Béménil (over the top)

Saturday morning in Charmes

FRIDAY 25 APRIL

Before cruising to our next stop on Friday we walked to the local village of Gripport to have a look around.  To get there we had to cross a lock on an old bridge that carried rail tracks.  The tracks would have been used by the electric barge towing locos to cross from one side of the canal to the other when the towing tracks changed sides.

As with the majority of villages we visit the place was practically deserted other than some tradesmen working on a house.  The war memorial commemorated those from two world wars and the small number of inscriptions shows just how small the village is.  Of course, those killed would still have had a devasting impact on the population.

Considering how mairies are usually one of the largest and best kept buildings in a village the one in Gripport must be one of the most non-descript we’ve come across:

Gripport main street with church in background

Back at the boat we set off for a short cruise to the town of Charmes.  On the way we crossed the departmental border leaving Meurthe et Moselle and entering Vosges.  The Moselle ran alongside the canal and on the other side we passed many lakes that were originally gravel pits and in a couple of places gravel was still being extracted.  On the outskirts of Charmes we saw two brick chimneys from an old wire making factory.  Unlike in the UK, we hardly ever see brick-built factory and mill chimneys and wonder if there is not so much pride in industrial heritage in France.

It was starting to feel a bit touristy with a few motorhomes and tents in camping grounds that we passed.  Every van we saw had either French or Belgian plates, maybe the Brits, Dutch and Germans aren’t venturing out much yet because of the currently cool weather.  The town mooring in Charmes was shared with a motorhome and campervan park and again, all were French or Belgians.

Moored in Charmes

While I was sorting the boat out after the cruise Karen popped to the tourist office to see if they had any self-guided trails.  As is so often the case, when we want to go somewhere, the office was closed but Karen saw a trail map displayed in the window so took a picture so we could follow the route.  Although the map had a couple of dozen places of interest marked, there were no explanations so it was going to be an interesting tour.  Following the map the first thing we came across were the remains of the town lavoir which was pleasing to us as lavoir collecting is one of our joint passions.  Strangely it was practically next to the boat, and we hadn’t even noticed it.

When we were mooring up, we’d noticed a storks’ nest on one of the plane trees next to us.  It’s at the top of the second tree from the right in the picture above.

Sadly, the washing basin of the lavoir had been paved over…

…but we did find an old photograph of when it was in use. The old bridge has been replaced too:

The trouble with only having a map to follow meant we had no information on what we were looking at most of the time, let alone the history.  I was very disappointed when trying to find out more online later as there seemed to be very little information, e.g. when the town fortifications were built. They were a little disappointing to say the least, not running to any length and access to walk along the top wasn’t allowed.

Call these fortifications?

Here are some of the other ‘sights’:

WWII memorial

WWI memorial

We could find no explanation for why socks decorated the town

Charmes mairie – second non-descript one of the day

After finishing our tour around the town, we went back to spend the rest of the day on and around the boat.  It seemed like I was wrong on the motorhome supposition as three of the ones that arrived in the early evening were Germans, two were Swiss and one was Dutch.

On Friday we cruised seven kilometres up four locks and saw no boats on the move.

SATURDAY 26 APRIL

I went for a walk while Karen had her morning run and then we set off for Nomexy as apparently there were some stunning fortifications to walk around.  It took a couple of hours or so to get there and it felt sort of familiar when we moored up.  We then realised we’d been before but had used a different name to describe the place in our boat log.  Nomexy was where the mooring was but in 2021 we’d recorded the stop as Châtel-sur-Moselle as that’s where the fortifications were, a little way away across the other side of the Moselle.

Feeling a little disappointed we decided to carry on to Thaon-les-Vosges.  It was a much warmer day with plenty of sunshine making it feel that the weather was beginning to break.  As we left Charmes we saw another short section of the city walls that were still standing.  These were slightly more impressive than those we’d seen on the town trail but still nothing to really rave about unlike those we’d seen at Châtel-sur-Moselle.

