Counting Down

16th September, 2012 (Sally)

The canal between Champagne and Burgundy— well, if you have to leave Champagne at least one is heading towards Burgundy, and when better to visit the Cote D'Or than when the leaves are starting to turn and the harvest is about to begin. All that is still ahead of us as we await the arrival of our last visitors for the year, Deb and Mark, who arrive at Chalons sur Saône along with their bikes tomorrow. What a glorious two weeks we have had on the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne with leisurely cruising, frequent stops and barely another boat to be seen. Two-a-day seems to have been the norm, though as luck would have it at our first stop after Tony's slight altercation with the Aussie boatie who screeched at him, they were taking up a large portion of the available quay and it was left to me to 'politely' ask them to move. Well did I get an earful, but at least they did move, though only a couple of metres, albeit grudgingly, and left us to squeeze into a space with barely half a metre fore and aft. The moral of the story, if you are going to have words, make sure the other party is travelling the other way.

At Chaumont we celebrated Fathers Day and the fifth anniversary of owning Sable with a Sunday lunch in the town. Chaumont sits on a prominent rocky spur, a nice walk up from the port but a scarcity of eating places as, like so much of France, they choose to holiday with the crowds. Luckily we found the quintessetial French restaurant, through an old arch to a flagged courtyard with the minimum of tables set in the sun. A delightful way to celebrate and reminisce over the sights and experiences of the last five years. It was at Chaumont three years ago that I picked crab apples off the trees in the port, and sure enough they were waiting for me again so we have jars of crab apple jelly, flavoured with sage or rosemary for our cote de porc, roti d'agneau or whatever takes our fancy.

The canal and its surrounds have not changed at all since we were last here. In fact it seems that in some of the villages time has stood still for the last few hundred years. We walked into litle hamlets that have no commerce at all and in spite of the obviously occupied homes an absolute dearth of people on the streets. It was close to here that Joan of Arc was born and it was through this valley in 1428 she passed on her way to Chinon to confront the king and tell him to, "get his butt in gear," or words to that effect. I'm sure she would still find the way familiar, probably more so, as the path she took is a recognized Joan of Arc trail with churches and chapels dedicated to her along the way. Nogent is renowned as a maker of knives, scissors, tools, as well as surgical instruments. We took the 13 km bike ride into the town hoping to buy some nice steak knives which we have seen at exhorbitant prices in the shops. The 13 km was fine, a gentle ride along the valley floor but like most towns here Nogent was set at the top of a hill. A good 1.5 km push to the top — to find the town was closed. The butcher, the baker et al on holiday. We did eventually find a small knife shop which seemed to have the worlds' biggest collection of pocket knives and embroidery scissors but little else. The steak knives were no better than what we have on board so a small tomato knife was the sole purchase, but it should be noted, it is a very good tomato knife... On the way back we passed the foundry, which is huge and expanding; manufacturing pieces for the airline industry is a big part of their business so perhaps knives are very much a secondary industry nowadays.

The other main town in the upper Marne valley is Langres, noted as one of the fifty most beautiful villages of France. It occupies a dominant position on the top of the hill, as it has done for the last 2000 years. Langres was founded by the Romans and still in the almost intact fortified walls is the original Roman arch that was one of the entrances into the town. One can walk the whole ramparts, which we did, enjoying the views from all points of the compass. From Langres it was into the tunnel at the top of the canal and then the easier task of locking downwards towards the Saône valley — 77 locks up from Vitry le Francois; 43 down to the Saône. Everywhere there are early signs that autumn is on the way, the harvest is in except for the last fields of corn and sunflowers but most of the barns are overflowing with hay and huge rounds of straw for the winter bedding. Leaves are ever so slightly starting to turn and evenings are getting much cooler. The markets are displaying autumn fruits and veg. The first bright yellow chanterelles, pumpkins, figs and lovely little melons. Our barbeque season has been too short but perhaps it will be nice to have a Boeuf de Bourgogne and a cassoulet before we leave for warmer, southern hemisphere climes.

After a quiet two weeks on the canal we emerged into the Saône and immediately we were among the mass of hire boats, all seemingly on their first day on the water. At the very first lock, there was a hold-up as two newly hired boats had managed to jam the whole works. How I don't know, but it took forty-five minutes to free them and as they left the lock we watched as one steered itself straight into the bank. The river was alive with hire boats, a great number flying flags from NZ or Australia. We moored at St Jean de Losnes and of the eight boats on the quay only one was from the northern hemisphere, but we found out later he was a young guy from Darwin temporarily living in Britain. Good to meet up with some old friends and make a few new ones all enjoying the leisurely life on the waterways of Europe. St Jean d L is always a good stop, a visit to the chandlers, new fenders, paint etc, fill up with diesel, all 700 litres, and to take into the book swap a huge bag of books and come out with just as many. Now well stocked up we have said goodbye to the Saône and made our first stop on the Canal du Centre at Fragnes, a delightful port. This is very much the final leg of another great year on the waterways of Europe and one we are looking forward to sharing with Deb and Mark. A few good restaurants along the way, some fine vineyards to visit and plenty of time to relax and enjoy the countryside, especially the Burgundy vineyards. They should be picking the grapes in earnest next week

Languidly Lingering

31st August, 2012 (Tony)

