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| Mist hanging over the river |
2.5°C Foggy start, cold and
windy, sun out later in the morning. Mike was woken at a quarter to seven by a
solitary forge hammer warming up in the factory across the river opposite the
moorings. It reminded him of the moorings, years ago, at Barker’s yard Tipton
with the now long gone Buller’s forge across the canal. It was still misty when
we set off at 9,15 a.m. Still no signs of life on the German yacht as we left.
The sun was out, burning off the mist, but we still had a cold north wind in
our faces much of the time. Surprised to see that work was in progress at
Monthermé to build a new quay for mooring, with bollards and water and
electric.
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| Montherme |
Let’s hope they remember to dredge it as only round bottomed cruisers
could get anywhere near the rough, grassy bank to tie up before. The noise of
forge hammers could be heard as we passed through the town, it was coming from
some old industrial buildings. By the time we reached the next lock the sun was
shining from a clear blue sky. The needle weir at Monthermé had been replaced
by a new modern automatic device. Into the long lock cut leading to lock 46
Monthermé. A pair of ducks were flying off in front of us for around 20 metres
then landing, waiting for us to get closer then flying off again.
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| Female merganser |
I took some
photos from the front deck of the female merganser – the male had flown over
the boat and gone behind us. A tractor with a special rotating sweeping brush
went past us down the towpath/road/cycle path, with a van behind it that had
yellow flashing warning lights. The sweeper was kicking up a lot of dust. Down
the lock and on to the 4.2 kms reach. A VNF man-in-a-van
drove past heading for the lock and waved. When we arrived he was in the lock
cabin. We continued as normal and Mike lifted the rod. The VNF man-in-a-van
drove off down the towpath.
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| Forge at Deville |
When we left the lock Mike noticed that the gates
didn’t close behind us. Took photos of a working forge just below the lock in
Deville. A little further down river Mike took a photo of the tall house that
used to be an hotel, now sadly dilapidated, just past the island in the river
at KP 52.5. Two more Dutch cruisers went past heading upriver as we entered the
lock cut leading to 47 La Commune. No lock house at this one and the grass
around the lock was a carpet of mauve ladysmock flowers. 4.59 kms to the next.
Another uphill boat, a Dutch barge called Ysselstein with a British flag. They
shouted “We’ve got one of those at home!” and were gone before we could reply
“So have we”
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| Lock 47 La Commune |
As we entered the lock cut, the wooded hills to our left were
named the famous Rochers des Dames de Meuse, they represent the unfaithful wives of three knights, that were
turned to stone. The trees between us and them didn’t allow any good photos.
Another large cruiser was coming up in lock 48 Des Dames de Meuse, when it
cleared we went down. On the next reach, 4.73 kms long, I made us a cup of soup
as we were getting chilled to the bone with the constant, and at time
ferocious, North wind in our faces. Mike put his coat on and muffled up against
the wind.
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| Lock 48 Des Dames de Meuse |
Strangely, we had to wait while lock 49 Orzy filled. A backpacker
walking the towpath passed us as we locked down. We passed him again as we went
down the short (1.6 kms) reach to Revin. The short tunnel (224m) leads to lock
50 Revin, which always used to be keeper controlled, but now is automatic like
the vast majority of the rest of the locks on the river. This link cuts off
another of the Meuse’s crazy circular loops. A long pound followed (6.1 kms)
which gave me time to make some sandwiches for lunch. There were two VNF
men-in-a-vans at lock 51 St Joseph and a Nicholls hireboat from Pont-à-Bar in
the lock.
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| Needle weir at lk 49 Orzy |
The two vans drove off as we approached the lock. Zapped and got a
red and green light, followed minutes later by double reds – en panne! Nowhere
to get off and so Mike put the bow fender on the end of the lock wall and I
climbed off over our bows and through a metal barred fence. As I glanced into
the lock I saw the hireboat was still there as the bottom gates hadn’t fully
opened. I pressed the button on the intercom on the wall of the old lockhouse.
One VNF man-in-a-van returned (no one answered the intercom) and he said “C’est
le bois!”
