old junction with the canal de Champagne et Bourgogne it has been filled in so I wanted to follow the line. I managed to trace it all the way and contrary to my belief none of it had been built upon other than a couple of new roads crossing it. It was nearly all grassed and lined with trees and shrubs:

I even found the old basin which was converted to a small park when it was filled in.

I had expected to find old canal side buildings such as warehouses but with no luck, they must have been demolished in the 1960s when the town was modernised. The old street names hadn’t changed though and I came across the road that an old boat yard sat on…

…and the original quayside road:

Along the stretch that was still in water I saw this road sign:

So I started looking for remains of an old lift bridge. I assume this was part of the structure:

I was pleased I was able to completely follow the old line as I was half expecting much of it to have been covered in modern buildings. Next I had a look around Vitry-le-François itself which I know I’ve covered in the past but hopefully I found some fresh views on the town starting with the main square, place d’Armes. I was wrapped up even though the sun was out but there were plenty of tourists bravely sitting outside at the bars around the perimeter.

Last time we only saw the hôtel de ville from the rear as we were exploring its extensive gardens but this time I went to the front which clearly shows how the sides that were destroyed by bombing in WWII had been rebuilt.

We hadn’t noticed before but some of the side windows were covered and showed the devastation quite graphically.  This first one shows that just the façade of the middle section of the town hall was left standing:

This one shows a wider view of the town after some fierce bombing:

At the rear you can’t see a join because this part had been completely rebuilt:

The town was relatively unscathed during WWI for two reasons. Firstly, it was further away from the front line and secondly it was designated as a hospital town and many buildings were rapidly adapted to house and nurse the injured soldiers. Even barges in the port were used and known as péniches sanitaires. I believe it was still used as a hospital town during the short period it was occupied.

The porte du pont was originally standing at the entrance to a bridge over the river Marne but was moved to its current site in the middle of a roundabout during redevelopment in 1983.

This gate is known as porte du jardins Minimes and was originally the entrance to a convent. It later became a hosiery factory which was destroyed by bombing in WWII leaving the front standing. It is now used as the entrance to public gardens:

After lunch I walked in the opposite direction further down the canal to have a look at the original river lock that used to take boats onto the Marne from the canal. You can tell that it’s a river lock as it has a single gate that is lifted vertically rather than normal mitred gates.  This is because the lock could still be used whether the river level was higher or lower than the canal.

Far gate is the one onto the river which can be seen in the distance

I carried on walking to a place called Couvrot as it may be my next mooring stop; however, Trucker was moored there already and may well be there for the weekend so I may have to alter my plans.

On Saturday I didn’t cruise but did see a pleasure boat with a Taiwanese couple on board come down the lock and then Drakkar on its way through to the sheet metal works at Contrisson later in the evening:

Sunday 17 May

It feels like the weather’s either been cool or cool and rainy ever since Karen left for her week in Norway. Looking at the forecast this morning it looks like it’s going to stay that way until she returns on Wednesday. To celebrate her return it’s then due to be in the high-20s for a couple of weeks at least. Before starting the day’s cruise I finished the work I’d been doing on the stove. Every couple of years or so I strip out all the sealant around the collar where the stove pipe joins the stove and reseal it. I know we have CO alarms but in the small space of a narrowboat we can’t afford to take any risks.

I cruised for a couple of hours under rather gloomy skies and moored up on the old town quay of La Chaussée-sur-Marne. I cheated here and took the photo in the evening when the skies had cleared.

This type of mooring used to be ideal for Buddy as we never saw any other boats moored here and so he had the whole field to himself.  As I was mooring up I saw a commercial approaching through the bridge so I had to make haste to get fully secure before its wake took our boat away from the side.  I managed to tie up just in time before Dahna came through.

In the afternoon I walked further downstream to check on the mooring at Pogny where I wanted to move to tomorrow. On the way I had a quick look at the Marne on a stretch that we used to love taking Buddy to for a paddle. He was unusual considering he lived all his early years on a boat in that he couldn’t swim, well he would swim if he fell in and his life depended on it.

Buddy’s beach

Arriving  in Pogny I could see the whole mooring was taken up by three boats. It didn’t help that two of the boats were 38m hotel boats.

I went to have a chat with the captain of the hotel boat who was a Brit and found that since we were last here, half the mooring has been converted to allow hotel boats only. When I say converted I mean a proper power supply and fresh water facilities had been installed. He told me the new clients were arriving that evening and they would be heading for Châlons-en-Champagne by eight the next morning.  At least when the changes were made they left the water tap for private boaters. I could pull up there to take on water but wouldn’t be able to leave the boat there and go exploring as it was reserved for hotel boats.  I got caught in the rain on the walk back and it continued raining well into the night.

On Sunday I cruised 13 km down four locks and saw no boats on the journey other than the commercial that came past as I finished mooring up.

