Longueil-Annel (a chance to be intrepid)

Rear view from our mooring at Noyon on Sunday

I can’t have needed coffee that badly on Sunday morning because when I noticed that the flame had gone out under the kettle I opted to go back to bed rather than venturing outside in the dark to swap to a new gas bottle. When I finally gave in and went to change it the wind gusted strongly and blew me off balance as I got onto the gas locker at the front of the boat.  Fortunately, the wind was coming across the cut and I managed to fall safely onto the quay.  When I mentioned it to Karen later, she casually said she’d noticed but assumed I hadn’t gone in the water as she saw me back on the locker a short while after.  We were obviously suffering from the winds that the south of France, Italy and the UK have had recently although we didn’t have the rain.  To be fair, you can count on it being any combination of raining, snowing, windy or dark when gas bottles run out.

Our plan for Sunday was to have a look around Noyon during the morning and then, as the winds weren’t strong enough to stop us cruising, move on down to the end of the Canal du Nord in the afternoon.  Noyon was a pleasant town and we imagined it would normally be quite a tourist spot but, as is coming to be the norm, we seemed to be the only people wandering around other than locals on a mission to buy bread or go to a pharmacy.  Large signs informed us that since last Wednesday masks had to be worn outside in the town so maybe that was another reason it was so quiet. 

We didn’t have a trail to follow so we made up our own.  One of the two museums was housed in this bishop’s palace and we particularly liked the effect of the tower topped and tailed by cones…

…and around the back were the remains of a bishop's palace that was even older:

A service was going on in the cathedral and Karen popped her head in to see how the congregation were arranged.  She was surprised that although it seemed people were wearing masks there was no social distancing nor any sign of seats or pews being taped off.  She seems to be making a habit of checking as when we were in Cambrai she looked inside the cathedral and saw that alternate seats were taped out of use,

Two views of Noyon cathedral

These houses had rather grand gates but I couldn't ascertain the reason:

The town war memorial looked like it housed a pair of pissoirs:

We came across the old girls’ school but could find no trace of a building in a similar style that would have housed the boys:

During lunch the wind picked up and it became so strong that we decided that it’d be safer to stay put rather than cruise in the afternoon.  To be honest, we’d moved for each of the previous 12 days and were happy not to go especially as we now only had one day before we reached the end of the Canal du Nord.

After Southampton’s poor start to the season I’d also decided not to watch their match against West Brom in the afternoon.  In the end, the pull was too much so we put it on just before kick-off. Fortunately, we won so I wasn’t sad for the rest of the day.

As we didn’t go for a cruise we went for another walk and, as luck would have it, got caught in the only rain of the day.  We’d nearly reached the point farthest from the boat when it started.  Happily, it only lasted about ten minutes and the sun had practically dried us out by the time we returned.

Most days we see our grandson Ellis on video calls with Lauren & Lewis and it’s amazing how much he’s changed in the seven weeks since we were last back in the UK and we can’t wait to see him again.

Lauren & Lewis with our gorgeous Ellis – nearly 10 months old

We were moving on Monday whatever the weather and even set the alarm half an hour earlier than usual.  Not that we'd really needed to have set the alarm as we heard and felt the first commercials coming through while it was still dark (France is one hour ahead of the UK).  Once again we were fortunate with the weather as it didn’t rain until later in the evening once we were inside for the night.  As usual, we made sure no boats were coming before we set off for the first lock, but as seems to be the rule over the last few days, one appeared around the corner about a kilometre away as we left. 

We slowed down to let him catch up so we could gauge whether or not we could share the lock with him.  As luck would have it he was Freycinet gauge so plenty of room to tuck in behind him.  Not only that, he was Dutch and wanted to speak in English not French on the radio which was fine by me.

Following our Dutch friend out of the first lock

A third stroke of luck was that he was fully laden which meant that we would be able to keep up with him and share the rest of the locks we wanted to go through.  After the second lock, the last on the Canal du Nord, we joined the Canal latéral à l’Oise where both of us turned right.

