Pont à Bar (back on board)

Our first narrowboat was a 72' long, ex-hire boat which we loved sharing with our numerous children. Back in 2014 after I’d retired, Karen took a year off work and we rented out our Kent house while we moved on board. We soon realised that it wasn’t ideal as a liveaboard boat so decided to design our own and have it built. At least by then we knew exactly what we wanted and arranged for a new boat to be built to suit our requirements. We oversaw the build and fit out over many weeks until the day of the launch of Chalkhill Blue 2 at a boatyard in Cheshire:

Launch day!

We still had Buddy in those days and the poor boy couldn’t cope as we moved on board. He steadfastly remained sitting on the back deck of the old boat and refused to come over to the new one as we moved our belongings across:

Buddy on Chalkhill Blue with Chalkhill Blue 2 alongside

Now, let’s get back to where I finished the last blog update when I was nearing the end of my boat painting trip three weeks ago.

Monday 28 September    

As expected, it was too hot for painting during the day, so I spent a lot of my time prepping areas that still needed doing. I know I keep mentioning the fortunate position we have the boat in with respect to the shade but, again, by about five o’clock, the steelwork had cooled enough to get some undercoating done.

If you look closely at the picture below, the burgundy on the roof and along the handrails is lovely and fresh. This leaves the side hatches and most of the stretch along the gunwales below the bottom cream coachline to be finished. Zooming in, the cream is noticeably in a poor state and hasn’t been touched up or repainted since it was first applied ten years ago.

Tuesday 29 September

As this was my final day aboard, I took it easy: tidying up the boat, packing the car, taking a walk and going into Sedan to stock up with my duty-free wine allowance.

Wednesday 30 September

The weather broke on Wednesday and I awoke to rain. Although I was leaving the boat I wasn’t going straight home as I was off to visit our good friends, Nikki and Gorete, who happened to be moored at Tournai which was practically on my route back to the channel tunnel. The girls were off to their winter port in Belgium and were spending a few days in Tournai on the way. I arrived at their boat in the late morning and we had a lazy lunch and afternoon as the weather wasn’t conducive to sightseeing. The town mooring had room for half a dozen boats so it was very handy but the wash from the constant stream of passing commercials made quite an impact.

About to feel the wash from a passing commercial

Later on the rain turned to drizzle so Gorete and I had a walk to see a famous (to boaters) bridge called the Pont des Trous which was constructed in the 13^th century as a military defence bridge. Over the years the middle arch over the river Scheldt has been rebuilt and widened to take the increasing size of the barges, hence the interest to boaters.

Ironically no boats came through whilst we were there but I found a picture on the web later albeit from the other side to the one I took.

Thursday 1 October

Following a pleasant night catching up with the girls I left for Flecknoe after breakfast and had a terrific run home with no queuing at border controls or customs when I reached the tunnel. To make it even better I didn’t have to queue in the staging areas so I was able to drive straight onto the train. 

For our family holiday next year with the children and grandchildren we’ve booked a villa in France rather than hiring a house in Herefordshire or Shropshire as has become our custom. Whilst I’d been away painting, Polly, my youngest daughter, had rung me and told me that Olly, her four-year-old, had come into their bedroom in the middle of the night having woken up in horror. She knew we were going on holiday to France and that we would all be going through the tunnel but she’d scared herself as she couldn’t work out how cars can go on a train at the bottom of the sea without getting wet. Polly asked if I could take a series of pictures of the whole operation to help allay Olly’s fears which I did whilst boarding the train. When Polly showed Olly the photos and explained what was going on, she was placated and is now looking forward to going on the “sea-train” for our family holiday.

With a lot of painting still to do, Karen and I agreed that I should go back again in a week or two and she would take a break and visit Matthew and his Norwegian family in Älesund. During the week of 13^th October it looked like there was going to be a two week spell of great painting weather, i.e. dry and in the low 20s. I booked a crossing, shunning the usual tunnel route to take a ferry to Dunkirk instead. Stupidly I checked the forecast every day before leaving and saw the weather slowly deteriorating but I went ahead anyway,

Sunday 18 October

I set off for Dover first thing to catch the Dunkirk ferry. I’d booked an upgrade so I could take advantage of having lunch in the lounge and also stocking up with goodies for the journey down. Once aboard I was warned that the crossing would be rough but it turned out to be okay as long as I remained seated. I’d avoided toll roads when I came over a few weeks ago and as the journey hadn’t taken much longer I did the same thing this time. As our current mooring is in northern France the majority of the first half of the journey was through Belgium. It was dark by the time I reached the boat and with a steep bank down to it I decided to play it safe and only unloaded the necessities for the first night.