There were still plenty of gravel pits, both old and new, alongside the canal and as we neared Thaon-les-Vosges we came across a vast area still being worked.  The aggregate was being loaded onto boats which travelled a few locks upstream for onward transportation.  The boats were unusual in that, although they were the standard 38 metre length of small péniches, they had a little cabin at the front.  Our guess was that the boats were built specifically for the purpose and only used as day boats thus no need for a proper cabin and living quarters.   As it was the weekend, the boats didn’t appear to be working so at least we wouldn’t have to worry about negotiating past them as knowing our luck we would meet them on a bend.

Quartz moored for the weekend

We’d been travelling for a week and had only called VNF once because of a problem with a lock.  This changed on Saturday as we had to call them three times on our way to Thaon-les-Vosges because our télécommande wouldn’t trigger the locking operation as we approached three different locks.  Fortunately, the control centre had remote access and were able to set the locks for us therefore we were able to carry on without any real delay.

Our friends Alistair and Sabine have been living on their narrowboat over here for over 20 years and are doing a similar trip to us this year.  We’ve been in constant touch as we hope to cruise together on the Rhine leg of the journey in June or July.  They have been one or two days ahead of us so far but had decided to stay put on Saturday at Thaon-les-Vosges which is where we were headed.  We found them next to a large pétanque club and moored up behind them.  Matches were in full swing on all the courts, some of which were under cover which I suppose allows for practice during the winter months.  Further unofficial matches were being played all around the area.

Fringe boules match outside the club

Our friends came over to ours for drinks in the evening and we had a great time catching up as we hadn’t seen each other since we blacked our boats together in September 2024 in a dry dock in Wittring on the Sarre.  Just after they came over, a private cruiser turned up and moored with us, the only boat we saw on the move all day.

Moored with Vector at Thaon-les-Vosges

On Saturday we cruised 18 km up 11 locks and saw the one boat on the move.

SUNDAY 27 APRIL

Looking at the picture above of the two boats, a sign can just be made out on the building on the other side of the cut.

It says it was the only hot water lavoir built by the German company mentioned.  The sign also has an old photograph of the lavoir in use but sadly it has now been converted to an office but at least its original frontage can still be made out.

After a quick walk we bid farewell to Alistair and Sabine and set off for the summit of the canal which sits above Épinal.  For once it was a lovely day with plenty of sun and real warmth.  The canal leading out of Thaon-les-Vosges had a lovely long line a plane trees coming into leaf.  These were clearly younger than the canal but would fulfil their duty in years to come.

Next we passed three more of the aggregate carrying commercials moored up at the unloading site.

Actually, only two of them were sister ships to Quartz that we saw yesterday with the cabin at the front; these were the pair breasted up together: Fieldspar and Mica.  The third was a normal commercial as its cabin and living quarters were at the rear.  We then passed this ‘all things hunting’ shop whose name rather gives it away.

After going up a lock that had unusual gates in that they were curved we were at the junction with the Épinal branch.

Curved lock gates

We weren’t going to go down to Épinal as we’d spent some time there previously and instead carried on up to the summit.

Épinal off to the left

If you want to read up on our time spent exploring Épinal please click here for the blog entry that should open in a separate window.  After the junction we had a 14-lock flight to ascend where the locks were in quick succession.

First lock of the flight ahead

As they were close together, they were in a chain meaning we only had to summon the first lock, and the rest set themselves whilst we were in the lock below.  Between each lock were large side ponds which helped with the water supply when many boats were going up and down the flight.  Many years ago most of the side ponds would have had wharves on them, but they have nearly all long gone being replaced by high tech business and retail parks.

One of the side ponds

The top lock and final side pond

We had a gentle lock-free cruise along the first part of the summit and moored up on a pontoon at Bouzey as we hadn’t been there before, and we also wanted to walk around the large reservoir near the village.  Not used to cruising in such glorious weather we were rather exhausted from being out in the sun all day so decided to leave the walk until Monday. The upturn in the weather had brought the butterflies out and there were plenty on the wing all day, mainly orange tips, brimstones and other members of the white family.

Our mooring at Bouzey for Sunday night

On Sunday we cruised 14 km up 19 locks and saw no boats on the move.

MONDAY 28 APRIL

Our overnight mooring was next to the lac de Bouzey which is a VNF reservoir that feeds the summit of the canal des Vosges.  There was a path around the lake so before it got too warm Karen ran around it in an anticlockwise direction and I walked the other way around.

