Toul (new pastures from here onwards)

Our peaceful mooring at Givrauval

THURSDAY 21 APRIL

Karen went for a run first thing while I went off to explore Givrauval.  With a population of fewer than 300 it didn’t take long to look around and one of the first things I came across was the sign for an égayoir or horse wash. 

It was a sure sign that if the village still had a lavoir that the chances were that it would by the égayoir.  The directions took me down the main street to the other end of the village and sure enough in a small courtyard of houses and a farm there was an open air washing basin and behind it the horse wash.

The village must have been more proud of its égayoir as it was labelled as such with no signs to, let alone on, the lavoir.  More sophisticated set ups often also have an abreuvoir or horse trough and a fontaine for drinking water.

The égayoir

The mairie was fairly nondescript and also the first we’ve come across that hasn’t been flying a Ukrainian flag.  The war memorial contained a rather stark message and Karen and I wondered later if, in the PC mad UK, it would have had to be removed. The text at the bottom refers to the barbaric Germans.

The church was pretty and, as is often the case, was perched at the top of a hill overlooking the village.

Saint-Quentin

While I was on the hill Karen rang me; she’d finished her run and had called in at the Carrefour on the way back.  She’d found some bags of soil and flowers and needed me to bring the trolley down to cart them back.  If anyone had seen us we must have been a sight walking just over 1.5 km down the towpath with the trolley and then back again with three 40 litre bags of compost with Karen carrying trays of plants.  Halfway back I spotted what looked like a dead kilometre stone down the bank.  I scrambled down and sure enough it was pk 65 that had rolled down the side.  It signified that we’ve completed a fifth of the length of this canal since joining it a week ago.

It was midday when we got back to the boat, so our breakfast was rather late, well for us anyway.  We decided that as we were moored in such a lovely spot that we would stay put for the rest of the day.  A lot of the afternoon was spent cleaning plant pots and planting them up.  As it was quite breezy, they were all put on the back deck for safety while they hardened up.

Writing up the boat log later we realised that it’s now been a week since we last passed a boat.  It’s going to be a bit of a shock when we do see one.

FRIDAY 22 APRIL

Our plan for Friday was to reach the summit at Demange-aux-Eaux.  We got ready to leave at 8.00am but the first lock went onto red lights when I summoned it.  Ringing VNF we were reminded that we wouldn’t get any support for an hour as only commercials are supported out of the hours of 9-6 on this canal.  Fortunately, we hadn’t gone very far so reversed back to the pontoon we’d just left.  An éclusier turned up dead on nine and got the lock ready for us.

After two locks we joined a chain of 17 automatic locks that would take us up to the top lock at the summit.  This meant that we didn’t need the télécommande any longer, just an éclusier to set the first lock and then the rest all operate automatically when they realise a boat has left the previous lock.  It didn’t quite work out like that and the éclusier who set the chain ended up staying with us all day because of various problems with gates or paddles not opening or closing.  This actually worked in our favour as with someone setting the locks ahead of us, we got up a lot quicker than if we’d have been doing them ourselves let alone the impact of having to make a phone call every time we had a problem.

The journey up went through the stunning countryside of the Ornain valley with just the odd village on the way.

Tréveray

Our éclusier racing ahead in his van to get the next lock set

We did have a few issues with weed which surprised us as the canal had been practically weed free so far.  In the end it was only in six pounds but did require five trips to the weed hatch.   As the éclusier was happy not taking a lunchbreak we had lunch on the move and made it into the top lock in just over six hours.  I suspect the éclusier was just going home early as it’s normal practice to take a break.  We topped up with water when we rose to the top of the lock and made arrangements with the small VNF outpost in the lock cottage to go through the Mauvages tunnel at nine in the morning.  Regular readers will know that this tunnel is the only one we’ve come across where an éclusier has to accompany each boat on a bicycle.

Buddy hiding in the shade of the sign while we topped up

Leaving the lock we turned sharp left at the junction where an arm heads off to Houdelaincourt.  When we were here in November, we went down the arm as it isn’t frequented by many boats these days because one of the entrance gates at the start is left closed meaning only boats like ours can get down there.  Those of you with larger boats will be pleased to know that both gates were now open, so a little adventure awaits you if you so desire.

Both entrance gates wide open

Once past the junction we moored up at the VNF yard which is where the tunnel maintenance buildings are situated.  In front of us was a sadly decaying electric towing tug which was in use until 2013.  

Moored at the VNF yard in Demange-aux-Eaux

After a relaxing drink outside we went for a walk around the village of Demange-aux-Eaux (pop. just over 500) which, as its name suggests has quite a bit of water around it.  In addition to our canal, there was the river Ornain with a couple of manmade channels from the river and also a couple of streams.  The Ornain is a lot smaller now we are higher up and Buddy had a welcome drink and cool down.  We had to keep him on his lead as the water was flowing quite fast through the arches and he’s never shown any inclination to swim.

Next to the bridge was the village war memorial which seemed rather large and grand for a medium sized village but then we didn’t count the number of names inscribed.

We than crossed a bridge over one of the manmade channels and found a lavoir.  Sadly it was closed to the public and appeared to be full of farm equipment.

There was a bar and a boulangerie in the centre, but the bar was closed for the afternoon which was a shame.  The mairie and church looked like they were built of a similar stone, but I couldn’t find out anything about their history.

It was still lovely and warm when we got back to the boat and the breeze had died down too so we lazed around for the rest of the day.  Well, I did most of the lazing as Karen baked this week's cake and cooked dinner.  My cake of choice this week was a ginger cake.

On Friday we cruised 20 km up 19 locks.

