Mareuil-sur-Ay to Vitry-le-Francois (Or, 'I Don't Think We've Had Enough Champagne - Anyone for More?)

Mooring outside the Grainerie in Sept Saulx

Having dawdled around for the last few days not covering very many miles, we had to get a hoof on come 15^th August as we had a visitor to meet up with south of Reims.  Angela was flying into Paris CDG from where she’d take the train to Reims, then change and take another train to Sept Saulx, a small town on the Canal de l’Aisne et Marne.  We knew we could get to Sept Saulx in a day, but it would be a longish day of 6 hours, involving a flight of 8 locks, all which was more than we’d been doing for quite a while.

As soon as we turned off the Lateral a la Marne, the countryside changed drastically.  No longer in the valley with the vines reaching far above us to each side, we were looking over flat planes of crops as far as the eye could see.  It appears that I was so disinterested in the day’s scenery that I didn’t bother taking many pictures!

Which way to Reims?

The well-lit and spacious Billy Tunnel broke the monotony of the flat landscape

Our mooring was on the quai of one of the many graineries that line this canal, but they’re happy for leisure boats to tuck on at the end if they’re not expecting a commercial penniche.  Grain is still transported from here all the way to Amsterdam on the canals, according to the Monsieur et Madame who stopped for a half hour chat, with me only understanding about 60% of what they were saying, but I did enjoy his physical demonstration of what he had been watching on TV recently – Highland Dancing!!

Boat's-eye view

The next morning was spent cleaning the boat for our guest’s arrival and we headed off to the little halt to meet Angela just after noon.  As tends to be the way in France, our guest was delivered bang on time and we headed back through the small town to the boat, stopping at Chevau Blanc restaurant for a delicious lunch.

Then we were off up to Sillery, a town on the outskirts of Reims from where you can visit some of the champagne villages and even get the bus to Reims for the day if you don’t want to take your boat all the way.

 

Mooring up at Sillery - not often we get an action shot of me ;)

The Sillery Duck Water-Polo Team waiting for their next match

Once moored up we had a walk around the town and through the little port, which we’d been unable to get into as it was full.  We stopped for a chat with the couple who run the B&B Boat, Serenity and they kindly invited us round for a cuppa later on.  After stocking up at the supermarket we headed back to Serenity where we also met the crew from the Green Lion barge, who were fellow Scots, and their two guests, also Scots.  It was nice to hear the homeland accent again, even if they were Weegies!

The next day dawned bright and warm and we all donned on our shorts.  However, twenty minutes into our hour long walk to Vezernay and the cloud came over, it cooled down and as we reached the outskirts of the town, the heavens opened.  The purpose of the trip was to visit the wine museum and lighthouse of Vezernay, which promised tremendous views from the top – Mike had even brought the binoculars.  With the rain came some mist and after mourning the less than magnificent view presented to us under the conditions we spent an hour going through the museum.  We were hungry by the time we came out but there didn’t seem anywhere in the town to eat, it was just full of champagne makers, so we were relieved to see a burger van parked up next to the museum.

 

The Vezernay Lighthouse

The rain cleared a little to let us see the view

Scary vine monster!

Saved by the burger van

This lined our stomachs for our next visit which was a further 20 minute walk into the woods to the Perching Bar – a champagne bar built into the trees with views for miles.  It cost us 16 euros each to get into the bar and have a glass of champagne and as we were enjoying it, we stayed for another glass.  It’s as well we had a walk ahead of us and didn’t stay for more as it transpired to be 12 euros a glass!!!  It was a great experience though, although we’re not sure the chap’s plan for Perching Bar World Domination will succeed.

Great views heading up to the Perching Bar

Apparently all champagne is bio, ie no chemicals, so just what was BUGMAN doing????!!!
 

Into the woods we go again, you have to every now and then.........

And at the top of the woods you can perch in the Perching Bar!

Even on a mixed-weather day the view is pretty good

Hingin' aboot......

By the time we got home we’d walked nearly 20km and were shattered, but as we sat enjoying a beer on the back deck, the skies darkened and the rain that been threatening all day finally unleashed itself and we battened down the hatches for the evening.