It was a very pleasant walk, and we passed each other after I was about a third of the way around. 

Lac de Bouzey

I was disappointed as I only saw two butterflies having hoped to see many more, but I did find this swarm of honeybees:

Karen ended up running a lot further than I walked as she ran around the lake edge while the path I was on made a few short cuts.  Obviously, I returned to the boat after Karen did and we set off straight away for Girancourt where there’s a supermarket next to the canal where we could replenish our two empty gas bottles.  Soon after setting off we saw a map butterfly, our first of the year bringing our number of species to 10 for 2025 so far.  The map is not found in the UK but is the only European butterfly that has seasonal dimorphism where the spring and summer broods look quite different.

The village of Chaumousey

The summit was quite narrow for French canals and almost felt like a UK canal:

At one point there was a stretch that went through a cutting where the retaining walls looked like they had seen better days:

A sign halfway along the summit indicated the watershed between water flowing down to the Med and that flowing down to the North Sea.  We had been travelling up the Moselle valley which flows into the Rhine in Germany and then into the North Sea at Rotterdam.  We were now going downstream to meet the river Saône which then flows into the Rhône which empties into the Med.

When we reached the end of the summit we dropped down one lock and moored up at Girancourt.  We got the gas bottles out of the gas locker and trolleyed one over to the fuel station at the supermarket.  As we approached it we could see the supermarket was closed and couldn’t believe that once again we’d gone in the lunch break – you would have thought we would’ve learnt by now – lunch breaks are often 12 noon to 2.30pm.  We checked the gas botte store in case it had automatic dispensers as most larger supermarkets have but as it was a small supermarket we would have to go into the store to pay and get someone to exchange our bottle for us.  So that was a wasted trip and we trolleyed the empty bottle back again; thankfully it was only a 400 metre walk each way.  We then realised that it wasn’t closed for lunch as it didn’t actually open on Monday mornings at all, so we had nearly three hours to kill.

At Girancourt waiting for the shop to open

Next to the mooring was a cycle repair borne, only the second one we’ve ever seen.  As well as all the tools needed to repair a bike it even had a tyre pump that could be charged hydraulically.

The canal is situated on the Moselle-Saône cycleway (la voie bleue) which runs for 700 km from Luxembourg down to where the Saône meets the Rhône at Lyon.  It runs alongside the waterways for practically the whole route.

When the shop opened I made two trips to get two new gas bottles while Karen picked up some fruit and vegetables and then we carried on.

Leaving Girancourt

After leaving Girancourt the canal went through some lovely remote countryside following the Coney valley through the lower hills of the Vosges mountains.

We fancied mooring in a place like the photo above but the sides were too shallow.  We finally found somewhere deep enough just below a lock but sadly it was in the shade.

Moored below écluse 8 on Monday evening

We were in a short pound so left our lines slack in case the water levels dropped overnight.  You may recall that I am due to service the boat engine but keep procrastinating.  My latest plan is to do it on Thursday as the locks are closed for May 1^st or labour day.  The day is taken very seriously in France and everywhere seems to shut down so will be an ideal time to get on with job.

On Monday we cruised 10.5 km down seven locks and saw no boats on the move.

Gripport (bloody nightingales)

We've not had a lot of sunshine on the canals over these last few days

MONDAY 21 APRIL

Before we started our journey along the canal des Vosges we needed to fill up the tank and spare jerry cans with diesel as the canal is rural and remote with very little access to facilities like fuel stations. We’ll do the fuel stop on the outskirts of Nancy where there’s a supermarket and fuel station next to the canal. The first part of the canal des Vosges follows the upper Moselle valley up to Épinal and the second part runs through the beautiful Vosges mountains and meets the river Saône at Corre. Épinal is the only large town on the canal and sits at the end of an arm and as we’ve been there before we won’t be visiting this time, hence the need to fill up with diesel. Even though we’ve travelled along the canal des Vosges a few years ago, we have a plan that means we should stop at and explore places we missed last time.

