Thursday 12th May 2016 Givet to Anhée (Belgium). 27.9kms 5 locks

Boat unloading in the port of Givet

12.6° C. Drizzle, which lasted all morning. Afternoon brighter grey clouds and dry. A loaded Dutch péniche called Viridis Quo went past heading downriver around 9am. Mike and I went a walk to the shops and bought a few groceries to last us through to when we get to Pont-de-Loup from a Carrefour City. City prices too. Paying for convenience. Set off just after ten, leaving one Dutch boat (an old Bounty!) on the quay behind us. There was just one (Dutch) boat in the port of

House with wisteria above Hastiere

Givet, Solutio (W’Dam), being unloaded by crane. A Dutch DB replica went past and Mike gave the keeper at lock 59 Quatre Cheminées a shout on VHF. He replied and said the lock was ready. It was very noisy with lots of loud military aircraft in the vicinity, must be an airbase nearby. Once in the lock, Mike got off to take the telecommand into the office, but the young lock keeper hung out of the window and addressed Mike by name – just enter the boat name and the VNF computer

Barnacle geese - NOT Canadas

gave him all our details! 2.7m drop and we were soon on our way downriver again. Mike changed flags as we crossed the border into Belgium. Not much left of the fuel depot we used to visit to get red diesel back in the day when that was legal. Canada geese everywhere, plus a few swans and greylags. Very smart houses along the left bank and forested hills on the right. A kestrel was sitting on

Wanna buy a hotel? 990,900€. Anybody?

the telephone wires watching for rodents in someone’s garden. A Dutch cruiser went past heading uphill just before lock 1 at Hastière. Mike called the lock, no reply, but we had a green light and the lock was ready for us. The drizzle paused. I thought the lock was remote operated judging by all the cameras, but Mike said he saw the keeper in his cabin, way up high above the lock. Water was piddling out of the lock walls, washing the gunwales and I made sure it didn’t get my jeans wet as we dropped down

Swiss cheese rocks

2.9m. Before the first bridge we passed a boat that we both thought was a police boat, dark blue with red and white diagonal bands, but it turned out to be a Dutch cruiser as it had a huge Dutch flag on its stern! Sandpipers went yodelling across the river, then I took photo of a pair of barnacle geese to show Mike the difference between them and Canadas. More beautiful houses on the right hand side and forested hills on the left at Hastière-par-delà. There was a

Anseremme lock and weir

green light at the entrance to the lock cut leading to lock 2 Waulsort. More very noisy aircraft. The lock was ready, soon down another 2.2m. Below the lock there was a very large ornate old building for sale which was once The Grand Hotel. Even though part of its roof was missing the price tag was 99,900€. The long moorings of Hastière Yacht Club had only a dozen boats on its pontoons, one of them was a DB – the crew waved. Took photos of the old chateau. Just a few rock climbers on Freyr rocks opposite the ancient chateau of the same name. A Belgian flagged DB went past as we rounded the bend to lock 3 Anseremme. The old railway went through a tunnel into the rock

Roche Bayard and high viaduct in Dinant

on the left and above it the wind had eroded the rock, reminding us of the tunnel on the Canal du Midi. A long row of cruisers belonging to Anseremme boat club stretched down to the weirstream. Into the lock cut. A trip boat from Dinant had just come into the lock (another went up the weir stream and winded to head back into Dinant) so I threw a rope around a bollard and we waited while the lock filled. Le Sax exited the lock chamber, the lock light stayed on red so Mike gave the lock a call on

Slides for the pontoons (not there)
 at Dinant and CCTV.
Temporary moorings further downriver

VHF and the lady keeper said “entrez!” then we dropped down another 2.2m. Below the lock the underwater training wall linking the lock to an island was now marked with red and green cans (many years ago a friend of ours grounded his boat there while waiting for the lock and almost sank). On downriver into Dinant taking photos of the rocks and the viaduct. A large hotel ship, Azolla from Maasbracht, was moored below the bridge on the left bank as its superstructure was too high to pass under it. The quays along the right bank were undergoing fundamental re-development. Several cruisers were moored just downriver of the big ship. We’d already spotted that the pontoons for pleasure boats (a bit further back upriver) had been removed and there were surveillance cameras all along that bank. Lock 4 Dinant was ready with a green light so we went in and waited. Eventually the gates closed behind us and we dropped down 1.8m. It rained again briefly as we carried on downstream. Noticed that there were two ancient abandoned trip boats moored in the old arm and beyond that there was a large new vineyard. Yet another Dutch cruiser went past, heading upriver.