Monday 19 October

Before I could start painting I had to get some food in but first I finished unloading the car. I then went into Sedan to charge the car ready for the journey home in a week or two. Whilst waiting for the car to charge I had a walk around a village on the outskirts of town which was getting ready for Halloween. The woman in the first photo who was putting a pumpkin on display, invited me to come in and have a look around her house and garden. I declined and felt as if I’d let her down but I have to admit that I didn’t relish the thought of trying to converse in French on my first morning especially as she clearly had no English and my Halloween French was non-existent.

Once back at the car I went into the centre of Sedan to do my food shopping. Arriving back at the boat I prepped the coachline on the land-side of the boat. I was reminded that when we repainted our first boat we’d cheated by using vinyl coachlines. Before I came over I’d been worrying about how I was going to cope with painting the bottom coachline because of my back so I’d bought some workman’s kneelers. Boy, did they make a difference! They were so strong that I could even kneel on the steel piling.

Yes I know that leaving the masking tape scissors on the gunwales was asking for trouble but fortunately I didn’t drop them in the cut. It took a while to mask up by which time the boat was in the shade which was ideal for applying the first coat of cream.

Masked up

I finished off the day by going for a shortish walk along the river Meuse before having dinner.  During the day I saw two boats pass, both of which were hire boats

Tuesday 20 October

As soon as breakfast was finished I started applying the second coat on the coachlines but halfway through I felt spots of unexpected rain. I stopped immediately and for the next hour there were the odd drops but it didn't even turn to drizzle. When it felt and looked like it had cleared up I went back out to finish the painting. I needed to leave the paint to get tacky before removing the masking tape so went for a walk whilst waiting. Once the tape was off I had to turn the boat around so the operation could be repeated on the other side. The only trouble with doing that was that the cut wasn’t quite wide enough which was a bit unusual because we find that most canals over here are plenty wide enough for us to spin our 17.5 metre boat around in. I have to admit that if I’d lifted the rear fenders then I might have just managed it but I didn’t want to risk damaging the rudder; however, I did get off the boat with the bowline to see if I could pull it around but to no avail.

Not quite wide enough

I knew that there was plenty of room to turn above the lock that drops the canal onto the river Meuse so I had a little cruise down there where I soon spun the boat around and was heading back to the mooring.

Turning above the river lock

It was on my way back that I realised I hadn’t attached a centre line, without which, mooring becomes problematical when single handing. With a centre line it's easy to get off and hold the boat parallel against the bank while going to secure either end. If the boat starts drifting out then it's a simple matter of pulling it in by the centre line. As it was I was able to moor up safely without the boat drifting away whilst I tied it at both ends. I quickly got on with prepping the new side and had just finished when the drizzle started again and with only an hour to go before dusk I gave up for day. I'd been listening to the England-Pakistan ODI all day which sadly went downhill quickly at the end. 

Two boats came past during the day, one a private river cruiser and the other a hire boat.

Wednesday 21 October

It was an early start as there was a chance of rain later in the day which ended up quite a productive one. As I started early I stopped mid-afternoon and went for a good walk. True to the forecast it started drizzling later in the afternoon so I was glad I started early. It didn’t last long and the sun came out just before it set. It wasn’t a spectacular sunset but I rather liked the way the water, land and sky were reflected on the side of the boat.

Only one boat went past during the day, a rather smart private boat on its way to join the Meuse.

Thursday 22 October

The day started like the previous day with another early start but sadly the rain came earlier and didn’t ease up until late afternoon. At least I was entertained by listening to the record-breaking England vs Sri Lanka ODI. The lack of any real progress during the day coupled with a rapidly changing forecast was a little depressing. It now looks like there’s going to be rain every day for the next few days, so I started contemplating whether to cut my losses and go home early.

Two boats came through during the day, a hire boat and a small Dutch barge style private boat.

Friday 23 October

As expected it rained practically all day and with unsettled weather expected until Tuesday I resigned myself to going back to Flecknoe on Sunday. Ironically, if long range forecasts are to be believed the following fortnight in France was going to be warmer and dry!

I had another trip into Sedan to pick up our duty-free wine allowance although I couldn’t get it all as I cleared out the shelf stock of our wines; I would have to return on Sunday. Whilst in Sedan I popped down to check out the town mooring which is shared with campervans. To my surprise the quay side bollards had been removed and replaced by a rowing pontoon:

When we first came here, in October 2021, there were some finger pontoons as well as the quayside available for mooring. The fingers were too short for us so we moored across the top:

October 2021 – weather was a bit different then

Our second visit was in April 2023 with similar weather to this week. The pontoons had been removed but at least we could moor alongside the quay:

April 2023 - weather similar to this week

The only boat I saw on the move during the day was a VNF workboat that tied up below the lock around the corner from our mooring.

