Friday 24 April
If you’re reading this then you probably know that we’re back on the boat at Port Sainte-Marie. Due to other commitments it’s been the longest we’ve ever left her, so we were a little concerned what state she’d be in with all the Saharan rain that’s fallen since last summer.
We’d had a rather unusual trip down to Port Sainte-Marie as we started in Norway where we visited Matthew and Vero and their new baby Samuel, our ninth grandchild. When planning the trip Karen had the bright idea of flying to Norway from Heathrow rather than Birmingham, our usual airport. That way we could pack the car for France and then head straight there from Heathrow on our return without having to drive all the way back to Flecknoe just for a night. We’d booked a hotel near the Channel Tunnel and headed there when we arrived back in London so we could have an early start in the morning. It all worked out well and with no delays we were soon on our way to the boat. We had to call in at Metz on the way down to pick up our new residence cards from the préfecture (city hall). The original ones run out this year and are due to be replaced by permanent ones under the Brexit withdrawal agreement. With typical French bureaucracy we could only pick up temporary cards as the proper ones were only handed over on Mondays and Thursdays. We’d turned up on a Friday and hadn’t been informed of this incongruity. Anyway, we were pleased, that apart from the mix up on days, the process had been smooth and we would just have to return to Metz on a Monday or Friday.
Many of our family are very keen butterfliers and three of them often go to Norfolk to see the British swallowtail in the only part of the UK that it can be found. Karen and I never go with them as we’re always in France during the flight period but ironically the first butterfly we saw in France was a swallowtail. It was a European swallowtail which is a different sub-species to the British one which is a deeper yellow. In my mind I could already hear the Norfolk contingent poo-pooing our sighting as it wasn’t a ‘proper’ swallowtail.
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| Arriving back at Port Sainte-Marie |
We arrived at the boat in the late afternoon and found that
she was indeed covered in sand and looking rather forlorn but as we’d had a
long day travelling we left the cleaning until the weekend. As is always the
case I went in first to remove all the spider webs but for some reason there
were very few and we soon had the car unpacked and were feeling at home.
As we’d left the boat for a long time we thought we should
drain the water tank and refill it with fresh water, a job we’ve never done
before. Being moored in a port we had access to water so it was simple enough
to do, even though it felt a bit wasteful. We also had access to electricity so
took advantage of that and got out our electrical equipment such as a kettle
and induction hob. It seemed daft to waste our gas reserves especially as we
probably wouldn’t get electric hook up for the rest of the season.
Saturday 25 April
I was recently taking to Bob, a friend in our village, about
the fact that we’ve rarely heard cuckoos in the area but we find the
distinctive call quite common in France. They appear to be so common that it
would be unusual not to hear one in rural areas at this time of the year. When we awoke in the morning we were happy
that one of the first birds we heard was a cuckoo and, not only that, we could
also hear the unmistakable call of the beautiful golden oriel.
As is my habit I got up first and made myself a pot of
coffee and a pot of tea for Karen. Having said that there’d been few spiders
when we arrived it was just as well I’d got up first as nestling inside the cafetière
were two dead spiders! Once we were up and about Karen went for a run along the
towpath to Réchicourt where in the 1960s six locks were replaced by one 16-metre
deep lock which we’ve been through a few times. She ran along the line of
abandoned locks and then across the wide lake with the deep lock at the far
end.
While she was on her run I set about washing the boat down.
Before starting that I thought I’d check the engine first and, to my intense
satisfaction, it started on the first turn of the ignition key. When Karen returned she concentrated on
cleaning the inside of the boat and by mid-afternoon we had the boat shipshape
as they say and ready to start cruising. Rather than leaving that afternoon we
got the table and chairs out and relaxed outside with some well-earned glasses
of wine. Much of the evening was spent watching the exciting FA cup semifinal
which sadly Southampton lost but at least it was a thrilling game.
Sunday 26 April
We’d received an email from VNF, the French canal authority,
informing boaters that a stretch at the upper end of the canal de Meuse had to
be closed in order to conserve water.
This was disappointing news for us as we’d intended travelling along
that canal this year. Understandably, VNF’s priority is to keep commercial
waterways open to the detriment of those used primarily for pleasure.
Unfortunately for us, the upper end of the Meuse isn’t often used by commercial
traffic so water reserves are best used for further downstream where the
commercials operate.
All this meant some replanning on our part. We were heading
for the eastern end of the canal des Ardennes where we would leave the boat for
the winter. This would have been a straightforward journey west along our
current canal (the Marne au Rhin) to Nancy, then a short stretch on the Moselle
and onto the Meuse which has a junction with the canal des Ardennes just north
of Sedan (black line on map below).
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| Red star marks the closure |
The shortest alternative would be to go past the junction with the Meuse and continue west along the length of canal du Marne au Rhin to reach the Marne valley. We would then be in our much-loved stomping ground around Châlons en Champagne where we’d spent much of the great Covid debacle. From there we would travel north to reach the canal des Ardennes at the other end to the one we wanted – detour shown by the blue line.
We’ve had bunting hanging inside the boat for many years but
it had sadly faded so Karen had purchased a new length that was decorated with
bees as an homage to my bee band. The bee band is a group of us who are
learning to look after bees under the excellent supervision and tutelage of
Gary, another friend of ours from our village.