Digging up the waterfront at Dinant

Lock 5 Houx had closed gates and a red light, so Mike called the keeper on the radio. He said he would reopen the gates when we were a bit closer, which he did, and then we dropped down another 2m. Less than a kilometre downstream we stopped at the old quay in Anhée. There is a low quay which was almost on river water level and Mike decided to give the sides of the boat hull a good scrub, starboard side first (empty 80m

Biggest boat we've ever seen in Dinant. Hotel ship Azolla

Dune went past heading upriver and his wash snapped an old short rope that we had temporarily tethered the boat with) Mike knotted it back together. We winded and did the other side before bow-hauling the boat on downriver a bit and tying to the higher quay (a bit higher than our roof). It was just after 5pm when we finished. Solutio, now empty after unloading in Givet, went past heading downriver at 6.45pm.

Moored at an old quay in Anhee

Tuesday 10th May 2016 Vanne-Alcorps to Givet. 21.4kms 6 locks

Wispy clouds below Fepin

13.6° C Rain, drizzle and more rain, stopping well after we moored, then a pleasant evening. A duck was paddling about by the lock surrounded by newly-hatched ducklings. Mike was ready to move long before the lights came on at nine, zapped from where we were moored and it worked! Down 53 Vann-Alcorps and noted that they had constructed two new concrete piers in the weir stream. Brolly up as the drizzle got worse. Misty clouds were hanging in the valley. No

Peniches moored below Trois Fontaines

boats moored at Haybes, but there were seven campervans. Aircraft noise (military) rumbled down the valley all morning. Down 54 Fépin, work progressing on the new weir. Made a cuppa as we headed downriver. A long river reach then a long lock cut to the next lock. Weir undergoing modernisation. Mike said is that a lupin growing in the grass on the sloping bank up to the towpath, nope, it’s an orchid. There were lots of bits of bare tree branches (beaver

Unloading pontoon boxes for weir construction use.

snacks) by lock 55 Montigny. A sandy haired VNF man in a van arrived by the lock and was followed by a little Jack Russell as he scooped tree debris from the lock mouth. A large Dutch cruiser was circling below the lock waiting for us to leave the chamber. Five minutes later a pénichette from Pont-à-Bar went past heading upriver, just upriver from Villers-Wallerand. A large navy blue cruiser was moored by the electric boats, it had no flag or name visible, but had Liege on its stern. New weir in progress at the start of the lock cut to 56 Mouyon. The woodyard on the corner was giving out a strong odour of newly

Peniche Paraguay moored at upstream end of quay at Givet

cut wood. Rain started to pour down again as we went into lock 56. VNF vans and few cars were parked outside the office, but no signs of life. The gate paddles still squealed loudly as they closed. The rain eased as we passed the statues at Aubrives. The weir by the start of the lock cut was being rebuilt. Under the liftbridge over the flood gates and into the lock cut leading to lock 57 Ham. A German cruiser went past, crew waving cheerily. The usual young lady lock keeper was in the cabin and worked the lock for us then set off down to lock 58 in her VNF car as we trundled off to Ham tunnel.

Moored at the downstream end of the quay in Givet. Quieter here. 

I made a cup of soup to warm us up as we’re back to winter again. Having the brolly up because it was raining was useful to keep the drips off us in the tunnel. A large German cruiser was coming up in lock 58 Trois Fontaines. Down the lock and the young lady keeper came out of the cabin to tell Mike to beware of the area below where the red cans were as it was very shallow. Hmm…. she has to tell everyone. Two empty péniches were moored on the new quay, My Way and Pirate, and a low loader with two black metal boxes (floating boxes to make work pontoons for weir construction) was by the quay and a JCB getting ready to offload them. On downriver. The rain stopped. Paraguay, another empty péniche, was moored at the upstream end of the long quay in Givet, where we usually moor. Mike had already said he was going to moor at the far end of the quay this time. Another German cruiser had been up to the top end of the moorings, winded and gone back to the designated area for pleasure boats by the main road bridge and cafés, a noisy mooring. The downstream end of the second quay (marked for commercials) was empty. We tied a side rope to the last ladder and dropped fore and aft ropes around the wooden fendering. It was 1.15pm Mike went to retrieve the car from the car park at the other end of the quay. On his return loaded the bike in the car and went to drop the car at Pont-de-Loup again. It rained very heavily and he was soaked when he returned on the moped. 