Saturday 24 October

It was such a beautiful morning I couldn’t believe the rain was due to return during the evening. Anyway, it was a great chance to get on with some more painting. During the day I finally dropped the scissors in the water but my trusty magnet retrieved them on the fifth attempt. I didn’t knock them off which was what had concerned me the other day, they just slipped out of my hand.

The forecast for Sunday was still poor so later in the afternoon I popped into Sedan again to make up the rest of my duty-free allowance and booked my tunnel ticket for the journey home. For some unfathomable reason a lady in the supermarket car park started talking to me. She'd seen my number plate and although she realised it wasn't French she didn't know where it was from. I told her I was English and we had one of those conversations where the other party wanted to keep chatting and I didn't know how to end it. I realised that it was the first conversation I'd had, other than phone calls with Karen, in a week but she was really kind and spoke slowly although I wasn't sure why she was so keen to tell me that she lived on a hill just outside Sedan! 

Again, I only saw one boat come past while I was on board, this time a hire boat.

I’ll wrap up now until we’re next on the boat, probably next spring - thanks for reading this far!

 

Pont à Bar (boat painting)

Monday 21 September

Feeling good to be back on board

As is often the case when we book tickets to and from France, we forget the significance of the day we’re travelling. We often inadvertently find we’re going on a Bank Holiday or the start of half term etc. so end up getting stuck in the UK traffic. As the weather had cooled down I was off to the boat for a week or two to do some much needed painting while Karen took the opportunity to go to Norway to spend time with our latest grandchild, Samuel. I bought a ticket at the weekend to travel down on the Monday planning to leave home at 7am, completely forgetting that that would mean I would hit the M1 and M25 in the rush hour on the busiest morning of the week. To my surprise the traffic was relatively clear and I got down to the channel tunnel in a reasonable three hours; I suppose many people were still on holiday, especially those without schoolchildren. The waiting area at the tunnel seemed to be full of old foreign sportscars and speaking with a friend later he reminded me that it had been the annual Goodwood Revival weekend.

Arriving in Calais I charged the car before setting off on the next stage of the journey. We always charge soon after arriving in France rather than just before leaving the UK as public chargers are so much cheaper as well as being more plentiful. I was travelling over to the eastern end of the Ardennes and was taking a toll-free, more picturesque, route which was only due to take 15 minutes longer than using the péage. The first part was on one of the autoroutes leading out of Calais and for the first time ever in France I was caught in a serious traffic jam; there’d been an accident which delayed me for nearly an hour.  

When I arrived at the boat I was pleasantly surprised. Usually, when we leave it for a couple of months or so, the roof and decks get covered in leaves and other tree detritus such as seed husks. We’d left it in the open with the only trees a distance away on the opposite bank so the roof was clear. Also, spiders tend to take over inside so the first job when going in is to clear the webs and put the builders thereof out onto the bank. There wasn't much to do this time as there were very few signs of spiders. It was late afternoon by the time I’d cleaned up the few webs, unpacked and eaten so I spent the rest of the evening sitting outside planning my approach to painting the roof of the boat.

We (well, Karen) have meticulous lists of what food, toiletries, clothes etc. are left on the boat each time we leave it. Somehow, there was no toothpaste to be found even though the list indicated that toothpaste is left on board. As I was going shopping in the morning I added it to my list. I was reminded of a recent trip we had in the camper when we used it for a few days in the northeast when Karen took part in the Great North Run. We’d parked up in a place called Ovingham and it wasn’t long before Karen realised she couldn’t find the bag that we pack the toiletries in. Apparently, it was my fault we’d left it back in Flecknoe!  Anyway it gave us a good excuse to walk to the local pub which was opposite the village shop which was fortunately open. The lady owner must have thought all her Sundays had come at once as we stocked up on the missing items.

