Chaumont (stanks & snakes)

Fishermen started arriving from seven on Sunday morning and unlike Saturday’s men these guys were serious.  We soon realised they were getting ready for a competition.  As we see in the UK, the guys on the pegs at either end of the boat kept one of their lines close to the boat as I assume they believe it’s a good place for fish to congregate.  They didn’t seem to start serious fishing until 9am so a lot of setting up was involved, including the laying of tables and chairs by the womenfolk which were used at pre-arranged breaks during the day (the tables and chairs not the women).  We couldn’t believe how long they were fishing; they didn’t finish until 4.30pm for the weigh in.

We went off mid-morning to find Chaumont’s famous viaduct.  This was built as part of the Paris-Basle railway and only took fifteen months to build, opening in 1856.  It’s a stunning structure and is over 600 metres long with 50 arches.

Unlike those on the Settle-Carlisle railway, it wasn’t easy to get a view of the complete viaduct and even the images available on the web can’t convey its majesty in one shot.  There are three levels and the lower one is usually open for the public to walk across but was closed for safety works in 2018 and hasn’t reopened yet due to Covid.

Looking along the pedestrianised level

The viaduct helped to bring the railway to the top of Chaumont where it runs in a deep cutting through the town; the stone used in its construction being sourced from the cutting.

We made our way back via a different route so we could take in the old town.  Chaumont is the capital of the Haute-Marne département with a population of 23,000.  The town is a mixture of old and new, e.g. the station and surrounding art and entertainment buildings are all modern affairs.  Back in 1760 there were just over 6,000 inhabitants but they still had an impressive hôtel de ville:

The hôtel de ville built in 1785/6 replaced a previous one on the same spot

The large playing cards in front of the building were part of an Easter (pâques) game for children based on Alice in Wonderland.  They had to hunt down the cards placed around the town.  Each card contained a clue to a clock somewhere else in the town.  Once all the clocks have been identified the game is complete.  Needless to say, we didn’t join in (yet!) but here are the ace of diamonds and jack of spades:

There was an educational aspect to the game as each clue also provided historical information about the building where the clock would be found.

A couple of wooden sculptures in one of the small parks

All that remains of the original castle in Chaumont is the square keep that can just be seen on the right of this view looking west from the top of town:

Looking in the opposite direction several towers can be seen:

As we made our way over to the cathedral, we passed one of the few remaining parts of the 13^th century city walls.  It was the unfortunately named Arse tower which originally stood guard over one of the gates.

La tour d’Arse

The cathedral no longer stands in its own grounds as houses have been built within a few metres nearly all the way around.  This meant the building couldn’t clearly been seen in its entirety.

This side provided the best view

It had some amazing gargoyles

Karen & Buddy squeezing between the cathedral and the houses

Our walk back to the port took us down one of the old lanes that used to act as a supply route up to the town at the top of the hill. 

Back at the port more camper vans had arrived, they were still all French plated but clearly the volume of people taking breaks was going up quickly.  The captainerie was still firmly shut up as expected because of the lock down.

Captainerie looking rather sorry for itself

The lovely sunny weekend was forgotten by Monday morning as we woke up to rain.  It didn’t really matter as Karen was on a workday and I had a few errands to run.  Whilst out I popped over to the valley on the other side of town to find a lavoir we’d seen on the town’s website.  I know I try to avoid going on about lavoirs but this one was really quite special; it had four washing basins and was a good way out of town so the washerwomen would have had quite a trek with their laundry.

I’m not sure what the nearest pool was used for but at a couple of metres deep it may well have been used for bathing.  Next can be seen three of the wash basins with the fourth hidden at the far end.

The middle of the three parallel basins

The fourth basin would have been used when the water levels were low making the three main basins unusable.

The overfull fourth basin with water cascading from the other basins

The little building at the top left of the main view turned out to be a privy with four stalls.  So although the basins weren’t protected from the elements the lavandières were spared some modesty when performing other duties.

Looking up to Chaumont from the valley of the lavoir

Later on we walked further up the canal to a village called Choinges.  In a normal season it would be full of tourists especially on the river with kayaking and other activities.

Mill without a waterwheel and the village church

War memorial commemorating far more WWI casualties than WWII

Tuesday was my day for checking out the next few moorings we were planning to stop at.  By the time I’d taken Buddy for his morning walk there wasn’t much time before lunch so I left the trip until the afternoon.  As is our routine, Karen has sussed out the likely mooring places and my task was to check they were suitable for us.  This meant making sure they were OK for our boat; whether or not water was available, the internet signal strength and general things like rubbish disposal, recycling and look and feel of the places.

The first stop was at Chamarandes which turned out to be most unsatisfactory.  The mooring consisted of dolphins for commercials only as they were too far apart for a boat of our length, also they were only suitable for overnight stops as they were in the middle of private property.  The next was at a place called Foulain which was ideal, a little way out of the village by the cemetery which had a push button water point.  It was nice and open to catch the sun and plenty of space for Buddy to roam.  Rolampont was also suitable and ticked all the boxes, especially as I passed a couple of lavoirs in the village.

One of Rolampont’s lavoirs

Finally I went to Hûme and struck lucky again.  There wasn’t any water but that wouldn’t matter as the stop after that would be the town of Langres where there’s a port with all facilities.

The mooring at Hûme

As an added bonus I almost stood on a western whip snake.  These can grow to a couple of metres in length but at about four feet long mine was some way off that.

Western whip snake

Mind you, looking at this picture again, it may well have been longer than I thought:

Not only did I see the snake I also came across a few steel stanking planks.  In the UK they are usually made of wood hence the name stanking or stop plank.  They are dropped into the water to create dams when a section of waterway needs to be drained.  They are also used in a similar way to aid the removal of lock gates.  With the canals being wider in France they are usually made of steel as are the ones on the wider Bridgewater canal up near Manchester.  I haven’t mentioned these items for a while as we haven’t come across them lately.  They can be particularly quaint in the UK as they are often contained in shelters at bridge holes and locks.

We will spend a couple more days in Chaumont and then move on Friday ready for the weekend.