Sarralbe (walnut pickling commences)

WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE 

Moored at the northern end of the Étang de Mittersheim

We had, or thought we had, nine locks to go down to find our next mooring after leaving Diane-Capelle.  Alistair & Sabine had recommended that we moor between écluses 10 and 11 where there was an open section with lovely views over one of the lakes.  Pins would be required but there was piling to drive them alongside so that they shouldn’t get pulled out by even the fastest hire boaters.

As it was one of Karen’s run days she set off with Buddy while I started down on the locks so they could hop on when they were on the return leg of their run.  Each lock had to be summoned into action by using the appropriate button on our télécommande when coming alongside a sign like the one below:

‘A’ means press the ‘Avalant’ button

You may recall that we’d seen quite a large lock cottage with a two storey rear extension at the only lock we’d been down so far on this canal, and we’d wondered if all the lock cottages were going to be of a similar size.  Although a couple of locks no longer had a cottage the others were to the same style as the one at the first lock.  A few were abandoned and looking closer at their rear extensions they looked like they had had stabling below with straw/hay storage above.  The extensions on the inhabited cottages had nearly all been converted to additional accommodation. The majority of the cottages were on the offside with no vehicular access making them ideal propositions for those who love seclusion.

One of the abandoned cottages

As is common on French canals each lock had a control hut where éclusiers can operate the lock when there has been a failure of one sort or another.  So far on this canal the huts had wooden sides and each one had stencil work showing the southern end of the canal with the lock locations marked with a red dot. A red circle around a dot indicated the current lock.

The red circle around a red dot showed we were at lock number 3

The canal went through some lovely countryside in and out of woodland and alongside lakes.  The towpath was very quiet as we didn’t pass any settlements, just seeing the odd cyclists passing by.  At one lock an éclusier arrived in his van and asked if he could take pictures of the boat.  He had a proper SLR camera rather than a phone camera and even popped back into his van at one point to get a new roll of film.  He was so pleased and even asked if we didn’t mind him showing the pictures to his colleagues!

One happy éclusier

At another lock there were signs telling boaters not to tie up to the left hand side as there were wild animals running free.  The wild animals turned out to be goats, dogs, chickens and a couple of very fat ducks.

The two Jack Russell terriers were barking very noisily at Buddy sitting quietly on the back deck and the guy in the cottage called them indoors after a while.  After dropping down écluse 10 we were on the look out for the place to moor that we’d been told about.  Although we could occasionally see signs of water through the thick line of trees along the banks there were definitely no open areas, so we ended up going down the next lock.  Almost immediately we came across an open section with great views over a lake, so we got our pins out and moored up.

Moored at the southern end of Étang de Mittersheim between écluses 11 and 12

We had a quick walk further down the canal after lunch and found more open spaces too so earmarked those in our guidebook for future use.  When we got back on board, the rain that had been threatening all day started and continued off and on for the rest of the afternoon although the sun came out for the evening.

Happy Buddy

On Wednesday we cruised six km down 10 locks.

THURSDAY 9 JUNE

We set off for the far end of the lake at Mittersheim straight after breakfast and for much of the journey we wouldn’t have known there were large expanses of water on either side of the canal:

In well under an hour we’d reached our target and were mooring up just above écluse 13:

We walked into the village to have a look around and to pick up some fresh fruit and veg from the small store which was in the centre opposite the mairie, the school and the church.  A strange looking, as in squat, war memorial stood in front of the mairie which also sported traditional air raid sirens that looked oversized for the building.

Mairie, war memorial and air raid sirens

Looking for a lavoir we walked down to le Naubach, the stream running through the village, which would be the best place to start looking.  Sure enough when we reached a bridge over the stream we saw a metal silhouette of a lavandière or washerwoman.

The lavoir was a little further upstream and it was quite interesting to us.  Not only did it have a wooden roof, something we hardly ever see, but the washing stones were arranged in a different manner.  Instead of long contiguous stones running along the waters’ edge there were pairs of short stones placed at right angles to the water.

Mittersheim lavoir

A skittle alley ran along the rear of the lavoir which would have been ideal for men to while away some time while the womenfolk carried out the laundry.  It reminded us of some of the lavoirs we have seen built under mairies where men carried out their bureaucratic work upstairs as the women toiled away underneath.

The local historical society were keen to share their heritage as next to the skittle alley was their version of an open-air museum:

After lunch we went for another walk, first of all taking in the port to see what it was like.  It was quite large considering the size of the village and was nearly full up with visiting hire boats.  Opposite the port was the entrance to a now disused canal, the embranchement de Loudrefing.  This used to run down to the canal des Salines which, as the name suggests, was built to transport salt.  The canal didn’t last long and in fact much of the northern end was never completed.  At the junction was a sad looking boatyard which seemed to have a collection of old unused hire boats.

