Saturday 26 May 2018

Cumieres to Toul (Or, The Day We Shouldn't Have Moved.....)

Going uphill means it's back to the roof for me to slip the ropes round the bollard - and yes, that's a goat!

We wanted to stop at Ay again, just a short hop from Cumieres, to visit some different champagne houses to those we’d done the previous year so set off under a cloudy sky, through the lock at Epernay arriving at Ay around lunchtime.  We took advantage of the Leclerc nearby to top up on Diesel and some groceries, had some lunch and got ourselves ready to go into the town.  Meanwhile the local lock-keeper had appeared to do his checks on the section of canal he’s responsible for.  We asked him about all the commercial traffic and he confirmed what we thought, that there was a breach on the Marne/Aisne up towards Rheims and so the commercials were coming this way instead.

Then, looking forward to an afternoon of tastings, we headed into the pretty town.  Our first stop was Bollinger.  Although we like the small independent houses, which tend to be cheaper, it’s such a famous one that we thought we should visit while we were here, and it would be good to see if there is a difference in the champagne or are you really just paying for the name?  We found Bollinger easily but couldn’t find the Reception, or Accieul.  We did find an electrician working in an electrical room so asked him and he pointed us to the main gate, which had looked locked, but when we tried it, opened and we went in and crossed the courtyard.
Champagne Bollinger

The pretty town of Ay with the unwelcoming Champagne houses :(
We headed towards the open door to the left of the staircase and a lady came out to assist us, but on asking if we could visit and taste/buy some champagne explained that they are not open to the public and it’s only wine professionals that they take on appointment only for visits.  We must have looked suitably disappointed though as she then said that there was a small group in the ‘shop’ just now, but if we waited a couple of minutes for them to finish, she would let us in for a look.  So we waited, but it wasn’t really worth it.  There was a showcase with bottle-openers and other Bollinger branded kitchen things, and bottles of champagne displayed around the room, the cheapest of which was 43 euros!  The most expensive was 960 euros (a 2007 vintage) and the special 007 (James Bond) edition 160 euros.  She said they are in the process of opening to the public to do visits and tasting but it’ll probably not be up and running until next year.  We thanked her and left, not taking to long to decide that whilst we might have treated ourselves to a 43 euro bottle, we weren’t prepared to do it without a taste first.

So with our thirst unquenched for the moment we headed on to the next house on our list, Champagne Geoffroy.  There was a lot of clinking and lorry noises from the yard of this house, but there was an Accieul sign saying it was open, so we went in.  The little office was empty, but computers were on and jackets over chairs so we ventured into the room opposite to find ourselves in a tasting room.  We hung around, coughed loudly but no one appeared, so we went out and hovered around the yard, spotted by the men busy with the lorries and bottles, we returned to wait in the tasting room.  A few minutes later a harassed Geoffroy came in and we said we’d like to taste and buy some champagne.  That was fine, he’d get his wife to come and help us, however, he reappeared a few minutes later, with the wife apparently busy, and rushed us through two tastes, sold us two bottles and quickly got back to his bottling.  Well, at least we’d had a little taste but we’d been keen to try the rose as well but weren’t offered anything more than the two whites.  Ah well, never mine, there were plenty more to try.

Back in the centre of the town we entered the courtyard of Pierre Labouef Champagne, passing the Open sign on our way in.  The doors were open but before we could get in and make ourselves comfortable, a girl appeared and on hearing our request to taste and buy explained that they were actually closed and in fact, she should really close the doors…… which she did, behind us as we left…………  She’d suggested the guy across the road or around the corner, so we went in around the corner and hung around another deserted tasting area waiting….. Eventually a burly wine grower arrived and on hearing the now well-formed words, “Nous voudrons deguster et acheter du champagne s’il vous plait?”, looked at us like we had horns and declared in great horror, “I’m far too busy to do that, you have to make an appointment, no, I’m too busy.” And ushered us out.  We must have looked despondant because he then thawed slightly and asked where we were from.  When I said Scotland, he said we had done well in the rugby.  Yes.  But I wanted to taste your champagne and you said no, so fuck off.  Was how I felt but clearly I smiled and bid him Merci, Au revoir……..