Junction ahead

The latéral à l’Oise is only 33 kilometres long and runs parallel with the River Oise from the Saint Quentin canal at Chauny at its north eastern end down to join the navigable River Oise at its south western end at Longueil-Annel.  We joined the canal at about its halfway point and immediately felt the difference with the Canal du Nord which was strange as it was just as wide and straight.  We put it down to the fact that it's a much older canal and somehow felt less functional.  For example the Canal du Nord was built with sloping sides so the only places we can really moor are at the quays alongside grain silos which, in themselves, are functional.

Turning right onto the new canal

While following the Dutch boat I saw a kingfisher hovering over the water just in front of our boat, a behaviour I’ve never seen before.  It reminded me that the over the last couple of days Karen has spotted two separate kingfishers perched in trees.  Usually it’s the flash of them flying or their call that brings attention to themselves, so I was rather impressed, especially as they sit motionless.  While on wildlife the only butterflies we’re seeing now are the usual whites, the occasional speckled wood and the hibernators like the red admiral, but at least they’re still around.

We shared one more lock with the Dutchman before exchanging our goodbyes and mooring up for the day at Longueil-Annel.  The locks on the latéral à l’Oise are double the width and double the length of those on the Canal du Nord so can fit the 180 x 12 metre boats seen on the Seine and other large rivers.  Actually, alongside each lock is a second, smaller lock, and we wondered if we would have had to use the smaller one if we’d been on our own.

Plenty of room to share

There were lots of residential boats moored at Longueil-Annel and they were nearly all converted Freycinet péniches.  It always amazes us to think of the amount of space there must be to live in on boats of that size.

Moored at Longueil-Annel in front of a more sensibly sized boat

The town had a real boaty feel to it and there was a museum about the history of the French canals but it was closed on Mondays. 

The museum

Part of the museum was in a converted péniche moored opposite the museum building but that too was closed. Even the town is known as the cité des bateliers and it did feel as if the houses along the canal and the river were at one with the boats, especially those flying flags of course.  There was a footpath over a lock in the town which gave us good views.

Looking upstream to our mooring in the line of boats on the right

Looking downstream with the smaller lock on the left

About half a kilometre further on from the lock was the end of the canal where it meets the river Oise.  There was a large island in the river at this point and it had even more residential boats moored around it.  The guidebook said that smaller boats could turn upstream for a few kilometres to the navigable end of the river which was something we fancied doing.  As we've found several items that are quite out of date in the book we thought we ought to check for ourselves first.  

We walked along the riverbank to where there was a small basin with a few boats in various states of repair, the longest of which was no more than ten metres long.  We decided we would like to be intrepid and have a go at getting to the navigable end but would leave it until tomorrow.

The navigable end of the Oise unless in a kayak or similar 

We’d realised during the day that it was four years ago to the day that we moved from our old boat onto the current one and remembered how Buddy behaved at the time.  Even when the old boat was empty and we’d moved everything onto the new one, he still wouldn’t accept it and resolutely stayed on the rear deck of the old one.

Buddy didn’t want to move across to the new boat

On Monday we cruised ten miles down three locks.

Noyon (on the way down)

Karen and her prize bollard

It looked like another day of rain on Friday, so it was on with the wet weather gear to have a look around Péronne which is a town on a small rise surrounded by lakes formed by the Somme.  Some of the lakes had hortillonnages or floating market gardens, but not to the extent that we saw in Amiens.  Péronne was another town that was badly damaged during WWI including many of the historic monuments like the castle and the city walls.

The restored castle (château de Péronne)

The castle in its current form dates from the 13^th century although there were fortifications in the same spot for many centuries before.  After the damage suffered in WWI it has been faithfully restored and now houses a WWI museum.  The moat has been converted to public gardens as a place of peace and were designed by two landscapers, one from the Republic of Ireland and the other from Northern Ireland.  As they are in the old moat, they are hidden from street level and public view giving a sense of solitude as we wandered around.  We were the only ones there in the rain, but they must be a lovely place to visit on a sunny day.

We saw plenty of other examples of the city walls and in places the moat was still in water.

