Fram's Voyages

Canal Route France North

 

8 June 2010

N 49 46.772 E 04 43.183

Charleville Mezieres, France

2 locks

 

We arrived in Charleville-Mezieres yesterday afternoon. We have had a very eventful few days.

On Sunday, 6 June, we entered France. We were stopped at the first lock and asked to present

our papers and show our vignette, which is our ticket for traveling on the French canals. The German 

waterways are free, the Dutch are mostly free, at least we didn't have to pay anything and the

Belgium waterways we're not so sure about. We read that the last lock that you pass in Belgium

charges you depending on where you have travelled, but we were never asked to pay anything. We

bought our French Vignette on the internet at home so had it all ready to show. They checked off

our name in their book and gave us a small remote control with one green button on it and instructions

on how to use the "L'ecluse automatique" or automatic locks. Very exciting we thought.  We proceeded to the first lock in France, came to the sign 300m before the lock, held up our remote control and aiming it at the sign, pressed the green button once and a strobe light started flashing telling us the process was underway.  As the doors swung open we were amazed to see how tiny the lock was and how slimy the walls were. We were used to locks 200 meters long and 15-24 m wide and a bit cleaner. Now suddenly we were faced with 50m long and 6m wide. Dan steered us in and we tied up; we could take our time here since it is up to us to push a blue lever to close the lock gates and start filling up the lock with water. When we were ready, I lifted the lever, the gates closed and water started rushing in at a formidable rate. Roam surged backwards and forwards as we held tight to our ropes and steadily shortened them as we were lifted up to the next level. When we got up, the gates opened and we released our lines and drove out of the lock and on our way. All of the locks would now be lifts of about 2-4 m each time. The canal wasn't much wider than the lock, and we took a sharp right and before us was an arch leading into a tunnel. Also a very small tunnel, I  might add. It was pitch black with just a tiny pin of light at the other end indicating the end of the tunnel. It was about 400 m long. Very creepy as it dripped from the ceiling and there were webs and bat guano up there...

 

We were happy to come to the end. We continued this way through the day, passing through the

Meuse valley which was magnificent. Every turn brought us new vistas of mountainous forest, little

French villages, each with its own church, and tree-lined canal paths.

 

Every 3-4 km we had a lock to go through. At the end of the day we came to a town called Fumay

which had a dock along the canal bank. We tried to tie up there but we hit bottom about 2 meters from the dock. One of the other Boat owners told us there was a super harbor at Revin, just 10 km and 3 locks down the way so we decided to try that. It was getting late so we sped up and did the first lock in record time; 7 minutes from start to finish. We zoomed off to the next lock 3 km up and approached the lock, but it didn't

open and none of the usual lights were on. Strange, we thought. We pushed our remote again, still nothing. Dan looked in the book and sighed...the locks close at 18.00 on Sundays and upon looking at our watches, we discovered that today was Sunday. Now we were between 2 locks with no where to tie up except a bunch of trees. We quickly devised a gang plank from the boat to the canal bank using the fender boards and then Dan handed me a rope and informed me that I would be the one walking the plank. "You must be joking" says I. I didn't savor the idea, but presumed that I didn't have much choice in the matter so held my breath and stepped out on the plank. I recalled my days on the balance beam at school and took the 4 steps necessary with focus and precision and stepped gracefully onto the bank, only to slip as the stones on the bank gave way and sent me sliding nearly into the filthy water. I say nearly, as the idea filled me with such dread, that I grabbed onto some bluebells and grass and held on frantically. Up on the canal path, Dan threw me a hammer and a metal wedge with a ring on it. I found a good place, hammered the wedge into the

ground, then threaded the line through the ring and sent it back to Dan on the boat. When I was finished with both bowline and stern line, I balance-beamed back to the boat. Next step was to wedge the 2 planks between the boat and the canal bank so that Roam would not drift into the bank or get stuck on the ground. The best way we found was to join the boards at a 90 degree angle and then secure the point midships on Roam thus creating two boards with 45 degree angle towards the shore. One to arrest forward motion and the other for backward motion .  Once we tightened up on the lines we felt very secure.