Rain was forecast for Monday but we set off anyway. It was one of those days that alternated between rain showers and warm sun, but we avoided getting too wet. Approaching Dombasle-sur-Meurthe we passed an old boat fuel station that would have been heavily used in the days when commercial traffic used the canal. In the six years we’ve been travelling around France we’ve only seen one fuel station that’s still in use.

Old fuel pump

Dombasle-sur-Meurthe is home to the Solvay company who, like several other companies in the area, have manufactured sodium carbonate and bicarbonate for over 150 years. When they were first established in the town they had a fleet of 160 barges (the forerunners of today’s motorized 38-metre péniches) that used to transport the finished product all over northern Europe. Sadly, rail freight took over and the last Solvay péniche was retired in 1987. Some of the Solvay péniches are still afloat but have mainly been converted to liveaboards.



As we approached the factory we went through the old basin and could only imagine what it must have been like in its heyday full of empty péniches waiting to be loaded.

Practically empty basin nowadays

Most of the product was transported towards Nancy and then onto the river Moselle, so to avoid bottlenecks at the locks, second locks were installed from Dombasle-sur-Meurthe down to the Moselle. Nowadays only one of each pair of locks is in use.

Leaving one of a pair of locks

If the forecast is to be believed there’s going to be some damp and cooler days ahead so Karen walked the last few kilometres picking up logs along the way. Of course this meant I had to pull in every few minutes so she could put them on the roof. Just before the final pair of locks we crossed over the river Meurthe:



Shortly afterwards we were on the outskirts of Nancy and moored up just above the locks at Laneuveville-devant-Nancy.

Monday night mooring at Laneuveville-devant-Nancy

Next to our mooring a pair of storks were nesting at the top of a telegraph pole. Many people believe it’s good luck having storks nesting on their property and devices such as wagon wheels are sometimes erected on roofs to encourage the storks to nest. One of the storks of the pair next to us didn’t leave the nest so we assumed it was incubating eggs. The other was constantly flying across the canal to find twigs under the trees on the other side. It was then using them to reinforce the already substantial nest.

You can just see the head of the one sitting on the nest

Water was available in the lock above which we were moored and we planned on taking everything off the boat before moving it down to the lock and giving it a good clean. The only problem with that idea was that we would have to move out of the way if a boat came along. Having seen no boats all day we felt pretty confident that we could move down and not get in anyone’s way. We got all the stuff off the boat, moved down to the lock, connected up our hoses and as luck would have it, a hire boat appeared with six German guys on board.

We moved our boat out of their way so they could pass through the lock but before they started descending, one of them came up to talk to us. German and Dutch people invariably sound the same to me and I always seem to guess the wrong nationality. This time I asked if he was Néerlandais and he replied Allemand but also smiled. I don’t even know why I ask because it’s not as if I could converse in their languages! Anyway, he was very apologetic and asked in French if they could fill up with water as the hire company had omitted to fill their tank and, of course, I said yes. From that point on we conversed in English.

When they’d filled up, the English speaking guy came to tell us they'd finished and insisted on giving us a bottle of wine from the area of Germany where they all lived. We’ve lost count of the number of times foreign boaters have given us wine as a thank you or leaving a bottle on our deck if we’ve let them breast up against us overnight.

On Monday we cruised 11.5 km down three locks and saw one boat on the move, the hire boat with Germans on board.

TUESDAY 22 APRIL

I fully intended servicing the engine on Tuesday morning while Karen went for her run but being a good procrastinator, I ended up sawing up some logs for firewood instead. The weather was another one of those half sun days where it was warm when the sun was out but decidedly cool when there was cloud cover.

We set off after breakfast, filling up with water while in the first lock. Unfortunately, when we went to leave the lock, the gates wouldn’t fully open. The first thing to try before calling out VNF is to jump on the lock gates which meant Karen had to get off the boat to do it by climbing up the lockside ladder. We've found that in maybe a third of cases jumping on the gates triggers the operation to continue.

Up she goes

The jumping didn't work so Karen rang VNF for help using the lockside interphone, this was the first time we’ve had a problem this year. VNF éclusiers usually turn up in their vans after ten minutes or so but this guy took 45 minutes although he was full of smiles and apologies for his tardiness and soon had the lock working for us.

