Champagne, Again!

Week 49 — July 19th - August 8th (Tony).

No doubt about it, this is the life! But to share it with friends and family makes it even more special. So it was a thrill to have Gillian and Matt (No 7) aboard for a week as we returned to spend more time in our favourite spots in the Champagne region.

After leaving Verdun, which is one of the loveliest towns we've visited, we continued down the Meuse in search of cultural stimulation. We found it at Mouzon, another typically gorgeous small town steeped in history, where quite by accident we found the town centre in the midst of hosting a motorbike rally. There were more bikies and motorbikes than I've ever seen since our visit (also quite by accident) to a remote small town in USA where Harley Davidsons were made and it was their 100th anniversary or something! Mouzon's town square was literally throbbing with more than a thousand motorbikes and leather-clad bikies, plus many stalls selling every kind of motorbike gear imagineable, not to mention the beer tents galore. And... there was simultaneously, a line dancing contest in the adjoining street with dozens of contesting teams, each decked out in their own version of country and western uniform complete with six-shooters that they regularly twirled and fired into the air. It was all hilarious and great fun to watch. And... before either of the above events had finished there began an organ recital in the adjacent church. Having missed  most of the line dancing, Sally and I opted to attend the concert. The organist was a young professor of music (she looked to be no more than sixteen), a specialist in mediaeval organ music. The organ was absolutely splendid, and exquisitely restored, no doubt at considerable expense. It was all-in-all a unique outing. It is amazing how often our arrival at a place has coincided with their special annual event. We have seen more festivals, parades and fêtes than we ever knew existed.

We continued down the Meuse — it truly is a beautiful waterway — bypassing Sedan, and turned off once again into the Canal des Ardennes. We stopped at Pont au Bar to fuel up, draining the station's diesel tank. My guilt trip about our environmental footprint evaporated when I calculated that we are using less fuel here than we did in our cars in Australia. In five months since we left Roanne in March we have travelled more than 2,000 kms — and consumed less than 1l/km. Not bad for a 46 tonne home afloat!

Five weeks later the verdant countryside is just as beautiful — same scene, different scenery! Fields of wheat and barley, previously olive green, some turning brown, now mostly harvested, the stubble a burnished gold in stark contrast to the flourishing crops of sugar beet. Meanwhile lucerne is lush green awaiting the mower and baler, while corn now high as an elephant's eye is flowering. Acres of sunflowers nod in unison towards the sun, as in a Van Gogh painting. If I had to be a farmer, let it be here! And all around, the hills are spread with row upon row of heavenly vines, the bunches of grapes swelling daily as the countdown to harvest time draws ever closer. We have been fortunate to experience one of the best summers, apparently, France has had in years.

And so, full circle, back to Champagne. We simply had to come back. Our supplies of the golden nectar were precariously low — so we'll make sure that doesn't happen again. Hence we've been making quite a few stops for tastings and restocking. Some of the smaller, boutique vignerons produce Champagne at 12€ a bottle that is every bit as delicious as the top brands (30€). It's hard to resist buying a back-pack full at those prices. The other reason to return was, of course, to pick up Gillian and Matt in Reims. Now Gill can almost match her mother in downing a glass or three of Champagne so what better place to take them cruising than down the Marne past Champagne's finest vineyards, to Epernay. The motor bikes got a good workout as we took turns exploring the vineyards. There is something quite magic about getting above the canal and up into the heights. To sit surrounded by vines in every direction is very special. Matt had an interesting experience exploring an 1870's fort with his Grandmother. They decided to take the shortcut to the fort, which meant driving the motorbikes through a forest full of shell holes from the 1914 -18 war. Matt, an experienced motorcross rider made short work of it; Mumma had a few nervous moments, envisaging herself jettisoned at the bottom of one of the craters, or worse, setting off an unexploded ordinance! They have now left us to explore Paris and then Amsterdam and beyond but it was great to have them with us for a week and to let them see that we haven't entirely squandered their inheritance. I think Sable's value has just appreciated a teeny bit. Reluctantly we will have to start heading back to Chalons en Champagne, Vitry le Francois, again, and then down the Saone in order to get back to Roanne before mid-October in time to prepare Sable for the winter.

We were enthralled by the Tour de France even though the coverage at Roanne was rather disappointing, and that Cadel Evans didn't win. Next year... Today, a heavy shower of rain just on lunchtime as we berthed at a comfortable quay, with electricity, at Damery, seemed a perfect excuse to spend the afternoon in front of TV watching the opening of the Olympic Games. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks, cheering the Aussies.

Ardennes, Meuse

Week 40 — May 24th - June 6th (Tony).