I’d suffered enough rejection for the day, Mike was keen to continue trying but we headed out of town and back to the boat via Leclerc, where we bought a dozen bottles of various champagnes that were all on offer for under 20 euros a bottle.

Slightly soured at Ay’s attitude to us, we were tempted to just leave and go on to Mareuil-sur-Ay to our favourite house from last year, Philippe Benard, but it’s a nice mooring at Ay, so we stayed the night and continued on to Marieul the next morning.

One of the hotel boats was on the quay at Marieul when we pulled up early afternoon so we moored just at the entrance to the port on a grass quay using one bollard and a pin at the front.  We headed up to Philippe Benard, passing Champagne Saumon, who Mike had emailed but they’d said they had no tours on that day, sorry.  Our haven of champagne tranquillity at Benard was closed.  We were absolutely gutted.  Our vision of loading up the boat with champagne for the next few months was quickly disappearing and tainting our love for the region and stretch of canal.  There are no other champagne makers in Marieul, well, within walking distance, so we resigned ourselves to the fact our dozen Leclerc bottles and the three bought at Cumieres would have to be it.  In a last blast of determination (or desperation – you decide), Mike nipped up to Benard’s at 6pm and successfully shouted to someone in the yard behind the locked gates and booked us a tasting at 9am the next morning!!
 
Lovely Lucy Benard prepares some tasting for us :)
We didn’t quite make 9am, but were through the gates by 9.30am and warmly welcomed by the delightful Lucy Benard, the daughter of the couple we met last year.  Mum and dad were on holiday and brother Johan was out on the vines so Lucy would attend to us today.   She didn’t speak any English, but we had a lovely hour or so with her tasting the champagne and then had a tour around the cave, which we hadn’t done last time.  Their caves go 2 metres below the main road of the town, quite fascinating.  The thing we love about this house is that it really is a truly family affair.  Lucy and Johan are the fourth generation to take over the business when their dad retires and they and their mum and dad do all the work in themselves, apart from some helping hands at harvest time.  Even Johan’s 12 year old twins help out and one was driving one of the tractors into the yard as we left.

After our tour, we stocked up and Lucy kindly drove us back down to the port with our boxes which we stashed away and got ready to leave.

A couple of locks on, we caught up with the hotel barge and sat behind them until they turned off at the junction with the Marne/Aisne and we continued on the Lateral towards Vitry le Francois.  It’s not the most exciting bit of canal, less so the second time around, but we were getting excited as at Vitry we’d turn onto new ground and enter the Marne au Rhin, which would take us all the way to Strasbourg.
There are lots of old lime kilns along the final stretch of the Lateral de la Marne as you approach Vitry

Hmmmm..... which way I wonder.......

Last year we turned right, this year we turned left.  This is looking back where we came from.

Leaving the industrial outskirts of Vitry le Francois
And of course each canal has its own style of lock huts…..

Unfortunately at our second lock we got a longer look at the hut than we wanted when we entered the lock, which was automated, activated the blue pole, the gates closed and then nothing happened.  I buzzed the buzzer on the lock hut but it crackled and nothing happened.  Luckily the phone number in the du Briel guide was, for once, correct and control at Bar le Duc said someone would come and help.  Little did we know that calling Bar le Duc would become a regular occurrence…….

The lock-keeper arrived after 20 minutes or so and got us up and through the lock.  He laughed when I said it was our first time on this canal as the second lock in causing a problem wasn’t exactly a good impression.  I should have been warned when he shouted, maybe see you later, as we left……..

After a long day, we were pleased to reach our mooring, which was slightly tucked away meaning we didn’t see the elderly fisherman’s line until it was being pulled under the boat………  He and his daughter managed to hold the rod as we went into neutral to try and stop it pulling, but she ended up cutting it free.  He was remarkably nice about it, well, he was on the public mooring so…..  We chatted briefly about where we were from etc as they packed up as they were just finishing for the day anyway.

