Thugny-Trugny (a place name to make you smile)

Monday 1 June  

We had two days before meeting our boater friends, Nikki and Gorete, at a place called Variscourt and wanted to leave Reims and break the back of the journey on Monday as there was a chance of rain on Tuesday.

Leaving Reims on Monday morning

First, I wanted to top up with diesel and knew there was a handy fuel station about a km downstream.  Before we got there we went through the area where the pleasure boating port was being refurbished.  It seemed that looking at the number and length of pontoons being installed that there would be a lot of space for visiting boaters.

On the opposite side to the pontoons were three new and very large rowing stages overlooked by Reims football stadium.

At the far end there would obviously be a view of Reims cathedral.

Leaving the pleasure port, we stopped so I could get diesel from the fuel station on the other side of a main road running alongside the canal. There was some issue with paying at the pump so purchasers had to pre-pay for the amount of fuel they thought they needed. I had two jerry cans so I needed to prepay for 40 litres. For some reason I often get my French 14 and 40 the wrong way around. As I was a bit flustered I got them muddled up in the kiosk and asked for 14 litres. I didn’t realise this until the pump stopped delivering fuel before the first can was full. This meant going back in and prepaying for the rest of the fuel I needed. Fortunately the girl at the counter either didn’t realise what I’d done, didn’t care or just felt sorry for me as she was very friendly and made no mention of the incident.

After topping up with diesel we moved on a little further and then stopped again outside a small Aldi. We had to moor against an old railway line and made use of a points lever to tie to.  Karen popped in whilst I cleaned the roof of the boat from all the debris that had dropped from the plane trees we were moored under in Reims.

Then it was off to the main commercial port in Reims where we knew we could moor at the end and then walk to a Leclerc hypermarket.  I know Karen had popped into a supermarket earlier but that was to pick up a few heavy items so we wouldn’t have to carry them on a longer walk. When Karen had come back from a run the other day she’d passed the commercial port and told me there were loads of péniches moored up. When we arrived today there were only two left and the port looked deserted as far as the eye could see. They’d obviously moved on over the weekend after loading or unloading.

We had a five km round trip to the hypermarket, but it was flat and easy to take our shopping trolley supplemented with two large backpacks. After a successful shop we set off for Courcy where we stopped for lunch in a lovely shady spot.

In the afternoon we continued on further and stopped three locks short of Berry-au-Bac, the end of the canal where it joins the canal latéral à l’Aisne. 

It had been a great day for cruising with the temperature down in the mid-20s and no issues with any of the locks. The water in the canal on this northern side of Reims was very clear as well as being weed-free, probably because there’s a lot of commercial traffic although, strangely, we saw none on the move all day. We now only had ten km and four locks left to do until we arrive at Variscourt where we’d planned to meet the girls on Tuesday.

On Monday we cruised 20.5 km down two locks and saw two boats, both private.

Tuesday 2 June

With rain forecast by lunchtime we set off for Variscourt after Karen finished her early run.  Even though we left early, two péniches had already come past us before we’d had our morning tea and coffee. One was Santa Maria that always has lovely plants dotted around the deck.

The second one, Delta, was being driven by a woman and she came out on her deck to wish us a good day. The lock cottages on this canal, are rather quaint so it’s a shame some of them are just abandoned like the one at the first lock we went down.

Just above the third and final lock on the canal before reaching the junction with the canal latéral à l’Aisne is a massive grain silo. When Karen came back from her run she’d told me a péniche was being loaded with grain as she ran past but as we arrived it had just left and was going down the lock ahead of us.

Whilst we were waiting for the boat to leave and go in the lock ourselves it started raining. By the time I got my wet weather gear on it was absolutely pouring. We carried on anyway, turning right onto the latéral à l’Aisne which, at this end was more like a small river than the wide canals we’d been used to this year. If we’d turned left, as the péniche had done, which is the way nearly all commercials go, the canal would have remained the same width as the one we’d just left.

The rain didn’t stop until about 10 minutes before arriving at Variscourt and when we arrived it didn’t even look like it had been raining there!

