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| No way of escaping the church bells at our mooring in Void |
We’d arrived in Void on Friday evening and as it was raining when we got up on Saturday we decided to stay put for the day. We were glad that we made that the decision as it didn’t stop raining until after lunch but at least the sun finally came out and left us with quite a mild day. The mooring at Void was outside a VNF office, opposite a church and next to some grain silos with a péniche quay. VNF had erected some interesting information boards including one explaining the history of the electric locomotives that were used for towing barges up until about 50 years ago. For more information on this mode of towing barges please click here for the blog entry (opens in a new window).
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| Grey at Void on Saturday morning |
During the morning we had a look around Void but without a tourist office we had to make up our own trail. The recently re-roofed, covered market halls were built in 1750 and are used as a car park on non-market days.
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| The market halls |
Void was built around the river Vidus, a tributary of the Meuse and apparently is where the name Void stems from. The Vidus splits into several mill streams through the town but, other than street names such as rue des Moulins and rue des Tanneries etc. we could find no evidence of any mills or associated industry.
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| The Vidus |
We did come across a lavoir on the banks of one of the arms:
Water seems to be quite a feature of the town as there were several
fountains; the largest was in the square opposite the market halls and a board
indicated that a copy of the fountain can be found in a square in Saigon in Vietnam.
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| The fountain in place Cugnot |
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| The mairie |
A castle was first built in Void in the 11th century and was destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout its life. All that remains is the tour de l’audience, one of the gates that was rebuilt in the 14th century and still seems to be undergoing restoration. The oval hole low down to the right of the entrance is a rather ornate opening for a canon.
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| The audience tower |
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| My picture didn’t come out so here is one courtesy of the Lorraine tourist website |
Even though it was a nice afternoon we took it easy, staying
indoors watching three enjoyable rugby matches.
Sunday dawned grey but dry and mild and as it was forecast to stay
that way, we set off soon after 10. We
had a dozen locks to go up to get to the summit of the canal de la Marne au Rhin (ouest)
and once we got going, we were soon into a good rhythm. This was especially so as it was quite a
uniform journey; ½ mile between each lock, and all were the same depth of three
metres, an ideal height for Karen to work with her lines. Not only that but the locks also
operated in a chain so once we set the first one going, the following locks got
themselves ready as we went up. Our only
issue was that we couldn’t get the first lock going. Sensors either side of the cut are meant to
recognise when a boat breaks a beam between them thus triggering the start of the
sequence.
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| One of a pair of sensors |
For some reason we couldn’t get the sensors to recognise us. We reversed back a few times and repeated the operation at different speeds and distances from the sensors. In the end I rang VNF who immediately set the chain in motion for us remotely. The following few pictures show how we work a lock when going uphill as we were in this 12-lock chain. Coming out of one lock the next would be ready with the green light on:
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| Green for go |
As we go in, Karen climbs onto the roof to get ready to loop her line over a bollard:
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| About to climb onto the roof |
As we approach the bollard we want to use, Karen gets ready to stand up to loop her line over the bollard:
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| Steady as she goes! |
Karen found these locks easy as the the water went right to the top of the lock walls which meant she didn't have to reach more than the three metre depth. The water line in many locks is often a good metre below the top thus necessitating a four metre reach. The other issue that impacts her reach is how close the bollards are set to the set the side of the lock.
After securing her line, she walks along the roof to the operating rod (tirette) which she pulls up to start the operation that closes the bottom gates, fills the lock and finally opens the top gates. With the engine in gear, I hold Karen’s line taught and the rear of the boat against the lock wall as the lock fills:
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| Going up with a taut line |
Leaving the lock, we have to drift through the detritus that has built up behind the gates to avoid weed getting caught on the propeller:
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| And repeat |
The journey passed through some lovely countryside which must be wonderful on a bright day and, apart from getting the chain started, the only issue was that we couldn’t shift the tirettes in the final two locks. Fortunately, an éclusier was close at hand to sort things out for us. In fact, there were two of them positioned at the top lock to explain how we would get through the 3-mile long Mauvages tunnel which we were coming up to.
Until a few years ago, boats were towed through by an electric tug
whose power was supplied via overhead wires like trolleybuses. We experienced being towed when we went
through the 3 ½ mile long Riqueval tunnel in northeast France last year and
were slightly put out to find that the service had been removed from this particular
tunnel. As it turned out we had another new experience
as we would have an éclusier cycling alongside us as we went through.
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| Approaching the tunnel with trolleybus wires overhead |
The ‘velo éclusier’ was ready and waiting for us as we reached the entrance and he waved us though. He lowered a barrier behind us, got on his bike and caught up with us. He remained parallel with us until about a kilometre from the end when he suddenly raced off. We soon realised he was making sure the barrier at the exit was raised for us. It was the first tunnel we’ve been in where boats, even commercials, are accompanied like that and we still don’t know why, especially as they disappear for the last fifth of the journey.
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| Don’t you love continental sit up and beg bikes? |
We slowed down at the exit to thank him for coming with us and also to arrange our rough cruising plans for the coming week. We were ready to moor up and he explained we could moor in the VNF service area next to the out of service electric tug which was about a kilometre further on. We were pleased about that as it meant we didn’t have to go through another lock to get to the mooring Karen had had in mind for us.
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| The tunnel tug service unit |
It turned out to be a really good mooring as we had a full internet signal and a handy bench for me to do some log cutting on.