Tuesday 22 September

Before I could start painting I needed to charge the car and do some food shopping. The closest town is Sedan and I charged the car at a country house hotel on the outskirts in a village called Frenois. I took the opportunity to have a walk while waiting for the car and was soon back in the swing of exchanging bonjours with the three or four people I saw. In the centre of the village I came across one of the few lavoirs that we have seen that have been converted into private dwellings:

Just around the corner from the lavoir was the village church:

The car was charged by the time I returned to the hotel and I drove to the supermarket we often use on the way into Sedan. Every time we have shopped there the same young man has been sitting outside hoping for food or cash from the shoppers. He is a friendly and unassuming guy and I made sure I bought something extra to give him as I left the shop. Arriving back at the boat I had no further excuses to delay starting work so I started by clearing everything off the roof. By the time I did that I was ready for lunch! As I was on my own one of the first things I did after lunch was to hook our ladder over the side in case I fell in. It’s surprisingly difficult to pull yourself up onto a narrowboat when in 2.5 metres of water:

A little more procrastination occurred as I had to clear the buddleia and other weeds seen growing on the rear fenders on the above picture. The first tranche of painting was to be the burgundy that runs along the grab rails on the roof edges and at intervals across the roof where each air vent mushroom sits. I’d forgotten to take a ‘before’ picture so here’s one taken early in the morning after the initial prepping had been started:

The above picture shows a phenomenon (posh word for delaying tactic) that arises at this time of year. Even though the days are still hot, the temperature dips at night such that condensation forms on the roof and clearly this has to dry off before work can start. Among other burgundy areas that I’ll also be tackling are the rear deck and tiller. I’ll get the side of the roof next to bank completed first as the canal side becomes too hot during the day. Once completed I will have to turn the boat around to get on with the remaining side. I had a pleasant day doing the preparatory work and also took in a couple of walks and was able to hear the whole of the first ODI against Sri Lanka.  

Wednesday 23 September

The boat is on the canal des Ardennes which is not used by much commercial traffic these days so it was interesting to see that the water level was relatively high. Some of the canals in France that are hardly used by commercials have been closed for some time now this summer due to low water levels. A couple of locks away is a hire boat base and I‘d noticed a couple of boats passing the previous day. Hire boaters are spoilt for choice here as they can head out onto the beautifully scenic river Meuse either upstream through Sedan and Verdun or downstream through Charlesville-Mézières and then to Givet at the Belgian border. If they don’t fancy the river then they can take the equally scenic, but quieter, route up the canal des Ardennes.

VNF work boat passing first thing

I spent the day finishing off the prepping with breaks mid-morning and mid-afternoon to take walks on one of which I was delighted to see my first Wall Brown butterfly of the year. As I'm working near the junction of the canal and the river my walks naturally take me along one waterway or the other. When I’m walking I feel a strong desire to have a cruise and rather suspect than when I turn the boat around I may just indulge myself and take an hour or two off on a cheeky jaunt. 

Five years ago, when we first came down the Meuse, we were looking for a documented mooring by the lock at the entrance to the canal des Ardennes as it's always good to tie up temporarily rather than hovering in the river waiting for the lock to set itself.  Try as we might, we couldn't find the mooring and the same thing happened when we came along two years later. On one of my walks I found the mooring and realised that the bank and the mooring had been cleared of undergrowth making it impossible to miss from water or land: 

Thursday 24 September

A slightly cooler day was forecast which was ideal as I was hoping to get the initial coat of burgundy topcoat on. First though I had to apply the masking tape which took most of the morning leaving just enough time for a walk before having lunch. After eating it was one more clean with white spirit of the area to be rolled followed by a couple of hours or so putting the paint on with a small roller. A few privately owned river cruisers came past while I was working so, compared with when we were here earlier in the year, it felt busy which was good to see.  It was the second ODI against Sri Lanka so I was able to listen to every ball of the 100 overs. It was a really exciting match leaving things set nicely for the series decider on Sunday.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the forecast because if it gets too hot I won’t be able to paint. At the beginning of the week it looked like it was going to be in the mid 20s for the next fortnight which would be about the upper limit for painting. This has slowly been changing in the wrong direction with temperatures in the high 20s on their way and probably hitting 30 after the weekend. All I can do is take each day at a time but at least I should be able to get a second coat on tomorrow. If it does get too hot then I’ll change focus and get as much preparatory work done as possible on the rest of the boat even if it leaves it looking like it has measles.  

Friday 25 September

Friday was the day for applying the final topcoat of burgundy on the port side of the boat. I was just about ready to start when, unbelievably, I could hear the sound of a grass cutter coming along the bank. Grass cutters and strimmers are a bane to boaters as they can throw up stones and suchlike that can damage their pride and joys. I wasn’t so worried about that, it was more the dust and debris that would have landed on wet paint if I’d already started painting. I sort of accepted that the grass would be cut around the boat because it would make it easier for me working alongside it. One of the guys did tell me that they would blow everything into the water once they finished. So I put all the stuff I took off the roof on Tuesday back on and went for a walk while they finished.