We tried to find a path along the route of the old canal but were unsuccessful.  We followed a cart track that ran parallel for some way but ended up getting further away from the route of the canal rather than closer so we gave up and went in search of walnut trees instead. 

We’d taken plastic bags and gloves with us as walnuts have been looking like some of them were ready for picking for pickling.  The fruit on some of the trees we checked were far too small, but we found three where there was ample fruit of the right size, so we got a good crop. The reason for the gloves was to prevent our hands turning black from the juglone that is a tannin contained in walnuts and indeed the bark of the trees.  

On the way back to the boat we crossed the lock near us to have a look around on the far side and found a sign for a circular walk.  This surprised us as we thought we’d done a lot of investigation beforehand and hadn’t found any circular walks. 

Sign for a circular walk and a stanking plank store

Researching later we found ‘the lake of serpents’ was a seven km walk so was gentle enough to do before we left Mittersheim on Friday.  Even more surprising than not finding a circular walk beforehand was that this new site had three different routes, all starting and finishing in Mittersheim!

Checking the walnut pickling recipe we realised we didn’t have enough salt so later on we had another walk to the village store to top up our supplies.

On Thursday we cruised three km down one lock.

FRIDAY 10 JUNE 

Three hire boats had moored 100-metres or so behind us the previous evening and we realised why on Friday morning.  We already knew the canal was going to be closed in the Mittersheim pound over the weekend for water sports as part of a weekend extravaganza that the water park at the lake was holding.  It seemed that practising started on Friday morning with loud music blaring from the water park and dozens of people swimming and playing on the water slides including the families from the hire boats.

A very friendly German woman from one of the boats came down and started asking lots of questions about our boat.  During the conversation she announced that she was on holiday with her three adult children having lost her husband.  She asked if she could look in boat, but I wasn’t sure if she was looking for her husband or just being nosey.  I had to decline as it's always a bit strange when someone asks if they can look around our home and anyway, Karen was indoors getting ready to go for a run.

We went for our circular walk after mid-morning coffee and cake and were glad most of it was in the woods and rides meaning that most of the time we were out of the sun which seemed to have returned with a vengeance.  Although the walk was called the Lake of Serpents, we didn’t really get a view of a lake for the whole seven km or see any reptiles other than lizards sunning themselve.  As in the UK, the woodland rides were ideal for seeing butterflies with the summer grass butterflies showing well especially Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns and Skippers.  There were plenty of woodland butterflies too and the most numerous were White Admirals and Marbled Fritillaries although we also saw several Spotted and Silver Washed Fritillaries.

A typical butterfly ride

We left soon after lunch dropping down the two locks in Mittersheim and then straight out into the country again.  The port, which was between the two locks was a lot emptier than when we’d walked through it on Thursday.

The port at Mittersheim

The sun was so strong that we had to have one of our parasols up and at one of the locks we almost forgot to bring it down as we’d got used to not using it for a while.  Fortunately, we were going down so we had time to sort things out; if we’d been going up, we would probably have caught it on the lock side as we entered.

Just about to remember to drop the parasol

A little way before we moored up, we crossed the departmental boundary, leaving Moselle and entering Bas-Rhin.  We then dropped down our final lock of the day, écluse 16, which was closely followed by a restaurant of the same name:

We were really surprised to see the restaurant as we were miles from any villages until we found out it had started life as a coaching inn.  As you can imagine, the mooring was really peaceful and we did wonder if the restaurant subsidises its upkeep especially as it had a 48hr parking restriction.  We'd heard that it was a Michelin starred restaurant but wondered if a touch of Chinese whispers was in play and that it was just in the Michelin guide. 

Moored below écluse 16

On Friday we cruised nine km down four locks.

SATURDAY 11 JUNE 

We only had a little way to go on Saturday and left before it started getting too hot. We were still cruising through the forested area, and it was quite a surprise when, after a couple of km, we were suddenly out in the wide open countryside leaving the tree cover behind.

About to leave the trees

The plan was to stop at, and spend the day in, Harskirchen the halfway point of the 65 km long canal.  There was a port in the village but as is our wont we moored up, using pins, before we saw the first signs of habitation.

Moored at Harskirchen

Our first mission was to walk to the river Sarre to find a watermill that was built in 1713 and is still working and producing flour.  As is our luck the mill was closed when we arrived, but at least we could see the waterwheel was working; apparently, there were three wheels when it was first built.  A restaurant sat alongside the mill stream advertising food made using the milled flour, mainly pizzas judging by the menu, and only open at weekends.  A wedding reception was in progress in the restaurant so we couldn’t pay a visit there either.