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| Marsh marigolds abv lk 51 St Joseph |
It’s the wood. He took a grappling hook on a long length of rope out
of the back of his van and I followed him down to the bottom end gates to see
if he needed any help. He seemed well used to moving logs out from behind
fouled gates. We chatted as he worked. I said it was sad to see the lock house
empty as I remembered the lock keeper who lived there when all the river locks
had keepers and they were worked manually. He said that the house had been
renovated for a retired VNF man to live in but then they had a tempest, which
blew the roof off, so he left. The roof had been replaced but not the tenants,
he said they would find a new tenant soon.
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| Hire boats below lk 51 St Joseph |
We were talking about the VNF wasting money and he said yes they
spend it drip by drip and told me that they’d spent a fortune (about 250k€) to
build a stopping place for péniches a bit further downriver, but he’d never
seen anyone use it. Told him we were going to Berlin then Poland, which sparked
an interest. We carried on chatting when the hireboat left and he refilled the
lock for us. We carried on downriver, 2.75 kms, to lock 52 L’Ulf. The
automatics worked OK until the gates partially opened,
and stopped! The yellow lights flashed to say they were opening and stopped
again. There was enough of a gap for us to get through so we left it, flashing
and stopping - the VNF will get back to it.
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| Backs of houses at Fumay |
Round the loop of the river that
virtually encircles Fumay (4.75 kms) passing the port-de-plaisance, where we
once spent a very fraught month when returning to Champagne (after a summer
spent exploring some of the Dutch canals) while the river was in a serious
state of flood - we were very late that year mooring up for winter. One Danish
cruiser was moored at the port plus the Nicholls hireboat that had been stuck
in St Joseph lock. Another cruiser went past heading uphill as we passed the
wood yard and we had to wait for lock 53 Vanne-Alcorps to fill with another
boat in it - then a little Belgian
yacht from Gent went past, crew waving, and we went into the lock and down.
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| Swallows taking a rest on lock gates at 52 L'Ulf |
Clouds were gathering, great grey ones, but no rain had been forecast. One
kilometre downstream of the lock we winded and came in to moor against the new
quay wall at Haybes. A smart Dutch cruiser was moored there and the lady from
it came to offer a hand with the rope, which was nice of her but not needed
(over the years I have learned not to trust anyone with my ropes, no matter how
well intentioned they are they ALWAYS have to pull on it or tie it to something
– and we don’t moor like that – Mike brings the boat gently alongside, parallel
to the bank (unless there’s a strong flow) and after a touch of reverse we both
step off with ropes.
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| Boats moored at the Port-de-Plaisance at Fumay |
If I let someone have the bow rope before I’m within range
of stepping on to the bank and they yank hard on it – it pulls the bow in which
means the stern goes out, then we have the performance of either tying it down
at the bow or loosing it back out so he can power the stern back in – it’s MUCH
easier if I do it myself, especially if I don’t speak the same language as the
person offering to take the rope!) We tied to the bollards and went to look to
see how much they were charging for mooring now the old fallen down quay wall
had been replaced. Ominously, the Dutch hadn’t connected to the electricity and
I noted that there were padlocks on all the water taps.
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| Hydro-electric generating station abv lk 53 Vanne-Alcorps |
Mike walked up to the
new Capitainerie at a house just off the square. It would be either 6,50 or
8,50€ per night, he couldn’t tell in which band they would class us, probably
the most expensive. We decided we didn’t need water or electric or a fancy quay
(they had a wooden shed at the end of the quay, where a very bored looking lady
had several electric dayboats for hire). Two young men on Segways went past.
That looks like fun. As we went on downriver we saw their van – Arden’Gyropodes
– training and machines to hire. When we arrived at the next lock cut, having
seen nowhere to moor except for dead trees along the meadow (our famous Polish
moorings were bows to dead trees and
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| Moored abv lk 53 Vanne-alcorps |
anchors out the back, hey-ho more of that
to come next year!) we winded and crawled back upriver (revs on for 7kph and
doing 5 kph) past the Segways and the mooring. Zapped and went back up lock 53
Vanne-Alcorps and winded above the weir at the end of the lock cut, returned to
the lock and moored next to the piled bank on the non-towpath side about 100m
from the lock. It was 5.30 p.m. We were shattered after battling into the wind
all day. The lock lights went off at 6 pm but the lock was full and the top end
gates were open. Shortly afterwards a converted péniche with hull and cabin
painted bright red and lots of people on board came past and went down the
lock. Must be some sort of hotel boat or tripper.
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