 

We spent a very peaceful night and in the morning found that we were right where we left ourselves the night before. We repeated the procedure of the night before in reverse with the exception this time that I didn't have to walk the plank back to the boat. Instead I ran up to the lock and prepared to meet Dan there and catch the lines and tie us up for the step up. We were joined this time by another boat so had to move up to the front of the lock. This was a drag because the closer forward you are when in a lifting lock, the more tumultuous the ride up as the water rushes in from the front. We had to hold on tighter than usual and Dan took the precaution of putting on a spring line just in case and it was a good thing as the water surged all around us and with the spring line we stayed still. We left the lock, rounded a bend and I was looking in the chart book telling Dan that we had to move to the left soon to avoid a shallow p.....and suddenly the boat lurched, skidded and was still with engine running. 

 

We had run aground. No amount of reversing and forwarding was getting us off. Luckily we had the

other boat behind us and when they caught up they saw our predicament and offered to tow us off.

Took just a couple seconds and we were freed. No damage done as the bottoms of these canals are

mud and silt. On our way once again, we went through another 11 locks and covered 46.4 km. You may think

that this sounds impossibly slow and must be boring. But we are enjoying ourselves immensely. We

take turns steering, 2 hours on and 2 hours off. The scenery never dulls, there are little surprises

around every corner. We read our books, talk about the landscape and the towns and marvel that

there are so many churches. We eat croissants for breakfast, baguettes for lunch and pastries for

tea-time at 15.30. 

 

In the evening after we tie up for the night, we go for walks or go running. We meet other boaters

and compare experiences and drink wine. When we got to Charleville-Mezieres yesterday, we saw

Su-Per was also here so docked next to them and then went together in to town to buy pre-paid

internet access for our computers. Since we're going to be in France for at least a month thought it

was the most practical way to access the internet. But for some reason, France is much more expensive

than Germany or Belgium, not to mention Sweden/Denmark. Here, the USB stick cost 59 Euro and you

get 2 hours internet access with it. Then you have to buy additional hours which cost about 8 Euro per

hour. We both thought this was far too much so we will continue looking for Wi-fi as we travel along.

The weather has finally turned into something like summer. We have had sun and about 24-28C.

 

 

9 June 2010

Lock Nr 5 – Attigny

N49 28.781 E04 34.553

36.5 km

31 locks

 

Woke up at 07.00 this morning, thinking to get an early start. It was raining and totally gray with

no hope of lightening anywhere. The lock seemed to be out of order so I jumped off the boat and

went to the lock house and knocked on the door, a woman answered and told me that the lock would

not be opened until 09.00. Bummer. So to while the time away I made a huge breakfast of scrambled

eggs and bacon, toasted pain riche and coffee and wouldn't you know it, as soon as it was ready to

dish up and serve, Dan called down that the lock was working and there was a barge in it coming down.

So breakfast went on hold and I went up to help Dan. The barge filled the entire lock, with only

centimeters to spare on either side. Naturally, it came out of the lock extremely slowly and inched

its way past us as we continued forward and into the lock after his exit. A VNF employee was there

looking after things to make sure it was working. VNF=Vois Navigations Francoise. This is an

organisation that is like the Keebler Cookie elves. They seem to be an army of little white vans

with the VNF logo on the side driving all over the countryside maintaining locks and helping boats

get through. Everytime we have a problem with a lock, we wait about 5, max 10 minutes and lo and

behold, along comes a little white VNF van along the canal path and has the lock fixed and in working

order within moments. Once we had to call a tel number to some central office somewhere in France

and the voice on the other end just said "quel qu'un venir" and within 5 minutes there was the little

white van tootling along the canal path towards us. We feel very secure and safe knowing that the

VNF army is looking after us! Anyway, back to our day; we came out of the lock and started down

the canal, and noticed the blue heron was back. He seemed to be keeping an eye on us. I tried to take

a picture of him but everytime I took the camera out, he would disappear for a while. We did another

3 locks before we came to Chesne where we handed back our remote control for the automatic locks

and started down a chain of locks, 26 of them, all spaced about 100-250 m apart for a total of 8 km.

We had another boat with us, a German boat from Berlin. Very nice couple; Claus (big and burly)and Hildegard (resembled a sparrow). For the first time since we left Germany, we started going down in the locks instead of up. It was very dramatic to see one lock after the other in succession. We could usually see 3 at a time. Each drop was between 2-3.5m. The whole string took 4 and 1/2 hrs. It was right during lunch too, and did not have a chance to sit down and eat. Between locks, I raced down, made 2 sandwiches, threw a coke to Dan and then raced back up to my position. After the lock, I went down again to give Dan his sandwich and take mine up to my station. But had to eat in stages as never had time to eat the whole thing in one go. Not the most enjoyable way to eat lunch.