Strimmers finishing my stretch of bank

By the time they’d finished and left I still had to give the boat a good clean and ended up losing half a day. I had lunch before starting painting and it turned out to be quite fortuitous as shade falls over the boat between about 3pm and 5pm so hopefully the heat won’t have affected the paint.

About 20 boats are kept along the stretch where we’re currently moored and when we first saw the mooring five years ago it was pretty dismal and we never dreamt we would keep our boat there. It seemed the majority of the boats were very unloved and a couple were semi-submerged. Over the intervening years the boatyard has obviously tried to smarten things up as there are only a couple of boats that don’t look cared for now.

You probably can’t see our boat in the picture above because I took the photo when it was in the shade but the following picture illustrates how fortunate we were to choose this spot. It also shows the campervan area at the far end and also the two less cared for boats that remain (moored directly behind us). The campervan area has a mix of people on holiday visiting for a day or so and vanlifers who stay for weeks on end judging by the vegetation growing around them.

Actually, it’s three less cared for boats because at the far end is an old 38m peniché that's in a sorry state.

Judging by the portholes at the front it was, at one stage, being converted into a residence but it seems the project has gone rather awry. I do remember that when we came through five years ago there was a friendly couple with a young child living and working on the peniché but they seem to have long gone now.

Anyway, back to the painting. As I’ve now finished the port side I will have to turn the boat around so that I can get the other side prepped and painted.

Saturday 26 September

The first job of the morning was to turn the boat around and also take on water. This meant going up a lock where there was a boatyard above it where I could get water. It was the boatyard we pay for our mooring so I knew there wouldn’t be an issue just calling in to get water. I set off as soon as the locks opened because it was going to be a hot day and I wanted to get as much prep done before it got too hot to touch the boat. Although I did know there was the window of a couple of hours in the afternoon when it gets shady and more prep can be undertaken then.

I set the lock in motion using our yellow canal des Ardennes télécommande and slowly made my way around to wait for it to be ready. I’d forgotten how people stop and stare and take photos when they see the very rare sight of a narrowboat and I was suddenly aware that I would have an audience going up the lock. Going down a lock on my own is fine as I just hover the boat in the middle with no need for any lines. Ascending is a different matter as it involves a fair amount of walking inside the boat to get from one end to the other, climbing ladders (which I didn’t have to do this time), getting a line looped over a bollard and then setting the lock in motion using a metal rod in the side of the lock that is often in an inconvenient position. As it was, it all went fine and when I got to the top there were two hire boats wating to come down.

When I arrived at the water point I needed to spin the boat around first. Again, I had an audience, this time of hirers who were waiting to have boats handed over to them. I was halfway through my manoeuvre when I realised that I had no centre lines as I’d taken them off when clearing the roof. Hoping I didn’t cock it up I slowed the turn down and made my way along the gunwale with a line and tied it on to the centre ring on the roof as quickly as I could. By the time I returned to the driving position the turn was complete and I felt rather proud of myself for avoiding any embarrassment.

While waiting for the tank to fill I disposed of my recycling and rubbish then had a chat with the boatyard owners. By the time I got back and moored up again nearly two hours had passed.

Heading through the hire boats

Going down the lock

Emerging from the lock

Looking at the picture above I hope you can see the difference between the side where the burgundy is nice and glossy and the other side and hatch cover that are all faded.

It was a full-on day of prepping but I made sure I got a walk in and also managed to see a Queen of Spain Fritillary by the boat which was another first for the year. They are very rare migrants to the UK but this year several have been seen along the Sussex and Hampshire coasts. I also planned out the rest of my time here, realising that I need to do a spot of food shopping on Sunday morning. Nikki and Gorete on Puddleduck got in touch in the afternoon and we arranged that I would spend a day and night on their boat on my way back to Flecknoe as they head for their winter mooring in Belgium.

There’s a bar up by the boatyard and it’s always busy but I deliberately kept away during the week, having a drink by the boat instead, leaving a trip to the bar as a treat for the weekend. I went up for a drink after I’d cleaned up but found it was closed. To be honest that’s quite French for it not to be open when you’d think it would be their busiest day.

On Saturday I cruised two kilometres up and down the same lock and saw four boats on the move, all hire boats.

Sunday 27 September

It was clearly going to be too hot to put the first topcoat on until the boat was in the mid-afternoon shade and had cooled own a bit so I drove into Sedan in the morning. I had a bit of food shopping to do so I did that first and then took the opportunity to buy my duty free allowance of wine. The shop that sold Karen’s wine only had four bottles left so it would mean going back during the week to top it up to a dozen bottles. My wine is sold by E. Leclerc and I knew they had a massive hypermarket in Sedan so made my way there. I’d forgotten it was Sunday and they were closed all day so I would have to go back when I return for Karen’s wine.