We had another long day on Monday 21st May so were fairly quick off the mark at 9.30 only to get held up at first lock.  Lock problems were to become a stand-out feature of the Marne au Rhin, which was a shame as it is an absolutely beautiful canal.  We also began to recognise when we would have a problem as some of the locks were very unkempt with overgrown grass and the mechanisms covered in what looked like years worth of slime and it tended to be those that the gates wouldn’t open/wouldn’t close or the pole mechanism wouldn’t start the lock operating.  I was getting quite chummy with the chap at Bar le Duc………
 
Our first night's stop on the Marne au Rhin - Bignicourt


Cute abandoned lock-keeper's house just waiting to be snapped up!

Goat on Lock Patrol


Thankfully the lift-bridges are operated by the lock keepers allowing us into the lock.

Another nice rural, if slightly overgrown, mooring on night two at Mussey.

We spotted quite a few of these little trains along the way, this one was at Bar le Duc (where we waved to our friends at control!).  They used to pull the boats along.

I only realised just how rude these gnomes are when I looked at the photograph!!!  Tut tut Mr Gnome - put it away!!
We finally reached the port at Ligny-en-Barrois, where I gladly accepted a glass of wine from the Australian couple next to us on ‘Parce-Que’ even though it was Monday and a non-wine night – it had been a long day.

Worse was to come.

The next morning it was a strike day in France, the National Sport, as one lock-keeper had put it on the Loire.  I had called my mate at Bar le Duc the previous evening and he confirmed the locks would be open but if they broke down there may not be anyone to come and sort it and we could be stuck, but suggested I phoned at 10am that morning and demande, “Quelle est le situation?” and they would be able to advise whether we should go or not.  I was knackered and really fancied a day in the nice town taking time to stock up as we had no food apart from two baguettes the Australians had given us as they had excess, so was hugely disappointed when at 9.40am the French couple in the cruiser across the port honked, waved and went on their way the same way we were going.  Clearly they had phoned already and been told it was okay to go, so a few minutes later we made our way out of the port and waited for the lock to set.  Mike had spotted that there was a mooring above this lock right next to the Aldi supermarket, so we’d stop for shopping there.  Well, there were two yellow bollards to moor onto, but only about a foot of water at the side of the canal and no way we could pull in.  So, foodless we carried on the hundred yards to the next lock.  The lock set, gates opened and up we went.  Waited at the top for the gates to open to let us out and nothing happened.  Waited, waited and eventually Mike went off to the supermarket and I phoned my mate and waited for the lock-keeper to arrive.  The lock-keeper’s first attempt to open the gates didn’t work, so he went into the hut to try a more complex button to press and it worked and I slunk out, going as slowly as possible as I was still waiting on Mike coming from back from the shop.  I finally saw him in the distance and hung back, but couldn’t get into the side to get him, so he had to continue up to the next lock, where another lock-keeper had arrived (thinking we were having a problem hence the hanging about), but this time we got through no problem.  Looking back, the last lock was still on two red lights and the second lock-keeper went back to help his mate while we continued on.  We were now well behind our schedule to reach our mooring for the night but as more locks broke down and we waited for the eclusier to come we figured they would keep us going until we were out of the chain of locks we were in.  At one lock only one gate opened to let us out, but being just a wee thing, we slipped through!!  As it neared 6pm, we still had at least an hour’s worth of cruising and locks to do and normally the lock-keepers will say to you that it’s time to stop, especially if there are no moorings further on.  Unfortunately the nice, chatty friendly eclusier from the morning had been replaced by Mr Grumpy doesn’t speak at all, so as we pulled out of a lock with a nice mooring next to it, nothing was said and having had words with Bar le Duc earlier about all the problems we were having and what was now a two-hour delay to our day, we thought they would just keep us going through, as usually they are quite diligent about boats being able to moor up safely and won’t leave you in the middle of a chain, or on a pound between locks where there are no proper moorings.

