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....

Wednesday 20th April 2016 Pont à-Bar to Lumes. 10.1kms 2 locks

Needle weir at Dom-le-Mesnil

2.2° C Sunny and milder, light breeze. Mooring pins out at 10.00am, winded on the bend below lock 6 (Pont à-Bar) and headed down the canal to lock 7 Dom-le-Mesnil (used to be called Meuse lock). Zapped, the lock filled and we went down 2m back on to the Meuse and set off downriver. A beautiful day, warmer than of late, so no woolly hats and warm jackets! Past the needle weir and into the lock cut leading to lock 40, also named Dom-le-Mesnil, passing the derelict house of the barragiste (weir-keeper) by the needle weir – a couple of men in a van now do the job of several weir keepers no doubt.

Lock chamber at Dom-le-Mesnil.
Note the height of lock walls - lock still usable in times of flood

There were high lock walls in lock 40 (so it could continue be used during times of flooding). The lock house was still lived in, with garden chairs out front and children’s toys. A VNF lorry arrived and started unloading stuff (no idea what) on to the lockside as we left, 1m lower, and sped off downriver aided by a flow of about 2.5kph. The tarmac towpath was well used by locals with quite a few dog walkers and cyclists, even a family out on bikes and roller blades. Following the road we took on Monday to go shopping in Charleville, through Flize and Elaire, then the river swept away from the road and skirted past lots of lakes which were

Long empty pontoon at Lumes

old gravel workings. Soon afterwards we winded and moored next to a floating pontoon at Lumes by the sports ground. It was 11.45am. A yacht and a cruiser went past heading up river and later a German yacht moored at the far end of the pontoon. The gangway to the bank was missing, so it was a long jump to the bank. Mike tried ringing the Mairie to get the water turned on, the secretary said it was nothing to do with them and gave Mike another number to ring. The Water Company who answered said they only did installations, so nothing to do with them. After lunch Mike took a walk up to the Mairie. The secretary said she would get in touch with someone else who would sort it out. No one arrived and the water tap remained waterless. Oh well, looks like we'll have to detour into Charleville tomorrow.

Saturday 16th April 2016 Remilly to Pont à-Bar. 17.4kms 4 locks

8.9°C Grey skies, sunny spells, cold wind. a few spots of rain in the morning, turning to heavy showers after lunch. Winded and set off downhill at 9.30am. Zapped and went down 3.6m in lock 36 Remilly. I did a few chores and put some washing in the machine as we sped along the 5.7kms of river into Sedan. We noticed that the pontoons were missing and there

Sedan from the river

were two boats moored next to the quay where the pontoons are normally, a cruiser and a pénichette from Pont-à-Bar. When we got to the lock, 37 Sedan, Mike went into the chamber on the wrong side for the sensor which was on the left while the rod was on the right. I lifted the rod, it wouldn’t work so Mike backed up to the sensor – just as a man-in-a-van turned up and the pénichette hireboat from Pont-à-Bar. We went back into the chamber almost to the bottom end gates and I threw our centre rope around a bollard recessed in the lock wall and the German-crewed hireboat came in behind us. The VNF man operated the lock from the graffiti covered cabin. Down 1.80m then the hireboat followed us down the short 2kms river section and into the lock cut leading to 38 Villette. As

Unusual building in Sedan

we were almost at the lock another hireboat from Pont-à-Bar appeared, an Eau-Claire this time, heading upriver. No sign of the VNF. Mike lifted the rod and we dropped down just one metre. The Germans were only going as far as Charleville and then back to base on Monday morning, so they followed us again. 3.7kms to Donchery. Into 39 Donchery, the rod was placed further up the lock chamber so the Germans had the job of lifting it. There were three of them on board, all men in their late sixties. The first 50cm emptied slowly then "someone" pulled the plug out and the rest of the water vacated quickly. Down 1.70m then just over 3kms downriver to Pont-à-Bar. Surprised to see double reds on the uphill end of lock 7 Dom-le-Mesnil, the first lock on the canal des

View towards  Pont à-Bar

Ardennes, and a Dutch-flagged yacht was anchored below the lock entrance. The Germans went on downriver and Mike did a pirouette and dropped me off on the tiny concrete (very muddy) quay by the backpump that lifts water from the river into the canal and I went to find out what was happening. I took a hand-held radio with me so I could keep Mike informed about what was happening as he went slowly sideways downriver. The wind was blowing quite strongly upriver but not hard enough to combat the flow. The top end gates were both open. I tried the intercom on the lock cabin, which rang, then beeped. Tried it again, same thing. OK. I went in search of a phone number. Nothing on the cabin or the many notices. Spoke to the man from the house who had just

Moored at  Pont à-Bar, view towards the river

arrived in his car (lunchtime) he wasn’t VNF but he had a search for a number to phone. I walked down towards the river and in among the lock working times was a free-phone number for commercial craft to book the locks. I relayed it to Mike and he rang them. At first they didn't know what he was talking about, so he told them again lock 7 was en panne and the guy said he would send someone. A few minutes later two men in a VNF van arrived and went in the cabin. After thanking Monsieur and Madame from the old lock house for their help, I went across the lock to ask the VNF

Another stunning sunset at Pont-a-Bar

itinerants for their phone number. It was OK, they said, to ring the "Green" (free) number as the team there would contact them as they had just done. The Dutch yacht came in and took a while throwing a rope up to the VNF man. Mike brought our boat in behind. OK. And the guys worked the lock from the cabin filling it slowly. I’d told them we would be staying over the weekend in the bottom pound then off downriver to Belgium next week. When the lock was full I went to tell the two Dutchmen not to wait for us at lock 6. They didn't understand much English. Eventually got it through to them and one said they were only going up to  Pont à-Bar Services for diesel and would be coming back shortly. We tied up next to the steep grassy bank, Mike knocking pegs in behind the piling. It was 1pm.