The rain was forecast to continue all day Friday so we put on our waterproofs and headed off to catch the bus to Reims, having decided we could do some of the museums and indoor stuff while the weather had a tantrum to itself.  We were soaked and cold by the time we reached the bus stop and after waiting 40 minutes decided that the bus mustn’t run in the rain and we headed back to the boat.  We kicked around the rest of the morning, Mike and I had some lunch, then Angela got cabin fever and went for a walk whilst there was a lull in the rain.  About an hour later, she texted to say she’d found a little bar in town, Chez Lolo, and had got herself comfortable for the afternoon with some food and a beer.  We joined her there until it was time to head back to the boat for tea, and drink some more champagne – well, what else could we do??

The next day was quite cool but the showers had abated, so we headed off for Reims and were soon moored up in the port there.  Right next to the main road it’s one of the noisiest moorings we’ve had, although in France, even the busiest of roads tend to go quiet after 8pm, so it was fine for sleeping.  We walked into town and after consulting in the Office de Tourism bought a 24 hour pass that got us on the bus tour that evening, into most of the museums free, and discount at the Champagne Houses.  We spend an hour or so in the Cathedral, which was the usual, with lots of statues, went back to the boat for warmer clothes then came back to town for the bus tour.  Reims didn’t blow us away.  Maybe our expectations were too high, but it was okay, nothing brilliant.  We were thirsty after the bus tour so made our way to Le Clos where we enjoyed a bottle of bubbly before heading back to the boat and picking a kebab up on the way.  At the kebab house we suffered a communication breakdown resulting in two kebabs instead of three……….. we shared.

 

The straight canal into Reims

Yes.  It was cold enough for the puffa jacket, in France, in August!!!

Commercial easing out of the lock

The facade underwraps at Reims cathedral

Interesting champagne building from the tourbus

Gosh - that's not us drinking champagne again is it??!!

On Sunday Angela had us booked into the Pommery Champagne tour, interesting because it has the deepest caves of the champagne region and we took a half hour walk in the sunshine to get there for our booked time of 11am.

Pommery Champagne House

They had an exhibion of LARGE things on display

Going down....

Madame Pommery took over the running of the champagne house after the death of her husband and to prove she was successful at running a business put named the caves after the places new clients came from, to show off where she was shipping her champagne to.

Further exhibits added interest to the cave tour

The vintage store where the oldest bottle remains from 1874 - not sure I'd want to drink it!

When we came out we had just missed a bus back into town (which our pass also covered), so ended up walking and once there had lunch in one of the touristy cafes in the square.  We waited a while for our food and when Mike’s arrived his meat was not rare, as requested, but extremely well done and bounced around the plate in a most inedible manner.  Having learned a lesson in St Jean de Losne when we didn’t complain about an inedible piece of meat, I called the waiter over and said we’d asked for rare and pointed at it.  He apologised, took the plate away, then came back saying they’d start the dish from scratch.  Angela and I were meanwhile tucking in to ours and Mike said if we’d finished by the time his came again, we’d just leave it and go.  However, a few minutes later it reappeared, perfectly cooked and the waiter who’d taken our order came over to apologise saying he’d ordered it rare, so could only apologise for it being overcooked.  The thing is, the French EXPECT les Anglais to eat their meat rubberised, it’s one of the things they hate about the English, and when we order rare, they usually smile and are surprised but very pleased we want to eat meat the ‘proper way’.  However, in tourist destinations, it doesn’t seem to matter how you ask for it cooked, if you’re English, it’ll come well done…..

Finally the weather had warmed up a bit by late afternoon and we were able to sit out on deck in our shorts and read and drink champagne, which was a nice last night for Angela.

Monday 21^st was back to cold again though and with jeans and jackets on we wandered around the town for a while, then bid farewell to Angela who was catching the train back to Charles de Gaulle.  We returned to the boat, filled with water and then headed out of Reims back down the way we came, doing a longer cruise (20kms 7 locks) all the way back down to Sept Saulx, where we’d picked Angela up.  The grainery was yet again deserted so we moored up and spent 40 minutes practising on the Ninebot, trying to turn and getting used to going over slightly rougher ground.

