Canal de Vosges

For the last two weeks we have been travelling down the Canal de Vosges, so called as it runs along the western edge of the Vosges Mountains. The weather is not unlike that that has made Melbourne the brunt of many a joke. Very hot and muggy, cold and wet, mixed up with the odd thunder storm. Some times all in one day. But generally good boating weather.

We spent 5 nights in Epinal, a pleasant small city of around 34,000. The harbour is on the edge of the old town and it and the surrounding parks have recently had a lot of money spent on them. The result is a very pleasant place to stay with lots of activity. The town is based along the upper reaches of the Moselle River which splits several times to form a series of small islands. Each has been built on and is covered with small medieval houses, narrow winding streets and of course, a church. Along the river edge are a series of beautiful gardens and parks which the town planners have wisely built bike paths so getting around the old part of the city was a breeze.

The harbour in Epinal

Size does not matter on the canals. This bloke was doing it in a rubber ducky. At night he rolled out a tarp and slept on the bottom of the boat. I guess it would be like a big water bed.

No time to finish or post this blog – battery troubles. We are now heading off to a series of 14 up locks in the form of a staircase to the top of the Canal de Vogues, from there on till the Canal de Burgoyne it will be all down hill. We will be in forests and seeing only very small villages for the next week so internet contact will be unlikely.

A great overnight spot in Selles beside a very nice little restaurant where we overindulged at lunch time. No more boating that day.

The early stages of the Canal de Vosges. Lizzy on the back deck, yachting gloves ready for the next lock. About one evey kilometre.

Overnighting in the forest

Waiting for the first lock of the day. Nicky and Walters' boat, Hygiea.

The canal de Vogues is considered on of the most beautiful in France and our trip over the last 10 days would attest to this. We have been travelling together with a Belgium couple, Nicky and Walter and their large dog Zeno. They have been great company, lots of drinks and nibbles on each others boats in the evening and having travelled this canal before, they know all the best spots. Most nights we stay in the forest or a very small village. Both very quiet and, in many cases the bird life in the forest makes them noisier than the towns. Nicky and Walter have also introduced us to slow boating. We leave each morning as soon as the locks open at 9.0 am and travel till around midday then stop for the day. 7 to 14 km tops. Lynda and I have then been getting on the bicycles and riding up and down the tow paths and doing some detailed exploring. We have become very addicted to slow travel and have no intention of going into detox.

A canal side of chateau of modest size.

Although it is occupied it has a feeling that it has grander times.

The remains of the 12thC wals that surrounded the town of Fontenroy Le Chateau. Much of the rest of strcture has been used over the years for building houses etc.

The main street in Fontenroy-le-Chateau, mid-day every thing closes down for two hours, however at 3.00pm things were not much different.

Most of the villages consist of a collection of a couple of dozen farm houses with large attached barns. French farmers tend to live in these collectives and drive out each day to their fields. Commuter traffic in these regions consists mainly of tractors towing an assortment of interesting looking agricultural equipment. In most villages you are lucky to find a boulangerie or a bar, but we do look with envy at the wonderful vegetable gardens that every house has. Things grow so well here. Even our little herb and lettuce garden on the boat is doing very well. And the flowers, even the most decrepit house or rundown village seems to be adorned with planter boxes with the most colourful collection of flowers. The care taken in all the gardens seems to be in contradiction to the lack of care taken in so much of the built environment.

Love to hear from some of you.

Regards

Ian & Lynda.

Nancy to Epinal

Late afternoon cruising, Puttering along at 6km – a great way to unwind after a day with 15 locks.

We hired a car for the day with Katie and Peter to visit some of the WW1 sites around Verdun, the area of some of the worst fighting of the war. The museums and battle sites were very moving but it seems we have learnt very little.. All credit to the French in that the descriptions in all the places were impassionate and non judgemental with regard to the Germans. One museum we actually visited with a group of German soldiers.
In an attempt to enter into the spirit of France we hired a Citroen C1, only to find out it was a Toyota Yaris re-badged. Bummer!!!

Some wild flowers picked along the way.

Buying fuel for the bateau. Actual canal fuelling stations are pretty rare but though the boating grapevine you soon learn where the most convenient service stations are. This one is in Nancy right beside the canal and comes complete with trolleys. A slow way to load 200 lts.

Can you pick where reality stops and painting starts. A house in the town of Toul.