The 52 km long canal latéral à l’Aisne, as its French name implies, runs parallel to the unnavigable upper reaches of the river Aisne.  It was opened in 1888 and joins the canal des Ardennes at its eastern end with the navigable river Aisne at the western end.  We joined it at Berry-au-Bac and will only be travelling along the last 18 km before joining the canal des Ardennes.

The girls were already moored up and we went straight around to theirs. Having come down the canal des Ardennes, they’d arrived in the opposite direction to us. We asked whether the canal was busy or not and they said they’d seen hardly any boats during the three weeks they’d been on it. Suddenly two boats arrived from opposite directions and looked to moor so we had to shuffle the boats around a bit and use some pins. One of the boats was Tadham Castle, whom we’d met on the Somme a few years previously. Soon after everyone was tied up a third boat arrived and ended up breasting up with Tadham Castle as the mooring was completely full. So much for the canal being quiet!

Packed - even before the fifth boat arrived

When discussing dinner arrangements with the girls a couple of weeks ago we’d asked that Gorete made one of her famous paellas. She loves it when asked for that particular dish and, as usual, she didn’t disappoint us as it was our turn to go around to dinner at theirs.

On Tuesday we cruised 9.5 km down three and up one lock and saw one boat on the move, a private Belgian flagged cruiser. 

Wednesday June 3 

Karen and I went for a bike ride in the morning taking in a place called Guignicourt, the home of a large sugar refinery. It was our turn to host on Wednesday evening so we popped into a little shop to get a few last minutes bits while we were cycling through. The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the boats with the four of us having a little walk around Variscourt during the afternoon. Tadham Castle joined us for drinks outside in the evening before the girls came around to ours for dinner.

Thursday June 4

Tadham Castle left early in the morning and we decided that we would head east later on in the morning. We had a final coffee and chat with the girls and then at 11am we left in opposite directions. After about 10 km we were on the canal des Ardennes. This would be our second trip along the Ardennes but when we did it three years ago we tackled it in the opposite direction. The 88 km long canal des Ardennes was opened in 1831and provides a route between the rivers Meuse and Aisne. We’d joined it from the Aisne and will follow it to the other end where it joins the Meuse just north of Sedan.

A few km after joining the canal we could see the stone quay at Asfeld that had been our target for the day. Tadham Castle was already moored there but there was plenty of room for us too so we stopped for the day.

We’d spent some time in Asfeld previously so had done all the touristy stuff in town before as well as visiting the German war cemetery on the outskirts.  The mairie and church were unusual looking buildings as well as being unusually large for the town. We took photos of the buildings again mainly to show the dark clouds that had rolled in during our walk.

As I haven’t included a lavoir picture in the blog for a while here’s one that was on a stream just up from the canal.

We got home about 15 minutes before those dark skies dropped a storm on us for about five minutes and then the clouds cleared and we ended up with a lovely sunny evening.

Having been predominantly heading west or northwest since we started cruising this year we are now heading east towards the France-Belgian border. The thick blue line reflects our journey so far including the detour a little way down the Marne and back.

On Thursday we cruised 14 km up two locks and passed one river cruiser.

Friday June 5

Soon after setting off on Friday we noticed that the cut was getting quite weedy but at least there was a clear channel we could follow where other boats had been. Coming out of one lock we realised a lot of the weed was floating freely in the pound above and then came across a couple of weedcutters which explained the loose weed.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Château-Porcien alongside some grain silos which are usually the only buildings that are seen between villages along rural French canals. Many of the commercial boats we see on these smaller gauge canals in France transport grain from these silos. 

Moored by the silos at Château-Porcien

As we hadn’t visited Château-Porcien before we had a look around the town before setting off again.  It was a fairly pretty place with plenty of timber framed and other older houses as well as some areas of modern housing.

The modern looking mairie

Saint-Thibault church

WWI memorial

The town used to be heavily fortified with a castle sitting on top of the chalk hill in its centre which can be seen behind the pictures of the mairie and war memorial above. Very little remains of the town walls or the castle but the 15^th century Maison Forte de Wignacourt has been preserved and is now an apartment building.

