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| Pleasant mooring at Jaulgonne |
SATURDAY 30 SEPTEMBER
The sunny late summer returned following Friday’s visit
from Jules and Steve who seemed to bring cool and grey weather with them. Well,
it was misty on the river first thing, but once it cleared we could see Dormans
on the opposite bank to our overnight mooring.
As we were in a town, Karen went food shopping first thing
while I took Buddy for his morning walk.
After our mid-morning coffee and cake, we set off for Courcelles where
we planned to moor above the lock there.
It certainly was a gorgeous day and with hotter weather forecast for the
beginning of October we really were having an Indian summer.
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| Cruising on the Marne on the last day of September |
As expected, the mooring was empty above the lock at Courcelles and after we settled in, we set about walking back to Dormans to fetch the car.
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| Moored at Courcelles |
We haven’t seen many kilometre stones along the Marne but were lucky enough to pass two during our walk back. As you can see they aren't visible from the river these days because, once barges were no longer towed from the bank, shrubs and trees have been allowed to grow there.
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| Kilometre stone hidden from the river |
Looking at the stones these days people can be forgiven for thinking they are just plain markers but beating back the undergrowth the correct side can be seen with the original inscriptions:
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| pk28 as the bargee of old would have seen it |
We’d joined the Marne at the head of navigation exactly three weeks ago, so the pk28 stone indicated that we’ve travelled 28km since then. With the trees lining the bank of the river we were in the shade for nearly the whole walk, and it wasn’t long before we were back at the car in Dormans and returning to our new mooring. We spent the rest of day on and around the boat enjoying doing nothing and seeing nobody. Watching kingfishers from the side hatches later made me realise I haven’t mentioned the wildlife we’ve seen recently. It doesn’t mean we haven’t seen any but needless to say we’re constantly enjoying the shrill cry of the kingfishers as we catch flashes of electric blue on their flypasts.
On Saturday we cruised four and a half km down one lock.
SUNDAY 1 OCTOBER
With temperatures back in the high 20s we didn’t want to do anything too strenuous but did have an attempt at planning our lives for 2024. I know it sounds early to be doing such a thing but the diary’s filling up for next year already. The bottom of the boat needs blacking and we have a dry dock booked for September so we can do it ourselves. The dry dock is up on the river Sarre almost at the border with Germany so that will dictate our cruising for the first part of the year. We have at least one more grandchild due and on top of family holidays already booked we’ve hired a country house in Herefordshire so all our children and grandchildren can help us celebrate my 70th.
Later in the afternoon we went for a walk further downstream to see if there was a path for Karen to follow for her Monday morning run. We knew the towpath didn't continue far past the lock so we'd had a quick search on Google but couldn't find anything promising. After the towpath petered out we found a cart track that looked well used so hopefully will suffice. We didn’t walk very far at all which was probably just as well as I did find a decent sized dead branch to drag back to the boat. It seems mad to be thinking of collecting wood for the stove in this weather, but we wanted to add to our store to avoid getting caught out if there’s a sudden drop in temperature soon.
MONDAY 2 OCTOBER
Karen ran practically the whole eight km to Jaulgonne and back while I took Buddy for his morning walk. We did both early as the temperature was due to hit 28ºC during the day, even in this part of France. I took Buddy a couple of kilometres in the opposite direction as we knew it was mainly shady until the path reached Trélou-sur-Marne. We had a brief look around the village when we got there before returning to the boat. Incidentally Karen and I had found five lavoirs there four years ago and the place was as deserted now as it was then.
There wasn’t a lot of grass for Buddy where we were moored but Karen had found a bollard hidden in long grass at the far end of the quay we were on. Not only was there a large grassy area next to it, but a walnut tree stood at each end thus allowing Buddy to rest in the shade. It also meant that Karen would get the pick of the crop so, as they say, it was a no-brainer to move the boat.
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| Walnut trees at each end of our new mooring at Courcelles |
Having completed varnishing the outside woodwork the main boat job for the week was to get on with some interior varnishing. It particularly needs doing around the window frames where condensation can collect if unchecked, so Monday saw us beginning the dusty task of doing the preparation. During the day we saw our first boat since Friday as hotel boat Nenuphar came past on what must be one of its last cruises of the season. The guests were obviously very fortunate to be having hot weather in the first week of October.
We were idly river watching in the evening when we spotted a vegetation island slowly floating downstream. It was in fact a large branch that had collected a lot of weed but we could make out something moving on it. As it got closer we realised a cormorant was sitting on it looking for all the world like it had been chilling there for hours. We wondered what would happen as it reached the weir and found it amusing to think it would either surf over the top still perching to the log or fly back and find another floating log. We had to wait a long time as the current is so benign at present but when it reached the weir it took off and flew back near us. It spent several minutes diving and shaking itself before flying off upstream.