Monday 9th May 2016 Château Regnault to Vanne-Alcorps. 36.7kms 7 locks

Statue on the rock above Bogny

10.6° C Hazy sunshine, getting hotter. One cruiser went past just before nine heading for Levrézy for opening time. We set off just after nine, winding and heading downstream with the flow, 9kms to the first lock. Five campervans were on the quay at Bogny, no boats on the pontoon. Mike took a photo of the statue on top of the hill at Bogny. The banks along the river were full of buttercups, jack-by-the-hedge, white campion and comfrey flowers. We passed a youth who’d been camping out on the towpath, all his gear spread out on a bench. A forge started up just before Monthermé, hammering

Passing a bucket of concrete across Montherme lock

echoing down the valley. Seventeen campervans on the quay at Monthermé, two Dutch ones - one a Winnebago, the other an old jeep towing a small but modern trailer tent (looked like it was practising for the Daakar Rally. Under the roadbridge and round the bend, then we noticed that the cruiser we’d seen here last time, Aristrid, was now moored next to some sloping steps by the houses and looked locked up and left. I steered while Mike mopped the boat and solar panels to get rid of the t

400m high hills at Anchamps

hick layer of pollen we’d collected. When he finished he made a cuppa. Into the lock cut. A crow circled round over the boat and dropped down on to a tree floating in the canal after a dead fish, but then it was scared off by the boat passing, he’ll be back. A kingfisher flew across the canal as we arrived at lock 46 Monthermé. A Dutch boat called ZK31 from Hunze (a fishing boat?) had just come up the lock so it was full. There was a concrete mixer on the lockside, its driver watched us lock through, a JCB on the far bank had just taken a bucketful off concrete from him and was trundling down to the new

Allotment buildings at Anchamps

overflow weir. Below the lock we passed an uphill Dutch cruiser - with a VNF van on the towpath following it. We did some checks on the boat electrics as the echo sounder was going wild. Mike came come the conclusion that the problem was being caused was a bad connection in the plug on the inverter, the echo sounder’s amplifier is very sensitive to spurious emmisions. A three decked British cruiser went past heading uphill. A short lock cut to lock 47 La Commune. The impressive 400m high forested hills curved round the big bend at Laifour. Into the long lock cut, trying

Rock bolted mesh on the cliff and a catch fence below the road

to identify the tall old pines which had new bright red cones growing at the ends of fronds. Gave up, without seeing them close up and taking samples of the branches and cones it was impossible. Another VNF van went past heading upriver. Down lock 48 Dames de Meuse. Below there were big banks of wild garlic perfuming the air and a large swathe of blue turned out to be forget-me-nots. The river wound around the village of Anchamps with a high hill marked on the map as Mont Malgré Tout at 419m. We thought lock 49 Orzy was playing up when the red/green light stayed on for ages. We let the

Preparing to build a new weir at l'Uf

wind blow the boat against the stone quay by the long needle weir and Mike went to have a look to see what was happening. There was an uphill Belgian cruiser in the chamber. It cleared the lock then we went down. A widebeam narrowboat was waiting below the lock. It had no name or flag, but the crew spoke English, one with an Australian accent who asked if they should go into the locks before the green lights came on! The lights went to red and the gates closed. Mike asked if they had zapped, they said yes, but we reckoned that they hadn’t succeeded. We said we’d do it for them. You have to get very close to the post for it to register. The lock lights changed to green. They waved. As we