Back at the boat we were just about to set off again when we could hear the unmistakable throb of a péniche. Sure enough, a few minutes later a laden Follow Me came slowly past us. We were really surprised as the canal is rarely used by commercials these days. Three years ago when we spent three weeks on the canal we only saw three.

We stopped for the day after ascending the third lock on a lovely peaceful quay that we’d passed but never stopped at before near a place called Nanteuil-sur-Aisne.

On Friday we cruised 19 km up three locks and saw a private cruiser, the péniche and the two weedcutters.

Saturday June 6

While Karen went for a long run I walked into the tiny village of Nanteuil-sur-Aisne. Although it wasn’t very big it still had a church which was perched on top of a hill overlooking the village.

Other than the main street shown above, there was one side road that led to the mairie which, in true tradition, was nearly the largest building in Nanteuil-sur-Aisne.

Mind you it had housed the school at one time as can be seen by the carved stonework.

At either end of the village were what I thought were information boards from a distance but turned out to be displays of artwork depicting nature. I assume they were painted by local schoolchildren.

A WWI war memorial stood at the bottom of the steep path up to the church.

I counted six hummingbird hawkmoths feeding on the lavender around the base of the memorial as well as countless other insects. Like most French villages we investigate it was absolutely deserted: nobody in the gardens and no sign of life through any of the unshuttered windows. I found a sign pointing to ‘Le Lavoir’ but needn’t have got my hopes up as the basin was no longer present and the building had been converted to a salle des fêtes.

Karen was pleased to have found our first distance stone on this canal during her run.

34 km since we started on the canal

I got back to the boat a little while before Karen and when she returned we set off for the day. The owners of the garden at the first lock, Acy-Romance, obviously enjoy putting on a display for passing boaters.

At Rethel, the largest town on this canal, we stopped for lunch and to get rid of our rubbish and recycling. The port, although it had plenty of moorings, was as dismal as the last time we visited, so we didn’t plan on staying, preferring to get back out into the countryside.

Bridge over the canal in Rethel

Soon after setting off again it started raining which it did off and on for a couple of hours. We stopped in the next lock for water after first knocking on the lock cottage to ask if we could attach one of our hoses to their outside tap. After another half an hour or so we moored up for the day below the lock at the delightfully named Thugny-Trugny. An éclusiere stopped by in her van soon after we’d moored up. She wanted to know if we were planning on moving any further. I think she was rather pleased when I said no as it could well have meant she could go home for the rest of the day as there were no other boats on the move that might call for support.

Moored between the twisty pole and the lock at Thugny-Trugny

On Saturday we cruised 10 km up two locks and saw no boats.

Reims

Tuesday 26 May

Whenever we moor at Cumières we like to walk up the hill behind it to visit another champagne village, Hautvillers. With the current weather we clearly weren’t up for doing it during the main part of the day so left early in the morning. The walk is through vineyards the whole way up and we could see the hillsides were already alive with workers even before we set off. We then remembered that they don’t tend to work in the heat of the afternoon.  White vans deliver the workers and we could see them dotted around all over the place. All the ones we saw were French plated whereas during the vendanges (grape picking) many of them are eastern European as that’s where the champagne houses tend to source the massive increase in the workforce required during those few weeks. Reaching the top we replenished our water bottles from one of those windup pumps that are often seen in villages and then rested at a picnic table awhile. As well as the vans we could see many vine tractors, some spraying and others weeding. We could just see our boat nestling on the river at Cumières below.

The view from the boat up to the woods at Hautvillers

Back at the boat we realised how lucky we were as it was in the shade from midday. When we first moored here in 2019 the trees were no more than bushes and the pontoon was in sun all day. Compare these two pictures of 2019 and this year and it can be seen why we were now fortunate to have shade most of the day.

We cycled to Epernay in the afternoon to pick up some bits and pieces. It wasn’t as mad as it sounds as the cycle path ran under trees alongside the Marne nearly the whole way and, being beside the river, meant the cycle paths were totally flat. When we returned two people were sitting in our chairs, a Nicaraguan girl and her Dutch boyfriend. They were ever so friendly and apologised that they were sitting next to our boat – we don’t think they realised the table and chairs were ours and continued sitting there as we chatted.  After a while they got up, said their goodbyes and left.