Twisting the pole to set the lock

Summer returned on 22^nd and with shorts on, a smile on his miserable little face, Mike had us on the move by 9.30am, only to get stuck shortly afterwards at the Billy Tunnel as we had to wait 20 minutes for a commercial barge coming through.  Back down the flight to the junction of the canal lateral de la Marne and the Aisne et Marne and having some time to play with we headed back to Mareuil sur Marne where we Could stock up on Champagne from Msr Benard.  The port was quieter and we took the opportunity of having a good bit of tarmac to practise our Ninebot turns again…..it’s taking longer than we thought to get going with this but I’m sure it’ll be worth it when we do!

Finally emerging from the tunnel

Mareuil sur Ay by night

The heat continued the following day but we made most of the cool morning air to start preparing the back deck for a paint touch up.  There were quite a few blisters of rust bubbling under the paint which were blasted, treated, sanded, and primed ready for more sanding priming and painting once the day had cooled down again – it was too hot to paint in the afternoon.  We cruised along to the next little town of Bisseuil, the mooring at which we had admired in passing the previous week, so decided to stop for the night.  A wander around the village and down to the bridge and we were on the river Marne where there was a little gravel shoal and people picnicking.  We didn’t need a second invite – we went back to the boat, got our swimming stuff on, picked up our books and spend a lovely couple of hours cooling off in the water and chilling out on the beach.  The evening’s entertainment was yet more Ninebotting, but there was some traffic on our track, so it was short-lived.

Back to some better views again

Church at the pretty village of Bisseuil

The River Marne just a five minute walk from the canal provided an ideal spot for a cooling dip!

Chalons-en-Champagne was Thursday’s destination and after a cool, autumnal start to the morning it got hotter and sunnier as we cruised our 23km and 4 locks.  At our first lock that day there was already a boat going up, but they soon pulled away ahead and we didn’t see them again, until we approached the lock at Chalon.  We were really surprised as we reckon they must’ve been a good 40 minutes ahead of us, but we twisted the pole and waited for clearance to go up.  It was taking some time, so we decided to take advantage of the wait and I hoped off at a quay just below the lock, went past the lock to the port and checked what space was available.  The quay of the port was full, so we’d need to go on a pontoon, which means we get half on, which is fine but not ideal if it gets windy.  I ran back to Mike and said we should just moor up on the (free) quay below the lock, which we did, but which meant the lock was then ready for us to go up, but we didn’t want to anymore……..  Saved by a boat coming behind, we waved to them that we were mooring at the quay and they should take the lock – all good.  It turned out to be an ideal mooring for getting some masking tape along the gunnels and a coat of paint onto them, which we did before heading off for a look around the town.  Chalon-en-champagne is a lovely town and we much preferred it and its church to Reims.  We found a family run DIY shop in town, where we were served by the son (you still get approached by staff in France who are desperate to help you get what you’re after – so refreshing!) and managed to pick up some bits and pieces we were after.  They didn’t have the diameter of tubing we were looking for so directed us to the local garden centre which was quite a walk, but a pleasant one along the other little river that passes through the town – the Mau (I think!).  I managed to find a beauty salon that was open and booked myself in for a long overdue leg wax the next day, and we decided that we’d also do the little boat trip you can take on the Mau the next day too.

