Courcelles (replacement needles)

First, a big thanks to all the well-wishers, both privately and on social media, in response to our impending grandparenthood..  There were some wonderful sentiments, some witty of course, and (thanks to Ian McCauley’s friend) one pertinent to our current situation was, ‘Grandchildren – the natural enemies of extended cruising”.

Our travels in France

Which reminds me that it’s time for an update on our travels in France so far.  We set out from Migennes, which is the blue flag in the middle of the map, on 26^th March this year.  We headed south to Decize on the River Yonne, then the length of Canal du Nivernais and a short stretch of the Loire (the yellow flag at the bottom).  This took us until the end of April when we headed over to the River Saône via the Canal latéral à la Loire and the Canal du Centre.  After the Saône we joined the Canal de Bourgogne travelling north through Dijon and back to Migennes.

That was then the middle of June when we took a break in the UK until the end of the month.  We then set off to Paris up the Yonne and then the Seine.  We cruised the Parisian canals for a while and then headed east on the River Marne to Meaux when we had another holiday back in the UK for ten days.  Since returning we have continued on the River Marne and are nearly at the end, the green flag at Epernay.  Since being here we have covered 1,142 kilometres (713 miles) and been through 458 locks.

Wednesday was moving day and we set off from Château Thierry after Karen’s morning run.  It promised to be a glorious day and, with the risk of being boring, it certainly was and we had yet another wonderful cruise through the woods and vineyards of Champagne.

In some places the vines extended almost to the water’s edge

We were happily getting ready for our first lock of the day when I had what was nearly a bad scrape.  While the lock is being made ready, Karen uses the binoculars to see which side the controls are on, so I know which side to bring the boat in.  Once the lock is ready, Karen goes to the front of the boat to get into position to loop a line over a bollard or on a mooring pole.

The lock was actually ready and set on green as it came into view which made me forget about finding out which side to head for once in the lock.  I assumed left as I neared the lock as has been the case with most of the previous locks, but I forgot about the weir overspill.  At some locks the overspill is quite fierce even though the river is benign.  This results in a strong crossflow which pushes the boat off its course when entering the lock.

Stupidly, as I had forgotten about the overspill, I eased off as I neared the lock to reduce the engine noise so I could check with Karen which side to go.  By the time the crosscurrent got me it was too late, and I was heading for a scrape along the side as I went in.  Fortunately, I just managed to keep the boat away from the pilings and the lock gates but have to admit that I was breathing in very hard at the time.

Left: Bad.  Right: Better

I imagine that’s why the piling has been installed along the left-hand side of these lock entrances.

Similar views from the river again today 😉

While on locks, all the recent ones have had a needle dam next to them with a weir on the far side.  Needle dams have been shown here before, but we had never come across needles close up before.  As we rose up in the second lock, we saw a couple of metal frames on the side and one had a new needle in and also an old bent one.

The old and the new

The recent locks have also had water points and Karen has been diligently checking each one to make sure they were working.  The water points are strangely positioned beside the locks themselves rather than somewhere away from boat traffic.  The one at the first lock was working and we ummed and aaahed about whether to stay in the lock and get the washing done while we took on water, deciding against.  We would have felt so guilty and inclined to move if another boat came along.  Stupid really as the chances of another boat coming along were really low especially as we haven’t seen a commercial since leaving Meaux.

We have only come across the water/lock arrangement once before and that was on the River Lee in London/Hertfordshire.  There it was accepted that you wait if a boat is in the lock filling up with water.  We wondered what the protocol is over here.  No doubt boaters must move if a commercial came along, though I imagine some people would wait until they were full before making way for a another pleasure boat to come through.  Thinking about it, most boats probably moor just outside the lock against signs or other points giving a temporary hold.  That's OK because larger boats have plenty of space and can carry 50 metre hoses or equivalent; not so easy on a narrowboat.

We were due to moor just after the second lock and by this time decided that it would be OK to take on water whilst in the lock.  Of course, as luck wouldn’t have it, the water wasn’t working!

There was a lovely quiet mooring just above the lock and we were soon settled in enjoying the peace and watching the kingfishers and dippers while listening to the fish feasting along the side of the boat.