A basking terrapin near Fumay

headed for the tunnel at Revin, there was a pénichette hireboat from Pont-à-Bar coming up the weirstream from the moorings at Revin. It followed us so we slowed down to enter the chamber and it came in with us. We thought they were French but they didn’t seem to understand when we said that the lock, 50 Revin, was a deep one, 4m. I made some lunch. The hireboat was long gone when I sat out to eat. The road alongside the river was busy with lunchtime traffic. 6kms to lock 51 St Joseph. There were still two big cranes working at building what looked like boxes for a floating work pontoon to build a new weir from. Presumably they would have to build a weir well above St Joseph due to the bridges right over the chamber and the current needle weir. We passed another big UK cruise, that was heading upstream by the old quarry. A Canada goose by the old hydroelectric plant was fighting to untangle itself from some fishing line, nothing we could do to help it as we couldn’t get near it. Another cruiser was coming up in St Joseph. Two VNF men were cutting grass by the lock, then a third left the lock cabin and went back to his strimmer, as a large Dutch cruiser emerged from the lock – it went past and none of the crew even looked in our direction! We went in and dropped down, a train crossing the bridge was very loud, fingers in ears – it didn’t stop the swallows nesting under both the railway and cycle path bridges. Below the lock we could see the houses at Fumay in the distance. Ox-eye daisies were coming into bloom along the towpath. Yet more uphill traffic at lock 52 L’Uf. Two cruisers, a German one and a Dutch one with no flag (Dordrecht on its stern). Although the lock had been fenced off the gate had been left open and there were cyclists on the lockside gongoozling. Mike took photos of the work going on by the lock to make a road for the heavy plant to cross the weirstream to make a new weir. The water below the lock had turned brown from all the work in the weirstream. Passed the houseboat Selamat by the chalets and on around Fumay. There were three campervans on the bend and two boats on the quay – one was the hireboat we’d locked with earlier. The wood factory, built on top of a wall made of scrap slate from the old slate works on the opposite bank, was very aromatic with some sort of wood preservative like creosote. Yet another cruiser came up in lock 53 Vanne-Alcorps, an Australian, and so we hovered until it went past us then we tied up in our usual spot by the lumpy bank above the lock. It was 4pm. Black clouds were gathering and it was hot, we expected thunderstorms but nothing arrived. I got stuck into the chores, Mike clipped the edge to keep the ants off the boat.

Saturday 7th May 2016 Pont-à-Bar to Château Regnault 34.7kms 7 locks

Empty peniche below Dom-le-Mesnil lock

6.8° C Sunny, warmer and breezy. After a few days to restock the cupboards, etc, we left at 9.10am, up to lock 6 to turn round, passing a pénichette hireboat that had just come down the lock, so we winded and followed it into lock 7 Meuse. (The gates had opened on lock 6 and we hadn’t zapped it – did the hireboat crew go zap-mad thinking it was the post to go down 7 instead of the one to go up 6? We’ll never know, VNF will sort it out) Surprised that when the

Fortifications in Mezieres

hireboat left Meuse lock it turned right, heading upriver towards Sedan. We turned left heading downriver for Charleville. The VNF man who lives at lock 40 Dom-le-Mesnil was just going into his garage as we entered the lock and he wished us bonjour. One of his chickens had wandered on to the lockside and lilacs were starting to come into flower. The flow on the river had now reduced to a mere 1kph. At the first bend we met Lucmar an empty péniche boat from Thaon-les-Vosges, heading

Overflow weir by Mezieres lock

upriver, running hard. On the bend in Elaire we passed a naughty Dutchman whose cruiser was producing wall to wall wash. He slowed down a bit to pass us. On the bend in Elaire our engine was turning at 1,000 revvs (which should give 5kph through still water) but we were doing 7kph so the flow had doubled to 2 kph. Into the wilderness, old flooded gravel pits and islands at Lumes. We paused at the pontoon to top up our water

Below Mezieres lock - overflow weir on right.

tank as my machine had done two loads of washing since we set off. Ten minutes and we were on our way again with the sunshade up and music on. A replica Dutch Barge (UK-flagged) came out of lock 41 Romery as we arrived. Loads of cyclists about as the weather was so good – a bunch of them paused to watch the boat drop down in the lock. I made a cuppa as we went on into the city. Down the deep lock 42 Mézières. Not a soul to be seen. Took some photos of the old gates (are they mediaeval?) then twiddled round the bends and into lock 43 Montcy where there was another audience of cyclists, mostly families with children. Saturday sunshine brings ‘em all out. 9kms to the next lock. The wind picked up as

Boat with huge prop

we rounded the bend into the start of the deep valley, hills appearing first on the right, then both sides as we went on to Joigny. I made some sandwiches for lunch. In the distance we saw two cruisers heading into Joigny lock 44 from downstream to come up, but when we arrived in the lock cut above the lock we were dismayed to see it had two red lights (en panne) and one of the crew off the two small Dutch cruisers was walking back and forth from the lock cabin to the house. Mike tried ringing the

