Long (an uphill struggle)

The forecast rain for Wednesday didn’t arrive until the early hours of Thursday morning but it had stopped by the time we got up.  With rain more likely in the afternoon than the morning we went for a walk after breakfast.  We wanted to see more of the Somme estuary but didn’t fancy the organised bird or seal watching walks as Buddy wouldn’t be allowed to join in.  As he needed to benefit from a walk as well as us it wouldn’t be fair to leave him alone on the boat for such a long period..  The constant rise and fall of the pontoon we were moored on causes metallic scraping noises which really freak Buddy out.  We got him as a young dog from the RSPCA and weren’t told his background, but metallic noises make him very jumpy so that’s another reason we wouldn’t leave him at that particular mooring.  

Walking by the harbour of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

Approaching the sea lock, we heard the unmistakeable sound of the whistle of a steam engine as it came into view pulling twelve carriages, crossing the lock in the direction of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

It’s strange how, even these days, many road signs warning of trains ahead still depict a steam engine but in the case of this one though, it was correct.  We’d noticed the railway tracks crossing the lock yesterday and realised they supported both standard and metre gauges trains.  The two gauges share one rail and there are two further rails the requisite distance away from the first. The train we saw was on the metre gauge track and was carrying tourists around the bay. This smaller gauge railway was built in the 1880s to deliver holidaymakers to the three towns situated on the bay after they’d been disgorged at the main station by standard gauge trains from places like Calais and Paris.

Walking into the bay we could see two groups of seal and/or bird watchers in the far distance.  We didn’t see any seals, but it was an interesting change walking through fauna that is often submerged by the sea; quite different to what we’re used to.

No seals for us

Wearing shorts and sandals meant we weren’t really dressed for the occasion as the mud flats were very slippery and more suited for walking boots.  Still, we managed to avoid any mishaps and kept to the sheep paths which we noticed crabs were also doing.  It was certainly bracing out there as the wind was blowing off the Channel and even though it looked pretty grim, we didn’t get rained on.  On our way back we decided to move back up to Abbeville after lunch when the tide was on the turn, that way we wouldn’t be struggling against a current all the way back along the long straight into the town. 

That speck in the distance is us on our creaky pontoon

Unexpectedly, the sun appeared as we ate lunch and stayed out for rest of the afternoon which made for a pleasant cruise back to Abbeville.  The town was an important sea port in the middle ages and, after waning, came back into popularity in the 19^th century following the canalisation of the river Somme.  This then gave it important links with towns like Amiens and Corbie and others further inland with links to the inland waterway network.

The town was decimated in WWII and that meant over 80% of the buildings were destroyed by bombs.  We haven’t been anywhere else where the effect is so dramatic.  The town was rebuilt in the 1950s and is most obvious in the style of the buildings along the high street and around the squares.

Roundabout at the bottom end of the high street

The squares were rebuilt with arches across the roads so that the buildings were uninterrupted forming continuous sides to the squares.

Looking through two of the arches in the ‘50s high street

The main square

There were a lot of good quality shops in the high street and very few empty premises.  The mairie was probably the dullest one we have come across but at least it had some flowers on display unlike the previous contender from Maizy on the Canallatéral à l’Aisne back in August.

Abbeville mairie looking more like a fire station

The Gothic cathedral suffered heavily in the bombing after which only the two towers remained.  Rebuilding didn’t finish until 1998 and it stands in stark contrast to the buildings of the shopping area around it.

The cathedral

On Thursday we cruised nine miles up one lock.

It seemed to rain quite a lot during Thursday night but it had stopped by the morning although the wind had got up.  The wind was the sort of strength where in the UK you would think twice about whether to cruise or not especially on narrow canals with lots of moored boats.  Without moored boats and with wider canals those considerations don’t exist here but there’s still the issue of getting into locks and past weirs safely.  Our view was that if the rain continues all week then the flow on the river is going to get stronger making it slower going as we’re heading upstream.  So the sooner we get further upstream where there isn’t the volume of water, the better.

Before we set off, Buddy and I popped over to the fuel station attached to the handy canal side Carrefour supermarket.  As we started to trolley the fuel back, the skies opened, and so we were drenched before we’d even set off on the boat.  Karen and I took the prudent step of changing out of shorts and wore jeans and wet weather gear for the first time this year. The day was definitely a lot cooler but at least the rain stopped soon after we set off.

Rain easing

We were heading for Pont-Remy for lunch and as we needed to get through a lock before reaching the mooring, I set about ringing the control centre for an éclusier to operate the lock.  Karen then realised the time and pointed out that we wouldn’t be able to go through as it would be about 1.00pm when we arrived there, slap bang in the middle of the éclusiers’ lunch break.

Our only option was to moor up near the quaintly named village of Épagne-Épagnette at a 100-metre quay with three equally spaced bollards which meant they were 50 metres apart, far too wide for us.  We ended up mooring to one bollard and tied the other end around some piling.  As in true Chris & Sue Hutchins’ style it began raining again as soon as we started faffing around mooring up.

Moored for lunch at Épagne-Épagnette

After lunch, the rain held off for the rest of the day, but the wind did strengthen.  The cross current from the river where we left for the lock cut at Pont-Remy was much stronger than when we came down and made entry to the lock cut quite tricky.  Not only that, but we had to hover in the flood lock before the gates opened and got blown onto the sloping sides.  Once the main lock was ready for us, Karen managed to use her boat pole to keep the front out as we just edged in without touching the gates or the side of the lock.

Leaving the Pont-Remy lock

When we’d come down, we’d assumed the bridge above the lock (as in the picture above) gave the village its name.  Since then we found out that there are ten bridges across the various arms of the Somme that run through the village, so it's a bit of a misleading name.

Rather than mooring at Pont-Remy we decided to carry on to Long as the rain looked like it would hold off, in fact we even had odd snatches of sunshine.

The lock at Long with the mairie, church and château all in view

We carried on to the hydroelectric generating station where there’s a mooring on the non-channel side of an island for a hire boat and a couple of day boats.  We’d noticed when we walked around there before that there would just be enough room for us to squeeze in at the end.

Friday night mooring at Long

When we walked around the marshes last week, we didn’t make it into Long itself so took the opportunity to do so after mooring up. 

Closer view of the château de Long

Looking across Long and the Somme valley

At the top of the hill we came across two separate buildings that used to house the boys’ and girls’ schools.  We’ve often found that when the schools aren’t integrated either side of the mairie’s office they are still built in the same style as each other.  The schools in Long were in quite different styles:

The girls' school

The boys' school

Walking back along the river we came across a display of the propeller from a Lancaster engine and a bomb casing.  These were taken from the marsh around Long in 1998 and were from a Lancaster bomber that was shot down on 25^th May 1944.  Five crew members died and three were taken as prisoners of war.  Those of you who know your aeroplanes and/or WWII history may know that Lancaster bombers usually had a crew of seven.  Apparently, this aeroplane was testing some new electronic equipment during its bombing mission, hence the eighth crew member.  

We’ve noticed before that the wealth of information available on the subject of aeroplane crashes is incredibly extensive.  The information about this aeroplane was vast, including data about its build specification, its missions and its crew and their families.

From Lancaster ND689

When we got home, we put the heating on for an hour as the boat felt decidedly chilly.  This was the first time this year we’ve put the heating on and if the temperature doesn’t pick up again in the next few days, we’ll probably be lighting the stove next.

On Friday we cruised ten miles up two locks.