As we moved through the locks, we kept hearing someone speaking on a loudspeaker and thought it

was a lockkeeper or someone shouting at us. We couldn't understand what they were saying so just

ignored it, but at one point towards the end, we were standing with our lines in the lock all ready to

go and waiting for the German couple to tie themselves down, when we suddenly heard very distinctly,

" Hildegard!! Raus Raus!" It was our German companions. He had a loudspeaker system on his boat and

he used it to yell at poor Hildegard from the pilot's cabin! She looked very flustered and irritated standing on the bow in the rain and I completely understood. So rude! When we had finished the series of locks , and had 5 km to the next lock, I made tea and it was the best tea I have ever had! It wasn't until we were through with the series of 26 locks that we noticed our friend was back, waiting up for us and then flying ahead and waiting again. He disappeared when we got to Attigny. No marina, just some bollards on the side of the canal, but near a grocery store. Su-Per was there as well as a couple English boats. Our lock

companions invited us over to their boat for a drink once we got all tied up. They had homemade

cordials; Elderberry and I think maybe red wine. It was good anyway and they were very pleasant

and friendly. She mentioned how difficult it is sometiimes for them as Germans to go through areas

that were heavily fought over during WWII and read in the guide books how the Germans had

destroyed so much in France. Sometimes Hildegard said she would like to put up a Belgian flag instead

of a German flag.

 

 

10-13 June 2010

Attigny - Guigincourt - Riems - St Léonard - Conde sur Marne

N49 25.168 E03 59.253 - Guigincourt - 51.4km

N49 14.951 E 04 01.507 - Riems - 29.8 km

N 49 13.311 E04 05.892 - St Leonard - 6.1 km

N49 02.565 E04 10.916 - Condé sur Marne - 24.9 km 

Total:

112.2 km

35 locks

 

Raining again and looking very gray. We decided to get a move on as need to get to Reims by Saturday

as the Gruner-Hegges are coming to do a weekend of canaling with us. Our friend, the blue heron was

there in front of  us and stayed with us for a few hours then disappeared. Guess he thinks we can

manage on our own now. Dan got a picture of him today. The scenery was very wild and foresty,

sometimes the trees hung over the canal so that you could only see a slim path through the middle

of the canal for all the foliage. It was beautiful for a while, but got kind of boring. We longed for the

vistas. Also got stuck behind a very slow barge that was loaded to the gills and pulled out in front of

us at a sugar factory along the canal. Total bummer as he took forever in the locks. We got as far as

Guigincourt before stopping for the night at a picnic place with bollards for tying up. Were with a

Belgian motor cruiser; Liberty, and were invited there for drinks in the evening. A very nice couple;

Rine and Luc from Antwerp. They were on a 5-week vacation cruising around the French waterways.

We compared notes on the German couple Claus and Hildegard and they had noticed the loudspeaker

instructions too:) We left early next day hoping to be the first ones to enter the locks when they

opened but that slow-poke barge got in before us and after he went through which was about 07.30,

they didn't open it again until 08.00, don't know why, think the lock keeper went back to bed or

something. Anyway put in a full day, saw our friend the Blue Heron a couple times. Feels so nice to

have him around. Bought fresh strawberries from a lock keeper for 4 Euro, at least half kilo, maybe

more. Tasted divine. Arrived Reims in the early afternoon so had time to go to the cathedral. It was

blistering hot, about 30C. Not complaining, we've been waiting a long time for warm weather and it

was beautifully sunny. Had lots to do to get ready for the Gruner-Hegges who were to arrive from

London at lunch time on Saturday. Early Saturday morning I took the trolley and pink bag plus

umbrella as had rained all night and was very overcast, to the Reims Marché. It´s near the train

station and as soon as I approached it and saw all the stands, I knew I was close to heaven. They

had everything there. All fresh from the farms. I bought cheeses, quiches, pates, ham, proscuitto

(Ardennais), salad stuff, bread, baguette, it was so much fun, I could have spent the entire day

there. But had to get back to the boat where Dan was busy cleaning. Also found that Roam was not

in the same spot in which I had left her in the morning. An English-owned barge had come in and

Dan offered to move Roam so he could lay up on the quay. We rafted onto them.They were very

nice and lent us a book in English on the Marne that we are getting very good use from. We have

promised to send it back to them when we are done with it. The Gruner Hegges arrived at 14.00.