Many beehives we see in France are brightly painted and I
was pleased when we decided to paint our hives during the winter. I’m trying desperately
to get the bee band to get bee suits to match their hives: I already have a
lilac coloured suit to match the hive allocated to me.
Over breakfast we’d decided to start cruising and, as we’re
keeping the car with us this year, we drove it down a couple of locks and
walked back to the boat. On the walk
back a couple of hire boats came past us with happy families on board enjoying
the lovely weather. Back on board we
spun the boat around and were waved off by our Alsatian neighbours.
They were a lovely couple that we’d occasionally chatted to
over the last couple of days. I say
chatted but it was incredibly stilted as they spoke no English and, of course,
we spoke no Alsatian. They were also
fluent in German, so although we know very few German words, that’s how we
muddled through. Our understanding was that they were either spending 15 days
getting their boat ready for cruising, going home for 15 days, cruising for 15
days then going home for five or even staying for the weekend and then going
home. So you can see how confused we were. Reading up on the Alsatian language
later I discovered that fewer than 700,000 people speak it and also the
surprising fact that there are around 7,000 Swiss Amish in Indiana who speak Alsatian.
We were soon approaching our first lock which we had to
operate with a télécommande (remote control unit) that had lain unused for many
months. Fortunately, the batteries were still good and the lock operated
smoothly for us.
Sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed we have new lines,
including multicoloured centre lines. We have also bought new lines for when we
were in deep river locks such as those on the Moselle and the Rhine. In those
locks we often have to use two lines at each end of the boat and when they are
the same colour it can get confusing which line is tied where. We now have two
different coloured lines stowed at each end of the boat so we will have no
chance of confusion.
As usual there was a lot of mistletoe in evidence and we
have yet to understand why it seems to be more prevalent in France than in the
UK.
We passed the car where we’d left it at the second lock and
carried on cruising to Lagarde where we moored up above the top lock and walked back to retrieve the car and left it in the village outside a German war cemetery. We
can’t have been popular as we disturbed dogs in the neighbouring houses which
carried on barking long after we’d walked away from the car.
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| Moored above the top lock at Lagarde |
There were a few butterflies flying on the bank by the boat and I was pleased to see my first Small Heath and Dingy Skipper of the year. Later in the evening Karen retrieved the car and parked it next to the lock where we were moored.
On Sunday we cruised seven km down two locks and saw no
boats.
Monday 27 April
At 6 o’clock in the morning we knew we were back in France
because not only could we hear a cuckoo but the church bells in the village
were chiming. Once we were up Karen moved the car 15 km further downstream and
started running back. Meanwhile I started moving the boat so I could pick her
up as I passed her. First we had to set the lock next to where we’d been moored
so as part of her warming up Karen took the télécommande and walked back to the
receiver to set the lock in motion and open the top gates for us. She said she would leave it by the controls at
the side of the lock. I have to use these controls once the boat is in the lock
in order to empty it and open the bottom gates.
Try as I might I couldn’t find the télécommande anywhere around the lock so I had to phone Karen to find out where she’d left it. It turned out that she’d been worried I’d kick it in the water by accident if she’d left it on the side of the lock so had put it somewhere more sensible but forgotten to tell me. I must have been thinking a bit slowly as I was also shocked to see the car wasn’t parked by the lock until it suddenly dawned on me that it hadn’t been stolen, Karen was driving it further downstream. Once I'd dropped down the lock I cruised past the large hire boat base at Lagarde:
After I’d travelled about 1/3rd of the way Karen came into sight and I picked her up next to a télécommande receiver; note the masses of mistletoe in the tree beyond it.
Passing through Parroy where we’d left the boat one winter
it started to feel muggy as wispy clouds moved in and ended up staying for the
rest of the day but at least it remained warm. There was only one boat moored in
the port at Parroy so we wondered what the reason was – maybe the mairie is
planning some improvement works and has asked the boats to move elsewhere.
Soon after Parroy we were approaching the penultimate lock
of the day and we noticed a hire boat in the distance behind us. We waited in the lock for them and as they
got closer we waved at them in a way to make it obvious they should join
us. They were a German family who were halfway
through their week’s holiday but were thoroughly enjoyed it.
We went down two locks together and we then moored up for
the day whilst they continued their journey.
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| Moored at Bauzemont for the rest of Monday |
After a quick lunch we drove back to Metz to hopefully pick up our cards. It was a pleasant hour’s drive that took us through some wonderfully rural villages and we spotted our first lavoir of 2026 in a place called Réméréville. Unfortunately it was locked up and looked like it was going to be renovated. I managed to get a shot of the inside through a small opening and could see that rather than a traditional rectangular basin it had two lengths of washing stones in parallel.
Once we parked in the city centre we went straight to the
préfecture and were seen within 10 minutes and presented with our new residence
cards. On the way back we called in at
Action – the go-to downmarket French store where you go in for two things and
come out with 22. There were EV charging
points outside the store so we topped the car up while we shopped.
On Monday we cruised 15 km down six locks and saw just the
one boat, the hire boat we went down the last two locks with.
I mentioned earlier that we’d been to Norway before
returning to France to spend some time with our new grandson, Samuel, so here he
is with his proud grandparents.
Since the last blog update Polly and Loch presented us with
grandchild number eight, Paisley. Here’s
a picture of Pastry, as I call her, again with proud grandparents. Emmy, her next sister up is looking rather
bemused.