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| About to moor behind the tower (touer) |
The written English word 'tower' can be confusing as it has at least two meanings but at least in French the spelling is different as in 'Tour Eiffel' and the 'touer' we were moored next to. Thinking about French/English equivalents reminds me of the phrase ‘technical footbridge’ which we often find mis-translated on VNF signs containing an English section. The sign at today’s tunnel used the phrase when explaining we would be accompanied by a VNF agent on a bike who would cycle along the technical footbridge.
After mooring up, Karen took Buddy for a walk and called in at the
small VNF office next to the top lock on our new side of the summit. She wanted to check the water situation as she'd heard there was a tap in the lock. An éclusier told her they would let us hook up our hose when we go down the lock.
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| Our mooring at Demange-aux-Eaux |
Karen worked on Monday, so we stayed at our mooring next to the touer at Demange-aux-Eaux. It was ideal as Buddy could be off his lead and I could use the bench to cut some logs. As we’d told the ‘velo éclusier’ on Sunday that we wouldn’t be staying, I popped down to the top lock to tell them that we’d changed our minds and would leave on Tuesday instead. An éclusiere was getting out of her van as I arrived, and she immediately guessed who I was and that I was from the joli bateau. I explained we’d changed our plans and she also confirmed that when we come through the lock, they would turn the water on for us so we could fill up.
After saying that we were staying where we were on Monday, we did
actually have a little cruise. We are
moored by a junction with a feeder canal that supplies water to the summit of
our canal. The feeder canal, known as the embranchement d'Houdelaincourt, is four kilometres
long and starts at a place called Houdelaincourt where it is fed by the river
Ornain.
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| Sign at the junction |
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| About to turn left onto the feeder |
When Karen walked to the VNF office the previous evening she’d looked into the building on the right in the picture above. Inside she saw one of the old electric locomotives for towing barges. This one looked like it was in its original state and not restored in any particular way.
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| Electric loco nestling amongst stanking planks |
As soon as we turned onto the feeder, we were faced with flood gates. One of the gates was closed so I doubt any other boats, other than ones our width, had been exploring along there for a while. No doubt the gates are closed fully when the river and feeder levels rise thus preventing damage to the banks of the main canal.
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| Flood gates at the end of the feeder |
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| Heading down the feeder canal |
As well as the usual herons following us along there was a great egret, a bird that we’re finding more common in this part of France compared to other regions we’ve been in. The canal ended at Houdelaincourt where there was a large grain silo and péniche quay although, sadly, it looked like the quay hadn’t been used for a while and grain was now transported by road.
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| Grain silos at Houdelaincourt |
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| The river Ornain feeds the canal under the road bridge at the end |
Compared with the canal de la Meuse that we left last weekend, the canal de la Marne au Rhin that we are now on is relatively busy. During the morning on Monday, a commercial came through and then in the afternoon an Austrian motor yacht followed shortly afterwards by a Swedish one. They were all going in the same direction as us and it will certainly be strange having to be wary of other boats in the days ahead.
On Monday we cruised five miles through no locks and ended up back where we started.
We left a little before 10.00am on Tuesday and as we approached
the first lock we saw the Swedish sailboat that passed us when we were moored
on Monday, was already waiting there. As
there was a VNF office at the lock there were several éclusiers standing around
and one of them asked us to share the lock with the sailboat. I had to explain that they needed to go down
first as we wanted to take on water. He
apologised for forgetting and made sure the tap at the office was open for us.
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| Taking on water in the first lock of the day |
When we reached the second lock, the Swedes were being held there
by VNF who wanted us to lock down together which makes sense when needing to
save water. It turned out that even
though they were Swedes, the boat was Polish, and they’d recently bought it in Poland
and were taking it down to Marseille for the winter.
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| Sharing the locks with the Swedish-Polish boat |
We had a very pleasant cruise winding our way along the Ornain valley through pretty and remote countryside:
Although the locks were all automatic, an éclusier stayed with us in his van for the whole journey. It was just as well, as the gates got stuck on a couple of the locks. Our éclusier used Karen’s trick and jumped up and down on the gates to get them moving. Men were planting trees around one lock, and they stopped work when they saw the lock was being used.
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| Taking a welcome break from tree planting to do some gongoozling |
The only place we went through that was more than a handful of
dwellings was a place called Tréveray.
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| Autumnal looking lock at Treveray |
The Swedes were carrying on to a town called Ligny-en-Barrois but
we were stopping a few miles earlier at a place called Naix-aux-Forges. When we were in the last lock before we were
due to stop a second VNF van pulled up and told us that both boats would have
to moor at Naix-aux-Forges. There was a
very slow péniche in front and they wanted to get it a good way ahead, so it didn’t
slow down the boats behind.
The mooring was just above the next lock and the Austrian motor yacht from the night before was already there having been told to moor up for the day too. The Austrians had only bought their boat in October and planned to live on it for a year before planning what to do with the next stage of their life!
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| The Swedes, the Austrians and us moored at Naix-aux-Forges for Tuesday night |
We had a quick walk around the village before settling in for the evening but didn’t
see a lot other than quite a substantial lavoir for the size of the village. The stone floor was probably the original as it was worn smooth with countless numbers of passing feet over the years. The water was also particularly clear but, as Karen pointed out, that is one of the major requirements for a lavoir.
On Tuesday we cruised nine miles down 14 locks.
1 comment:
Although it might be a bit snug in a narrow boat, you do get the benefit of the shallow draft and narrow beam to go exploring - and thanks for detailing your forays into the unknown.
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