Bauzemont (feeling at home already)

Friday 24 April

If you’re reading this then you probably know that we’re back on the boat at Port Sainte-Marie. Due to other commitments it’s been the longest we’ve ever left her, so we were a little concerned what state she’d be in with all the Saharan rain that’s fallen since last summer.  

We’d had a rather unusual trip down to Port Sainte-Marie as we started in Norway where we visited Matthew and Vero and their new baby Samuel, our ninth grandchild. When planning the trip Karen had the bright idea of flying to Norway from Heathrow rather than Birmingham, our usual airport.  That way we could pack the car for France and then head straight there from Heathrow on our return without having to drive all the way back to Flecknoe just for a night.  We’d booked a hotel near the Channel Tunnel and headed there when we arrived back in London so we could have an early start in the morning. It all worked out well and with no delays we were soon on our way to the boat.  We had to call in at Metz on the way down to pick up our new residence cards from the préfecture (city hall).  The original ones run out this year and are due to be replaced by permanent ones under the Brexit withdrawal agreement.  With typical French bureaucracy we could only pick up temporary cards as the proper ones were only handed over on Mondays and Thursdays.  We’d turned up on a Friday and hadn’t been informed of this incongruity. Anyway, we were pleased, that apart from the mix up on days, the process had been smooth and we would just have to return to Metz on a Monday or Friday.

Many of our family are very keen butterfliers and three of them often go to Norfolk to see the British swallowtail in the only part of the UK that it can be found. Karen and I never go with them as we’re always in France during the flight period but ironically the first butterfly we saw in France was a swallowtail. It was a European swallowtail which is a different sub-species to the British one which is a deeper yellow.  In my mind I could already hear the Norfolk contingent poo-pooing our sighting as it wasn’t a ‘proper’ swallowtail.

Arriving back at Port Sainte-Marie

We arrived at the boat in the late afternoon and found that she was indeed covered in sand and looking rather forlorn but as we’d had a long day travelling we left the cleaning until the weekend. As is always the case I went in first to remove all the spider webs but for some reason there were very few and we soon had the car unpacked and were feeling at home. 

As we’d left the boat for a long time we thought we should drain the water tank and refill it with fresh water, a job we’ve never done before. Being moored in a port we had access to water so it was simple enough to do, even though it felt a bit wasteful. We also had access to electricity so took advantage of that and got out our electrical equipment such as a kettle and induction hob. It seemed daft to waste our gas reserves especially as we probably wouldn’t get electric hook up for the rest of the season.

Saturday 25 April

I was recently taking to Bob, a friend in our village, about the fact that we’ve rarely heard cuckoos in the area but we find the distinctive call quite common in France. They appear to be so common that it would be unusual not to hear one in rural areas at this time of the year.  When we awoke in the morning we were happy that one of the first birds we heard was a cuckoo and, not only that, we could also hear the unmistakable call of the beautiful golden oriel.

As is my habit I got up first and made myself a pot of coffee and a pot of tea for Karen. Having said that there’d been few spiders when we arrived it was just as well I’d got up first as nestling inside the cafetière were two dead spiders! Once we were up and about Karen went for a run along the towpath to Réchicourt where in the 1960s six locks were replaced by one 16-metre deep lock which we’ve been through a few times. She ran along the line of abandoned locks and then across the wide lake with the deep lock at the far end.

While she was on her run I set about washing the boat down. Before starting that I thought I’d check the engine first and, to my intense satisfaction, it started on the first turn of the ignition key.  When Karen returned she concentrated on cleaning the inside of the boat and by mid-afternoon we had the boat shipshape as they say and ready to start cruising. Rather than leaving that afternoon we got the table and chairs out and relaxed outside with some well-earned glasses of wine. Much of the evening was spent watching the exciting FA cup semifinal which sadly Southampton lost but at least it was a thrilling game.

Sunday 26 April

We’d received an email from VNF, the French canal authority, informing boaters that a stretch at the upper end of the canal de Meuse had to be closed in order to conserve water.  This was disappointing news for us as we’d intended travelling along that canal this year. Understandably, VNF’s priority is to keep commercial waterways open to the detriment of those used primarily for pleasure. Unfortunately for us, the upper end of the Meuse isn’t often used by commercial traffic so water reserves are best used for further downstream where the commercials operate. 

All this meant some replanning on our part. We were heading for the eastern end of the canal des Ardennes where we would leave the boat for the winter. This would have been a straightforward journey west along our current canal (the Marne au Rhin) to Nancy, then a short stretch on the Moselle and onto the Meuse which has a junction with the canal des Ardennes just north of Sedan (black line on map below).

Red star marks the closure

The shortest alternative would be to go past the junction with the Meuse and continue west along the length of canal du Marne au Rhin to reach the Marne valley. We would then be in our much-loved stomping ground around Châlons en Champagne where we’d spent much of the great Covid debacle. From there we would travel north to reach the canal des Ardennes at the other end to the one we wanted – detour shown by the blue line.

We’ve had bunting hanging inside the boat for many years but it had sadly faded so Karen had purchased a new length that was decorated with bees as an homage to my bee band. The bee band is a group of us who are learning to look after bees under the excellent supervision and tutelage of Gary, another friend of ours from our village.