For the entire month of May we meandered along some of the waterways of Belgium. And what a delightful country it is. On the one hand the countryside is predominantly flat with verdant pastures and picturesque villages; and on the other hand, especially along the big rivers and commercial canals, it displays enormous industrial plants and massive factories producing everything one could think of, from raw steel to concrete products and pharmaceuticals. Such was the Meuse downstream from Namur for two days — to Maastricht in Holland. The valley is attractive with deeply forested slopes and rocky outcrops but every available piece of flat land adjoining the river is a site of frenzied extractive industry with huge barges being loaded or unloaded. Sometimes the volume of commercial traffic caused delays of up to two hours to get through the locks — not that we minded, there's always a lunch to be eaten at leisure, or another meal to prepare. We were told the visit to Maastricht is worth the journey; and it was. A small city but lively and full of character and charm. We sojourned there for two days and enjoyed a couple of very memorable meals as well as indulging in a few beers and a bit of shopping. The rest of Holland will have to wait for another year...

After fuelling up we turned Sable around and returned upstream, back to Namur. After a good shower of rain I was mystified by an orange sediment all over the boat. Apparently it was dust from the Sarah Desert whipped up into the atmosphere by a huge wind storm and caught in the precipitation of the clouds over Europe. At Namur we picked up our friends, Tony and Nancy Stenton, who joined us for a week as we headed further up the Meuse, back into France through some of the prettiest scenery we have encountered. No industry here, just glorious forest and attractive towns, small locks and clean water. Most of the time we spent doing what we always do when we're together — eating fine food and drinking copious amounts of wine, along with many big brown Belgium beers. Boy, do the Belgians make great beer! No beer is less than 5% alcohol and many top 9%. And except for a couple of brews, they've all tasted fantastic. Everyone in Belgium appears to drink litres of beer, and who would blame them? But it may account for their growing obesity problem — something that hasn't been obvious at all elswhere in Europe.

At Dinant, a beautiful town nestled beside the river under an overeaching rocky outcrop that occasionally breaks off and destroys the cathedral beneath it, we moored up alongside a restaurant and as we supped champagne we were tempted to ask the waiter to serve us Belgium's famous specialty on Sable's top deck, such was the ambience of the evening. However, after contemplating the likelihood of him being run over crossing the road and the repast being spoiled, we took ourselves across to his establishment and gluttonously consumed a kilogram of moules (mussels) and frites each. Served individually in a family-size Crueset casserole dish, we all agreed that it was the finest feed of mussels ever! None of us managed to finish the delicious creamy soup/sauce at the bottom. An hour later, and forsaking dessert, (imagine!), we teetered back across the road for a game of 500. Tony S's attempt to go misere resulted as it usually does, in failure. How wonderful it is to share our life afloat with good friends!

Next day, after riding a cable-car to the citadel above Dinant to take in the panorama, we crossed the border back into France and arrived at the town of Givet where we made the unfortunate error of mooring at the only available spot, under a bridge. It took more than an hour the following morning to scrub the pidgeon shit from the decks, and if that wasn't enough, in the early hours some brats had pelted our roof with half a dozen eggs! We were disappointed that there was nowhere to moor a boat at Monthermé, an intriguing looking town that spans the river at a big bend and is close to where some fierce fighting occurred in both world wars. It is not far from where the historic WW2 Battle of the Bulge took place. Lots of old gun emplacements and bunkers remain visible along the banks and in the hills above the Meuse which is still a mighty river here and extends a long way farther up, almost to Toul, close to the start of the Moselle which flows into the Rhine.

The city of Charleville Mezieres with its magnificent central square appealed to all of us and we visited the centre several times for a beer or three and a window shopping stroll through the pedestrian ways. After an overnight stop there we continued on, past the start of the Canal des Ardennes at Pont à Bac, to Sedan which is overlooked by one of the biggest mediaeval forts in Europe. Whilst making a u-turn to face the current prior to mooring, I managed to terrify the passengers and crew when Sable was caught broadside-on to the fast flowing current and swept rapidly towards the bridge pilings. I earned more than a beer rescuing that situation and after a change of pants we all raced into town for a pacifying drink.

We all returned to Charleville next day by train to further explore the city, and for Tony and Nancy to pick up a hire car for the next stage of their trip — a week in the Loire Valley. This morning they left us to drive to Tours while we wait in pouring rain (the first real rain we've had in more than a month) for Sally's sister Fran and Lester, from NZ, to arrive. A more thorough reconnoitre of Sedan has revealed a rather pleasant town with lots of interesting places, including the impressive fort, that were missed on our first, cursory stroll into town. If the weather improves tomorrow we will turn around and head down to the Canal des Ardennes to make for Reims and the Champagne region. I am looking forward to sampling lots of their local produce.