On my return I had lunch and then went for a walk to wait until the boat was in the shade and had cooled down enough. When I got back I put on the first coat of burgundy on the unfinished side. When I’d finished painting I then had another evening sitting outside until it was dark. I hadn’t forgotten it was the ODI series decider against Sri Lanka and I managed to listen to the whole match during the day.

As Monday was forecast to be another day that would be too hot for painting until later I decided that I’d get as much prep done of other areas whilst waiting. This would hopefully stop other rust spots spreading and make the job easier if I come back later in the year. If I don’t come back until we both come over next year then at least the surfaces will be protected over winter and still make the job easier to finish.

 

Pont-à-Bar

Sunday 7 June

We left the place with the great sounding name, Thugny-Trugny, and headed off for Attigny on Sunday morning. We had a hearty breakfast first which of course starts with a pain au chocolate as it does every day of the week whatever the type of breakfast. By hearty I mean cooked; we generally have cereal four days a week alternating with something hot on the other days. It was dry at Lords so we were able to listen to day four of the first text against the Kiwis as we cruised along. Fortuitously, England had just won when I had to call VNF at the third lock as no lights were on, otherwise we would have missed the end of play. It turned out that an éclusier/e has to operate the lock and we remembered that it was the same three years ago.  The éclusiere who checked up on us the previous evening turned up to see us through. She also told us about one other lock where it’s advisable to ring in advance as VNF have to operate it manually.

Coming out of the lock we moored for lunch where the river Aisne was running over a weir immediately on the other side of the cycle path next to us.  The noise of the water was so loud that, as remote as the mooring was, it would not have been a comfortable night if we’d decided to stay. Carrying on after lunch we were soon approaching Attigny and were surprised to see the quay was boat free. We moored at the far end so we could catch the late evening sunshine, the rest of the quay already being in shade from the tall trees.

Moored in Attigny with valerian and roses

After settling in we went for a short walk around Attigny which was empty apart from the odd local walking along with a baguette. We found it strange because of the strict French Sunday trading laws outside of tourist spots but in the central square a boulangerie was open even though it was the afternoon.

Bandstand in the central square

On Sunday we cruised 12,5 km up three locks and saw no boats.

Monday 8 June

While Karen was on a morning run I went for a walk to Faubourg-du-Moulin, a village north of Attigny that we hadn’t visited before. I could see into someone’s front garden that seemed to be a graveyard for old Citroën H type vans that were produced between the end of WWII and 1981 so were probably at least 50 years old.

I also saw Attigny station which has long since closed but is now a private dwelling with a railway carriage graveyard in its back garden.

Although it was a warm day there was a lot of cloud cover until the afternoon when we decided to move on a little way outside of Attigny. As we set off the sun started breaking through and we ended up with a very pleasant late afternoon and evening. We moored in a most tranquil spot on the offside beside a section that VNF keep mown in order that they can reach a sluice gate between the canal and the Aisne.

We were rather fortunate because just as we were getting too hot, a cloud would come over for a few minutes to cool us down until the sun reappeared.

On Monday we cruised 1,5 km up one lock and not surprisingly saw no boats.

Tuesday 9 June

Leaving Attigny there’s a 27-lock flight up to the summit at Le Chesne. There is only one stopping place on the way up, at a place called Neuville-Day. Mind you, when we came down the flight three years ago, we had a few issues with some of the locks and were forced to stop before reaching Neuville-Day because we didn’t make it before the evening lock closing time.

It was actually an éclusier we had issues with not the locks themselves. The flight operates in a chain and we had to call VNF at the top lock because the gates wouldn’t open. The éclusier who was sent must have been a new recruit as he didn’t seem to understand the concept of a chain. He got us into the top lock and then disappeared without setting the chain going. Of course, the next lock wouldn’t work so it was another call and the same thing happened. By the time it happened at the third lock we managed to explain to him what the issue was. He called his office to understand more and it took forever for him to understand. We’d been a bit tight for time anyway so once we did get going we didn’t get far hence having to stay overnight halfway down against some lock gates.

Before starting the flight this time we had to go on a short section of the river Aisne and passed a needle dam. These dams always fascinate us as the flow is controlled by men inserting or removing the needles. Originally the needles were wooden but nowadays they are generally aluminium, but we do occasionally see the original wooden ones.

Needle dam on the Aisne

We didn’t have any issues with the locks although one of them had a lot of vegetation growing in the walls which was mainly hazel saplings. We were surprised that it wasn’t kept under control as the roots must harm the structure by growing between the stone blocks of the walls.