Not a moat but one of the many arms of the Somme running around town

Entrance to the remains of a fort

Porte de Bretagne built in the 17th century

The gates like the Porte de Bretagne used to have drawbridges across the moat.  Inside the gatehouse we could see part of the drawbridge operating gear and took a while to understand how it worked.

Wheels on the axle that used to draw the bridge

Walking through town we came across an old Michelin road sign showing distances to WWI cemeteries.  Apart from restaurant guides the Michelin tyre company became famous for their road guides and road signs from the beginning of the 20^th century when cars first appeared.  They also produced guides to the WWI battlefields and cemeteries hence the old sign near the high street.

The sign would have been erected soon after the end of the war 

It was still raining when we got home so had an early lunch before setting off for the afternoon.  You may wonder why we were cruising in the rain, but it was all part of the plan.  We’d decided to cover as much of the Canal du Nord as we could over a weekend as we’d assumed there would be fewer commercials around so using the locks would be less fraught. While I got the boat ready to leave, Karen walked down to the end of the quay which was on a bend so she could check if any boats were coming our way down the long straight.  All was clear so off we went.

The first lock was only a mile away so after a few minutes we radioed ahead on the channel for the lock to let them know who we were, where we were and that we wanted to go up.  Just like when we came down the northern section of the canal, there was no response.  Of course, this puts us immediately on edge.  Have they heard or not?  Will it hassle them if we call them again?  Is the radio working?  We arrived in sight of the lock and could see a single red light; if the lock was being set for us there would be a single green light as well as the red.  We hovered a good distance away and waited awhile.  We were about to give in and use the radio again when we saw a boat was entering the lock from above. so we relaxed and waited until it came down. 

We were expecting just a single green light to indicate we could enter when the boat was clear, but all the lights went out instead.  I guessed this meant a boat was behind us and sure enough one had caught up so, as they have priority, I let him pass and a single green light came as soon as he was alongside us to allow him in.  As he was an 88 metre boat there wasn’t room for us in the lock with him.

One leaving the lock and the other going in

The guy on the boat acknowledged us for waiting and called us on channel 10 (a boat to boat channel) to explain what was happening.  Well, he explained but we didn’t quite understand.  We understood that another boat was coming down after he’d gone up, but we would be clear to go up afterwards or he may have meant that there was another boat coming.  After a lot of embarrassment, as there was clearly one important word he was using that we didn’t understand, we said our goodbyes. 

After watching two more lock operations we got ready to go in again and the same thing happened as another commercial came into view.  Luckily, he was only 39 metres long so there was room for us to go in with him.  We had a brief radio conversation and he was more than happy for us to go with him, either behind or in front.  I opted for behind him and as he came alongside, found it really difficult to get out of his way because the swell from the boat that had just left the lock was pushing us away from the bank.  That was just the sort of situation why some people have bow thrusters fitted. 

He got past without us hitting him

The lock was only four metres deep which was half the depth we’d got used when we were on the northern section of the canal so it meant Karen should be able to get her line over a bollard at the top rather than using the stepped bollards that are in the side of the deeper locks.  As we were sharing a lock, we both hoped nothing went wrong and I was really proud of Karen as she just managed to loop her line over the bollard after precariously standing on tiptoes on the roof. 

Tied up securely and rising

Of course, the guy in the commercial had just lent out of his cabin and with a casual flick had thrown his line up and over his bollard.  Mind you he was higher up than us so not quite in Karen’s league!

Not so easy to get our loop over large bollards when we're at the bottom of the lock

The péniche was empty and too fast for us so soon left us behind which meant there was no way we were going to share the next lock as it was five miles or so away.  As with Thursday there seemed to be a constant stream of boats coming towards us and we kidded ourselves that they were getting out of our way so we could have an easy weekend.

The second lock went a lot smoother and we only had to wait for a boat to come down.  The whole operation was almost flawless other than when the boat left, we were facing a red and green light and not a single green that meant we would be allowed in.  We waited for nearly ten minutes with an empty lock in front of us and were just about to radio again when the red light was extinguished, and we were free to go.  This rather brought home how the locking operation relies on CCTV as one control room will cover several locks remotely and no doubt little boats like us can get easily overlooked.

