We have come a long way since we emailed you last week.  So much big traffic we got a move on and we are now in France having blitzed Belgium in five days.  We passed through Liege on the Albert Canal and found it almost entirely industrial.

Although the river is still very wide and deep the locks are now very narrow (5.6m) and automatic.  We have an infra-red controller that we press as we go past a sensor and the lock automatically opens, when safely in we can activate the next stage so no lock keepers at the moment.

The River Meuse in France is very peaceful and the scenery is spectacular with heavily wooded granite cliffs one side or the other with towns spread out along the river valley and then hills and mountains beyond.

David got his fishing rod out yesterday and has been catching barbel, bream and roach (only one small enough not to need the landing net). 

We can safely say we are where we wanted to be so we have slowed down, only travelling for an hour or two per day and at half speed.   We are also getting into the habit of going out to buy fresh bread each morning as you can’t beat freshly baked French bread (anyone’s mouth watering).

For the anoraks we have done 92 engine hours, GPS says we have travelled 563K at an average speed of 7.9 kph.   Yesterday when we left Givet we went through a tunnel that was 565m long.  There was no tow-path or lights so it got quite dark in the middle and was only just wide enough to let the boat through.

We are now at Haybes on the Canal de l’Est (northern branch) heading up river in a southerly direction in 100k or so we can decide whether to head east to Paris or south along the Canal de l’Est (southern branch).

 

 King Albert at the junction of the Meuse and Albert Canal in Liege

Nice Barbel

22nd June 2008

3rd July 2008

Been in rural areas for a while but we are now in the city of Reims.

The adventure goes on - on the Canal des Ardennes - last Thursday we travelled along the Valee des Ecluses - 27 locks in 8.4k with an average drop of 3m per lock.  Scenery now changed to chalk hills and boggy forrests by the river.

Weather has been mixed, we have had some really hot, some grey and windy and one or two rainy days.  Yesterday we started with a thunder storm and ended with another.

Monday evening we were moored on a quiet stretch of canal, no other boats in sight.  A man walked along introduced himself as Michael, chatted for a while, invited us back to his boat for drinks, a 60' automatic everything with a smart car on the back and room to swing a cat with a very long tail.  How the other half live!

Next day we met some more English people on their way to Reims so followed them up the river.  Now on the Canal de l'Aisne a la Marne (Champagne country).  At Reims we met Mary (the Irish lady from Hollywood) again and we had a very pleasant evening walking around the city in a thunder storm, it was so warm.  Mary pointed out places of interest, the magnificent Cathedral and museums, then coffee at a cafe in the square.

Hope to be in Paris in the next week or so.

30th July 2008

A lot of water has gone under the bridge and through the lock since we spoke to you last.

We had a lovely weekend in Paris, saw all the main sights, and spent an afternoon at the Louvre.   Accommodation rates were very good, two nights for two people in the centre of Paris 58 Euros total.  Didn’t like being back on the big river much (Seine), there were too many ships.  The River was lovely once we out of Paris but there not many places to moor so we did the 85km in two days.

We are happy to be back on a smaller canal, although there are still a few  barges of 300 tonnes or so.  We are on the Canal de Briare, it is very pretty and most of the locks are manually operated so can be rather slow but as we are not in a hurry the slower pace suits us fine.   David is getting a bit of exercise helping the lock keepers. 

We are in the Loire Valley and will be in Sancerre next week, we have friends coming to visit us so no doubt we will sample some of the local famous produce. 

The weather was good for sightseeing while we were in Paris but it has been really hot since we left.  David has been making sun shades from the cover that we used to wrap the mattress in when we brought it over on the roof of the car.  Hate to rub it in but the endless sunny days are great but the heat is sometimes unbearable.

We have just been thinking of all the things we haven’t done for three months, like drive a car or watch television or stand up straight for a pee (David).

13th Aug 08

You will all be pleased to hear that the weather has not been so good for the last few days, not so warm, rainy and windy at times.  We have just got a weather forecast and it is due to get hot again (36 tomorrow) - that is a bit too hot for us!  We will be looking for some shade.

We have visited so many interesting and beautiful places.  Montargis for the flowers, Rogney for the historic flight of locks, Sancerre and Nevers on the Canal Lateral a la Loire.  Sancerre was lovely, the town was on top of a hill, we did the tour of the historic sights and went to a wine tasting session with Jill and Andrew (boating friends if you don't know them).  We are now at Decize actually on the River Loire and next we are going through the lock and up the Canal du Nivernais, which is said to be very pretty.  For the next 100km we will be heading north instead of southeast.

It was Ruth's Birthday last week so we opened the Champagne that we bought at Epernay and one or two other bottles as well (not all Champagne).

We have seen several football sized black shapes in the water that turn out to be shoals of black catfish fry - photo attached!

GPS says we are 623 feet above sea level, we went right back down to about 60 feet above in Paris and have climbed all this way since then.  Quite a few locks at 10 to 15 feet a go.

28th August 2008

We are half way up (heading north) the Canal de Nivernais.  It is very pretty with a good tow path beside the Canal.  We have mostly nice 'young' lock keepers - students we suspect - quite a few girls doing this strenuous work.

We have met some interesting people lately Amir and Lulu from Israel and Harry and Oozie from Germany, travelled with them for a while but on our own again now until some one else turns up!

One very rainy day we were desperate for bread but David's inboard GPS was not working.  We had a lovely hour's walk back to the village where we had spent the previous night for a baguette.  There was another shop ten minutes in the opposite direction!

Did our first treble lock near Baye, which a big lake at sumit level for topping up the Canal.  It is very pretty, used for sailing and fishing.  On the way down from Baye we did a flight of 30 locks in one day,  It was a bit too much - we really needed a drink when we stopped.  We moored infront of a couple on a little red narrowboat called Gadabout who were on their way to Paris for the winter.  Very brave going along the Seine in a narrowboat.

We have decided not to head south down the Rhone to the Canal du Midi - we don't think we have time and we are enjoying the easy pace so much.  Perhaps another year...

David is a bit dissapointed - he was looking forward to the challenge of the Rhone.  It was the last of the big Rivers on our list.

David & Ruth