After sixteen days in Sillery, resting under the shady trees, painting, and glued, goggle-eyed, to the Olympic Games we drifted down to Condé sur Marne to spend another four days lolling under the shade of trees before moving on to Chalons en Champagne where we rested for a week, relaxing under the shade of the trees. We finally wrested ourselves away from Chalons and paused at Soulanges for a day, resting under the shade of trees and continued to Vitry le Francois to while away a couple of days sitting in the shade of the trees. Cousin Paul, and Pat, re-joined us at Vitry and cruised with us to Orconte, St Dizier and Joinville — a lazy week mostly whiled away under the shade of trees. We've since over-nighted at Donjeux and are now ensconsed at Froncles appreciating the cooling shade of the trees. Long may this glorious, but very late, European summer last! Needless to say we've done an awful lot of reading aided and abetted by a sizeable swap of books with three English couples moored adjacent to us at Chalons. There have been so many grassy reserves (now rather crisp and brown rather than soft and green) and shady trees along this route that we have barely had the awning up in the past month. However, we did erect the awning the other evening to enjoy a pre-dinner drink in privacy and to elude a pair of obnoxious Brit brats from a motorhome parked nearby. I was tempted to wander over and belt one of them on his big obese backside as clearly his parents weren't bothered. What is it with teenagers on holiday? The family should have hired a boat instead. Perhaps it's the heat or maybe I'm getting old for I responded rudely to an Aussie boatee drifting past the port where we were moored with six other boats. "You've taken up all the quay!" she shrieked. I spun around expecting to find a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo; then I thought perhaps it's someone who knows us and it's just a bit of sardonic Aussie sledging. But no, it dawned that she seriously thought her 16m floating scrapyard was more worthy of a berth than our 20m. "Well, bad luck," I retorted (or something of similar rhyme). After that incident I had to go and sit in the shade for a while to cool down.

Generally we have been very lazy, we've hardly been out on our bikes and we have only walked around a mere handful of villages to replenish supplies. At Condé we got on the motorbikes to take a couple of runs: to Ay and Mareuil sur Ay; and Bouzy and Ambonnay. We couldn't bear the thought of turning left after Condé and slipping out of Champagne without visiting these beautiful towns and calling on our favourite vintners to stock-up the cellar. Several remembered us, much amused at our mode of conveyance. They are all apprehensive about the pending harvest. The wet, cool early summer weather has produced smaller than usual grapes and the late heat has strained the skins to bursting which means they can no longer be sprayed. The Euro crisis and the fact that everywhere people have less desire to celebrate has diminished orders. And the AOC has provisionally decreed that this year growers may only harvest 9,000 tonnes per hectare (normally 10,500 t/h is produced) to turn into fizz. A dismal forecast for vintage 2012. Whilst at Condé, Paul and Pat stopped by for a couple of days on their way to Paris and Brittany. They returned later to spend a week with us as we cruised from Vitry le Francois up the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne. While aboard they sealed the purchase of their own boat, an ex-hire boat from Le Boat, at Hesse (near the incline plane on Canal de la Marne au Rhin) and are looking forward to returning to France next May to take delivery and begin the cruising lifestyle. We wish them loads of pleasure and much happiness.

We are now climbing up towards the upper reaches of the Marne. We last travelled this route in 2008 and not a lot has changed. The restoration work on the cathedral in Chalons en Champagne is now finished and church services have resumed. Likewise, the scaffolding is gone from the gorgeous Chateau du Grand Jardin at Joinville and it looks wonderful with its new slate roof, surrounded by its meticulously tended parterres gardens. According to local legend Duc Claude de Lorraine had the chateau built, around 1546, to obtain the forgiveness of his wife, Antoinette de Bourbon, for his infidelity. Emblazoned under every window are sculptured mottos: Toutes pour une (all for one) and; Là et non plus [ailleurs] (there and no longer elsewhere) to emphasise his reformed commitment. We all ambled up to the top of the hill overlooking the town, the site of the original enormous castle. It was reduced to rubble following the revolution and the townsfolk made off with most of the stone to build houses for themselves. There's a lot to be said for keeping a log — it makes it easy to predetermine stopping places and special points of interest when the journey is repeated. It is a pretty canal. But we are astonished at the dearth of boats. We have seldom passed more than two boats, going either direction, on any day. What is refreshing though is the increase in the number of French owners of pleasure boats. Whereas they once seemed a rarity it is now quite common to find several in every port. Americans are nowadays almost non-existent. We are looking forward to revisiting Chaumont and Langres before descending down to the Saône, St John de Losne and into Burgundy again via the Canal de Centre.

Yesterday, we rode our motorbikes to Colombey les Deux Eglises, a 29 km pilgramage to the memorial and museum of Charles de Gaulle. We were impressed, not only by the gigantic Cross of Lorraine erected to his memory on top of the hill behind the town, but also with the vast, modern, cubist museum. We spent two hours, not long enough but information overload started to kick in, wandering the museum and we learned more about the man and the tumultuous period of politics that wracked France during WWII and on into the 1960's than we ever previously understood. Churchill and Roosevelt did not particulary like him. But he was the one who stood firm and resolved that France would be restored to freedom and glory. He bought a lovely home on the fringes of the town in the mid-thirties and lived there with his family most of his life, apart from during the war and whilst he was president. The views over the surrounding countryside are sensational. Today, Colombey LDE is a mecca for tourists stopping to pay homage to the General, his memorial, grave and museum.

We were eager to watch the opening of the Paralympics the other night. Suddenly, just as it was about to start, a violent electrical storm struck right overhead, obliterating any chance of receiving a signal. So we retired to bed where Sally drew comfort hiding under the covers. The storm was specatular but short-lived and we couldn't be bothered getting up again. I'm sure the rain, brief as it was, would have brought welcome relief to the farmers who have almost finished sowing their next crop rotation.