Mary-sur-Marne (& an hourglass port air mat)

Our first lock for nearly three weeks

Thursday was our tenth wedding anniversary so we decided to take it easy and just hang around Meaux.  I had been going to take the car down to Roanne where we are mooring for the winter and would have caught trains back but that would have taken ten hours out of the day and I felt pretty knackered after our holiday in the UK so didn’t really fancy it.

When Karen went for her run, I popped out to get a replacement gas bottle.  When I reached the garage, I got a mental block and couldn’t remember whether we needed butane or propane.  The empty bottle didn’t help as it was an old French one with nothing stamped on it.  As it was, there was no-one around to serve me: the fuel pumps were all pay at the pump and the cashier’s kiosk was locked up.  It was probably a blessing in disguise as I realised that I had forgotten to bring any cash or money cards with me anyway.

Later in the day we went out in the car again to another out of town supermarket and this time we were successful in getting a gas bottle (propane!).  While we were out, we bought some fresh mussels which we cooked later as our anniversary celebration and also had some of the wine we had bought at our first wine tasting over here back in April.  Before dinner we popped over to our German neighbours, Boris & Marsha, and had a few drinks with them.  They were mad keen on rum and we tried several different ones from the West Indies and the States.

If the abortive attempt to get gas was fortuitous then so was deciding not to take the car to Roanne.  After further emails from VNF about yet more imminent canal closures due to lack of water we decided to cancel our winter mooring down in Roanne.  We would try and find somewhere not as far south that we knew we could get to.  I contacted Simon in Migennes, and he said he would be able to fit us in.  I also contacted the port at Auxerre, and they said he could accommodate us too.  In the end we decided on Auxerre and so have paid our deposit and will be down there in early November.  It does depend upon a lock on the River Yonne being re-opened at the end of October, but it seems VNF are confident that their emergency works will be finished by then.

Writing about the lock closure reminds me of a couple of myths that were dispelled by our Germans next door.  We had always assumed that as Germans are known for their punctuality, sense of order and general perfectionism that German construction projects (like lock repairs) always ran to schedule.  Boris’s first comment when I told him about our plans was, ‘How can you trust that the lock repairs will be finished on time?  Construction projects in Germany never deliver on time and delays aren’t announced until the due date’!

The other myth dispelled was that German’s don’t have a sense of humour let alone understand ours.  When Boris gave me his business card, I saw his surname was Becker but told him I knew he wasn’t the tennis player because of his hair colour.  I then said I also knew because he was clearly much older which he immediately found funny and started laughing.  It was at that point that they invited us around for the rum tasting.

I left at eight on Friday morning and drove to Migennes where I dropped the car off at the boatyard.  It was then a train up to Paris, and then another back out to Meaux.  The whole journey only took six hours which was a big saving on the time it would have taken to get down to Roanne and back.

With the change in winter mooring location we also spent some time re-planning where we will cruise before then.  We have decided to still head east through Champagne and then start heading south on the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne before turning around and heading back to Paris and then up the Rivers Seine and Yonne to Auxerre.   

We had some heavy downpours during Friday afternoon, but we need a few weeks steady rain to make an impact on the water levels and hence see some canals reopening.  It was still cloudy when we got up on Saturday but lovely and warm when we set off on our first cruise for what felt like ages.  We were actually moored at Meaux for 18 days and, before the do-gooders complain, we did have permission to overstay the usual two day maximum.

Passing Meaux plage

You can see how early we left as the plage was empty.  Many of the towns we have passed set aside an area on the river for people to bathe, sun-bathe and do whatever families etc. do on beaches.  It’s a good idea as this part of France is a long way from the nearest beaches.  It was great to be cruising again and also pleasant that the clouds gave us protection from the sun as they passed over.  It was fairly windy but clearly not as bad as some places in the UK and other northern European countries were having. 

Karen on the move again

Approaching Trilport an enterprising homeowner had built a rather elaborate diving station:

 

The first of two bridges at Trilport

Interesting way of parking in Trilport

The Canal de l’Ourcq is still ever present alongside the Marne albeit 12 metres higher and up to two kilometres away.  At one point we passed the site of an inclined plane that used to swap boats between the two waterways.  Sadly, there is nothing left of this nowadays, but it must have been absolutely fascinating when in operation.  Boats would enter a trailer in a basin and a water-powered turbine hauled the trailer up the 500-metre slope through a series of gears.

Passing through Germingny-l’Évêque

Apart from Trilport and Germingny-l’Évêque we were out in the country for the 20-odd kilometres we travelled on Saturday and the Marne was almost as quiet as it had been when we last travelled on it.  One pleasure cruiser overtook us, another passed us in the other direction, and we had to wait for a commercial to come out of our one and only lock of the day.

As usual, we studied the map before setting off so we could be aware of any navigational issues etc. before we came across them.  There were two places where boats had to cross over and travel on the opposite side and also something called ‘Tapis aérien du port sablier’ which literally translates to ‘Hourglass port air mat’.  As you could imagine, we were keen to find out what this contraption really was.  When we approached it, we realised it was a conveyor belt carrying sand or gravel across the river into a hopper for loading onto boats so could understand the literal translation!

The hourglass port air mat  

Our guidebook had told us that the locks on this section of the Marne close for lunch between 12.30 and 13.30 at the weekends.   As it was about one o’clock when we approached the lock, we looked for the waiting pontoon marked in the guidebook so we could tie up and have lunch whilst we waited.  I also radioed the écluse, just in case, but got no response.  There was no pontoon, just some large pylons for commercials to moor alongside so were just about to turn around and find somewhere else to moor when Karen noticed the lights outside the lock changing and the gates opening.

We were in luck as a commercial was coming out and it was quite ‘fun’ hovering outside the lock entrance with the wind trying to take us into his path.  So that’s two further things to add to the growing list of inaccuracies in this particular guidebook.  A shame really, as all the other waterway books that we have used in the same series have been very good.

A needle dam between the weir and the lock

When the river is in flood but before it is high enough before all traffic is banned, the needles are removed from these dams and boats just sail through bypassing the locks.  There is no way we would be travelling in conditions like that!

It was one of those locks where pleasure boats have to moor up at the back when going up.  The trouble for us was that there were no appropriate bollards so I had to wait for the gates to close and then reverse back until Karen could get a line on a bollard.   Considering the éclusier didn't respond to my radio message, he was very patient and waited for my thumbs up before closing the gates and again before opening the paddles while Karen got her line on.  He was full of goodbyes from his control tower as we left too.

Leaving our only lock of the day

It wasn’t much further before we reached Mary-sur-Marne where there was a 15-metre pontoon which we hoped would be free as we wanted to stay there for a couple of days.  Unfortunately, there was a boat on the pontoon, so we spun around and moored up practically under a railway bridge that we noticed had what looked like a small quay alongside.  After much cutting back of overhanging trees and bushes, we were safely moored to a crash barrier installed to prevent cars going into the river.

Our makeshift mooring at Mary-sur-Marne

Karen was preparing lunch when I heard the sound of a boat and saw it was the one on the pontoon that was leaving.  Karen immediately leapt into action and shouted out that we should untie and take his spot.  It was quite comical really, but we were soon moored up again and felt even safer from the wake of any passing commercials as the river was also wider at this point.

Our second mooring in 30 minutes at Mary-sur-Marne

During the afternoon we went for a look around the town and noticed that we had moored right alongside two restaurants.  One of them was typically closed for the whole of August for staff holidays.

Two restaurants right by our mooring

On Saturday we cruised 24 kilometres up one lock.