TUESDAY 3 OCTOBER
We awoke to a cloudy sky for a change and by 10 o’clock it started raining and that lasted for a couple of hours so there was no excuse but to stay inside and varnish. Once the rain stopped the clouds soon cleared leaving us with sunny blue skies once again. We gave ourselves a break in the early afternoon and went for a walk taking in the local champagne village of Courcelles. Even though we are on the river Marne, I learnt that Courcelles is actually in the Aisne département rather than in Marne and that for some way along this stretch the boundary between the two runs along the centre channel of the river.
WEDNESDAY 4 OCTOBER
After yesterday morning’s rain it seems very little is forecast over the next couple of weeks and that after a couple of days of cooler weather the temperatures should return to the mid-20s and above. The cooler weather meant that the sun wasn’t as strong as of late and it took a while for the morning mist to burn off which rather supported the forecast.
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| 9am on Wednesday and still gloomy |
Karen took the car to Jaulgonne, our next planned stop, and ran back while I took Buddy for a walk to the village of Passy-sur-Marne. The village sits halfway up a hill on the right bank of the river and is one of those villages that have boards showing photographs of different buildings and views from around the end of the 19th century. Walking towards the village from the river I came across a lavoir that looked like it had recently been restored. Sure enough, when I went around to the far side there was a sign explaining the restoration had been achieved with a grant of just under €30k from the EU. It was one of those strangely positioned lavoirs as it was 250 metres from the nearest house so requiring lavandières to have a good walk to and from their duties.
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| Pristine mortar work on the lavoir at Passy-sur-Marne |
In the centre of the village stood the war memorial and judging from the photograph showing its inauguration in 1924 it doesn’t seem to have changed. Even the photographs of the fallen soldiers were still present in a frame attached to the monument. I did spot one change however: the addition of the name of a soldier who perished in WWII.
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| 1924 inauguration picture |
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| The memorial on today’s visit |
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| Still looking good a century later |
The mairie was situated in a private house that was bought in 1869 and converted to a school with the mairie above. I have to admit that I thought the mairie looked a lot more appealing at the start of the 20th century than it does now, 120 years later.
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| Mairie as it was around 1900 |
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| Mairie as it looks now |
As with practically all the villages we’ve been visiting lately, the only commerce to be found was a dozen or so champagne houses, there weren’t even dispensers for boulangerie products or pizzas. Walking out of the village to the southwest I came across the remains of a massive dovecote that had lost its roof:
Opposite the dovecote stood a privately owned château that was being restored. Reading an information board outside I found that the dovecote originally belonged to the château as did the farm and a few houses around it. The château was built in the 13th century and by the 1780s was at least four times the size of what remains today.
We usually both take Buddy for an evening stroll and have been enjoying watching the setting sun creating some wonderful colours on the hill above Courcelles where we're moored. We've noticed that the vines are beginning to take on their autumnal colour and starting to display the lovely orange hue that will get stronger over the next few weeks.
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| Vines on the slopes and sunflowers on the flood plain |
THURSDAY 5 OCTOBER
It was an early walk for Buddy so the day could be focused on listening to England’s opening game against New Zealand in the world cup. As it is being held in India it means that each day’s play can be listened to from a reasonable time in the morning until the late afternoon here in France. Those of you who follow cricket will understand that I wished we’d thought of something else to do during the day.
FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER
We awoke to a very misty morning, and it didn’t really clear until midday leaving us with beautifully warm and sunny weather for the rest of the day. We were heading off to Jaulgonne during the day but first we moved the boat down to the head of the lock so we could fill up with water. The tap at the lock side didn’t appear to be working but we found another at the back of the éclusier’s house. It meant we had to join several hoses together as we needed a 90-metre length to reach the boat. While hooked up to the water supply, we got a lot of washing done and, in the end, we didn’t set off until after lunch. To our surprise a boat came up the lock while we were taking on water, a little German river cruiser.
Even though the vendanges have finished we could still see people working in the vineyards as we cruised along. They are now painstakingly pruning and training the vines, a skilled job that will continue until the middle of December before stopping for the coldest four weeks or so over the new year and then restarting until the middle of March.
There wasn’t any sign of a breeze as we cruised and the river was dead calm, that was until an empty commercial came passed us heading rapidly upstream. It wasn’t long after that before the mooring came into view and as there were no boats there, we were able to tie up in peace for the evening. As we tend to find even in the remotest areas, the data signal was excellent and we were able to watch France demolish Italy - if they continue playing as such a cohesive unit they will be unstoppable in this world cup.
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| Evening view at Jaulgonne |
On Friday we cruised 7.5km down one lock and saw two boats.
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