SATURDAY 23 APRIL

As we had to be at the entrance to the Mauvages tunnel by 9.00 am we had an early breakfast.  Rain was forecast for the morning, and we noticed a few spots in the water before setting off.  Fortunately, it was dry when we left and stayed that way for the whole journey apart from a few attempts at a drizzle, but it rained properly for nearly half an hour just after we moored up for the day before leaving us with sun and clouds for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  As we set off, we passed the decommissioned electric towing tug that I mentioned earlier:

Decommissioned towing tug...

...and its service building

An éclusiere had arrived in her van just before we got to the tunnel and clearly had some procedures to follow as the light was on red, so we had to wait before going through.  The tunnel at 4.9 km is the second longest still in use in France and was opened in 1846.  We always marvel at the amount of material that must have been removed to make the French tunnels as they were built to take large, deep-draughted barges.   

When it was first opened the bargees pulled their boats through manually which in France used to be called “à la bricole” because bricole is French for the chest harness that used to be worn by the people towing the barge.  This method was stopped when a steam tug was introduced to tow convoys of barges through.  This was replaced in 1913 by an electric tug and this service was carried on for 100 years until it was discontinued in 2015.  Although boats now go under their own power, the overhead electric cables are still in place as can be seen here where we are waiting for the green light:

Waiting for the green light with trolley wires above

As an aside, the longer Riqueval tunnel is the only French tunnel that still has an electric towing service, and we went through there in a small convoy of three boats on 3 September 2020 (click here to open the blog entry in a separate window).

When we went through today’s tunnel in the opposite direction last November an éclusier saw us through by pedalling his bike along the towpath next to us.  He told us that this is a requirement, and all boats must be accompanied in this manner for health and safety reasons.  Our girl today either hadn’t heard about this requirement or didn’t really care or was frightened of tunnels as, once we were in, she got on her bike and shot off quickly to the other end.

It took just under ¾ hour to get through and then we were out into the Meuse valley with 12 locks to go down to reach our day’s destination of Void.  These locks were like yesterday’s, in that they were in a chain but, unlike yesterday, presented no issues so we ended up with a dry and uneventful journey before mooring in Void for the day.  Also we had no weed issues and found out why when halfway down the flight:

Weedcutter at work 

Moored for Saturday night

We’d tied up in Void before and explored the town which reminded us that we think we’ve done rather well finding new things to do and discover considering it’s only four months since we came along this canal.  There are very few places to moor so Karen has seen it as a challenge to plan our route in such a way as to avoid repetition in our lives and to ensure I don’t repeat things in the blog!

During the afternoon a private boat went past in the opposite direction making it the first boat we’d seen for nine days.  As we’ve had three long days in the last four and we’d previously explored Void we stayed in for the rest of the day.

On Saturday we covered 20 km down 12 locks and through one tunnel.

SUNDAY 24 APRIL

It was a grey morning but at least, once again, the forecast rain hadn’t arrived.  Election day here in France but dear old Brexit withdrew the right of Brits who were French residents but without full French nationality to vote or stand for election in France.  This has even impacted those Brits who’ve lived in France for many years, especially those who’ve held elected positions in their locality as they have now had to stand down.

We left Void during the morning intending to get to Pagny-sur-Meuse in time to watch the England girls in the six nations match against Ireland.  We would then move on to Lay-St-Rémi as we hadn’t moored there before.  Leaving Void, we passed a green obelisk commemorating a man called Nicholas Cugnot who was born in the town.  

Cugnot was famous for building the world’s first mechanised vehicle; his steam powered cart started trials in 1771 and was never successful due to its massive weight and having a body too rigid for the rough tracks of the day.  The obelisk was erected in 1969 to replace an original statue that had been melted down by German soldiers in WWII.

We had an uneventful journey to Pagny-sur-Meuse with Karen and Buddy walking the last six km when I dropped them off at the junction with the canal de la Meuse.  Non-boaters may wonder why I include pictures of junctions, but they are primarily there for the benefit of other boaters.  Many read fellow boaters’ blogs to find mooring spots and get general navigational hints.  Seeing a picture of a junction can help when wanting to travel along a new waterway.

The southern end of the canal de la Meuse to the left

Light rain started during the second half of the rugby and as it was still drizzling when the game finished, we decided to stay put at Pagny-sur-Meuse.  This means we’ll probably give Lay-St-Rémi a miss and get down to Toul on Monday. 

A 75-metre pontoon to ourselves at Pagny-sur-Meuse

On Sunday we travelled 12 km through no locks.

MONDAY 25 APRIL

Our aim on Monday was to reach Toul where the canal will drop us onto the Moselle.  When we get on the river we’ll be turning left to travel downstream picking up from where we left the river when we turned off to reach Toul last year.  This means that we’ll be on new waters to us for at least the next few months.

A few kilometres after setting off we approached the tunnel at Foug and triggered the magic eyes as the lights were set to green as we arrived. Once through the tunnel we had 13 locks to drop down to reach Toul and Karen got off for a while to give Buddy a run.

Looking back at Foug tunnel

They were back on board when we went down the fateful lock 23.  This was the lock where Karen had lost her phone and French residency card last September.  We had to go through a few hoops to get her a replacement card but finally got it a fortnight ago.

They were dropped near the wall close to the frothy water but with a depth of at least 2,50m they’d been impossible to see even though the water had been clear.

Passing the port at Toul

Once we’d gone past the port, we dropped down one more lock and moored under some of the town’s fortifications.   

Moored for Monday in Toul

During the afternoon we went to a supermarket to do the weekly shop and also popped into a garden centre to buy a few more plants.  As we’d done the town tour last year we saw nothing new to us other than the war memorial from the Franco-Prussian war (aka war of 1870) and WWI.

The war memorial we missed

The only other job we had to do was to make sure we and the boat were ready for river cruising first thing on Tuesday.

On Monday we cruised 14 km down 13 locks and through one tunnel.