Monday 18 May 2026

Before setting off on Monday I went for a walk around La Chaussée-sur-Marne. A village we have visited before but this time I’d found some old postcards on a local website so thought I’d do some then and now shots. The first one was of a café and the postcard was dated 1905 but I couldn’t get people out of the bar for the now shot as the place was falling apart:

Next was the mairie and the photo for the postcard was taken before 1929 as that’s when the boys’ and girls’ schools were added on either side. Many mairies were built with schools on either side or had them added like this one:

I would say the old photo was taken after 1919 as it looks like the memorial plaques, dated 1919 are the same shape as those in the old picture although they have since been moved a little lower.

I tried to get a like for like of the church but as it must have been taken in the back garden of the house next door and I didn’t really feel I should intrude. The village has plenty of timber framed houses but the one on the left in this first picture had suffered from ‘improvements’ with replacement windows and shutters out of keeping as happened to some houses in the UK at the end of the last century.

I then had a short cruise to Pogny and sure enough one of the hotel boats had gone as expected and I was able to moor up. I got some washing done, filled up with water and then walked to the little Intermarché Contact to get a few bits and bobs. Returning to the boat I carried on a bit further to a mooring we like just outside of Chepy.

The latéral canal is very straight for the next 40-odd km because it’s running along the Marne valley and at one point I could see a commercial approaching in the distance. It’s always a strange sensation because even though they can be clearly seen with binoculars a few km away it seems to take an age to actually meet. I could see that it was unladen as the front was so high in the water and when I could read the name I realised it was one we’d not seen before.

Unladen Andorra

Reaching Chepy I had fun mooring up at the old village quay as it was even more overgrown that the previous night’s mooring so couldn’t locate the bollards at first but I eventually made it and settled in for lunch.

After lunch I took a circular walk that went through a village called St-Germaine-la-Ville that we hadn’t been to before. There were several boards erected around the place with fascinating photos from the old days.  This one showed the mairie on the right (which is still there) and the telegraph office on the left (note all the ceramic pots on the telegraph pole).

I thought the church had some interesting shapes and angles but what was really unusual was that there were air raid sirens on the roof; sirens are usually placed on top of mairies. We still find it eerie when we hear them during the monthly tests. Across France they are tested on the first Wednesday of every month around midday.

My walk took me across the flat Marne flood plain and it was good to see butterflies out in the sunshine. It really felt like it had been a week since the warm weather left us and consequently there hasn’t been a lot to see on the butterfly front. Amongst other species I was lucky enough to see my first common blue of the year.

It’s now fewer than ten km to Châlons-en-Champagne so I’m well within my target of getting there ready for Karen’s return on Wednesday.

On Monday I cruised nine km down two locks and saw one boat, the péniche Andorra.

Tuesday 19 May 2026

It was a short hop to Châlons on Tuesday passing just the one boat, Optimist, soon after I set off. You can’t really see but the captain is outside taking a picture of me approaching him.

Funnily enough while browsing a péniche site in the evening I came across this picture of the guy taking a picture of me taking a picture of him.

The French national circus school is based in Châlons and I knew there were a few bollards outside the school which is just before the port in the centre of town. I moored up in front of a péniche with the intention of seeing what space, if any, was available in the port.

We look so small compared with the péniche

I had rung the port a couple of days ago and they’d said just turn up as it wasn’t that busy. I wasn’t keen on doing that as I know how tricky it can be manoeuvring there in our boat especially with a breeze.

I walked around to the port and saw there were plenty of mooring spots.  My intention had been to stay where I was and come around to the port tomorrow but checking the forecast it said was going to be quite windy so I thought it would be best to move around straight away. Truman, the Taiwanese guy that I’d exchanged pleasantries with as he passed my mooring in Vitry was already in the port. I asked him if he would mind being around to help with my lines if I got into trouble as the pontoons are very short at 7.5 metres and only meant to take boats of 15 metre maximum. He was keen to help so I went back to get the boat. Cruising around to the port I passed one of the circus school big tops with the cathedral in the background.

The school were preparing to do a show so I made a note to check when the performances are in case we’re still in town. We have seen their end of year performances in the past and found them entertaining as well as realising how talented the artists in training were. The two end pontoons provide the best views and as the farthest one was already taken I decided to moor at the first one. An Aussie called Mark was moored on the other side of the pontoon and he immediately came out when he saw me arriving. So in the end I had two guys holding my lines making it easy for me to get alongside.

Safely moored

I spent the afternoon wandering around our old haunts. Having lived here through the French lockdowns (confinements) we got to know every park, street and building in the town. It was a strange feeling wandering around as I felt so relaxed and at home which is why we call it our French home.

On Tuesday I cruised eight km down one lock and saw one boat, the commercial