Fortunately, we only had the two locks and the rest of the journey was uneventful if rather wet.  Nearing the end of the cruise we went past the junction with the Canal de la Somme. 

Canal de la Somme goes off to the left

The original Canal de la Somme stretched 156 kilometres from the Saint-Quentin canal at Saint-Simon in the east down to the sea at Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme.  There are four sections to the canal, the first two being the maritime canal up to Abbeville and then the long section to the Canal du Nord at Péronne.  We covered both of these in September.  The third section is now shared with the Canal du Nord and is that which we cruised today.  The fourth, 16-kilometre section, was closed in 2006 and ran from this junction to Saint-Simon as shown by the dotted line on the map below.

Our long-winded journey from Saint-Simon

Leaving Saint-Simon (blue flag) we went north up the Saint-Quentin, then west along the Canal de la Sensée then south down the Canal du Nord before going down and back up the Canal de la Somme to re-join the Canal du Nord and arriving 16 kilometres from where we were on 29^th August.

We moored for the day at some bollards near the village of Nesle and had to put the heating on in order to dry out our wet weather gear including Buddy’s coat.  He still just won’t go inside the boat when we’re outside however hard it’s raining.  We both felt that this section of the Canal du Nord was far more picturesque than the northern section but with rain nearly all day it wasn't possible to get any decent pictures of the surrounding landscape.

Moored at Nesle

Checking our emails later we found that we've had 20% of our French boat licence fee refunded for the three months we were unable to cruise due to confinement.  We have to admit we weren't expecting it, especially as it wasn't the fault of VNF.  At just over half the cost of a CRT boat licence in the UK we find it incredibly reasonable even before a 20% rebate. 

On Friday we cruised 13 miles up two locks.

Fortunately for us Saturday’s forecast rain never arrived so we had a dry cruise which was a welcome relief from Friday.  Before we left, we had a good walk along the canal for a few kilometres with the idea of turning it into a circular walk by taking in a village on the way back.  When we reached the road that ran into the village it didn’t look particularly inviting as there was quite a bit of traffic and no verge to speak of to walk along.  We returned along the towpath which was better for Buddy anyway as he could be off his lead.

We had one lock to go up before we reached the summit.  Unusually the Canal du Nord has two summits this one being the second or southern one.  We were just going to set off but stopped as a commercial came around the corner heading our way.  We gave him ten minutes or so to get ahead and into the lock before trying again.  This time we were lucky and unlike yesterday we also received responses each time we radioed ahead for locks to be operated for us which reduced our stress levels somewhat.  A commercial was waiting for us to come out of the first lock.  Can you see what’s unusual about what happened from the picture below?

Commercial waiting for us to leave

If you're a boater you probably noticed I was on the wrong side of the other boat.  I’d made the right decision and went the ‘wrong’ side of him so that he could be perfectly lined up to go straight into the lock after we'd emerged. The guy driving was really appreciative, and his wife was holding up their little dog to show us they had one as well as us.  A bit different to when I didn’t go the ‘wrong’ side a month ago which made the guy grumpy; mind you his wife had been happy and smiley as if to say he was just being grumpy.

We moored for lunch at a place called Port d’Ércheu but were surprised it had a name on the map as it was a couple of miles from the nearest village and would only fit a couple of boats our size.

Lunch at Port d'Ércheu

As you can see, Buddy was immediately flat out on the grass by the far end of the boat, and we also had a pile of mangelwurzels to look at.  Soon after setting off again we went through the tunnel on the summit.  It was only just over a kilometre long and, as it wasn’t wide enough for two-way traffic, it was controlled by traffic lights.  We didn’t have to wait too long while a commercial made its way through and the green light came on for us to proceed.

Entering the north portal of the Panneterie tunnel

Like other French tunnels it was lit but the lighting in this one was so poor that the lights might just as well have been left off.  It did give us the feeling of driving through a UK tunnel as we had to have our headlight on. The tunnel originally had a towing path either side, but one has been half taken up and as it was nearly down to the water level it was breaking up in several places where it’d been hit by boats.

