Narrowboat Quaintrelle: Richardmenil to Bois la Chevre (or, Bye Bye Faithful Boat Pole……..)

Not a bad view for the evening :)

We left Richardmenil under a blue sky, bidding farewell and Bonne Voyages to Pam and Dave as we passed them. The locks on the Vosges were deep but I could just reach the bollards with our trusty pole standing on the roof so we were making good progress and soon caught up on catamaran ‘Sally’ with Jim and Jill on board. They had just started going up a lock when we came in sight behind them, so they had waited to share the next one with us. We were sauntering along nicely when we noticed ‘Sally’ slowed right down up ahead as she had caught up on a little boat travelling along very, very slowly. It was Heureseument with Mike’s bikini-bottom-clad mate on board and it soon became very clear that they were novices to the boating world. We had lost our locking partners as Sally now went in to the next lock with them, and we hung around while they went up and the lock emptied and reset for us. We didn’t mind, it was a lovely day and we were on new waters so plenty to take note of.

Crossing the Moselle where some locals have come to La Plage!

Lots of trees on the Vosges.......

A few locks and some time later, we saw a boat ahead waiting for the lock and a check through the binoculars showed it was Heureusement, who’s slow speed must have been just a little bit too slow for Sally who had gone on ahead at some point leaving Heureusement to be caught up by us to share the next lock with. Needless to say, this prospect put a smile on Mike’s face, but not for long…….

On approaching the lock we could see they were in some sort of bother with mother, Benedicte, hanging off the lock ladder half-way up, and Coline in a panic dashing from front to back of the boat and the engine producing the odd blast of thick smoke. They had got stuck right at the front of the lock, which normally isn’t a problem, but the water in the pound above was coming over the top of the gates and onto them below and she seemed unable to reverse the boat off. We edged forwards and I leant forward with our trusty boat hook and hooked onto her rear fender and Mike reversed, to pull them back. A good plan, except Heureseument must be heavier than she looks. First our pole extended itself – it’s okay, it’s meant to do that – and as we started to move, followed by her, we were moving faster and my hands started slipping down the pole, right to the bottom, where my hand pushed the rubber stopper right off and into the water. I shrieked to stop, but too late the pole went in and was too far below me on the bow to pick up. No problem, I thought, it floats, I’ll wait til it comes round the side. But as it was almost within catching distance, the bottom started to sink and in a second or two it had disappeared to the bottom of the lock. Of course, it DOES float – if the stopper on the end is in place………

By now Heureseument was off the gates and getting into position and we recovered our rope and tied on to go up the lock. Mike was really angry. He said if he’d been at the front he’d have jumped in for the pole, as not only had we lost the pole, but the little hook/catch thing on it that holds the eye of the rope open to loop over the bollards. He was really angry. The girls offered us 10 euros as we left the lock, but I said it was fine. If I’d realised how angry Mike was I’d have taken it……..

They pulled over to get their breath back, I don’t think boating was turning out to be quite as much fun as they’d thought and we continued on and up the next lock to the lovely little mooring just above it for the night.

It wasn’t a happy evening as we sat outside and barbequed our dinner as we worked out how and where to get another pole and Mike simmered that he hadn’t been at the front to jump in for it…….

Our pole's final lock.... :(

Lovely rural mooring

To add to the mood, we had had problems with the locks and some of them not responding to our pressing the telecommand to set them, having to call VNF out twice. And having tried various phone numbers and an email to book into the port at Epinal for the weekend of Bastille Day and getting nowhere, we weren’t entirely feeling the love…..!

The next day there was still an aura of anger hanging over the boat as we pushed off heading for the town of Charmes – a very average town not really that charming at all. En route we encountered another problem with the lock not being activated by our telecommand. Before calling the eclusier, I walked back up the towpath to the receiver and pressed the telecommand. I could hear two clicks, one on pressing, one on release, but still the lock didn’t start setting.

So we phoned the eclusier and he arrived with a big cheery smile and when I explained what was going on, he said he thought our telecommand might be faulty, especially as we’d had problems the previous day as well. He gave us a spare from his van and said to see how we got on with that. Meanwhile, Mike had got yet another phone number for Epinal from a French family about to start lunch on their boat. Sadly, Heureusement was moored up here but she looked clear of any sign of living and no one was on board, and we wondered if they were just moving her on the weekend. (Apparently as of 16^th July, she’s still there with no one on board……….).

Up the lock and off and without any further problems we soon arrived at Charmes and moored up in front of all the parked motorhomes along the waterfront – not the most private of moorings……. Having had no joy with the new phone number, Mike headed for the station to make the 15 minute train journey to Epinal to see if he could find the Capitaine and see how busy the port was. I meanwhile, got a first layer of paint on the shutters, got some cash from the bank and filled up at the supermarket. As I headed back to the boat I met Mike on his way back from the station and not in much better a frame of mind having had no luck finding anyone at the port and not seeing much space there for us.