Most of the lock pounds had contraptions at the sides to help wild animals cross the cut. With the amount of dead deer, boar and other mammals we sometimes see we find it odd that these structures aren’t more common.  Interestingly they are often seen in the canals on the UK where it is usually believed they were installed to aid horses getting out of the water if they fell in whilst towing a barge. How true that is I do not know.

Canalside posters explain the purpose of the structures to passers-by.

As with the last canal we were on, many of the lock cottages were in a sorry state even though they would make lovely remote homes. Maybe it’s a sign of how much empty property there is in rural France where supply easily outstrips demand.

Arriving at Neuville-Day we moored up using bollards from the old village quay and went for a walk. 

Moored at Neuville-Day

As we were leaving, Rob and Julie turned up on Tadham Castle and we agreed to meet up later. We walked back down the flight to a village called Semuy that we hadn’t visited before. It wasn’t a large village but strangely the canal had obviously cut through leaving the church on one side and the main village on the other.

In the centre was a home-made sign to a lavoir but try as we might we just couldn’t find one. We did find an old car rusting away in a barn and our friend Martin P. identified it as an Opel Olympia from the 1930s or 1940s.

Having seen the rotting German car we then came across some German graffiti from WWII. Such graffiti is often protected as it is such an important part of French wartime heritage.  

God save/protect Germany

We turned our walk into a circular one and managed to see our first marbled white and meadow brown butterflies of the year. Back at Neuville-Day we went around to Rob and Julie’s and had a pleasant time chatting and drinking into the evening. We found out that we had a shared past in the UK in that we all cruised on the Kennet and Avon canal and even moored our boats in the same marina 15 years ago.

Wednesday 10 June

With 19 locks to go up on Wednesday we set off early at about 9.45am. Rob and Julie were ready to go before us so we agreed they should go up first. It was an uneventful but beautiful climb up the Montgon valley and we had an attentive éclusier in attendance nearly the whole way. He spent most of his time driving his van between the two boats so he was never far away to help on the two or three occasions when a gate wouldn’t open or similar.

The majority of the locks on the flight were a little over or a little under three metres deep which is just about the limit for Karen to reach a side bollard without having to use a lock ladder. The locks themselves operated very quickly and there was no hanging around once inside the lock and the lever was pulled to set the operation going. On some canals we seem to have to wait an age before we can trigger the start. Another good thing was that they filled up very quickly but without being feisty.

The weather kept changing between full sun and threatening rain clouds but at least it stayed dry. The scenery was wonderful along the way but as usual, photos just cannot do the views justice.

After leaving the top lock we had about a kilometre to travel before reaching the town mooring of Le Chesne. There’s only room for a few boats and when we arrived we just fitted in opposite Tadham Castle. The overall journey had taken about 3 ½ hours so we felt rather pleased with ourselves once we’d moored up for the day.

Moored in the centre of Le Chesne

On Wednesday we cruised seven km up 19 locks and just saw Tadham Castle.

Thursday 11 June

Thursday dawned overcast and remained that way most of the day but at least it stayed dry. In the morning Karen went for a run around Lac de Bairon which is a couple of kilometres north of Le Chesne. The lake is the feeder reservoir for the canal des Ardennes and very popular for water sports and also has a large caravan and camping site. I went for a walk as far as the lake and back but didn’t do the eight km circuit around the lake itself that Karen was doing. The only picture I took was of these Charolais cows for Emmy, one of our granddaughters, but it does include a portion of the lake in the background.

After lunch we went for a walk around Le Chesne and although we explored it three years ago we found a lavoir that we’d missed previously. Sadly, it was locked so we couldn’t get access inside but could see it had an impluvium style roof and was also stream fed.  We did manage to get a picture of the inside by pointing the phone through a crack in a door.

The washing basin can just be made out

We knew there were flags flying on the bridge across the canal by the port but it wasn’t until we were walking back that we noticed they were an unusual combination: Luxembourg, Belgian and British. A sad sign of the times but the union jack is hardly ever seen flying in French towns these days.

Later in the afternoon we decided to leave Le Chesne and have a little cruise until we found a good spot to stop. We headed for the bridge that leads to Tannay as there used to be a quay there and is meant to have good views across the Ardennes. When we arrived it was incredibly overgrown and we would have required a machete to reach either of the two commercial bollards hiding in the undergrowth. Also the view from our boat would be non-existent from inside due to the height of the vegetation. We carried on a little further, passing the feeder inlet from Lac de Bairon.