After leaving the lock we needed to turn left onto the embranchement de Nancy which would take us over to join the canal des Vosges. As we needed fuel we carried straight on instead for 1.5 km towards the centre of Nancy where we knew there was a nearby fuel station. We’d stopped there for fuel a couple of times previously and when we arrived we saw the same down and outs were sitting by the canal drinking strong lager. As before, they were very friendly and wanted to know about the bateau anglais. I had to make two trips to the fuel station with our sack barrow, each time filling up two 20 litre jerry cans. While I was finishing off on the second trip a man pulled up to put diesel in his car but only had cash whereas the pumps only took cards. We had a comical conversation as he was Greek and spoke no English and I don’t know any Greek, also both of us spoke very poor French. In the end I paid for 20€ of diesel using one of my cards and he gave me the equivalent in cash.

Once we’d finished, we turned the boat around and headed back to the junction where this time we would be turning right. One of the differences between French and UK canals is that French canals are generally wide enough for us to turn our boat around at any point but on UK canals, which are usually a lot narrower, turning is only possible at winding holes and junctions.

Nancy is ringed by waterways known collectively as the boucle de Nancy and we have been around it a couple of times in the past. There is a cycleway all the way around offering cyclists a picturesque 85 km route.

The boucle de Nancy

Starting at the six o’clock position the Moselle runs clockwise to 12 o’clock then the canal de la Marne au Rhin carries on through Nancy until three o’clock where the embranchement de Nancy completes the circle.

Turning onto the embranchement

The embranchement is only 10 km long but has 18 locks. It joins the Meurthe valley with the Moselle valley and has Freycinet locks, i.e. those meeting the smallest lock standard that caters for 38 metre péniches. We stopped for lunch at the bottom of the embranchement and moored behind a French bed & breakfast boat.

Passing the B&B boat after lunch

We went up two locks in quick succession, our first ascent for this year. I mention we were going up as the operation is tricky for narrowboaters in France, but all went well and both Karen and I remembered what to do without any stress.

Tied up and waiting for the first lock to fill

We stopped for the day just below the third lock and were serenaded by a nightingale whilst we were mooring up and sorting the boat out. Having carried out a three km diversion for the fuel stop we ended up only moving just four km, but it seemed to take forever, not helped by having to wait for an éclusier at the first lock of the day.

Moored at Fléville-devant-Nancy...

...and looking the other way

Looking at the pictures of where we moored you can see how French towpaths normally double as cycleways but as they are wide, issues don’t normally arise between pedestrians and cyclists. This is unlike the UK canals as towpaths are usually narrow and animosity can arise between the two groups of users.

On Tuesday we cruised seven km, down one lock, up two locks and saw two hire boats and one private boat.

WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL

I mentioned that we were serenaded by a nightingale as we moored up the previous evening. What we didn’t know was that they are nocturnal birds, and single males tend to sing all night long to attract a mate. Each time one of us woke up in the night all we could hear was what must have been a single bird that had been single all its life!

Rain was forecast for the afternoon, so we set off straight after breakfast. First we had to go up a flight of ten locks that worked in a chain, where the next lock is set for us while we’re in the current one. It works well as it means we can leave one lock and go straight into the next without waiting for the lock to be readied. The only problem was that the lockside bollards were set too far back from the side for Karen to see to get her line over.

Karen couldn’t quite reach over the top

Fortunately, a lady in the lock cottage at the first lock was outside and saw there was a little difficulty so she came over and looped it over for Karen. We then remembered that when we came up the flight before, Karen walked up with Buddy and I poled the line up to her. For the rest of the flight Karen walked ahead and once I was in a lock I would walk to the front of the boat and pole the line up for her to loop over a bollard.

The next lock set as we left the current one

Sharp eyed amongst you will have seen two tomato plant seedlings on the hatch. These were given to us by our friend Karen so they will be born in Flecknoe and raised in France. Don’t worry if you see this Karen as they are brought inside overnight. You may have also noticed that the boat isn’t bedecked with flowers like it usually is over here. This is because we’re only coming out until the end of July so they would just die off being left untended for the summer. Mind you, I bet my Karen gives in at some point and starts potting up some summer flowers.