Four sons of Aymon rocks at Chateau-Regnault

controller but got cut off. I rang and spoke to a breathless person (must have been lock worker as well today) at Quatre Cheminées lock who said they would send someone. Mike attached a stern rope to a bunch of grass as there was nothing at all to tie to and turned the engine off. Ten minutes later a van, which had been by the barrage, came up to the lock and a VHF man operated it from the cabin. The cruisers set off and we went into the chamber. Our guy in the lock cabin shouted bonjour as he worked the lock for us. Below the lock a smoky-engined German cruiser from

The invaders are multiplying - Canada geese with goslings

Oberndorf Ost was approaching as we left. More and more traffic on the towpath, cyclists, roller-bladers and walkers. In Joigny Mike took a photo of an interesting old open boat on a trailer which had an enormous propeller. 6.3kms down to Levrézy lock 45. Children at the lock house were bouncing up and down on a trampoline in their garden. We dropped down the lock and ten minutes later we were moored on the old quay at Château-Regnault. It was 3.55pm. As we were tying up, a large DB called Merwede went past heading upriver, we’d seen that moored at Givet last week. Half an hour later a hireboat from Pont-à-Bar went past also heading upriver. We guessed he wouldn’t get to Charleville before the locks closed and would have to moor at Joigny where they have a very nice pontoon.

Tuesday 3rd May 2016 Château-Regnault to Pont-à-Bar 33.4kms 7 locks

8.9° C After heavy rain in the night which woke Mike (he could hear dripping – it was the rainwater off one of the solar panels dripping into a jug – water for our house plants) great

Adding new flags and flagpoles to Nouzonville bridge

grey clouds and a cold wind, brief glimpses of sun later. We could just hear the forge hammers at Bogny as we set off at 9.10am. Jackets on again. Up 45 Levrézy and on upriver. In Braux there were some women walking the towpath with their children. Mike waved to one toddler who was pushing her dolly pram – to his amazement and her mother’s – instead of waving back she did a beeline towards the boat! Fortunately her mother grabbed her before she went in the river. Further upriver we could see flashes of

Loaded Dutch boat Jenny from Hasselt
heading downriver at Nouzonville

orange hi-res jackets through the trees where men were working on the railway track. Past the shiny new pontoon at Joigny, under the road bridge then kept hard right to follow the narrow navigation channel to the right of a small island leading to 44 Joigny lock. A huge black cloud came over so Mike got the brolly out expecting rain (the insurance worked, it didn’t rain). The flow off the weir shoved the boat sideways as we went crosswise into the lock due to the motion sensor being on our right and the rod in the chamber on the left, it almost shoved us into the corner of the lock wall. An old yellow dog was sleeping on a

Houseboat peniche by island at KP77

patch of grass opposite the lock house door, he didn’t move as we went through the lock. A short lock cut and we were back on the river. The barragiste’s house was beautifully maintained with a panelled fence around the garden and a very neat and tidy needle weir on the far side of the house. As we came into Nouzonville we spotted a pénichette from Pont-à-Bar tied to the rocky bank and thought what a strange place to moor. At the road bridge in the centre of Nouzonville there were men adding flagpoles and flags to the bridge and a loaded péniche coming

Sports hall mural.
 Sad little boy looks like he's about to burst into tears!

towards us. We passed the loaded Dutch boat, Jenny from Hasselt, under the navigation arch of the bridge. It was motoring hard downriver – oh dear there’s a hireboat tied to a rocky bank just downriver, we hoped they survived the experience and maybe it taught them a lesson – not to tie to a rocky bank even though it seems that there is no traffic on the river. Shortly afterwards an Eau-Claire hireboat from Pont-à-Bar went past heading downriver. Then at KP77 by a small island we saw another péniche heading downriver towards us, this one was a houseboat, flying a large French flag on its stern. After that flurry of traffic activity, there was no one around at lock 43 Montcy and the lock was full (we reckon the locks are programmed to refill). Under the high road

