Sedan (needle puzzle continues)

Porte de Bourgogne, Mouzon

Having been at Stenay for five nights we left on Wednesday morning hoping to reach Mouzon before the forecast afternoon rain arrived.  We weren’t in luck as the rain started soon after we left and it was on with all the wet weather gear, Buddy included.

Wet for nearly all of Wednesday’s cruise

We lit the stove while we were on the move as there was no way our gear was going to dry out overnight without any heat.  We tend to burn logs over here and only put coal on when the overnight temperatures drop, and we want to keep the stove in.  It’s really difficult getting hold of coal in France as everyone seems to burn wood still, so if we need any, we have to bring it over from the UK.  As it’s turned out we’ve hardly used any coal over the last two winters so we still have a bag and a half left from when we first came over.

Still raining as we left the third and final lock of the day

We pulled in for the night at the port in Mouzon and left exploring until the good weather returns on Thursday.  The port was on winter hours so was closed but the capitaine does a daily round in the evening to collect the fees from boats and camper vans.  We paid our €12 plus tourist tax so will make sure we’re topped up with water before leaving on Thursday.

On Wednesday we cruised nine miles down three locks and crossed the border from the Meuse to Ardennes département. 

We popped into the tourist office first thing and picked up a self-guided tour of Mouzon.  Karen, as usual, led the tour and was immediately stumped because although items on the map were numbered, there was no legend explaining what they were.  We decided to press on anyway and soon found that a board was placed at each site with the relevant number on it as well as a QR code which explained in some detail what we were looking at. The background of each board was a picture of the site from around the 1900s with a current photograph in one corner for comparison purposes.  This approach meant I didn’t have to worry about doing a similar thing by searching for old pictures on the web.

This example shows the port in the early 1900s complete with a bateau lavoir.  If you look closely, women can be seen doing their laundry inside the boat:

By coincidence we’re moored in the same place as the bateau lavoir:

We were really taken with the town and thought it really pretty.  Sandstone was the main building material and with its soft hues we were reminded of Cotswold towns and villages. 

Once again it was a heavily fortified town and much of the ramparts could be walked on.  Sadly, only one gate remains, the Porte de Bourgogne shown at the top of the page.

We had a good view over town standing at the top of the gate

A large abbey dominated the centre of town:

The mairie with its air raid siren tower

It was a market day which was held in a square behind the abbey.  Unfortunately, we hadn’t realised the market was on, so when we arrived most of the stalls had packed up and gone:

Several of the sites were of narrow streets where a lot was made of the fact that many of the houses dated from the mid-1600s.  As these were narrow streets without cars there wasn’t a lot of difference between the then and now pictures.

When we got back to the boat we filled up with water and set off for Sedan.   We re-joined the river after dropping down the lock at Mouzon.  It was great to be cruising back in warm sunshine after getting drenched by the rain of the previous day. When we left the river to join the next lock cut, we saw some piles of wooden needle dam needles alongside the weir and eagle-eyed Karen spotted they had different coloured tops.  A friend of ours had told us that each needle dam used needles that were painted the same colour so if any were lost and washed away, they could be returned to the right place.  The piles we saw today might refute that, so more investigation is required into why the tops were painted in different colours.

Two of the needle/aiguille piles

We never made it as far as Sedan as we moored up for lunch in the second lock cut at a place called Remilly-Allicourt and ended up staying there for the rest of the day.  We moored using pins as we had no worries about large boats pulling them out when they passed as we knew there were no other boats on the move.  It was a perfect spot for Buddy as he could be off his lead – he was settled down on the bank before we’d even started getting the pins in.

We could just make out tracks along the top of the bank where intrepid fishermen drive their cars, so we made sure our pins were well out of their way and drew attention to them using plastic bags.

Plastic bags not so obvious but at least they were off the track

Walking further up the canal during the afternoon we were pleased to see so many butterflies still on the wing.  Lately, we’ve been particularly noticing that there are far more peacock butterflies around than usual at this time of year.  We’re used to seeing many red admirals in the autumn especially on ivy flowers and rotting windfalls but never this number of peacocks.

Sunset at Remilly-Allicourt on Thursday

On Thursday we cruised five miles down one lock.

Lauren and Polly were off to Yorkshire for the weekend for their first trip to see my dad since covid impacted visits to care homes.  Polly and Lochlann drove up from Reading and Lauren, Lewis and Ellis drove up from South Wales and, as you can see, Ellis is really into diggers at the moment.

Ellis on his way to see his great grandad for the first time in his life

On Friday morning Karen and Buddy went for a run on the cycle path running alongside the river towards Sedan and I set off on the boat. 

On the way to Sedan

I picked them up at a handy pontoon after I’d been through the one and only lock of the day and we continued on our way.  It wasn’t long before we were keeping a look for the port in the middle of Sedan which we found was a series of finger pontoons that were far too short for our boat.  Fortunately, the pontoons were parallel to the bank so we could fit in at the end.

Moored in Sedan

There was also a short section of quayside where two cruisers were moored.  We found out later that they were out for a weekend from a marina not too far from here.  They were very interested in our solar panel arrangement as they wanted to install some over the winter.  In exchange for letting them take plenty of pictures they explained that the water and electricity borne where they were moored was faulty and once the payment has been made for a day’s hook up you can stay connected for as long as you like.  We suspected they often came to Sedan for the weekend because of the broken borne.  They suggested we take their places when they left so we could take advantage too. 

Our plan is to stay at Sedan for a week or two so we may well want water before we go.  In that case we would take on water when we leave but we wouldn’t be taking advantage as we’d only want to do it once.  After tying up we did the usual thing when hitting a town, find the tourist office to pick up self-guided tour leaflets.  Apart from seeing the end of what’s purportedly the largest castle in Europe (many others claim this title too so I’ve no idea if it’s true), we didn’t do any sightseeing.

As well as visiting the tourist office we wanted to find good places where we could leave the car once I pick it up.  We also went to the station to check the train times back to Montmédy and there were none on a Friday but there was one at 9.30 on Saturday morning so it’ll be an early start for me to fetch the car.

As is usually the case at ports the facilities are shared with camper vans and the site was still busy even approaching the middle of October.  The camper van area overlooked playing fields across an area that probably floods regularly in the winter. 

Main road into town raised above the flood plain

At least picking the car up early means we'll have plenty of time for sightseeing over the weekend.

On Friday we cruised four miles down one lock.