Flecknoe (home two days early)

 FRIDAY 13 SEPTEMBER

With commercial traffic no longer using the canal de la Sarre, the locks are only open from 8.30 to 18.30 and, as I was only 15 minutes from the first lock of the day, there was no point leaving until soon after 8.00.  It was very misty when I first got up and I was a little concerned about whether it would lift enough before leaving; however, it started clearing while I was having breakfast, so I felt it was safe to leave.

Misty clearing

I arrived at the first lock at 8.20 so had to wait 10 minutes before the lights came on indicating it was ready for use.  By the time I was through the lock the sun had started to show itself and on the approach to Mittersheim the mist had disappeared completely.  I was accompanied by at least 50 swallows for some distance as I neared the town and wondered if I was disturbing insects as I went along. 

Sun and swallows

In the middle of Mittersheim I passed a junction with a disused canal, the Embranchement de Loudrefing, the first 100 metres or so of which are now used as a boat yard.  

Passing the junction

At the beginning of the 1800s there was a plan to build a canal linking the rivers Moselle and Saar.  Its purpose was to bring coal into France from the Saarland collieries and take French salt up to Germany in the opposite direction.  This led to the name of canal des Salines de l’Est.  The disused arm I passed was built to provide a link from Mittersheim to the planned coal/salt canal.  As it turned out the main canal was never completed as the canal I was on, the canal des Houillères de la Sarre, started taking the trade making the proposed canal financially unviable.  The canal des Houillères de la Sarre no longer carries coal (houillères) so nowadays is simply known as the canal de la Sarre.

The disused arm and the never opened canal in dotted lines

After Mittersheim I started up the 11-lock flight to the summit and the plan in my head had been to make it to the top before mooring up for the day.  I soon got into a good rhythm especially as all but one of the locks were set for me so, with no waiting while locks emptied, the ascent was much quicker than I’d anticipated.

Friendly but inquisitive dogs halfway up

The disused embranchement and the 11-lock flight

I was surprised to reach the summit by the early afternoon and moored up for lunch at an old wharf at Ferme Albeschaux.

Moored for lunch

While having lunch I decided I could probably make it most of the way to my final destination.  It wasn’t far until I would reach the canal de la Marne au Rhin where the locks have longer opening times of 7.00 to 19.30.  This would give me more chance of getting further thus leaving a shorter journey for the next day.  The canal started making its way past lakes interspersed with forests, which presented quite different vistas to the open countryside I’d been through since leaving the dry dock at Wittring.  One of the many disused sheds for the now defunct barge towing locos had a picture of the junction I would soon be reaching.  It clearly shows how the canals run through the lakes.

Picture on engine shed showing the upcoming canal junction

The first lock after joining the canal de la Marne au Rhin was the 16-metre deep Réchicourt lock and as I neared it the rain started falling.  Fortunately, it was only a drizzle, and it didn’t last long even though the skies looked threatening for some time.  I had to wait about 45 minutes for the lock to be set for me as a hire boat was coming across the lake below and the lock was already set for him.  By this time I realised I could probably reach Port Sainte Mairie by the end of the day, two days earlier than expected.  The wait gave me a chance to start getting the boat ready to be left while I returned to England.

Waiting for gate to lift at the deep lock

At about 18.30 I was entering the final lock of the journey and feeling quite pleased with myself as well as excited to be able to get back to Karen two days earlier than she thought - I hadn’t let on that this might be a possibility as I was hoping to surprise her.

Entering the final lock

We never drink anything alcoholic when driving the boat, but I made an exception in the final lock and opened a bottle of English IPA to celebrate:

I was soon moored up at Port Sainte Marie next to a lovely Swiss couple and we soon found our common language was very poor French.  We had a stilted conversation about our travels and then I started packing the car for a quick getaway in the morning.  I saw they had a St Bernard on their boat, so I explained about Buddy and they took the 25 kgs of dog food that were now no longer needed on the boat and that I didn’t really want to take back to England.

Moored at Port Sainte Marie

I remembered that Karen could see where I was through her phone so realised I wouldn’t be able to surprise her after all so I had to tell her I was coming home early: she said she was still surprised as well as pleased though.

On Friday I cruised 37.5km up 15 locks, down four and saw two boats, both hire boats.  Looking at the boat log I realised this was the longest day's cruising we’d ever done on the boat.

SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER

I left at 6.30 and with a couple of stops to recharge the car and stock up with wine I arrived at the Eurotunnel by 14.00 without any mishaps.  Once back in the UK, the M20, M25 and M1 were all clear so I also had an easy onward journey back to Flecknoe to complete my 500 mile journey home.