Thus began our early morning journey through the 26 step locks of the Canal des Ardennes. We are extra thankful. Since there are many low bridges we must lower our rain hood. We could have been steering in the rain for the next seven or so hours. Instead we enjoyed more sunshine than we have seen we started this year’s boat travels.
We started from La Chesne. Great steak au poivre across the street at the Odyssey (French, not Greek).
The locks are remote controlled. We only had to wait for help at one lock that would not open. A VNF employee was there within minutes. Another lock closed and emptied while we waited, then filled and let us in. Otherwise the system worked well.
The locks were not turbulent. We are descending. When you are ascending you are much more likely to experience turbulence.
We made the journey in just five hours, instead of the typical seven hours. Stopping at Attigny, we spoke to the Danish couple also moored there. The day before it took them 9 hours, having lots of problems with the locks. At one point they had to wait an hour for assistance. We saw VNF employees everywhere. Many were mowing or doing other maintenance chores near the locks or along the way, or driving back and forth along the canal. We lucked out.
In one of the locks
Rolling hills and lots of cattle and farmed land
One of the small villages along the way
After the last lock on the Canal you enter the River Aisne after passing through a lock, then into its canal. As you approach Attigny things get rather narrow.
Squeezing through narrow portions of the Aisne Canal
Church on the Sambre (Belgium) , 24 x 32 cm, 9.5 x 12.5″ watercolor 300 gram paper
Another in the series of paintings from a summer on the canals of Northern France, this ancient church on the Sambre River sits right on the river beneath a tree filled slope.
Castle on the Sambre II, 24 x 32 cm/ 9 1/2 x 12″ watercolors
Aboard our boat Viking we cruised the canals and rivers of Northern France and Belgium. Chateau, forests, hills, water scenes at every turn. I depicted scenes such as this in a style mixing realism, impressionism and expressionism. This is a second version of this gorgeous and charming bit of history on the Sambre.
The return trip through the Marne, made necessary by low water levels and damage to the Canal de l’Aisne to La Marne, was well worthwhile. Its sprawling vineyards, charming villages and forests make for a delightful journey. After a few days we made it to the Seine, mooring at the first lock, very close by and to the south. The next day, another bright and unfortunately rain-free one, took us through Paris again. It was just as magnificent as the first time. We spent the night on the Seine at a halte fluvial in Montigny-les-Corneilles, one of many such moorings affording no electricity or water. We had plenty of both already. The haulte is in front of two lovely restaurants, both of which we passed on. The heat declined as the sun dropped behind the trees on the opposite side of the river, taking us to a warm but lovely night with a star studded sky.
Bridge at Chateau de Criel, watercolor on postcard stock
After the following day’s visit to Creil’s Chateau, we moved on to Jaux for lunch at the restaurant next to the decrepit moorings, then the delightful Compiegne where there were four others moored, including a Dutch couple we’d encountered previously, and another couple on a barge on the same path as us, heading north to the Sambre into Belgium’s Wallonie region, where French is the language and beer is the national beverage as it is in Flanders, the other part of Belgium.
From this point on we were largely in the countryside, aside from Soisson. Soisson is one of the oldest towns in France. It was a Celtic settlement and the seat of the diocese starting circa 300 CE. After Clovis died in 511, Soissons became the capitol of one of the four kingdoms into which his realm was divided. The Cathedral dates from the late 12th century. Joan of Arc liberated the town in 1429.
Hotel d’ Ville, Soisson
Soisson Cathedral
Bourg et Coming is another pretty mooring. The dock with the services was full, however the barge owner came out to say that she had cable if we wanted to plug in. We still had plenty of battery left, per the very useful Battery Volt Monitor I installed, so we did not take advantage of her offer. Her husband is in the hospital so she is there for two weeks.
Boating life can get complicated in these situations. She may not have the necessary license to pilot the boat, so to move she would have to find someone to help. Fortunately there is help if you stay connected to the boating community. There is a Facebook group, for example, called “Women on Barges” where you could seek such a person. We have friends who typically cruise with another couple where the wife had a brain tumor. She slipped into unconsciousness aboard their barge. Our friends moved the barge for them, driving back and forth and taking public transport to do so.
Chauny came next. It dates from the 9th century. Unfortunately it was heavily damaged during WWI. Nonetheless the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) is quite impressive.
Hotel de Ville, Chauny
The church in Beautor, our next stop
We came up a section of the Canal de la Sambre a l’Oise where you ascend the Aisne by means of 32 locks. The last 18 we covered in one day. Most were very turbulent, making entrance as well as while in the the lock very difficult as the water rushed in. By the end of the day in Oisy we were exhausted from trying to control the boat during the filling process, despite the lowered temperatures, which, when they were over 30c for days seemingly on end exhausted us in another way.
We proceeded along the lovely and sometimes overgrown Sambre, opening the locks using the remote control supplied by the VNF (Voie Navigable France). The device worked flawlessly and is easily the most intelligent of the remote controls we have used. It replaces traffic lights at the locks with its own red and green signals. A screen provides messages such as “We have registered you for this lock” and “You can now enter the lock. ” It notified the lock keeper at the last lock of the series, so he was there when we arrived, to collect the device. I was hoping the screen would at the end say, “Bon voyage, it’s been nice to get to know you,” but alas it simply went silent.
We proceeded to the border town of Jeumont, where once we delightfully dined in a small restaurant with a couple with whom we had become friendly on the waterways. This was in 2001. We were not able to locate the restaurant. It is probably long since gone.
He admitted to sexually abusing her daughter some years later, according to the wife. He’d already left her for the neighbor’s wife. The wife still lives in the same village with her ex. Last I heard he was still with the neighbor’s wife, whose ex-husband somehow blamed it all not on his wife but on our friend the wife, again according to her.
We say goodbye to France’s waterways. I doubt we will return.
We came to Chalons-en-Champage after a couple of days in the small but important village of Eparnay, the capitol of the Champagne region. We have been planning to go north from there to Reims and then to the Sambre and into Belgium. Our previous plan was from here to head east to Strasbourg before ending the season in Toul. With the drought, however, we had to change to our current plan. Now we have to change again. The canal Marne-a-Aisne has been closed for two weeks because of a rupture in the water supply.
Chalons-en-Champagne is a lovely village. Near the inexpensive but very good marina, with a friendly and efficient harbor master, there is Chalons Plage, Chalon Beach. There are places to eat, summer fun for the kids, concerts and general lazing about as appropriate for a summer holiday. We can hear the concerts in the evening, topping well before midnight. This is not Spain, after all.
We are heading north through the only remaining route, back down the Marne to the Seine, then north on the Oise to connect to the Sambre. It’s an extra 300 kilometers, another 40 hours on the move.