Two barragistes at work on a needle weir

bridge with massive stone re-enforcements put there after the last huge flood and into Charleville-Mézières. I made some sandwiches for lunch as we came up in the deep lock 42 Mézières. Deserted, no signs of life. On upriver to Romery lock 41. There were lots of cyclists on the towpath and fishermen along the bank as we came up to the lock. Saw the first orange tip butterfly of the year. Up the lock and another 2kms long lock cut. At the end of the lock cut Mike took photos of two barragistes practising their dying art of tending the needle weir,

Two way working through the right hand arch
of the railway bridge at Lumes

only nowadays they have electric hoists to help shift the tree branches that come downriver and smash needles out of the weir (there are lots of busted needles in wood piles and floating in the river) and they have to wear life jackets even though they are tethered with safety lines to an overhead wire. Soon all these very dangerous wooden stick weirs will be gone, replaced by modern technology - the automatic hydraulic weir, and the job of barragiste will no longer exist. Under the motorway then hard right for the navigation arch of the railway bridge. Here they have made an error with the signs for the bridge, there is only one navigable arch and so it has two way working (boats up and down river have to use it) therefore it should have two yellow diamonds. When we first saw it we thought one diamond had fallen off, nope there is a single yellow diamond on the other side of the bridge too and what are the chances of two of them falling off (and not being replaced)? No traffic about. We paused at Lumes to see if the water supply had been turned on – it had! Hooray for that, we don’t have to go up to the hirebase to buy some water. We filled up. Noted that there was still no passerelle to the bank from the pontoon, keeps the kids and fishermen off it, unless they can jump or they’re brave and walk down the supporting A-frames (boaters use their gang planks!). Up lock 40 Dom-le-Mesnil and noted there was a herd of various types of goat on the lock island. Fingers crossed that lock 7 (Meuse) Dom-le-Mesnil would work OK for us today. It did, except once we left the chamber for some reason the gates failed to close. Now back on the canal des Ardennes, we tied to the steeply sloping grassy bank at 5pm. Almost eight hours again, tired.  A few days of R&R....

Monday 2nd May 2016 Vanne-Alcorp to Château-Regnault. 36.5kms 7 locks

Building a new weir at 52 L'Uf

2.2° C Sunny but chilly start, much warmer later – no coats! Set off at 8.50am expecting there to be moored boats at Fumay to chase us upriver and were greatly surprised to find the whole mooring empty. The water flow increased to about 3.5kph as we neared the first weir at lock 52 L’Uf, where work was in progress on a new weir. There were VNF vans at the house as usual. All the locks today were full so we had to time it to get to each lock as the gates opened. On upriver to 51

Spot the spelling error. 50 Revin

St Joseph. Deserted, no one about. A long run up to the next, 6.1kms, 50 Revin. Cyclists were racing along the towpath and some paused to watch us come up very slowly in the lock. Mike spotted that on the sign alongside the lock where they’d translated to English, they’d not only put “Yachting” harbour instead of Yacht harbour, but they’d misspelt it as Yatching. Into the tunnel, dripping icy water on us. Two cyclists came through on the towpath, which is about the height of our roof

Needle weir in action. 49 Orzy

and Mike gave a little toot on our air-horns which must have made them jump. Naughty. Out into bright sunlight. Under a bridge on a slant across the river to lock 49 Orzy which still has its impressive long needle weir. Mike had to get very close to the post before the zapper activated it, then we had a wait below the lock while it emptied. 4.7kms to 48 Dames de Meuse. There were workmen on the lockside with lorries, who were working on tree lopping on the island between the canal and river just up above the lock. The chamber filled then nothing happened. To the amusement of the workmen, Mike went up to the top end of the lock, checked the lights (still on single red not double red) then proceeded on to the gates and gave the right one a heave whilst standing on the left one. Sensors! The gates opened. The lock cut above was beautiful to start off with, magnificent rocky hills covered with mostly pine trees, but the deciduous trees along the canal were now all coming into leaf and the sloping grassy bank up to the towpath was ablaze with spring flowers, red campion, ladysmock, violets, forget-me-nots, dandelions, wood anemones and wild garlic,

Allotment shed??? Anchamps

plus a flower that looked like grape hyacinth. Out on to the river. Another long needle weir and no signs of it being replaced yet. On past Anchamps, lots of the weekend houses along the towpath looked derelict and tumbling down. Other bits of land between the river and the steep hills beyond had been used as allotments and had some real hillbilly buildings, again mostly falling down. Round the bends through Laifour. A VNF van with ladders on the roof went past on the towpath, closely followed by a VNF car. I made a cuppa after we cleared 47 La Commune and Mike spotted a barragiste working on the needle weir, putting some of the wooden needles back we hoped

