Soissons (searching for a soldier)

Saturday morning at Vic-sur-Aisne

After a lazy breakfast on Saturday we set off from Vic-sur-Aisne to find our next mooring as it was such a lovely day for a cruise. The first mile or so was a stretch that reminded us of being on the Thames with grand houses in grounds large enough that they had plenty of privacy from passing nosey boaters.

Like being on the Thames

The leaves on some of the trees are now on the turn so there was quite an autumnal feel in places.

Autumn is on its way

As we’re in no hurry to get to Châlons-en-Champagne, our final destination this year, we’re taking advantage of nearly every mooring at the moment.  Mind you, as we’re on a river there aren’t many around but at least they tend to be free as no one else seems to be cruising. We were heading for Fontenoy on Saturday where there was a 25-metre pontoon in the lock cut above the lock.

Approaching the lock at Fontenoy

Other than the lock cottage there was no other housing around so it looked like it would be a really peaceful spot.

Moored at Fontenoy

As soon as the engine was turned off, we could hear the unmistakeable hum of a hydroelectric pump which was housed in the building just down from us on the other side of the lock cut.  It was driven by the river as it drops down the weir on the other side - it seemed like it wouldn’t be totally quiet after all.

After lunch we fancied going for a walk starting in Fontenoy. We’d forgotten that Fontenoy was on the other side of the river and as there wasn’t a bridge, we had to have a rethink.  Looking at the map we saw there was a path alongside the river going back in the direction we’d just cruised along.  As it seemed to go down to a place called Port Fontenoy we decided to follow it.  After about 200 metres it petered out as the undergrowth took over to such an extent that no path could be seen.  We decided to press on as there must have been a towing path there once upon a time and who knew what hidden gems we might find. 

The towpath

In the end there was just over a mile of crashing through the shrubs and climbing over fallen trees, so it ended up being a long walk in terms of time anyway, especially as we returned the same way.  When we reached Port Fontenoy we found a plaque on the bridge over the river.  It explained the story of two French soldiers who were executed ('shot at dawn') in the village, one in 1914 and the other in 1915 to set an example to their fellow soldiers.  Lucien Bersot, had refused to wear the bloodstained trousers of a soldier who had been killed and the other, Léonard Leymarie, had shot himself in a hand. Apparently self-maiming was rife at the time as a means of avoiding having to fight.

Léonard Leymarie is buried in a nearby WWI cemetery for French nationals and there is a further plaque telling the story by the church in Fontenoy itself.  In 1922 both soldiers were pardoned and in the late 1990s the bloodstained trousers story inspired the French TV film called “Le pantalon”.

Walking around the village we came across out first lavoir for a couple of weeks and it was our first impluvium style lavoir since we’d left Champagne a good many weeks ago.  Impluvium is the Latin word for the sloping sided basin that collects water that has come through from the compluvium, the sloping sided roof.  We have three unanswered questions regarding lavoirs:

• Why are there so few lavoirs in northern France compared with central and southern?

• Why aren’t the impluvium style lavoirs referred to as compluvium style?

• Of the few lavoirs we’ve found in northern France why has this been the first impluvium style?

I imagine the answer to the last question may be related to rainfall.  As there is higher rainfall in the north then maybe stream-fed lavoirs don’t tend to dry up but then the reverse question arises, why have impluvium style where there is less rainfall?  If anyone can help, then we would be glad to hear from you.

The compluvium roof of the impluvium style lavoir in Fontenoy

The washing basin was quite a bit deeper than many we have seen, and it is obviously not in use nowadays!

The impluvium or basin

On our way back we saw quite a few butterflies on the wing including a painted lady and a small copper.  Even though it seems to have been a good butterfly year, we have seen very few painted ladies and it was our first small copper of the year.

Not a particularly fresh small copper

Looking back on our walk we decided it had been worth it and not just because of the lavoir or butterflies.  We really enjoy going off piste and pressing on when those not so foolish would turn around and find a road or give up!

Checking my emails later I came across one from our friend Mike Fielding.  He is well versed in all things canals and is well aware of my fascination for stanking planks and their shelters.  He’d come across a pamphlet and sent me a copy.  Mike is keen to spread the word that the popular term for these planks is ‘stop plank’ and not ‘stanking plank’.  Although he is correct and in most areas of the UK we’ve visited they have been referred to as stop planks, my first exposure to them was with an old British Waterways lockie who referred to them as stanking planks.  The term tickled me and will forever be my favourite and I expect Mike will never refrain from referring to them as stop planks.