Not up north it seems.  We got up one more lock, with no sign of the eclusier, and as I looked back as we left, the lights went out, meaning it’s now shut.  So when we reached the next lock 10 minutes later it was in darkness and we stuck, with no suitable mooring.  And in fact, a sloping side to the canal which meant we couldn’t pull in.  Mike phoned Bar le Duc, explained the situation and said they’d need to keep the locks open until we were through the chain, but eventually getting nowhere, the chap hung up.  Mike rang back.  Different guy.  Hung up on us.  Tried again, no answer………..  They weren’t interested that we were in a pound, couldn’t pull in, no mooring.  We looked around and saw a bit of the side had been cut back, probably by a fisherman, so made our way back to that and although we couldn’t get right in to the side due to the sloping wall, got in close enough for Mike to leap off and secure the rear line round and EDF pole.  We then pinned the front rope on and Mike made some temporary fenders from old bottles attached to mooring pins to sink and stop us banging against the sloping wall all night.  It was a really pretty, rural location, but I was fizzing as I’d thought we shouldn’t have moved at all today and now that had been proved – but just a bit too late.  I went for a walk to chill out a bit whilst Mike worked on the temporary fenders.  When I returned, his shoes and socks were drying on the stove as he’d slipped in going between the land and boat at one point.  Naughty VNF leaving us there and not telling us to moor up earlier on a proper mooring!!
The beautiful scenery did its best to pacify us as we had problem after problem with the locks :(

Stormy!

I bumped into these lovely cows on my walk.

Our non-mooring mooring for the night on a sloping wall and tied to the EDF pole at the back!
We didn’t even have to call the next morning to get them to set the lock for us.  It was open and on a green light at 9am exactly and we continued on until we got stuck at the next lock and waited for the eclusier to come and help.  It was the nice chatty eclusier and I told him what an awful day we had yesterday with all the problems and he agreed and said they were having lots of problems with the gates.  However, we continued on and were soon going through the Tunnel de Mauvages, the second longest tunnel in France which you used to get towed through, but now are accompanied by an eclusier on a bike.
Approaching the lock, the old cables are still overhead from when they used to tow the boats through.


And safely out the other end - you can just see the eclusier's bike outside the hut on the right.
Straight after the tunnel is a manned double lock which is really deep - this is looking back to it.
From here we were back to downhill locks, and having been going uphill for a month now, were looking forward to a slightly easier cruise.  However, at the first lock nothing happened, clearly the sensor hadn’t picked us up and Mike had to buzz the control to get it started………sigh………..

However, we arrived in Void, thinking we might just stay a couple of hours and continue on, but the rain came, so we stayed, moored alongside a large barge as there was no room on the quay.
We managed a quick walk around Void until the heavens opened.

And when they did, they didn't half!!!  We sheltered in a little tunnel between buildings for 15 minutes until the worst was passed.
Void was a nice wee town and we bought some lovely nougat in the shop selling local produce of the region, and a lovely cake of soap for my birthday – my significant birthday that was the following day.

As a birthday treat, on Thursday 24th, Mike made the morning tea (assisted by post-its giving instructions, left by me the previous night) and went to the bakers for some pastries and croissants for a birthday breakfast.  Then we headed off on a two-hour, lock-free cruise – wooohooooo – another birthday treat!!
Opportunity for a 'Jump' shot going over an aqueduct.


Reaching the junction where turning left takes you through this lock onto the Meuse

We remained on the Marne au Rhin heading for Toul


Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Birthday mooring at XXXXXX
The next day took us to Toul where there is a lovely port and we booked in for two nights to give ourselves a bit of a break.  After a wander around the town, we had my birthday dinner at Table de Victor, which is close to the port and a great little restaurant.

Saturday was a day to relax and the furthest we wandered from the boat was about 20 metres to the little bar bistro where we whiled away a few pleasant hours with a bottle of Chablis and some charcuterie.  Back at the boat later on, we saw that our neighbours had returned back to their boat Liberte, and we met with Flora and Doug, originally from Gareloch, now from Hawick, and after chatting between boats, for some 20 minutes, then joined them on board for a drink.  They have been boating in France for 11 years, so lots of experience and had just returned from visiting their new and first Grandchild Sophie.  We had a lovely evening with them and might see them later in the season as they are also heading south this year to the Canal du Midi.

After a good long spell of shorts weather, Sunday dawned a bit drizzly and overcast as we left the port for our last couple of days cruising for a while.


Monday 14 May 2018

Nogent sur Marne to Cumieres (Or, Champagne – Here We Come!!!)