We tucked into lunch which was a combination of all the stuff I bought at the market with Rosé Wine.

Then took off down the canal. Jens and Haakon handled the lines in the locks, 4 of them.       

The weather slowly cleared so by the time we found a camping spot at St Leonard for both Roam

and the Gruner-Hegge's tent, the sun was shining and it was warm and nice again. Dan and Jens went

off running back to Reims to get the car and Katy and I sipped wine while the kids played outside. I

think it was at a crushing plant because there were huge piles of fine and coarse-ground sand. When

the men got back they all put up the tent and D and J took showers with our shower bag attached to

a tree. Katy and Jens had champagne with them for cocktails. For dinner, we ordered 2 taxis to pick

us up on the bridge at St Leonard (had a hard time getting the taxi dispatcher to understand this,

but it worked in the end) and went in to Reims for dinner and the World Championship Soccer match.

Tonight was England vs USA. The dinner was super, Katy and I had Moules in Champagne, Dan and Jens

had steak. Haakon and Rolf had hamburgers and Scarlett had a ham and cheese baguette. The boys

were glued to the TV for the game and we were all proud that USA managed to tie the match against

England. It was a very enjoyable evening and we took taxis back to our camping spot and this is when

Camper Kate showed herself worthy of her new moniker. As we got out of the taxi and were trying to

make our way back to the campsite in the dark she produces two flashlights from her purse that had

been taken along solely for this purpose. We were duly impressed.  After the kids were tucked in we

enjoyed another bottle of bubbly. When in champagne country...

 

Katy woke me up early next morning and we jumped in the car and went to the nearest village with a

patisserie which was Taissy and less than 2 km away. We bought baguettes, croissants, brioche and

some pastries. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Katy Dan and I ate a leisurely breakfast in the

cockpit while all the others slept. When everyone else was up and had had breakfast, Katy and I took

the car to Beaumont sur Marne where we left it and started walking back towards the boat. It was

about 3 km. Met them at Sillery and hopped back on the boat. When we passed by about an hour later,

Jens jumped off and took the car to Billy Le Mont which was the end of the 2.8 km tunnel that we

were going to finish their weekend off with and walked back towards us. Meanwhile Scarlett learned

to do a bowline knot and did it beautifully. Rolf Magnus was an expert at hollowing out his baguette

and making annoying noises and Haakon was the best lock climber we've had on the boat yet. Jens

met us at the entrance to the tunnel. We had to wait for about an hour while a barge that was

coming from the opposite direction made his way through the tunnel. Soon the green light went on for

us and we entered the tunnel. It took about 10 minutes to get through and this one had lights so was

not completely dark. The kids sat up in the bow and watched our progress and looked up at the ceiling

to see what was hanging down...

        

At the end of the tunnel when we came out into the sunlight, we moored the boat along the side and

walked with Katy and Jens and the kids up to their car which was waiting for them just above the

tunnel. Hugged everyone good-bye and then went back to Roam to continue our journey down to Condé

sur Marne. When we got to the marina listed in the book, we found a nice spot along the side and came

in slowly, only to stop dead as Roam ground into the silt on the bottom of the canal...again. This happens

to us so often. But luckily the bottom is very soft silt so we were able to pull ourselves in close enough

to be able to go ashore.

 

15 June 2010

Chalons en Champagne - Vitry-le-Francoise

32 km

8 locks

 

Arrived here this afternoon from Chalons en Champagne. Once again the marina that looked so good

in the handbook, turned out to be too shallow for our draft of 1.60. We couldn't get up the little channel to the marina as it wasn't deep enough for us so we were very kindly invited to raft up along side a South African peniche, which we did. Mind you, it wasn't easy there either as we ran aground as we came up next to them, but the bottom is so soft that we slowly worked our way in close enough to cross over their boat to land. Wendy Mathers helped us with our lines and as we were working our way in the owner, Jeremy Mathers, came out with 2 ice cold beers for us. It was sooo nice! Once we got all tied up, Dan went running and I went to McDonald's for the free wifi to update our website and check emails.

According to the canal book, there was wifi here, but the promised wifi turned out to be a map with directions to McDonalds in the center of town. I know what you're thinking: What can we expect, we're in France? But it surprises us everytime. Good thing the food and wine are so good here! 