I’m sure I’ve said it many times before but Cumières is a lovely village and clearly very well to do situated as it is in the heart of Champagne. All along the riverbank are sculptures representing the annual life cycle of champagne production. Again, many of these I have shown before but not this particular pictorial of the harvest:

Of course when we first came to the village we went on the hunt for lavoirs and were delighted to find a rue du Lavoir. Search as we might, up and down the lane there was no sign of a lavoir. We tried to imagine whether any of the roadside buildings were previously lavoirs but none seemed to do the job. A couple of years ago I was looking through old postcards of the area and found one from the early 1900s of a bateau lavoir in Cumières and it was positioned on the riverbank at the end of rue du Lavoir: thus ending our search for a lavoir in the village as it no longer existed and was a boat not a building anyway.

Wednesday 27 May

This picture of our mooring at Cumières early in the morning before the shade took over shows how strange it was that the two tourists from yesterday seemed to be happy sitting on our table and chairs at the far end of the pontoon.

The river Marne is very quiet at the moment and the only pleasure boaters we’ve met so far are Nats and Andy on Ebenhaezer.  This is because the tunnel in the lock cut down at Meaux is closed for repairs thus cutting off the route to the Seine and Paris. Hotel boats are still using the Marne as they run for one week in one direction and then change their guests for the return journey and therefore don't go as far as Meaux. There are at least five hotel boats travelling up and down and we’ve seen all of them over the last couple of days. Here are three of them:

We’d told Régis we were leaving at 10.00 am as he wanted to say goodbye before we left. He was so sweet turning up with a bag of goodies for us; everything was champagne related of course:

When we’d told Régis that we were going to Mareuil-sur-Äy he found it very funny as it’s difficult for Brits to say. Many people, including us, just cannot roll their Rs let alone pronounce the ‘eui’ as three separate vowels but strung together.  After saying farewell to Régis we set off and said our goodbyes to Cumières too.

We were soon going up the lock off the river where we saw another hotel boat moored above it, Kir Royale, which was a modern design compared with the three boats above:

Arriving in Mareuil we moored in front of Elaudy.:

Elaudy was interesting to me because it was originally one of the massive fleet of Solvay barges operating out of Dombasle-sur-Meurthe.  This one was Solvay 101 built in 1931 so not particularly old but still of historical importance. The text ‘SOLVAY 101’ and its registration ‘NY3069F’ can be seen stamped on its anchors:

After we’d moored up, a French couple came up to us in a state of excitement. They recognised us from Château-Thierry in 2019. They’d been very interested in how our solar panels were mounted as they can swivel along their long central axis as well as tip side to side along the short axis. The chap had asked if he could take pictures and measurements and of course we concurred. Anyway they were now permanently moored in the port we were in and were so pleased that they’d copied the design seven years ago.

The main reason for stopping at Mareuil was to top up our champagne supplies for home so off we went to the same champagne house we always use, Philip Bénard, that had been recommended by friends Mike and Aileen back in 2019. Lucie, Philip’s daughter looked after us and she and a friend of hers joined us in some tasting before we bought our supplies.

Back on board we got in touch with Nats and Andy who were still moored at the other end of the village and suggested meeting at the bar. The French ‘solar panel’ couple were already at the bar when we arrived and the guy kept trying to buy me a beer as a thank you but I desisted as we were meeting friends. We spent a very pleasant few hours relaxing at the bar before making our ways back to our boats. The restaurant in the bar wasn’t open on Wednesday evenings otherwise we would have stayed for a meal. Mind you we would have been in a bit of state by the end of the evening if we had!

On Wednesday we cruised 10 km up two locks and saw three boats on the move, all hotel boats.

Thursday 28 May  

After managing to have a few afternoons and evenings in the shade, our mooring the previous night at Mureuil-sur-Äy had no shade whatsoever so overnight the boat was the hottest it had been this year. We were a bit daft as it was obvious it was going to be really hot especially as we know it’s a steel boat and painted in dark colours which exacerbates heat gain and retention but we hadn't felt like moving on any further.