Was it once a greenhouse?? Anchamps

(it would slow the flow down a bit and save us some diesel). Up 46 Monthermé lock with more workmen on the lockside with lorries. They were working on a small overflow weir above the lock, next to the old hydroelectric plant. Into another lovely lock cut. Brimstone butterflies were making their appearance and there was loads of evidence of beaver, chewed bark and paths where they slide down the bank. Through Monthermé, always full of tourists, the mooring was empty but most of the electricity posts were in use by the seventeen campervans lined up along the bank. The crew of a cruiser waved as we went past, they were tied to the bank a bit further upstream of the town moorings. It was 5.30pm when we arrived at the old quay in Château-Regnault. Tired as it had been a long day, nearly nine hours travelling. 

Friday 29th April 2016 Givet to Vanne-Alcorps. 20.7kms 6 locks

A new gate going rusty 57 Ham

1.9° C. Sunny first thing but cold and windy, clouds gathering. Rain and hail later. We set off at 8.50am heading back upriver to spend a few days at Pont-à-Bar as the dry docking had been postponed by the yard to the 17th May due to emergency repairs on a commercial boat that took preference over our booking. What a difference going upriver, with revs on to do 7.5kph and doing 5 so the river was running at 2.5kph, so it had slowed down a bit from when we came downriver. Lock 58 Trois Fontaines was ready for us, the young lady resident keeper lowering a boat hook to take a rope for us. Mike asked her how she knew we were coming but didn’t get an answer, probably as she didn’t understand the question. Through Ham tunnel (spotted a bird’s nest built into one of the dished recesses in the stone wall) and up lock 57 Ham, again our lady lock keeper took our centre rope for us with a long boat shaft. A man in a van arrived at the lock house. Through the short lock cut and back on to the river. Men were cutting the grass at Aubrives, using mowing machines and strimmers.

No crossing lock gates! 56 Mouzon

Spotted an inflated rubber boat lying on the bank – health and safety now requires a rescue boat in case anyone should fall in the river, we wondered? Up lock 56 Mouzon. Still several VNF vans at the house/office. As the lock filled the top end gates made a loud screeching noise, sounded like a diesel train hooter. You’d think being right by a VNF inhabited lock that they’d slap some grease on it! I took a photo of a very old lockside sign forbidding the crossing of lock gates. An empty péniche called Pirate was moored above the lock opposite the building site

Lock house 56 Mouyon

where a new weir was under construction. On the next reach it was suddenly busy, first a two man rowing skiff went past heading downriver followed by three hireboats from Pont-à-Bar. The speed of the water flow increased to around 3kph as we reached the next lock, Mike had to increase speed to compensate. Up lock 55 Montigny without any problems. Noted that the passenger trip boat Charlemagne from Givet was behind us below the lock. Mike took photos of trees in the lock

Peniche Pirate moored in the lock cut abv 56 Mouyon

cut that had been chewed by beaver and I made sandwiches for lunch. Mike slowed off to let the tripper catch up and overtake at KP21 as he runs to a timetable. After Charlemagne cleared lock 54 Fépin we zapped, the lock emptied and then we went up. As we left Mike spied a white cruiser behind us also coming upriver. I took a photo of the old observatory in a garden at Haybes. A large cruiser from Wexford in Ireland was moored on the quay. Up lock 53 Vanne-

Beaver at work

Alcorps and as we headed for the bank to tie up it started hailing, big stinging lumps of ice! That was annoying, just enough to get us wet and the maps and guidebook. I got off on the hummocky bank and held the centre rope while Mike banged pins in behind the piling to tie to. While we were tying up an empty péniche called My Way from Dunkerque went past, crew waving, heading downhill. Bet they were thinking – what are those crazy Brits doing

Garden observatory at Haybes

tying up in a lock cut?? Well, it’s deep enough, very quiet, TV and satellite reception are OK and it’s free. It was 2.40pm. A VNF van went past and the lock lights had turned to en panne double red. The lockie had taken over as the cruiser we’d spotted coming up behind us must have arrived below the lock and zapped. As the working péniche has priority he’d reset it for him, gates opened and My Way went down. Shortly afterwards a very large white Dutch cruiser went past, followed ten minutes later by another very large cruiser going upriver, a German one from Düsseldorf, just as the tripper went past heading back downhill! That was a busy half hour! And it tested our mooring ropes. Mike went to look at the progress of the new weir, he said they’d laid some square tubes half way across the river - making a bridge so that their plant could drive over from one side of the river to the other, while the river flowed through the holes. After dinner, well after lock closing time, empty péniche Paraguay arrived. When we looked out later he was still in the lock chamber with the top end gates open and spent the night in there as there is nowhere to deep enough for him to moor above the lock. 

