Vilosnes-Haraumont (moved at Verdun)

The first weir downstream of Verdun has only recently been converted from a manually operated needle dam to an automated, hydraulic one complete with hydropower generation.  I have covered needle dams in the blog before as we have seen a few that are still in use, and we find them fascinating.  There is a small exhibit by the new weir explaining how the needle dams used to be operated and also extolling the virtues of the modern automated approach.

Needles (aiguilles) being removed in icy conditions

The needle dams we've seen had metal needles, replacing the original wooden ones.  Wooden ones had still been in use on the Verdun dam, and some had been mounted as a display:

A stand of some of the original wooden needles

In the afternoon we visited an ossuary at Douaumont on the hills to the north-east of Verdun.  Knowing it housed the remains of 130,000 unidentified French and German soldiers that died in the Battle of Verdun in 1916 made it a most sombre and moving place.  The number was incomprehensible to us which only added to the emotion as we walked around inside the building.

The ossuary at Douaumont

We climbed to the top of the tower and the vista in all directions was forested apart from Verdun nestling in the Meuse valley.  One side overlooked a WWI war cemetery where over 16,000 French soldiers are buried.

On the way back we stopped at Fleury-devant-Douaumont, one of the nine villages totally destroyed during the Battle of Verdun and never rebuilt.  Trees are generally kept under control and small stone pillars were dotted all over the place.  Each stone had a plaque indicating what the building was that once stood there, such as a private dwelling, the épicerie or the mairie.

Part of what was Fleury-devant-Douaumont

It was amazing to find out that the village changed hands 16 times during the 300 days that the Battle of Verdun raged.  The inhabitants had fled before the village was first attacked but not all survived.

War memorial to those villagers who died

Whilst reading the plaques on the stones, eagle-eyed Karen spotted one that on any other day would have made us smile if not burst into laughter:

A.N.S.B.V. stands for the Association Nationale du Souvenir de la Bataille de Verdun

Other than ringing VNF to tell them we were planning on leaving Verdun on Wednesday afternoon, we didn’t do much else on Tuesday as we felt quite drained.

As we were leaving Verdun after lunch on Wednesday, we walked to a supermarket in the morning and got the food shopping out of the way.  An éclusier stopped by soon after we were back at the boat to check we were still leaving at 2.00pm, which we were, and we left dead on time.  Just outside Verdun was an area called Belleville-sur-Meuse which had a quiet mooring.  We would have moved to it if we’d found Verdun was noisy at night, but we hadn’t needed to.  I’ve included a picture of the mooring in case anyone is using this blog entry for research into places to moor.

The mooring at Bellville-sur-Meuse

It was one of those days where the sun was always out but hardly ever directly on us; there always seemed to be a cloud just in the way.  With a short cruise it wasn’t long before we moored up for the day at Vacherauville having agreed with the éclusier that we would be leaving at nine in the morning.  There are only seven more locks to go through where we need éclusiers and then we’ll be back to automatic locks operated by using our télécommande.

Vacherauville for Wednesday night

On Wednesday we cruised six miles down one lock.

It was quite misty on Thursday morning, and it was still burning off when we left Vacherauville at nine.

Early start for us

The morning hadn’t started particularly well as the gas ran out as I was making the first pots of tea and coffee.  Of course, it had to be the coldest morning of autumn so far but at least it was dry, and the kettle was soon going again.  

Our éclusier was waiting for us at the first lock and before descending we reconfirmed our plans for the day.

Our cheery and non-smoking éclusier

The journey took us on and off the river Meuse several times.  Generally, there doesn’t tend to be much of a view from most rivers because of high banks but we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Meuse.  Without high banks the flood plains must be submerged more often than by those other rivers but at least boaters get great views of the rolling countryside.

We were stopping at Consenvoye for lunch and had seen there was a short arm off the canal with a pontoon on it.  It was just as well we checked what the arm was like with the éclusier as he told us that it wasn’t wide enough for us to turn but he said we could moor in the lock.  When I told him we would be a few hours as we wanted to have a walk too, he told us it wasn’t a problem as no other boats were on the move that day.

Moored in the sloping sided lock at Consenvoye for lunch and a walk

It did feel odd locking the boat up in the lock and going off for a walk and we were reminded of the four nights we had to spend in a lock on the Petite Saône when it was in flood in July this year.  During our walk we found two lavoirs, both of which were rather disappointing as they were closed to the public.

Unusual market stalls at Consenvoye

Our walk didn’t take us as long as we’d originally thought so we had some time to spare before meeting our éclusier at the next lock.  We decided to set off and stop at the village just before the lock.  The village mooring was another pontoon but as this one was only seven or eight metres long, we were rather too big for it.

Overhanging at Sivry-sur-Meuse

Karen had a bit of work to do so I went for a walk around the village while we waited to leave for the lock.  Again I found two lavoirs which were built in the same style as the two from the morning with semi-circular windows.  Again, they were both locked up and peeking though keyholes I could see they were used for storage.  One of them had this sign above the door which rather made a mockery of the fact they were locked from public view.  We’re sure that if we went to the mairie we would be able to have access to closed lavoirs but it’s not often we find locked lavoirs in villages, let alone being there at a time when the mairie is open.

Setting off again the riverbanks were even lower than earlier, highlighting how easily the plains must flood.

We arrived at Vilosnes-Haraumont where we hoped to moor for the night and found the village pontoon was empty so soon settled in.

Looking around the village later we found that there were recycling facilities down by the river.  This was good as the areas we’ve been through recently only supply bottle banks for public recycling everything else has to be recycled at home meaning our recycling bag in the cratch was full to overflowing.  

We found the village lavoir and almost needless to say this one was locked too.  It really was strange as all the villages had been small and with hardly any signs of life, so it wasn’t like they’d be a high chance of vandalism.  Mind you, three of the ones we managed to peer inside had items stored in them, one even had Victorian prams and also some wooden kneelers that the ladies used when at the washing stones.  When we first came across these kneelers they were called garde genoux.  We have since found out that most areas of France have their own local names including: agenouilloir, baquet, cabasson, baillot, boite à laver, caisse, auget, triolo, caboulot, casseau and auget as well as the generic modern day term carrosse de lavandières (washerwoman’s carriage).

We want to get to a place called Stanay for the weekend so we’ll be leaving at nine again on Friday morning.

On Thursday we cruised 14 miles down five locks.