The port was shared with campervans and motorhomes which had their own area under trees near the bar we went to last night. At about 6.30 am I noticed a cherry picker at work next to the vans and realised that workmen were putting up decorations in the trees at that early hour. No wonder all but one of the vans had left by 8.00 am.

We set off fairly early too as we wanted to get to Condé-sur-Marne where we knew there was plenty of afternoon and evening shade in a stretch that would take about four boats. Although it wasn’t far we wanted to get there early in case other people had the same idea too. A German river cruiser went past as we were getting ready to leave but he was so fast that he was already in the first lock when it came into view. It didn’t matter to us especially as we were going to top up with water in the lock.  Soon after leaving the lock we passed yet another hotel boat:

Princess - a purpose built modern hotel boat

When we arrived at the second lock, the river cruiser was hovering outside it. We came to a halt just before the twisty pole so that we could use it once the other boat sorted out the lock. After 15 minutes or so it seemed like nothing was happening so I let Karen off and she walked down to sus out the situation. The Germans had obviously been waiting there some while but they assured Karen they’d rung VNF to report the fact the gates wouldn’t open. I also rang VNF to report the issue just to make sure and the control centre told me an éclusier was on his way. After waiting another 15 minutes one of the hotel boats came up behind me at the same time as a VNF van turned up.

The cruiser was soon going up the lock and I let the hotel boat go next for which he was very grateful. Obviously pleasure boaters must give way to commercial péniches but I’m not sure what the rules are for hotel boats. My assumption is that as they are businesses then it’s only courteous to give way to them. Arriving at Condé we turned left onto the canal de l’Aisne à la Marne and we were relieved to see the spots in the shade were all free so we were soon moored up and relaxing.

We love the colour of the water in this area

The canal we were now on, l’Aisne à la Marne, links the rivers Aisne and Marne as its name suggests. Opened in 1866 it’s only 58 km long and has 24 locks and one tunnel which is at a place called Billy on the summit. It runs through Reims at about the halfway point but other than that is extremely rural. The canal and its locks and bridges were badly destroyed along a lot of its length during WWI and had to be largely rebuilt. It tends to be fairly busy with commercials and several came through after we’d moored up. Here’s a couple, both laden:

On Thursday we cruised 10 km up two locks and saw one river cruiser and one hotel boat.

Friday 29 May 2026

As usual we’re really enjoying our time on the boat but this year we’re not here so long as we’re off on holiday towards the end of June. Sadly, we keep realising we only have a few more weeks left before we have to go back to our Flecknoe home but then immediately cheer up as we know we always quickly adjust to our different ways of life. With only two or three days left with temperatures in the 30s we’d started looking forward to next week when it drops to the sensible mid-20s. We’ve arranged to meet the girls, Nikki and Gorete, on their boat next week up on the canal des Ardennes for a few days. Ironically, the current forecast is for rain on the first day we meet up.

While Karen had an early morning run I had an important task to do – find the cutter blade assembly for my beard trimmer. I had inadvertently dropped it overboard yesterday evening and thought I’d leave the magnet fishing until the morning. Unbelievable this was the second time I’d lost it overboard and like last time it only took about 10 minutes with the magnet to retrieve it even though the water is over 2.5 metres deep.

After breakfast we set off up a flight of eight locks to the summit of the canal. The locks normally operate in a chain whereby once you’re in a lock the next automatically gets ready. Unfortunately, there had been some sort of power failure and we had to call out VNF at three of the locks. The fact that they were three consecutive locks seemed to make the disruption more of a pain than it really was. We passed one French and two Dutch river cruisers who were making their way down. We also passed Drakkar who was on his way to Contrisson loaded with steel rolls that he takes on board at Reims. That must have been the third time we’ve seen him doing the journey there and back in the last couple of weeks.

Seeing Drakkar we knew we should keep a careful lookout for Dahna, a sister ship, that also does the same run on the same days. Thinking about it, French boats are masculine so I doubt they use the term sister ship. Once at the top it was only 20 minutes or so until we were at the entrance to the 2.3 km long Billy tunnel. The light was on red and we could see the headlight of a boat coming through and once it was emerged we could see it was the expected Dahna.