Mike’s pamphlet on stanking planks

We are often reminded how fortunate we’ve been in 2020 to be able to lead our lives almost as normal.  Even during the three months of confinement when we lived in Châlons-en-Champagne and we weren’t allowed to cruise or go out for more than one hour a day we had glorious weather.  On top of that we formed a family bubble with our next-door boat neighbours, Nikki & Gorete, who became very good friends.  

Selfishly, we’ve also been spoilt because of the lack of tourism as we’ve been able to visit places in relative peace and quiet; the downside being that many places aren’t open of course.  In the evening a further reminder of our good fortune arrived in a comment by Ian, a fellow boater from Australia.  Like many people with boats in Europe, he & Lisette have been unable to cruise this year as they haven’t been allowed to travel.  Ian says that there is now growing speculation that EU travel may still be banned for Antipodeans during 2021 too.  If that’s true no doubt it will include other nations like South Africa and the US, so it could be another very quiet year on the waterways coming up.

On Saturday we cruised four miles and went up one lock.

Sunday started sunny but clouded over by the time we went for our morning walk.  We'd located the WWI French national cemetery where Léonard Laymarie was buried and wanted to continue our investigation into the 'shot at dawn' story.  It wasn’t too far to walk and, unlike yesterday, entailed walking along roads.

Soon after leaving the mooring we saw a path crossing the lane at right angles.  Ironically, this would have been ideal for walking along yesterday as it looked like it ran parallel with the river and was a proper track rather than being overgrown as our path had been.

The path we should have been on yesterday

Approaching the French national cemetery at Ambleny we were shocked to realise what a large area 11,000 graves cover.

There are 10,601 WWI soldiers, 71 civilians and 555 WWII soldiers buried in the cemetery, all of whom were French other than one Dane and one Russian.  We retrieved the register from its vault in order to find the location of Leymarie and then studied the layout to identify which was his plot.  And yes, we used our hand sanitiser after touching anything.

The door to the register vault and the cemetery layout

The register and the entry for Leymarie

Cross marking Leymarie’s plot…

…and plaque

The plaque indicating he’d died for France was important as it indicates that he gave his life for his country, not the normal epithet for someone shot for disobedience.  This was because the cemetery wasn’t assembled until later in 1922 the year in which he’d been given a state pardon.  Although he was pardoned by the state in 1922, his hometown of Seilhac didn’t grant him a pardon until 2008; it wasn’t until then that his name was added to the town’s war memorial.

On the way back home we saw an information board by the lock and learnt that during one of the local battles in WWI the French army built a temporary bridge over the river to help its marching army to drive back the enemy.  Karen and I keep forgetting that the German army blew up most of the canal and river bridges in this area of France as they retreated.  Amazingly the temporary bridge was erected during the course of one night. 

While having lunch we were watching a kingfisher on its perch and after several unsuccessful attempts we saw it dive and surface with a fish which it took back to its perch to eat.  Although we have seen herons capturing fish, frogs etc. many times, it was the first time we’d seen a kingfisher catch something.

After lunch we set off for Soissons, the farthest north west we got on our travels last year.  It was also one of the first towns we visited when we had our investigatory road trip two years ago. As we neared the outskirts of Soissons, the skies ahead darkened and after a while it started raining but stopped after about five minutes, so we didn’t get too wet.

Rain ahead?

Arriving in downtown Soissons

As we went up the lock in town, we recalled how large we thought it was when we saw it on our road trip.  Little did we know then that it was only a little longer than the smallest standard locks in France and that we just consider them ordinary now.

Leaving the big little big lock 

Last year when we came to Soissons we moored on the left bank and saw that new moorings were being constructed on the right bank.  This year, as they were now open, we decided to try those on the right bank although they were a bit high for a narrowboat. 

Not the lowest of quays to moor alongside

Strangely the new moorings don’t have water or electricity while we noticed the bornes were still in use on the old ones opposite.

Moored in the early evening on the River Aisne with Soissons cathedral over on the right

Even though we had a small walk around town in the evening we’re only including a picture of the mairie.  This is because, other than the mairie, we covered most of the historical buildings in the blog entries for our visits last year and the previous year.

Soissons hôtel de ville

For the next little while we’ll be on waterways we’ve been on before so the blogs may become less frequent for a while. 

On Sunday we cruised eight miles and went up one lock.