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| That means we have a granddaughter on the way |
The previous blog update finished at last Wednesday when I mentioned that the weather was mild and grey with some rain during the morning. Little did we know then what was in store for the night. During the evening the wind got up and it seemed to get stronger as the night went on, with the occasional heavy burst of rain too. We were due to get up by seven as we’d planned a surprise trip back to the UK as Polly, our youngest, was finding out the gender of her and Lochlann’s baby which is due in March. As it turned out we were up and outside several times during the night to check on things and in the end, we stayed up for good at five having not had a wink of sleep.
We were moored on a pontoon at right angles to the riverbank so caught the brunt of the wind as it blew down the river causing large waves (for a river) to constantly crash noisily against the side of the boat. Somehow the pontoon moved during the night, and we were really concerned it was going to break free and come to a sad fate at the weir downstream together with the boat. If the storm had abated, we would have moved the boat to somewhere more secure, but the strength of the wind made that an unsafe manoeuvre, especially with a weir close by. After repeatedly checking and rechecking how the pontoon was attached, we decided it would be OK to leave the boat where she was and set off back to the UK.
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| I know the weir isn't high but we wouldn't want the boat caught on it |
We had a really hectic weekend, with most of the children over to see us at some point and the grandsons having sleepovers too. Our original intention had been to surprise Polly & Lochlann by turning up at their party on Sunday afternoon. Thinking it through though, we realised it wouldn’t leave much time to see them and the family as we were returning to France in the early hours of Monday. We surprised them when we got back on the Thursday night instead, and we did think at one point that Polly wouldn’t stop crying with happiness!
As well as cramming the days full of seeing the family we had the unwanted burden of a curtain rail starting to fall down, a roller blind mechanism breaking and to cap them all, the oven stopped working. Well, the oven didn’t stay the biggest headache for long as we received an email from VNF the same evening saying that the canal des Ardennes was closing for at least a month due to lack of water. It was unbelievable as we were about to cruise that canal, so it meant we would have to put our thinking heads on when we got back to the boat. The next morning, we had a call from Alistair who is further upstream on the Meuse than us but was also hoping to do the same journey. He’d had a conversation with the local VNF office, and they confirmed the canal was closed and they wouldn’t open it even for shallow draught narrowboats. Alistair & Sabine are probably the only other narrowboat cruising in France at the moment and we still haven't physically met!
So far this year we’ve travelled the red line in an anti-clockwise direction. We were going to complete the loop along the blue line until we reach Châlons-en-Champagne in time for going back to the UK in December. It’s the first half of the blue line that’s now closed so we’re going to have to retrace our steps up the Meuse to the junction with the canal de la Marne au Rhin (ouest) and get back to Châlons that way. At least most of the Marne au Rhin (ouest), the green line in the map below, will be new waters for us.
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| The re-plan |
All this means a considerable amount of re-planning mooring spots to take into account water and food shopping stops. It also means we’re going to have to pick up our pace as I have to be back in Châlons-en-Champagne for my booster jab on 3rd December and we now have over 300 kilometres and 127 locks to do rather than 200 kilometres and 75 locks.
Knowing we’re going to be covering a lot of distance in the coming month or so we decided it would be best to dispense with the hassles of travelling with a car and dump it in Châlons-en-Champagne. It took nearly two hours to drive there on Tuesday morning and a similar time on the train back to Sedan. I popped into the port while I was there and had a morning cuppa with Bill & Jane who’d arrived there for winter a couple of weeks ago. Guy & Ardon had arrived a few weeks previously and I was able to have a quick catch up with them too and pick up a few letters they’d been holding onto for us.
Wednesday was move day which made us both feel very happy as we’d not moved for the best part of three weeks. Admittedly it’d been our decision as we knew we were popping back to the UK, and we felt Sedan was a good place to leave the boat whilst we were away. We’d also been a bit spoilt at the mooring as the borne we were hooked up too wasn’t working correctly. Rather than providing 24 hours’ worth of electricity and water for one payment, it gave us an unlimited supply while we were there. I say spoilt because we have a small fan heater and were able to use that to take the chill off in the evenings without the need to light the stove.
We had an early lunch and then set off for Mouzon where we’d stayed at the town mooring on the way down. Our intention was to stop on the edge of town at the start of the lock cut where there was a wide grassy bank which would be much better for Buddy compared to the centre of town. I did set a stove during the afternoon as we wouldn’t be having hook up for the fan heater. We both find the smell of the stove cosy, which is just as well when we’re standing on the back deck with smoke wafting over us.
As we approached the first lock, we could see two red lights were on meaning it was out of service thus necessitating a call to VNF and an éclusier turned up after 20 minutes and saw us through. As we re-joined the river, we passed a needle dam that was still in use, but it also utilised plastic sheeting which certainly wouldn’t have been used when the dam was first installed.
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| Needle dam with different coloured aiguilles (needles) |
The second and last lock of the day worked OK until I started going in. Two red lights came on as well as the green, which took the lock out of operation.
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| Not what you want to see |
We tied up inside and made another call to VNF. The same guy turned up again to see us through but within five minutes this time. I know it sounds like we have a lot of hassles with locks but generally they work very well and if we do need to call out an éclusier they are always prompt, helpful and friendly.
We were going to moor by the grassy bank above the lock, but the undergrowth was so high that we decided to press on a bit further and ended up mooring nearly opposite the town mooring. I know it seems odd mooring in a town when there’s so much open countryside but the lock cuts at this end of the river tend to be in towns and it’s not easy finding somewhere to moor on the actual river.
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| Moored in Mouzon on Wednesday evening |
On Wednesday we cruised ten miles up two locks.
To finish this entry, here are a few pictures of Dexter and Ellis who will soon be joined by our first granddaughter.
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| We're counting by the look of it |
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| Cheeky croissant breakfast with Oma |
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| Oh no! Opa/Grampy's going to tickle us |
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