Many beehives we see in France are brightly painted and I was pleased when we decided to paint our hives during the winter. I’m trying desperately to get the bee band to get bee suits to match their hives: I already have a lilac coloured suit to match the hive allocated to me.

Over breakfast we’d decided to start cruising and, as we’re keeping the car with us this year, we drove it down a couple of locks and walked back to the boat.  On the walk back a couple of hire boats came past us with happy families on board enjoying the lovely weather.  Back on board we spun the boat around and were waved off by our Alsatian neighbours.

They were a lovely couple that we’d occasionally chatted to over the last couple of days.  I say chatted but it was incredibly stilted as they spoke no English and, of course, we spoke no Alsatian.  They were also fluent in German, so although we know very few German words, that’s how we muddled through. Our understanding was that they were either spending 15 days getting their boat ready for cruising, going home for 15 days, cruising for 15 days then going home for five or even staying for the weekend and then going home. So you can see how confused we were. Reading up on the Alsatian language later I discovered that fewer than 700,000 people speak it and also the surprising fact that there are around 7,000 Swiss Amish in Indiana who speak Alsatian.

We were soon approaching our first lock which we had to operate with a télécommande (remote control unit) that had lain unused for many months. Fortunately, the batteries were still good and the lock operated smoothly for us.

Sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed we have new lines, including multicoloured centre lines. We have also bought new lines for when we were in deep river locks such as those on the Moselle and the Rhine. In those locks we often have to use two lines at each end of the boat and when they are the same colour it can get confusing which line is tied where. We now have two different coloured lines stowed at each end of the boat so we will have no chance of confusion.

As usual there was a lot of mistletoe in evidence and we have yet to understand why it seems to be more prevalent in France than in the UK.

We passed the car where we’d left it at the second lock and carried on cruising to Lagarde where we moored up above the top lock and walked back to retrieve the car and left it in the village outside a German war cemetery. We can’t have been popular as we disturbed dogs in the neighbouring houses which carried on barking long after we’d walked away from the car. 

Moored above the top lock at Lagarde

There were a few butterflies flying on the bank by the boat and I was pleased to see my first Small Heath and Dingy Skipper of the year. Later in the evening Karen retrieved the car and parked it next to the lock where we were moored.

On Sunday we cruised seven km down two locks and saw no boats.

Monday 27 April

At 6 o’clock in the morning we knew we were back in France because not only could we hear a cuckoo but the church bells in the village were chiming. Once we were up Karen moved the car 15 km further downstream and started running back. Meanwhile I started moving the boat so I could pick her up as I passed her. First we had to set the lock next to where we’d been moored so as part of her warming up Karen took the télécommande and walked back to the receiver to set the lock in motion and open the top gates for us.  She said she would leave it by the controls at the side of the lock. I have to use these controls once the boat is in the lock in order to empty it and open the bottom gates.

Try as I might I couldn’t find the télécommande anywhere around the lock so I had to phone Karen to find out where she’d left it.  It turned out that she’d been worried I’d kick it in the water by accident if she’d left it on the side of the lock so had put it somewhere more sensible but forgotten to tell me. I must have been thinking a bit slowly as I was also shocked to see the car wasn’t parked by the lock until it suddenly dawned on me that it hadn’t been stolen, Karen was driving it further downstream. Once I'd dropped down the lock I cruised past the large hire boat base at Lagarde:

After I’d travelled about 1/3^rd of the way Karen came into sight and I picked her up next to a télécommande receiver; note the masses of mistletoe in the tree beyond it.

Passing through Parroy where we’d left the boat one winter it started to feel muggy as wispy clouds moved in and ended up staying for the rest of the day but at least it remained warm. There was only one boat moored in the port at Parroy so we wondered what the reason was – maybe the mairie is planning some improvement works and has asked the boats to move elsewhere.

Soon after Parroy we were approaching the penultimate lock of the day and we noticed a hire boat in the distance behind us.  We waited in the lock for them and as they got closer we waved at them in a way to make it obvious they should join us.  They were a German family who were halfway through their week’s holiday but were thoroughly enjoyed it.

We went down two locks together and we then moored up for the day whilst they continued their journey.

Moored at Bauzemont for the rest of Monday

After a quick lunch we drove back to Metz to hopefully pick up our cards. It was a pleasant hour’s drive that took us through some wonderfully rural villages and we spotted our first lavoir of 2026 in a place called Réméréville.  Unfortunately it was locked up and looked like it was going to be renovated. I managed to get a shot of the inside through a small opening and could see that rather than a traditional rectangular basin it had two lengths of washing stones in parallel.

Once we parked in the city centre we went straight to the préfecture and were seen within 10 minutes and presented with our new residence cards.  On the way back we called in at Action – the go-to downmarket French store where you go in for two things and come out with 22.  There were EV charging points outside the store so we topped the car up while we shopped.

On Monday we cruised 15 km down six locks and saw just the one boat, the hire boat we went down the last two locks with.

I mentioned earlier that we’d been to Norway before returning to France to spend some time with our new grandson, Samuel, so here he is with his proud grandparents.

Since the last blog update Polly and Loch presented us with grandchild number eight, Paisley.  Here’s a picture of Pastry, as I call her, again with proud grandparents.  Emmy, her next sister up is looking rather bemused.