Revigny-sur-Ornain (yellow white lines)

WEDNESDAY 18 NOVEMBER

Wednesday was yet another grey but dry day, the fifth on the trot without seeing any sunshine.  The two sailboats we moored with overnight at Naix-aux-Forges left as soon as the locks opened for pleasure boats at 9.00am as they both wanted to get as far as they could during the day.  They'd been stopped travelling by VNF yesterday to enable a slow péniche to get a good distance ahead.  We arranged with VNF to set the first lock for us at a more leisurely 10.30am as we were only going eight kilometres or so down to Ligny-en-Barrois.

Fifth sunless day but lovely open countryside

We had eight locks to go down, the first three to be operated by our éclusier and from the fourth onwards we would be back to being on our own and using a télécommande.  VNF have done a great job clearing the weed which is notorious on this canal.  However much they manage to clear there’s always loose weed left floating, and this gathers at lock entrances stopping gates fully opening and thus the assistance of an éclusier is called for.  Knowing this, our éclusier drove with us and set every lock to make sure we got through OK so we ended up not needing to use the télécommande at all. As we left each lock, he would leave the bottom gates open and flush the weed through by opening the paddles in the top gates.

Flushing the weed through

He obviously did a good job as we didn’t have to visit the weed hatch at all during the journey and, to be fair, we’ve had very few visits lately.  The stretch of the canal we’ve been travelling for the last few days doesn’t have many lock cottages which makes going through locks feel quite different.  At least the ones we have seen have been lived in apart from this one we passed today:

Abandoned lock cottage

A couple of miles from our destination we passed a small village called Givrauval where there looked to be a really good mooring spot.  We’ve made a note of it as we may well be coming back along here early next year if we finally end up going to Strasbourg.

Nice looking mooring between locks 19 & 20

Longeaux, one of the other two villages we went through during the day

We made it to Ligny-en-Barrois for a late lunch and where the mooring was in a small halte fluviale and shared with campervans.  Apparently, there’s a charge of €10 a day to include services but at this time of year the office was closed and the water was off so it will be interesting to see if we get called upon for the money before we leave on Thursday.

Moored in Ligny-en-Barrois

On Wednesday we cruised five miles down eight locks.

THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER

It was a bit foggy on Thursday morning and we had a quick look around Ligny-en-Barrois before setting off for the day.  Sightseeing in the fog is not really recommended for those who enjoy views and taking bright sunny pictures but I’m including some of ours anyway.  The main square housed nothing but a very early Christmas tree, the outside restaurant and bar seating having been removed for winter.

Place de la République

The tallest building in the far corner is the mairie that was built in 1747.  The arches on the ground floor rather give it away that the offices were originally on the first floor with a covered market below.

Fog lifting from the spire of the 16^th century church

The town was walled for many centuries, but the ramparts were almost completely removed when the control of the town was transferred from Luxembourg to the Duke of Lorraine in the mid-1700s.

About half the length of what remains of the ramparts today

Rue de la Tour led down to the one remaining gateway which granted access through the walls, and it reminded us of UK towns with its yellow no waiting lines not often seen in French towns.  Yellow lines were introduced in the UK in the 1950s and my parents tell me that when I first saw them I called them 'yellow white lines' and that term has stuck in the family ever since.

Yellow white lines

The Valéran tower, built in the 14^th century, was difficult to view as it was surrounded by buildings that were more modern.  It would be even more difficult to arrange a visit as it’s only open in July and August and then only for two hours each week.

The Valéran tower

Our trip around town didn’t last long and we were soon back on board for mid-morning coffee before setting off for the day’s cruise.  As expected, nobody came around to collect mooring fees although a police car was parked alongside us while we were drinking our coffee.  From what we could see, the two gendarmes spent the whole time on their phones.  Leaving Ligny-en-Barrois we passed the second engine shed we’ve seen on this canal.  It would have housed the electric locomotives that towed the barges in the last century:

The sun occasionally tried to burn through the cloud, but it never quite made it, making it the sixth consecutive grey day.   Lock cottages continued to be scarce even though the locks were generally in remote situations:

Going into écluse 33 - Maheux

Tannois – the only village we passed on our journey

Apart from the first and last locks where we had to call up the control centre, they all behaved perfectly when responding to our télécommande.  At the first lock, the bottom gates wouldn’t open, but we only had to wait for ten minutes for an éclusier to arrive in his van to help us through.  At the final lock of the day, the top gates wouldn’t open and also wouldn’t respond to Karen jumping up and down on them, but it only took five minutes for another guy, who was full of smiles, to arrive and get them working.

A walker stopped to watch us go through one lock and he explained that he aims to walk 1,000 kilometres a month because of a heart condition.  Most days he sets out at 7.30am and walks along the canal from his home in Bar-le-Duc to Ligny-en-Barrois and back again, a return journey of 35 kilometres.  We thought it can't have given him much time to recover and do other things during the day.

We moored up just after the final lock at a place called Longeville-en-Barrois with a view to moving on to Bar-le-Duc on Friday.

Our Thursday night mooring

On Thursday we cruised 7½ miles down 12 locks.

FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

We were just about to set off on Friday morning when our smiley éclusier from yesterday pulled up in his van to ask if we were moving on during the day and, if so, what sort of time we thought we’d leave.  He was very chatty and even though he had no English he was happy to talk slowly or use different words if we didn’t understand him.  Like many French people who engage us in conversation, he brought up the subject of Brexit whilst shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes to show he couldn’t understand why it had happened.

Our target for the morning was to get to Bar-le-Duc, the capital of the Meuse département, have a look around and then possibly move on again a bit later in the afternoon.  We didn’t need éclusiers for the locks but there were four lift bridges in Bar-le-Duc that they needed to operate for us which is why our man wanted to know what our plans were.  Karen and Buddy walked to Bar-le-Duc while I took the boat, that meant she would get there first and be able to sus out the mooring situation.

Karen & Buddy setting off

On the outskirts of Bar-le-Duc the canal passed a French WWI war cemetery.  It looked quite macabre being surrounded by modern housing and offices, but I suppose the town has expanded somewhat since the 1920s.

Over 3,000 French soldiers buried here

Karen rang as I went through the penultimate lock to tell me she’d found the mooring, but she wasn’t particularly enamoured with it as it was sandwiched between a main road and a railway line.  She started walking back to meet me and I picked her up at the final lock.  Our éclusier met us there too as he needed to operate the lift bridge on the far side of the lock.

Three of the day’s lift bridges

Approaching the mooring in the centre of Bar-le-Duc

Despite the way Karen felt about the mooring we tied up anyway so we could have lunch and then decide whether to stay or carry on and find somewhere else. The services were shared with campervans and there were six parked up including a very rare sight over the last two years, a Brit plated van.

The mooring at Bar-le-Duc

To be honest neither of us felt inclined to stay, let alone work up any enthusiasm to walk around the town.  It was probably really unfair of us to feel like that, but the mooring really was dismal, and we imagine the town would be a great place to visit on a sunny day.  It was therefore an easy decision to move on again straight after lunch, so I rang VNF to let them know we were leaving as there was still one more lift bridge for them to operate.  Karen always thinks that I have a good conversation with the people on the other end of the phone and is sometimes even impressed when I understand the exchanges.  After a protracted conversation, Karen said it sounded as if I understood what the guy was saying but I had to tell her that I really didn’t have a clue, but we set off anyway.

As we cruised out of the town, blue sky started appearing spoiling the chance of a seventh totally grey day.  Mind you, the sun never came out as the broken clouds were in the wrong place and after an hour or so there was no hint of blue skies at all.  Looking at the forecast it does seem that we’ve got to wait until next week to finally see the sun again.

Passing another old towing loco as we left Bar-le-Duc

We stopped on the outskirts of town where there was a large Intermarché with a fuel station alongside the cut and I made a couple of trolley trips to fill up with diesel.  There were four commercial dolphins which were too far apart for us to use so we moored the back against one of them and used a stake for the front.

Buddy waiting by a dolphin while I did the diesel run

The last lock of the day was at Fains-les-Sources which had a lift bridge immediately below it and then the mooring.  The lift bridge looked fairly new so had clearly been replaced in recent years.  There was a cruiser at the mooring which looked like it had been there a long time, but it did have two electric leads running to a borne alongside.  There was just room to get in behind him and, although the electricity wasn’t working, we were pleased to find the water was on.

Friday night at Fains-les-Bains

On Friday we cruised six miles down eight locks.

SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

With several rugby matches to watch on Saturday we left Fains-les-Sources early so we could get to Revigny-sur-Ornain, our destination for the day, in time for lunch and an afternoon in front of the TV.  I say TV but, as we haven’t had a working one since a couple of years before coming to France, I mean laptop, as we find that’s the best way to watch anything, especially when we need the internet.  The forecast was for yet another grey day so we couldn’t believe it when we got up and saw blue skies.  It wasn’t just a fluke as the sun was out for the whole journey.

Heading for the first lock of the day

Karen and Buddy got off at the first lock and walked alongside for a few miles, getting back on for the last couple of locks.

It felt like a different world after nearly a week of greyness

We moored up just above lock 52 at Revigny-sur-Ornain where there was a VNF yard and quay.  The main quay was taken up by an icebreaker called Asterix, so we moored on some old wooden staging that had seen better times and had been taped off as a sign that it wasn't safe.  It was absolutely ideal for us because it was on the offside at the end of the yard so no one would be walking by, meaning Buddy would be free to roam whilst we’re outside.  The yard was gated and locked shut overnight but that wasn’t an issue because we could always get out by walking across the lock gates.  Not that we could envisage a reason why we would want to go out in non-working hours when it would be pitch black anyway.

Our mooring taped off behind the icebreaker in the VNF yard 

The internet signal was good, so we decided to stay until Wednesday while Karen works for a couple of days.

On Saturday we cruised seven miles down nine locks.

SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

Other than dog walking, log cutting and doing some admin, Sunday was generally a lazy day.  As is the norm at the moment, no boats went past during the day, and it made us think about when we last had to negotiate a boat coming in the opposite direction to us as we cruised.  After a bit of memory searching, we remembered it was near Bayon on the canal des Vosges when, on one day, we met two commercials and two cruisers, all exiting locks as we approached them.  Looking at the boat log we found out that it was on 12^th September just over 500 kilometres ago – it’s going to be odd when we start meeting boats again which, no doubt will start happening when we reach the more commercial routes in the Marne valley next week.