Dangerous looking towing path

Most commercials seem to be carrying grain, sand, gravel or coal but we passed one soon after the tunnel with a different cargo:

Scrap metal boat

We moored for the night by some grain silos at a place called Noyon which, coincidentally, we’d visited two years ago.

The silos at Noyon

The view the other way was better

I said coincidentally because we’d stopped near this spot on the second day of our six-week road trip through France to Tuscany just over two years ago.  The French bit of the trip had been exploratory as we were investigating the canals before we brought the boat over in the following Spring.  We’d travelled on country roads until we'd reached Italy and had stopped for lunch at Noyon and a walk along the canal.  While I was securing the boat after our cruise, Karen had walked Buddy along to the spot where we’d parked by the canal.  He certainly looks like he remembered that we’d parked at the bottom of these steps.

We’d deliberately cruised on a Saturday as we’d hoped there wouldn’t be many commercials on the move.  Even though it was quieter than Friday it was still quite busy, and we soon lost count.  Karen pointed out that the canal is closing in a week for a week for some maintenance works so maybe that was making it busier.  In the end it was a stress-free day, all the locks behaved and we didn’t get into any difficulties.

On Saturday we cruised 14 miles up one lock, down two and through one tunnel.

Péronne (au revoir à la Somme)

Karen was gone longer than usual when she took Buddy for his pre-breakfast walk on Wednesday and I suddenly realised why.  They must have gone back to the walnut tree at the lock for a final check before we left.  I wandered down and sure enough there they were.

She’s at it before 9am

As you’re probably bored of hearing about walnuts, I’ll try not to mention them anymore, but I did say try.  We weren’t sure where we were going to get to on Wednesday but knew we wanted to stop at Cappy because it’s one of the very few places along the Somme that has the complete range of recycling bins.  We arranged for an éclusier to meet us at the first lock in time for us to get to Cappy for the lunch break.  You may have noticed that since being on the Somme we have only mentioned éclusiers and not éclusieres It’s unusual because, compared with the other French waterways, they have all been men.  We did see one girl (éclusiere) in Somme département uniform a couple of weeks ago but, rather than operating a lock, she was driving a tipper truck that was being loaded with weed from the canal.

Not sure why I took this picture

Although it was a fairly grey day it was warmer again which made for a pleasant cruise.  We passed through an area that had lakes both sides and many little islands with fishing/shooting huts on them.  These huts are only accessible by boat and must be the perfect getaway.

Passing one of the huts

When we arrived at the lock cut in Cappy we were reminded that most of the Somme from this point back to the Canal du Nord was quite weedy.  The section around Cappy itself was a lot clearer than on the way down as the weed cutters had been at work but I still had to visit the weed hatch.  We moored up for lunch behind a weed cutter and opposite a farm that looked like it had all its equipment on display for an agricultural sale.  We seemed to get plagued by flies during lunch and assumed they were coming from the cows in the farm so were rather glad to get on the move again.

Cappy for lunch and a view of farm machinery

Over lunch we decided to carry on to Feuillères which is the last place where we can moor before leaving the Somme.  Karen walked with Buddy as he hadn’t really had a proper walk in the morning.  As we had two locks to go up, I had the dubious task of doing them on my own.  I say dubious because going up locks in France is not easy for single-handers compared with in the UK where single-handing is quite simple.  It means that I had to go into the lock, stop the boat against one side, go down to the front of the boat, get a line over a bollard, go back to the tiller and put the boat in forward so it’s held against the wall as it ascends.

After going up the second lock I pulled in at the lock landing for Karen & Buddy.  As it seemed nice and peaceful and we were only a couple of kilometres from where we originally planned to stop, we decided to stay for the night.

You can guess what Karen’s doing and also what the two arrowed trees are, but I did say I would try not to mention that word again.

Moored at Frise

On Wednesday we cruised nine miles up four locks.