Still commercial traffic on the outskirts of Chalon

Tour boats outside the tourist office

Cute little musical model outside the tourist office

Very impressive cathedral

We decided to go up the lock and moor in the port for the next couple of days, so as a boat came down, we shouted to them to twist the pole to set the lock for us going up as they went past, which saved us reversing 300m to tell the lock we were coming.  Once moored up we headed into town for our 12 noon booking on the boat trip.  The trip was 45 minutes which then gave me 15 minutes to walk the 5 minutes to the beautician for 1pm.  Well, that’s how it should have worked out but the reality was the boat before was a few minutes late getting in, there was a bit of faffing getting the four ticket holders on (us and two birds), then as we were about to leave, the girl from tourist info shouted down was there room for four more – which there was so we had to wait for them.  As they sauntered down the quay chatting and admiring the quayside buildings, one of the men asked the pilot something to which the pilots response was, hang on, I’ll show you, and promptly got off the boat and sauntered back up to the quayside with this bloke.  By this time it was 12.20 so we got off the boat, went in to tourist info and asked if we could take a later boat as it hadn’t left yet and we now didn’t have time.  They were surprised it hadn’t gone off on time, until the other member of staff came and said, yes, there’d been some late arrivals.  They booked us back on for 3pm and as we left the late arrival man appeared – he’d taken too long in the loo and been left behind!!!  I then headed to the beautician and Mike to the supermarket, after which he returned to the boat to do more paint preparation.  The boat trip at 3pm was brilliant, really well done and a most enjoyable 45 minutes, although I think we’d have got more out of it if we spoke French fluently as the guide on the boat seemed to be getting a lot of laughs.  Showers had come and gone all day, but by evening they were gone enough for us to sit outside at one of the little restaurants on the square for dinner, Les Sauvets, which was lovely.

In the tunnels under the town a film is projected from the boat onto the tunnel roof giving the history of the town - it was really well done.

After more painting and me spending several hours sorting out trains for collecting and depositing my mum at the airport in September, the late Saturday afternoon was then given over to Ninebot practice on a great bit of tarmac until after having done a few runs each (Mike’s first proper run without holding on to my arm!), we saw a boat coming up the lock and recognised Paul and Carol on Triona.  A catch up and drinks were in order, so we dispersed for dinner and they came over at 8pm.  Paul and Elaine on Luv were also in the port, awaiting a repair on their generator, which wasn’t happening until the mechanic came back off his holidays (remember my comment about France being on holiday in August in the last entry??), so we asked them over too but they had family camping nearby who were coming for the day/evening so we didn’t see them. As always with Paul and Carol, a few drinks turned into a mammoth session with 2 bottles of champagne, 1 red, 1 white, 1 red bag and 4 toffee vodkas being consumed.  My liver doesn’t like Paul and Carol…….

Sunday 27^th, after using one of the few pumpout machines we’ve seen and one of the fewer that is working (2 euros – tres cheap!) we departed Chalon for a short, sunny cruise to La Chausee-sur-Marne, where on arrival at the mooring we quickly sussed out the nearby river Marne and its beach and toddled off with our swimming gear and deckchairs for an afternoon of relaxation and recovery from the previous night’s session.   

This mooring comes with a large private garden ;)

Nice do-er up-er if you're feeling brave......

Impressive tomatoes in this wee garden, climbing their metal spirals.

Must do something about the white bits!!!

Mike’s enthusiasm for painting caused a bit of a panic as he did a last minute layer of undercoat just before dark and of course it then got cool and it looked like it wasn’t going to be dry enough to put the deck boards back down, but he got away with it – just!

Hot and sunny the next day for our cruise to Vitry-le-Francois where we exited the canal-lateral de la Marne, through the junction with the Marne Rhin and turned right on to the Canal Entre Champagne Bourgogne.  As we entered the town it was quite industrial but the port, where we had booked a week’s mooring, was tucked in a nice little area, but we were a bit stressed on arrival to see that it was chock-a-block.  We moored onto a mooring on the outside edge of the port, which meant our stern was blocking the slipway, but we figured we’d be okay there until the capitaine arrived at 3pm and would sort us out.  A cruiser that was on the quay going into the small port watched us going back and forth and trying to get in and then asked if it would be better if they went on the outside edge, as they wouldn’t block the slipway.  We said yes, that would be better if they didn’t mind and I explained that we were booked in for a week as we were going away for a few days and leaving the boat.  So we swapped places and were settled in by the time the capitain, Pascale, arrived. 

Crossing the River Marne - again!

Approaching the junction - left to Strasbourg, right to St Jean des Losne

Top sign = where we're going, bottom sign = where we've just been :)

Having been told by another boater that their boat had been broken into the previous week while they were away, we made sure that the next day everything was locked up and everything of value was in the safe before we left.  Mike decided to take the Nine bot with us as we picked up a hire car and headed off to start our hunt for our next adventure – buying a house in France!!