When Sauville lock appeared in the distance we saw the offside had been mown to allow VNF to access a small aqueduct. The bank was reinforced with steel piling which was ideal to moor against and we could also take advantage of the lack of undergrowth.

Moored above Sauville lock for Thursday night

On Thursday we cruised 8.5 km through no locks and saw no boats.

Friday 12 June

Another grey day but it didn’t stay dry as there was drizzle on and off all morning but we decided to have a cruise anyway. The forecast indicated that it should be the last cloudy day with temperatures back in the 30s for next week. As we’re finding on this canal, we had it to ourselves and after cruising through more of the stunning countryside of the Ardennes and dropping down a couple of locks we moored up above the lock at Malmy.

Moored at Malmy

Somehow I managed to break the grinder part of our salt pot during lunch so set about mending it when we’d eaten. I used a superglue to effect the repair and once it had dried I could confirm the repair was good but unfortunately I’d also managed to glue the grinding mechanism itself. Usually when I use a superglue it doesn’t really work or not for long anyway. Of course, this time it had worked too well.

After lunch we took a walk to the next village which was called Chémery-Chéhéry. When we arrived we saw that according to the welcome signs at the entrance to the village, it is now known as Chémery-sur-Bar. It was a shame to find that out as the name Chémery-Chéhéry was almost as intriguing as Thugny-Trugny where we’d stopped a week ago.

It was a proper farming village with farmyards intermingled with cottages and houses. The river Bar and a couple of streams ran through the place so we spent a while looking for a lavoir and eventually found one. It could almost be considered as two separate lavoirs as they stood either side of a stream and had their own entrances.

At the top of a hill overlooking the village stood the church. Apparently one of the walls adjoining the tower dated back to the 12^th century.

Church Saint-Sulpice

Outside the church was a large square, part of which was occupied by the covered market.

Although it remained dry, the sun never really came out for long even though it kept trying and we spent the rest of the day on board.

On Friday we cruised 8.5 km down two locks and saw no boats.

Saturday 13 June

I set off on the boat for the final 12 km of the canal to where it meets the river Meuse at a place called Pont-à-Bar while Karen ran there. There was some cloud cover when we left but it cleared during the morning.

The canal has followed the river Bar valley since the summit but at a place called St-Aignan the river has a 10 km loop around a hill so a canal tunnel was constructed to create a short cut and cut the distance down to under ½ km.

Approaching St-Aignan tunnel

Karen had rung me when she’d run through the tunnel to warn me that there were quite a few serious fishermen in the tunnel. They knew I was coming before I arrived as they would have heard the lock at the entrance setting itself and made sure their many lines were out of the way. It was the first time we’ve seen people fishing inside a tunnel.

I picked Karen up soon after going through the tunnel. She’d reached Pont-à-Bar and run practically half way back as she obviously runs faster than the boat will travel. The pound I picked her up in was low and there had been a VNF notice earlier in the week saying the depth was limited to two metres. This made it a little difficult to find somewhere to put the nose in but she finally got aboard. We stopped at the boatyard in Pont-à-Bar to fill up with diesel and make a couple of purchases in the chandlery then dropped down a lock to moor up for the weekend.

Moored in Pont-à-Bar

The first thing we did after tying up was fetch the car from where I'd left it at the boatyard a couple of months ago. We went into Sedan which was about a 10 minute drive away to put the car on charge and picked up a few things while waiting. Back at the boat we set up our table and chairs outside and watched the comings and goings of campervans into the late afternoon.  There are no services on site but it is clearly popular considering the number that had arrived by the evening. A little later Rob and Julie appeared, they’d moored in the boatyard and had walked down to see if they could find us. Of course we ended up chatting and drinking into the evening.

On Saturday we cruised 11 km down four locks, through one tunnel and saw one boat, a private river cruiser.

Sunday 14 June

The boatyard above the lock where we were moored also has a hire boat base so we expected it to be busy with boats heading out onto the Meuse. As it was, only one hire boat went out and just two came back at the end of their holidays, although quite a few private boats came through in both directions. It always strikes me as odd that a hire boat can be used without any qualifications, but we had to pass various navigational and radio tests before we could bring our boat over here.

Later in the morning we walked along the Meuse for a while and popped into Dom-le-Mesnil for a quick explore.  We found two lavoirs, both in good condition and with running water inside. Sadly they were both locked but we could see through the gratings that one of them had four wash basins.

The church was not as old as most, being built in 1850.

The mairie looked of a similar age.

We sent the rest of the afternoon lazing on and around the boat enjoying the sunshine. Oh, having said that I'd over-repaired the salt grinder - it's now working perfectly.

Early morning below the lock in Pont-à-Bar