Where are you all coming from???!!!

Despite being tired after our long emotional day on Monday 7th, we were up sharp, filled with water and away just before 9am the following morning.  As we had to do a bit of catching up and had done the River Marne last year, we decided to do a few long days, and as the sun was out, it was a pleasure to be boating.  However, our early start and good humour ground to halt as we approached the first lock of the day and pulled in to let the commercial barge that had come up behind us, pass and go up the lock first.  In France commercial barges have priority and on some busy waterways you can wait for over an hour if one is coming, as they’ll make you wait so it can go through the lock first.  As he past us, the marinier on board gave a wave of acknowledgement and headed into the lock.  Then a tiny cruiser entered the lock from above and came down, and on them exiting and seeing the light go green, we pushed off and moved towards the lock, only for the light to go red, at which point I turned around and saw another commercial behind us in the distance.  The lock keeper (who had not responded to my VHF call) came out of his hut and told us we’d have to wait.  It’s the rules, but it was annoying as we could have been up the lock and away before he even arrived.  So we turned around and moved back to let the Commercial through and couldn’t believe it when as the lock was emptying for us to go up, I looked over my shoulder and saw a huge gravel barge barging up the river.  Mike was all for going, so I hung off the quayside, but the barge just kept coming and was clearly taking the lock.

Finally after he was gone, we were allowed up, only to catch him up as we’d gone onto a section of canal running alongside the river, a deviation, and his draft was such he could only crawl along.  Give him his due, at a wider section Mrs Mariniere came out and waved us past, which we did gratefully as we didn’t really fancy doing the next 10km at tick-over……
 
There are lots of rowing clubs along the Marne, it really reminds us of the Thames in places.
We arrived at the next lock to see the second commercial in front going in and up and radio-ed the lock-keeper – no response…….  So we hung back and waited but when the commercial left the lock above us, the gates remained open and the lock didn’t start preparing for us to go up next.  We pulled over onto the side and Mike went up for a look to see if there was a boat waiting to come down, but there wasn’t, and the lock-keeper had vanished as well.  Mike went into his hut and could see us clearly on his screen via the cameras looking down the canal, so he must’ve seen us waiting as he put the commercial up.  Mike shouted and hung around, but it was deserted.  So we waited.  We waited 40 minutes, at which point the big gravel barge appeared around the corner behind us and miraculously the lockie appeared and the lock began to prepare.  But bless the gravel barge, he hung way back and made his intention clear that we should go up first, so we got a green light and were finally underway again.  It was annoying because the lock-keeper clearly had decided that he would put the gravel barge up before us and we’d have to wait, despite the fact he had more than enough time to put us through first and then have the lock ready for the gravel barge 40 minutes later, so technically, he held up the gravel barge unnecessarily.
 
Exiting the tunnel de Chalifert you pass under a bridge carrying the TGV line - there WAS a train passing over!

And at the lock just past the tunnel, surprise, surprise, we had to wait for a commercial coming down!

The last time we’d been on this stretch of water we had seen a couple of commercial barges but not the amount we were seeing today and we wondered if they were all catching up from the stoppage we’d had on the Seine. 
One in front and one coming towards us....... "Gasp!!!" :D
Anyway, the two hold-ups made our long day even longer and it was nearly 6pm when we pulled in to the port at Meaux, to discover that the port had suffered flood damage over the winter and they were only now getting around to repairing it.  So whilst we managed to get onto a pontoon, there was no way to get off the pontoon onto land – they’d removed the wooden quay the pontoons attach to.  We needed a couple of things from the supermarket – a well-deserved ice-cream being one – so we got our plank off the roof and used that – although it was a bit tricky getting back onto the pontoon again as there was nothing to hold on to – yikes!!!