We were expecting rain on Thursday morning and rain it did – the first continuous rain we’ve seen for ages. It was just as well we had an online bridge session for a couple of hours as it gave us a great excuse not to go outside.  We had a classroom session for the first hour and, considering the participants were our age or older and therefore not necessarily technically savvy, it went very well.  There were some funny bits, such as hearing off camera conversation when couples forgot to go back on mute after asking a question.  Mind you, our teacher was very patient which really helps; we used to attend his classes at Tunbridge Wells bridge club and thought he was rather good then.  We then had an hour or so playing bridge online with prepared hands that covered the areas covered by the lesson.

Whilst having lunch the rain stopped and the sun came out.  As it was forecast to be sunny all afternoon we set off as soon as we’d finished eating.  After ringing for an éclusier as we had a lift bridge a couple of miles away, black clouds started rolling in again.  By the time we were ready to set off the skies opened, and the rain came down harder then ever.  Poor old Buddy was outside and couldn’t get on the boat to shelter as our back was hanging over the edge of the mooring.  While we were untying our lines, we noticed he was digging a hole in the bank and was trying to hide, not very successfully, from the downpour.

Karen & Buddy walked to the lift bridge where I picked them up as it was still bucketing down.  No sooner were they on than it eased and within a few minutes had stopped and we had blue skies again.  We went through the final lock on the Somme and said our goodbyes to the éclusier.  We have absolutely loved our 24 days on the river and consider ourselves most fortunate that we made the trip down to the coast in glorious weather even if we’ve had a few grey days and some rain on the way back.

Goodbye to the Somme

The final stretch from the lock is canalised as you can see above, and we were soon joining the Canal du Nord.  Having come down from the north on the Canal du Nord we were now going to head south to its end where it joins the Canal latéral à l’Oise. As we approached the junction the rain started again, and we could see it was busy which was going to be a bit of a shock.  Not only have we seen very few pleasure boats over the last three weeks, we haven’t seen any commercials as they no longer use the Somme.

Just about to turn right onto the Canal du Nord

Boats were passing at regular intervals dictated by the length of time it takes to get through a lock.  The boats are limited to about 90 metres because of the locks on this canal and we call these boats little big boys.  They’re obviously a lot larger than the 39 metre Freycinet barges we’re used to on the canals in central France but nothing like the big boys of 180 metres that we’ve encountered on the large rivers.  In fact, travelling with these little big boys will ease us into being with the big boys when we reach the River Oise in a week or so.

39 metre Freycinet peniche pushing a 50 metre barge 

In France, boats over 20 metres in length have to have their dimensions and weights clearly shown on the sides.  It makes it easy for us to see how long the boats are without guessing.

We didn’t travel far on the Canal du Nord before we had to moor up at Péronne for the rest of the day.  There are very few spots for pleasure boats to moor on the canal so Karen has put together a detailed plan of where we will be travelling on each of the next few days.  The next mooring after Péronne was a good few hours away and we didn’t feel like tackling it late in the afternoon.

Our 'industrial' mooring at Péronne

Sitting inside the boat we instantly remembered the noise of a busy commercial canal, the throb of the engines can be heard quite a distance away so it sounds like they are constantly passing.  Don’t get us wrong, we think it’s fantastic that the waterways are still being so well used by commercials.  In fact we feel like we’re trespassing on their territory which I suppose we are.

The current plan, which has had to be adjusted for winter stoppages for maintenance, takes us down to the latéral à l’Oise and then onto the River Oise itself.  Rather than following the Oise down to the Seine into Paris we will go up the River Aisne to Soissons which was the furthest north and west we made it to last year.  From then we will make our way back to Châlons-en-Champagne with a detour a little way down the River Marne if the weather stays kind.

The next step of our journey: Péronne down to Châlons-en-Champagne

While we were having dinner there was a knock on our door.  A French couple were selling fruit, vegetables and eggs from their car.  As well as servicing the commercials that moor overnight they clearly ply their trade with tourist boats. We bought a few things but not potatoes.  They were really plugging their pomme de terres and we're sure it was because they realised we were English!

On Thursday we cruised eight miles up one lock.