Week 215: Heading for Reims
From the Champagne-Bourgogne canal, onto the Lateral du Marne and finally, heading up to Reims. We continue winding our way north towards Belgium, up hill and down dale.
There's an element of repetitiveness setting in. Get up, head off around 8.30, and cruise until 5 pm. Sometimes we leave a touch earlier or cruise a touch later. But each day has been blending into one after the other of the relentless beauty of the French canals.
But we can't complain. Overall, this week (Sunday–Saturday), we did 222.8 km, 91 locks and two long tunnels.
After posting last week's blog, we entered the Balsemes tunnel – a 5 km tunnel that goes through a hill. It was both incredibly tense and exciting for the first 10 minutes until we had the hang of it, then perhaps the dullest part of the journey as we watched the walls pass by for the next hour; the only feature was the markers every ten meters.
Cold and wet underway. The school group chanted "La Peniche" (the barge) as we passed. We toot lots of people as we go along.
Still, it saved a lot of time. We were warned there was a commercial barge ahead of us, the first traffic we encountered along the canal, and sure enough, at the first lock, we experienced the theme of the week—delays at locks after a very smooth run previously.
It's all quite scenic. A practical thing was removing the stairs which has opened up a lot of space now.
We passed them without too much drama, although we didn't like waiting for them to enter, fill the lock and exit. From there, we started on the downhill stretch of the canal. Seventy-one locks until we finally reached the end of the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne.
We found a lovely little restaurant for dinner with an exceptional cheese board.
After having a smooth journey with locks to date, we began to experience what happens when they go wrong. For example, we headed off early one day to get a good distance in, and the first lock we reached showed an error (two red lights). We called the canal authorities, and they despatched a lock keeper. Debris had jammed the lock gate, preventing it from opening properly.
Another lock had lost power. We had to call and wait, and then the lock keeper came and manually operated all the gates and sluices for us.
After being delayed again and again, we were excited to reach lock 71—the final lock of the system. This time, it failed to open, and then a commercial barge came up behind us and pushed in front. They have priority, but it was very frustrating to have to wait for yet another delay!
Commercial traffic, then exiting the Champagne-Bourgogne canal finally under the railway bridge!
Then we were on to the Canal Lateral á la Marne. Although it's quite close as the crow flies, the difference was dramatic. It was much more industrial, with a different system of operating the locks and a refreshing change.
Industry, fisherman and a man walking his pet goats.
At Pogny, we found a hotel barge still operating and scoped it out, watching the comings and goings. Then we met an English couple Richard and Caroline who we invited aboard Clair de Lune for drinks.
A hotel barge behind us. Moody church and graveyard.
Aside from moving the barge each day, we've been dealing with wet and cold weather and lots of other tasks, including the very tedious process of catching up on all the accounting, tracking down all the receipts we've been collecting and making sure they are correctly coded for the accountants.
We've finished the branding for the barge with the branding company, we have our new name, logo and colour scheme which we'll sit on until we're ready to launch it along with the official rename.
A stunning day today. Misty in the morning, some early traffic buy lovely after. In the fields you can just make out the grapevines in the distance. We're in Champagne proper now.
Today, we had a perfect day, completing 42 km. Everyone is very interested in Clair de Lune at the locks, so we invited people for a ride to the next lock if they want. An older couple came for a ride, and then later, we met a mother with two young girls–she happily sent the girls for a ride while she went for a run! At the next lock, she was so grateful she told us to wait at the next lock up, and she'd come back with a gift. A small bottle of champagne from her winery. We enjoyed it with dinner.
Happy guests coming for a ride between locks (some locks are only 500 meters apart, so it's easy for them to hop on and off and walk back). The genuine local Champagne we received as a thank you from the mum of the two girls.
Aside from all that, everything is going well, if a little repetitive day in and day out! We've enjoyed the break from the weather, although next week looks like a lot more rain again.
We're excited to reach Reims today (Sunday) and are now well above Paris and halfway to Belgium. Now, we must work out the rest of the route and how to complete the final leg. We can go in three ways, each with different pros and cons. We hope things will speed up if the locks are a bit more spaced out.
Final tunnel for Saturday and a bit of a ghetto fix for the coffee pot-the burner grill was too widely spaced for it.
If you happen to be around northern France and Reims or St Quentin, you're welcome to contact us and come join us for a few days. We'd love to have you aboard.
Until next time,
Tim & Karina