The lack of access also meant we didn’t really socialise with the first two pleasure boats we’d seen for days, Kokoro (with Steve and Pay-Chen onboard, who we’d met when we wintered in Auxerre), and Archangel, a pretty barge with the most beautiful flower boxes I’ve seen.  We ended up just shouting across to them!  As they had arrived before the quay was lifted, the workers had left their pontoon connected, but I’m not sure for how long………

We allowed ourselves a little bit of a lie-in the next morning and left just before 10am, looking forward to a cruise on the quiet river in the sunshine.  We had intended to leave earlier and reach Mery-sur-Marne by lunchtime, to take advantage of the fantastic restaurant, Quai de Brunes, but having checked, realised it was closed on a Wednesday, so we’d just go past and not need the two-hour pause in our cruising day.  Last year we saw no commercial traffic on the river after Meaux, but on our way to La Ferte sous Jouarre (Still sounds like they named the place Fart!) we saw four commercial barges on the move and more passed us after we moored.  Having spent a few nights in La Ferte last year, we did a top-up at the Carrefour supermarket, filled with water and were off sharp the following morning.
Cute treehouse as we leave Meaux

This is the site of an inclined plain that used to take boats from the Marne onto the Canal de L'Ourqe that we cruised last year.

Last year after Meaux, we saw no commercials at all on the Marne.  This time we're seeing at least 3-4 every day.

It was a stressful departure as we were at the lowest we’d ever been on diesel with the tank showing just below a quarter full.  Now, if the gauge is correct, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but we’re just not sure quite how accurate the gauge is, as our water one still shows two bars full when the tank is dry!  Slightly concerned, we had decanted some red diesel from our front tank (which the gauge for has jacked in completely and is showing no reading, but we’re not too worried as we filled it before leaving Roanne and we’re only using it for cooking in the evening).  As usual, our little pump, operated by the drill, and which is fantastic when it works, was doing its usual intermittent thing but we eventually managed to sook out about 5 litres.  We refrained from putting it in the propulsion tank though, as it’s illegal to use red diesel for propulsion in France and although we’ve never been stopped and checked, we knew that knowing our luck, today would be the day.

The Marne had a bit of a flow on it, and I was a nervous wreck, not made to feel any better as Mike ran through the drill of what we’d do if the engine cut out (anchor launched, top up with the red diesel, head for the side – having probably not been able to get the anchor back up and having to cut it and leave it on the bottom……).  So as we got held up at the first lock by a commercial ahead of us, I was almost having a meltdown at the thought of all the diesel we were wasting sitting there.  Once up the lock, we pulled into the side and had another go at decanting some red out of the front tank, much to the amusement of the next commercial of the day heading down the lock, but gave up with a dribble when the motor began to smoke…….  I insisted that we put in the red diesel we had which would give us another 6 or so kilometres out of the 20 we had left to do and to where we could get diesel.

For some reason, doing this pacified my racing pulse somewhat, and the rest of the journey was slightly calmer as the flow eased on the river as moved away from the lock and weir.  However, it was still with some relief that four hours later, we pulled into the lock at Charly and moored on the quai above for the night.  For us, Charly signals the start of the champagne region, the vines start to come into view and it was where we did our first tasting and buying last year.  But for the moment, all we wanted was diesel, so it was off on the first of four trips to the Super U 200metres away to fill the tank and then refill the two jerry cans as spare – we didn’t want another day like today!!!
View from a porthole at Charly - vines, lovely vines!
We had intended to do a big shop but the supermarket itself was closed as it was a public holiday (again!) in France.  They have a few in the month of May; 1st May is labour day and everything including a lot of the locks are closed, 8th May is victory in Europe day, and extra special this year as it is the centenary, 10th May is Ascension, 21st May is Pentecost.  There’s then a break until 14th July followed by Assumption a month later on 15th August.  1 November (All Saints Day) is next then 11th November, Armistice and lastly Christmas Day and New Years day.  Not that you needed to know this but it’s got it clear in my head now!

Mike had a teleconference for work as I did the last petrol run and having checked if the restaurant next to the mooring was open and finding it wasn’t (holiday), we cooked the tea and settled in for the night.