I have a hard time with wifi at McDonald's as feel that I have to buy food in order to deserve the time on internet so I bought a fish filet menu. Jeremy came in after a while and all he ordered was a cup of coffee and another Englishman came in and did the same. So now I know for next time that I don't have to order a whole menu, coffee will suffice as payment:) Back at the boat, we invited Jeremy over for a glass of wine. His wife Wendy and friend Deb were out walking in the village. They joined us when they got back and then invited us over for dinner and a soccer game, Brazil vs North Korea. We had an incredibly enjoyable evening with them and stayed up very late talking. Next morning Dan and I went for a run with Jeremy and then

it was time to move our boats. They were heading north for Chalons en Champagne and we had thought

to stay but since it was so shallow, figured it was just as well to continue on our way and go to St.

Dizier instead. Made a very hasty good-bye to them as the fire brigade arrived and needed to get to the water in the canal at just the spot we were in so we all flew to our stations and got moving, calling out good-byes to each other. Hope somehow our paths cross again.  

 

16 June 2010

Vitry le Francoise - St Dizier

24.2 km

12 locks

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The Marne was very dirty and murky today and not a single boat did we meet the whole way.

St Dizier turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. The chart book said there was a full-service

marina there but when we got to the place it was barren and deserted. So continued on through one

more lock and found a place to tie up to the side of the canal which was thankfully deep enough for us.

It was in an industrial part of town so didn't venture out, instead made a nice dinner and spent a cozy

evening on Roam. Dan changed the oil filter today.

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17 June 2010

St Dizier - Joinville

30.4 km

13 locks

 

Today is Kimmie's Birthday and we are in Joinville, France. Very far away, but our thoughts are with

her. We had a long day on the canal today. Left St Diziers at 08.15 and worked our way through 14

locks to Joinville where we arrived at 16.30. We had rain in the morning, sun/clouds in the afternoon

and a shower in the evening, but temperature was about 20C. We saw several castles, churches from

the 11th century and a piece of a Roman aquaduct. Our favorite heron paid us a visit and travelled

with us for a while in the afternoon. We know he's the same one because he has a white fleck on his

right shoulder. (So we're not just being goofy sentimental old fools) Anyway, it somehow makes our

day when we see him flying over our heads and sweeping away ahead of us to make sure all is in order.

We also had frequent visits from the VNF people who escorted us along the canal and opened bridges,

stopping traffic, just for us! Tomorrow we start manual locks instead of the automatic locks we've

had for the last week. So we had to tell them where we'd be stopping for the night tonight (Joinville)

and at exactly what time we would depart Joinville tomorrow (10.00) so they could meet us at the

first lock and then escort us all the way to Froncles which is our stop for tomorrow. Feels very safe

and secure to have them nearby. But we are dreading telling them that we will be staying at Froncles

tomorrow and Saturday and not continuing till Sunday. Does this mean they will be out of work on

Saturday? There are absolutely no other boats out here right now. The last boats we saw were in

Vitry-le-Francois 2 days ago. 

Joinville's nautical marina is very nice. We have access to water, electricity, it's deep

enough for us and the village of Joinville is beautiful. All the buildings are old and on narrow streets

that wind up to the church which is from the 13th century. Every house has an abundance of flowers

in pots hanging below the windows making it very picturesque. 

​

18 June 2010

Joinville - Froncles

N 48 17.968 E 05 09.165

22.1 km

9 locks

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Weather was overcast and foggy but cleared up in late morning to provide a nice day. Our private escort continued to accompany us on his moped. He prepared and opened each lock. The last of which nearly stopped us as something was stuck so door couldn't close. 3 other of his colleagues showed up in a little white minivan within moments and they had it working in half an hour. Froncles has nice marina, 6 Euros. Deep.

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20 June 2010

Froncles - Chaumont

N 48 07.058 E 05 09.222

23.6 km

11 locks

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Good spot to stop. All facilities, good depth 1.9 m

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21 June 2010

Chaumont - Rolampont

N 47 57.209 E 05 17.112

27.4 km

15 locks

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We travelled with 2 Swiss motorboat through the locks. Escorted by 2 different VNF kids (summer job). Went running after we tied up

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22 June 2010

Rolamport - Langres

N 47 52.903 E 05 20.360

9.6 km

6 locks

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