Moored at écluse 4 – Courcelles

We had a scout around later and found a farm track that looked like it would eventually take us to a lane into the nearest village, about a mile away.  The village is called Trélou-sur-Marne and looking at the municipal website later it seems it is rather a prosperous champagne village.  The website was very interesting with lots of historical information and pictures considering the size of the place.  As we plan to stay here on Thursday, we will take a walk into Trélou and probably a couple of the smaller hamlets around the area.

Our view away from the river

On Wednesday we cruised 20 kilometres up two locks.

With the next couple of weeks forecast to be staying in the 30s it doesn’t seem like the canal system is going to receive any of its much-needed rain.  The chances of any of the restrictions on the canals being lifted this year must be getting increasingly remote. On Thursday we lazed around for a while and then mid-morning went for a walk to Trélou-sur-Marne.

Being a champagne village, it was well kept but extremely quiet, we only saw a handful of people when we were there.  Of course, we looked for a lavoir and found one pretty quickly.  It happened to be one of the 45 lavoirs that has been decorated to depict one of the Jean de la Fontaine fables, this time the fable of the heron.  Because of this it was locked shut to the public which was a shame, but I suppose they wouldn’t have been able to display the garde genoux (kneeler) with clogs and wash paddle.

Shut off to the public

The wooden kneeler (garde genoux), wash paddle and clogs

The herons

There seemed to be almost as many champagne houses as private dwellings and all were modest affairs compared to the ones in Château Thierry.

One of the small champagne houses

Trélou-sur-Marne was heavily bombarded during WWI and looking at some of the old postcards of the village it seemed like whole rows of houses were practically demolished.  It was quite clear where houses had been rebuilt as they looked almost modern when set in streets that should have been lined with houses from a few centuries ago.

Some of the rebuilt houses

There was a boulangerie and a bar in the main street but (as it was Thursday and we fancied a drink) the bar was closed so we couldn’t take advantage of it.

The high street

The national warning system sirens were prominent next to the war memorial and looked like they were the original ones from WWII.  I remember the eerie feeling I got the first time I heard sirens in France many years ago.  I was then told that they are tested every month but still have a bit of a shiver on the odd times I have heard them since.

The old air raid sirens

We ended up walking along every street and alley in the village and have to admit to finding four more wash houses.  Don’t worry, they are not all pictured here but they were fascinating to us and can be seen by clicking here.

Seeing so many, prompted Karen to comment that the village must have had the cleanest clothes in France.  Oh, I will include one more picture: this lavoir was next to a private house and their dog was sitting on guard on top of the wall.

Looking precarious but he probably does this all day every day

We had only walked a few miles but were glad to get back to the boat to sit in the shade for a couple of hours.  Karen had read that our mooring is often used by hotel boats and while we were away a hotel boat had moored up next to us.  The six guests were leaving the boat as we arrived and being taken to Reims for the afternoon.  It was a top of the range boat, built a year ago, and had six crew which partly explains the minimum €5,000 per person per week price tag.

We have neighbours

The six guests were Scots and we got chatting later in the day to a couple of them who were interested in what we were doing over here.  We also had a few conversations with the staff who were English apart from the captain who was Belgian but spoke six languages.  English is a prerequisite to work on these boats as the majority of guests are Americans or English speakers.  The crew we spoke to had never had French guests and we mused for a while why this would be.

Later in the afternoon we went for a circular walk to take in the village of Courcelles.  The first section was through a walnut tree wood which was lovely and cool.  Courcelles was more of a hamlet with no shops, just half a dozen champagne houses.  Once again it was uncannily quiet and in stark contrast to a month’s time when the vendange begins and Champagne receives an influx of 120,000 grape pickers.

Arriving in Courcelles

We found a lavoir which was unusual in having a lead roof.  It was open to three sides, so we were able to go in and sit on a bench to rest for a while.

The wash house in Courcelles

The water was just out of Buddy’s reach, so Karen had to help him by giving him water in her cupped hands.  He has always been too frightened to drink water directly from a tap and it took us until we were in Siena last year to get him brave enough to take the water from cupped hands.

We got home and caught the thrilling end to the first day’s play at Edgbaston. We then filled up with water.  I know we hadn’t been able to get water as the borne wasn’t working, but the hotel boat had been taking on water directly from the lock cottage.  The captain explained that is what they always do and, as we pay a VNF licence, offered us use of their hose to fill up too.  Of course, we didn’t decline and immediately got the washing machine on and had long showers!  We ended up having to link three hoses together to reach our boat including two 50 metre hoses from the hotel boat.