Lynda catching up on some housework, or should it be boatwork. Funny, but work doesn,t seem such the chore on the boat.





We sailed in company with this beautiful little Dutch sailing barge for a couple of days. The two guys onboard where good company and were going down to the Med to sail around Italy. This photo was on a the Moselle River and was several hundred meters wide.

Not all is picture book pretty. A large commercial scrap metal yard at the top of the Moselle.

A private junk yard on a boat

Approaching a lock on the Canal D’Est Sud. This run south from the top of the Moselle River. A completely different scale and pace the Moselle.

A pleasant overnight mooring in a forest.

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BOATING STRASBOURG TO NANCY

Last Monday after paying a not too horrendous bill at the boat yard, we finally headed off up the canal to Nancy 150km away, a good week’s trip on the canals. Along the way we passed though about 40 locks, two tunnels, one 2.5 km long and went up an inclinater or lift of 44 meters. This is a device where you drive the boat into a large swimming pool like thingy , then get pulled up the side of a hill and finally drive out into the canal at the top. It replaces a staircase of about 15 locks in a row.

It has been good travelling with Katie and Peter, they have both adapted to shipboard life very quickly, Peter proving to be very adept on the wheel going in and out of the locks without leaving any of Deerste behind on the walls. They both agree that another week on the boat at the end of their travels would be ideal as they have a very intense itinerary over the next four weeks. They leave for Paris on Wednesday. We will head south over the next couple of weeks but not the way we originally intended. In typical French fashion some locks are out of action and will remain that way until????? But that’s boating. Now in Nancy for a few days where K & P will leave us to travel to Paris, Italy and Turkey before returning home. We are hiring a car to go to Verdun and Metz tomorrow, both of which we have seen before, but areas which may interest K & P.They have been exploring on the bikes today but compared to Strasbourg it comes a very poor 2nd as a city destination.


Docked at a small village for the night having dinner in the park:

STRASBOURG

Arrived in Strasbourg to find nothing much had happened on the boat and it was an extended long week end in France. We had a boat noise diagnosed as a bent propeller shaft and we were hoping to have repairs well under by this time. The yard said they could find out about costs from Holland “in a few days” and it could take around a month before any real action could be expected. After lots of grumbling from us they suddenly remembered that a place 15km away in Germany might be able to straighten it, however Monday was a public holiday in Germany, so another delay. Peter and Katie were arriving in about a week and were looking forward to a couple of weeks boating so I was getting a little anxious. Wednesday the shaft was taken to Germany and straightened that day, however the owner of the yard announced they were having an open day at the marina over the week end and would not be able to pick it up until after that. – then their mechanics would be busy on other things. I ended up taking their truck and Lynda and I headed off down the Rhine to pick up the shaft. The trip was made all the more interesting as the truck was full of booze for the open day and at every corner crates and kegs went rolling all over the place.

I ended up fitting the shaft and boat yard mechanics did the fine tuning.

In the middle of this initial chaos we had some German friends drop in and take us out for a day in the Black Forrest. It is a beautiful place with lots of small villages, quaint farms and lots of pine trees. I think I also caught a glimpse of Julie Andrews singing in one of the meadows – it was that sort of place. It was also good to catch up with our friends who now live in Poland ( Magda is Polish) and we have an open invitation to visit them in Krakow.

Two days later. John and Sybil Fowler, long time Victorian friends, came to Strasbourg to see us for a couple of days. J and S had rented an apartment in Paris for a month and as keen boaties were interested in seeing ‘Deerste’. Unfortunately for them she was still high and dry. The day J and S were leaving Katie and Gabi’s god mother arrived. Charme was travelling around France with her son, Guy and his girlfriend Beck Again, they are all keen boaties and they also agreed that Deerste would look better if it was in the water. Two days later Katie and Peter arrived and we moved aboard Deerste in the boat yard. Not quite as planned but we were comfortable and the price was right. They did a couple of days sightseeing around Strasbourg and were very impressed, it really is a wonderful city with lots of half timbered house, narrow winding streets and canals. We then hired a car for a couple of days and visited the Vogues Mountains, along the “Route de Vin”in the Alsace area. The area is famous for its’ old castles and forts, quaint villages and fine white wines. This reputation is well deserved on the first two accounts, however we still have several bottles to go before giving the giving the final nod to the third.