After a leisurely browse around the Super U in the morning, we had a lovely cruise the next day taking us all the way to Chateau Thierry, winding our way through the beautiful countryside in glorious sunshine – shorts weather all round!  On arrival we couldn’t get on to the high wall quay, so ended up on the pontoon mooring for 5euros 44 for the night.  It was a glorious day, so we packed a picnic and headed off to the American war memorial on the hills above the town.  When we visited last year it was being restored and was fenced off, but even then it was still hugely impressive and we were keen to see it in its full glory, but it’s also just a great place to visit.  It’s so peaceful and offers great views and just has a special feel to it.  We weren’t disappointed.  This time, not only was all the fencing gone allowing us to see it properly, the visitor centre was open which has a small exhibition explaining the events of WWI in this area and the involvements of the American troops.  It’s very well done and the story told well so you come away understanding what had happened and what might have happened had the allies not had the support of the US troops at that point.  There are some fantastically sad photographs of the devastation of the small towns and villages in the area, and one which sticks to mind of red cross nurses assisting troops at a train station, and written on one of the train doors is, “It’s a long way to Chateau Thierry.”
WWI memorial to the US Troops


Mike's delicious Greek chicken pie he made for tea
After a full English breakfast the following morning it wasn’t such a long way to Dormans; 24km and 4 locks to be precise.  We moored at the same spot at the campsite as last year and settled down to get on with some work on the boat.  Around teatime there was an amazing thunder storm with heavy rain that must have lasted the best part of an hour.  Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time we were heading out for a most marvellous dinner at Sylvian Suty.
The amazing Chariot de Fromage!
After more rain overnight everything felt a bit damp and cold, so first thing on Sunday morning we lit the fire!  Unbelievable that we had had shorts on for the previous ten days or so.  It was another quiet day on the Marne seeing no other boats on the move, not even the usual 3 or 4 commercial barges we’ve been seeing – they must take the weekend off!  We pootled along taking turns to warm up in the boat and after 11km and 2 locks reached our evening’s accommodation, the pontoon at Port-a-Binson.  After getting the French couple on their little cruiser sitting in the middle of the pontoon to shuffle up, we moored up and took shelter as the heavens opened again.  As we sat a commercial barge and then a hotel boat passed by but all else was still.  With the rain abating an hour or so later, we got our jackets on and headed off up the hill to Chatillon-sur-Marne.  We had seen the town from the river last year, with the big statue of Pope Urbain II looking out over the valley, but hadn’t stopped to explore, so this was a new mooring and new town to visit for us.  It was quite a climb and with it being Sunday the town was closed when we got there, all apart from the tourist information office, which was open and had the most gorgeous cat welcoming any tourists!  The cat’s human confirmed our worst fears – all the champagne houses were closed, so there’d be no tasting, but he gave us a leaflet with the history of the statue and we went to take in the views.
 
Some very unusual and very noisy pets in the lock garden.


Pope Urbain II surveys the Marne Valley

Even with crap weather the views are spectacular
Back at the boat, the French had moved on (must have been something we said….) and we only just closed the door when the rain started again and stayed on for most of the evening.

It was still raining when we woke up, big, wet drops everywhere, but on a plus side, it was washing all the dust and crap off Quaintrelle!  We hadn’t bothered plugging into the power the previous night, but as our solar was now rendered useless by the weather and we weren’t going to move in such weather, I dashed out and hooked us up.  Mike meanwhile got the fire lit again……….

The rain eventually eased off and we filled with water and prepared to push off, unable to see the surrounding countryside as it was coated in mist – just as well we saw it last year then!
 
Last year we moored at the town of Reuil and went off along the towpath in search of the Teddy Garden.  It was nowhere to be found but we saw a fenced off area that looked like it had been something.  This year the teddies are back, if you look closely :)

A picture to show it's not all shorts n sunshine on board Quaintrelle ;)

We just did a short hop of 13km and 2 locks (2 and ½ hours) to Cumieres with no rain but surrounded by grey and at times very black looking clouds.  A forecast 5pm deluge came to nothing as we walked up the champagne house, Phillipe Martin and enjoyed our first tasting session of the year.  The champagne was delicious and the trainee receptionist spoke very good English explaining about the house’s history and the different kinds of champagne they make.  We had four generous samples and settled on buying a few bottles of their Rose and one of their Blanc de Blancs which is made with 100% chardonnay.

We were now back on track with our schedule to get to Nancy for the end of May, but unfortunately I’m still running slightly behind with the blog!!!