The banks were lined with lady’s smock (aka cuckoo flower), one of the foodplants of orange tip caterpillars. Although it wasn’t particularly warm we did see a couple of orange tips flying alongside us.

After the flight of 10 locks we were on the summit which is unusual in that it is controlled by traffic lights. Although it is wide enough for narrowboats to pass each other, péniches wouldn’t be able to pass so traffic lights control a one-way system.

The ‘narrow’ summit

There were only five locks to go down from the summit to reach the canal des Vosges in the Moselle valley signifying the end of the embranchement de Nancy. The lock cottages on the descent were amongst the smallest of those we’ve seen on French canals:

With no natural feeder to the summit, water is pumped up from the Moselle and the pumping station was situated by the last lock on the descent:

Pumping station

We stopped for lunch when we joined the Vosges, rather pleased with ourselves that we’d managed to dodge any rain.

Lunch mooring next to a VNF workboat

The canal des Vosges is its current name; when first opened in 1880 it was called the southern branch of the canal de l’Est but renamed more recently for touristic purposes. The canal runs for 122 km and has 93 locks which are built to Freycinet standard to accommodate the smallest commercial boats of 38 metres.

As we’d moored at our lunchtime spot previously and also explored the area, we wanted to press on to a mooring we hadn’t used before. It started raining as we got ready to leave but we went anyway as we only had a couple of locks and five km to reach our destination of Flavigny-sur-Moselle. The plan had been to take a good walk once we’d moored up but we were so wet and the rain looked set in so we stayed indoors for the rest of the day.

Rainy afternoon view from our mooring at Flavigny-sur-Moselle

On Wednesday we cruised eight miles up 13 and down five locks and saw one boat on the move, a private one.

THURSDAY 24 APRIL

While Karen went for a morning run, I walked into Flavigny-sur-Moselle which was just under three kilometres away. Having seen swathes of cuckoo flower on the embranchement canal and explained a few paragraphs above that it’s one of the foodplants of orange tip caterpillars; I found a similar abundance of garlic mustard on my walk. Also known as hedge mustard and Jack-by-the-hedge amongst several other names it is also a food plant of the orange tip. As we have seen a few females flying I searched for eggs for some time but failed to find any.

Approaching Flavigny I crossed the Moselle and found it hard to believe that even though it’s non-navigable this far upstream, it’s only 50 km further downstream where it becomes navigable and where we’ve seen boats of up to 180 metres in length.

Crossing the Moselle

The flood plain in this area is used for obtaining water that is processed to produce drinking water for Nancy and there were plenty of signs around explaining this and prohibiting camping and swimming etc.

No bathing!

We set off mid-morning and were almost straight into the first lock of the day. An éclusier was doing checks at the lock and kindly helped Karen looping her line over a bollard and then started asking me a question. I just could not work out what he was saying other than would I like something. The something sounded like 'toit' and it took an embarrassingly long time to realise he was offering me 'bois' or wood especially as it’s an odd thing for an éclusier to mention; however, I declined as the weather is due to improve very soon. After going up the lock we crossed the Moselle again but this time on the boat.

Aqueduct over the Moselle

The length of the canal des Vosges that we’ve travelled on over the last couple of days has been lined with plane trees on either or both sides. We suspect that they were planted when the canal opened in 1880 as apparently they can live for up to 400 years. They are a common feature of French roads, squares and canals as they are a great provider of shade in the summer.

Plane trees just coming into leaf on the left

After a while we stopped for lunch just above the lock at Roville-devant-Bayon. Plane trees lined both sides at this point and as the leaves had only just started forming they weren’t affording any shade. Mind you it wasn’t particularly warm so shade wasn’t really needed.

More plane trees at our lunchtime stop

Since leaving Flavigny-sur-Moselle in the morning we passed no settlements until our lunch stop and the same applied to the afternoon jaunt: no towns or villages until Gripport where we moored up for the day just below a lock.

Moored at Gripport on Thursday evening

Even though we saw very little of the sun during our journey, the rain held off until later in the evening when we were snug and safe on board.

On Thursday we cruised 21 km up nine locks and saw one boat on the move, a hired one.