We wondered about the incongruity of French health and safety because we weren’t accompanied when we went through. Transiting the last long tunnel, Mauvages, we were accompanied by an éclusier on a bike. We couldn’t understand the reason for the difference especially as all tunnels are traffic light controlled. We have been through all the French canal tunnels apart from any down in the south and, other than Riqueval where we were towed through, we were left to our own devices on all the others.

We moored up as soon as we got through the tunnel as we knew the cutting at the entrance would provide some welcome shade.

The sky had become quite hazy meaning that even when we lost the sun it remained very muggy so it was an uncomfortable night on board.

On Friday we cruised 12 km up eight locks, through one tunnel and saw two commercial péniches and three private boats.

Saturday 30 May 

We had a long cruise ahead of us on Saturday as we were heading for Reims. We started early to avoid the heat of the day and had a very good run. All the locks were set for us and as boats were coming out of three of them we didn’t even have to wait for the gates to open. The other good thing was that there was no weed to speak of so there were no stops to get into the weed hatch to clear the propeller.  

There has been much mention this year how insects and plants are appearing earlier than ever but we’d noticed that it didn’t seem to apply to dragonflies over here. It’s only been in the last week or so that they’ve been out in their usual numbers but as is always the case they never seem to sit still long enough to study them let alone take photographs.

Speaking of insects we are constantly surprised that, mooring against vegetation as we do, we don’t get inundated with ants. We often find the odd one or two which is not an issue but during the cruise to Reims I noticed quite a few on the roof and then Karen started finding them inside the boat. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds as they were foraging for food rather than having found some and therefore forming a long line to harvest it.

The last three locks are at the approach to the centre of Reims and are close together. We stopped at the top lock as we knew we could take on water there.  It’s a very quick operation at that lock as it’s a supply for commercials and hence a wide bore hose is supplied with water under high pressure. It’s so quick that we don’t have to worry and move out of the way if a péniche appears in the distance.

We always moor just as we come out of the bottom lock but as we descended we could see a long line of liveaboard péniches moored along the bank.  We knew at once why they were there. The port of Reims was another kilometre further along and we’d read over the winter that it was being rejuvenated. This had meant moving the dozen or so liveaboard péniches first. They’d obviously put in new bornes for water and power as well as commercial sized bollards for them. There was just space for us to tie up before the last in the line:

Moored in Reims

We were moored on the opposite side to the towpath and being in the centre of town there are what seems to be a constant stream of runners, walkers and cyclists making their way up and down. It never ceases to amaze us now some people even manage to run in the heat of the day. Being in a town there are also a few ducks which, unlike in the UK, we hardly ever see. As soon as we’d moored a mother mallard appeared with five practically fully grown ducklings obviously expecting food. We don’t usually feed ducks, swans or geese but we were both proud that she’d managed to raise five to that age that we did feed them.

We spent some of the afternoon wandering around Reims admiring the wonderful buildings – no pictures as we’ve done it all before apart from this drain cover with an interesting surround.

To be honest we also spent much of the afternoon sitting at a bar watching the world go by.

On Saturday we cruised 22 km down seven locks and saw four private boats.

Sunday 31 May

Sunday saw a welcome return to sensible weather in the mid-20s.  Karen went for an early run with what seemed like half the population of Reims. They weren’t all runners though as one couple had a pair of step ladders and were picking flowers from one of the lime trees opposite our mooring. We didn't know tea and cordial etc. can be made from the dried flowers which do have a wonderful smell and are known as tilia.

Early morning view of the lime trees opposite (and no runners!)

There was cloud cover nearly all day which helped keep the temperature down and we spent some time at a medieval fair set up around the famous Reims cathedral. One stall caught our eye as it was selling Kurtösh, a type of bread we’d never seen before, traditionally made in Romania and Hungary and we enjoyed sharing a savoury one:

During the evening we decided that we’d move on the next day and get away from the hustle, bustle and noise of the city. It will be June 1 which marks the 50th birthday of my firstborn, Chris!