Willer watermill

After the walk to the mill, we went into Haarskirchen to have a look around.  As we’re getting accustomed to lately, it felt very German, and we have to admit that we’re taking our time to adjust to the Germanic style.  I must admit that I also feel a bit of a traitor no longer being in the more traditional French villages but suspect it’ll soon pass. 

Large houses in the main street

Mairie and church

After lunch we had another walk, taking in the port but we weren’t out for long as it was getting so hot and sticky.  We stopped under a bridge for a while watching some local lads diving into the canal from the side and even from the bridge.  They clearly weren’t aware of, or didn’t care about, what gets pumped into the French canals. I imagine local lads have been diving and swimming there for the last two centuries. 

We spent the rest of the day back on board listening to the second Kiwi test with less and less enthusiasm as the day wore on.  On a positive note, the first stage of the walnut pickling process is coming on nicely and the fruits are beginning to turn black.

On Saturday we cruised five km through no locks.

SUNDAY 12 JUNE 

Much of the morning was spent making sure we were ready for travelling into Germany in a week’s time.  Not only did we have to get on top of the language issue when radioing the river lockkeepers, but various other things had to be covered including making sure we were registered to receive alerts for incidents and water levels as well as checking our boat insurance cover had been updated and making sure we had the correct flags to hand.  We are rather relying on our daughter Sophie to ensure we have the correct German for communicating with the lockkeepers but it’s difficult to cover off understanding the responses we’ll get.  Especially bearing in mind that we still find that sometimes we don’t understand what a French éclusier has said to us across the airwaves.

We still managed to leave Harskirchen fairly early and were soon at the first lock which was where the locals had been diving the previous afternoon.  Going under the bridge we realised that it was quite a bit higher than most bridges on this canal, so it was quite a drop for the lads especially for the ones who were diving rather than jumping.

The diving bridge at the first lock

Karen and Buddy got off at the second lock to walk to Sarralbe, our destination for the day, and we were immediately back into the open Saarland countryside.

I picked them up at the first of the two locks in Sarralbe and after going down the second we moored up at an empty 100-metre-long quay next to a small, well-kept park.  As we intended staying for a couple of nights we went for a brief walk around the town during the afternoon leaving further exploring until the following day.  We already knew the town wasn’t really large enough to have a tourist office but within ten minutes we’d found three information boards, each displaying a different town trail.  With between five and 12 attractions on each trail there were very few common ones; we decided to do our thing and then check out later what we’d missed and would still like to find.

The Sarre and the Albe rivers both run through the town hence its name, Sarralbe.  Walking along the Sarre we came across a mill stream and then a large mill where we learnt that it was built in 1737 on the site of where a mill had been built in the 14^th century.  The mill is still in operation and in its time has produced oil and fabrics as well as flour that is still produced nowadays. 

Sarralbe mill

Next, we came across the only gateway still in existence from the original fortifications.  The lower part dated from the 12^th century and the other floors and bell tower added in 1718.  It did look quite strange though with 1970’s style apartments built right up to it and even joining it in places.

Porte d’Albe

We were lucky to find the information board for the oldest shop in the town as it was at the far end of the street on which it stood.   It was built in 1728 as a posting house and in its time, amongst other things, has also been an épicerie, a post office, a library, a hardware store and a haberdashery.   

Relai de poste

Back along the Sarre we found a lavoir and an information board that showed there were three more in the town, so we’ll probably look for them on Monday.  Walking back to the port we passed a modern roundabout with ten flags of European countries including the Union Jack, but we couldn’t find out why there were those particular ten.

We saw many pairs of storks nesting on the roofs of buildings as we walked around and found out later that the town is proud of its 30 pairs of storks that have been in residence for many years.  There is even a webcam of the most famous pair, named Mélodie and Maurice, who have been filmed nesting on the mairie since 2017.   Please click here to see the webcam in a separate tab. 

Back at the port we found we were still the only boat there and also realised that it had been an extremely quiet boat day having only seen a couple on the move when we came down in the morning.

Only boat in the port

Before I finish here’s the latest picture of our three grandchildren on the beach at Barry Island over the weekend.  Lauren and Lewis live near Cardiff and Barry is Ellis’s favourite daytrip as he can play with his diggers in the sand and it was lovely to see him sharing his sandpit with his cousins.

Ellis (2½) and Dexter (3½) holding Olly (14 weeks)

On Sunday we cruised nine km down four locks.