Saturday 23rd April 2016 Vanne-Alcorps to Givet. 20.7kms 6 locks

Tree felled by beaver near Montigny

5.6° C After heavy rain overnight it was grey and chilly when we set off at 9.40am. Zapped and the lock lights went to red/green - then double reds, out of order – what a good start. Phoned the controller at Quatre Cheminées (the last lock on the French Meuse just downstream of Givet) the lady said she’d phone an itinerant for us. We tied to the rails around the intake for the old hydro-electric plant as the banks are far too shallow to get close to as they still have the original, as-built underwater

Northern entrance to Ham tunnel

sloping stone walls. A cheery grey-haired man in van arrived just after ten am and reset the lock for us, working it from the cabin. We were soon down 2.15m in 53 Vanne-Alcorps lock, back on the river and flying along past the little town of Haybes. Just 3.24kms to lock 54 Fépin, which worked OK, no house, very quiet. Dropped down another 2.10m on to a 5.2kms reach. We passed two cruisers heading uphill, the first one was British-flagged – first one this year – and the one

Northern entrance to Ham tunnel

behind had a large flag all folded round on itself that may have been Canadian. Another weir was being reconstructed at the entrance to the lock cut leading to 55 Montigny. We thought we were going to have to phone again as the bells started ringing and the lights flashing on the top end gates, then they stopped, but then they started again and, once in the chamber, the top end gates closed behind us very slowly. It worked OK, down 2.5m and the wind picked up as we went north on the river reach

Steam from cooling towers at Chooz

through Villers-Wallerand making it very cold and choppy. Another new weir at 56 Mouyon, where the VNF have an office in the former lock house and they must have all been at lunch, judging by the number of vans and cars parked there, as it was just after midday. No one about and the lock worked perfectly. Down 1.6m and down a wide windswept reach, we could see steam rising from the nuclear power station at Chooz beyond the hills in front of us. On past the statues along the bank at

Long empty commercial quay by huge slate quarry, Givet

Aubrives and into the shelter of the lock cut, entered via a set of flood gates with a little liftbridge on top. The next two deep locks have always been keeper-operated and the same young lady that worked them last year for us was there again today. Down lock 57 Ham (3.20m) and she drove off in her VNF car down to lock 58 Trois Fontaines while we went through the 565m long tunnel (an unusual one for modern-day France as it had no towpath, lights, emergency phones, etc, just plain rock walls with brick lined entrances) Down another 3.28m and back into the bitingly cold north

Moored on the quay in Givet

wind again. I made a cup of soup to warm us up as we did the last stretch of river for the day. Moored on the upstream end of the quay at Givet. It was 1.45pm and immediately there were gongoozlers to watch us tie up. Mike attached ropes around the timber baulks (saves having ropes being lifted off bollards by passing youth on a Saturday night) and took the mast down and all the flags into the engine room, plus the mop and boat shafts. On the far bank down by the road bridge there were five or six parked campervans. Lunch. The sky brightened up and the sun came out so Mike decided to go and get the car from Pont-â-Bar rather than leave it until the next day when the forecast said it would be colder with a chance of snow! A British guy from one of the campers had wandered over to chat with him while he was getting the bike ready to go, that took an hour longer than it should have! He went to retrieve the car a little after 4pm. When he returned, just after 8pm, I gave him a hand to put the bike back on the roof. It had poured with rain while he was away but, fortunately, he didn’t ride through more than a few spots of rain. He said he was very, very cold when he got to the car – even though he’d got a microfibre vest on and a pair of my thick tights he was shivering! Still not warmed up when he arrived back at the boat an hour later after having the car's heater on full blast. Now we have a few days to wait before continuing downriver into Belgium where we know there will be commercial traffic, only more four moves to the dock.