On Tuesday 10^th July we were accompanied by light rain for most of our journey to Thaon-les-Vosges but the good news was that all the locks worked perfectly for us and it would indeed seem as if the telecommand had been at fault after all. Halfway through the day, the cheery lock-keeper appeared to check how we were getting on and when we reported all was well, he took away our old telecommand to get it repaired. At Thaon we passed the nice town moorings for a rural one above the lock, which we realised in retrospect was the wrong thing to do… The rural mooring was fine, just a bit unkempt at the back of a deserted garage, but it did mean it was nice and quite with no one walking past peering in. It was a nice afternoon so for the first time in ages we got the bikes out and decided to cycle into Epinal, and to look at other moorings on the outskirts should we not get in there. I should explain, we needed to stop at Epinal as we had booked a hire car to drive back to Strasbourg to collect Mike’s MacBook Pro. After some confusion on the phone over it not being ready as it was waiting for a part, a screw, which miraculously had then arrived the following day, they said it would be ready for collection from Wednesday.

The car hire depot was on the far side of Epinal so we didn’t want to be too far out. The cycle paths in this area are fantastic and it was a lovely easy ride down to the Golbey Flight of locks and then on into Epinal. The port at Epinal had three big Quaintrelle-sized spaces and is a really lovely port, and we decided that it would be best to come in here. Spotting Jim on ‘Sally’ we meandered over to ask what the gen was. Jim said it was all a bit disorganised and no one seemed to be in charge. They were hoping to leave Sally there for a couple of months while they returned to the UK but said no one seemed interested or bothered where they went or how long they stay. The capitaine was on holiday but a lady was coming round a couple of times a day to take your mooring fees. THAT would explain the lack of contact we had been experiencing. However, for anyone planning to go there, go – it is a lovely port, but it is not an organised port and although the restaurant is called La Capitainerie, it is not and they don’t take bookings for the port or allocate you a space or anything. It’s like one of the more rural ports where someone just pitches up in the evening and takes your money. We cycled back in a better frame of mind, but absolutely exhausted from our 20+km ride!

The next day we were up early and off sharp to make sure we could get one of the spaces spotted the previous day. We needn’t have worried. As we approached the port there was even more space than the day before as one of the other barges had moved on. We got ourselves settled, hooked up to power and in early afternoon Monique the temporary Capitaine came and collected our cash for a four-night stay. I told her it might be five if England made the final!! She was lovely and explained where the nearest baker was, how to get into town and the nearest supermarket, so after some lunch we went to get our bearings and work out the best way to get to Hertz the next day.

Epinal in the distance

Strange curved gates on the Golbey flight.

An aqueduct takes you over the Moselle and onto the Embranchement d'Epinal

The embranchement deviates from the main canal and takes you down to Epinal running alongside the river much of the way.

The chap in the Tourist Info was great, very welcoming, advised us to take the bus, told us where to take it, how much it cost, amongst other things. The lady in the Tabac was also very welcoming asking if we were on our holidays. It was such a contrast to how we’d been feeling about the place and it’s a shame that the warmth of the people doesn’t extend to the restaurant running the port…… Epinal is pretty town, very clean and lots and lots of flowers, but not really much going for it which becomes clear when one of the places of interest on the Petit Train Touristique is the 1952 built Post Office building……. Nonetheless, we had a nice few days over 14 Juillet in Epinal, a couple of really lovely meals, great fireworks, a car boot sale and classic car parade, so we left feeling much more positive about it than we had when we arrived.

I know this is an odd photo, but everytime I passed it I thought, "What a beautiful roundabout!"

Le Petit Train Touristique

The busy port at Epinal with Quaintrelle and Puzzler nose to nose

Sally and Andy deciding to walk away from the copper kettle they asked about.

There were some classic cars and some noticeably un-classic ones.....

I WANT ONE OF THESE!!!!!!!

The drive to Strasbourg from there on Thursday 12^th was stunning; amazing countryside through the Alsace and a lovely chap in the Apple Store handed over Mike’s laptop fully functional with a brand new screen and cheaper than he’d been quoted in Edinburgh!!! Before heading back to the boat, we stopped in at the marina to see if they had an aluminium boat hook. “Yes!!! I have two….” Said the capitaine walking over to the selection…. “Oh. Well, I had two yesterday – they must have been sold!” He was as surprised as us, so we sadly left empty-handed.

Back in Epinal a familiar boat was moored up nose to nose with Quaintrelle. When we’d changed our plans to not do the Rhine and come down the Vosges instead, Sally and Andy on NB Puzzler called to say they’d be coming up the Vosges and we should arrange to cross paths. Sally had kindly offered to provide our evening meal that night as we’d had a long day driving and we had a right good catch up over food and wine – it was great to see them and Shannon the dog again.

Although we both did our own things during the day, it was nice to have friends next door that we could chat with, discuss what we were doing and we had Sally and Andy over for a barbeque and drinks on the Saturday night, when it was warm enough to sit out at 11pm.

Sadly, England didn’t make the final so Monique was disappointed to hear we’d be leaving on Sunday 15^th, but leave we did. Four days in the one place is a long time for us, so after a quick top-up at the supermarket we pushed off following in the wake of Sally and Andy up the embranchement, where at the top they turned right to head north and we turned left to head south – and it really did feel like we were on our way to the south!

Bonne Voyages Sally, Andy, Shannon and Puzzler!!

Left or right left or right left or right left or right - LEFT!!!!!

Our last 'Up' lock until we reach the Canal du Midi!!

Where are we going???!!!

After completing the Golbey flight today, we’d be literally heading downhill to the south as we would now be going downstream all the way to the Canal du Midi. This makes sense in my head as I always think heading south should mean going downstream as surely all the water should run from the top of a country to the bottom…………. It was always quite confusing saying we had planned to head south up the Rhine!

We pulled in at Chaumoussey after a very pleasant tree-lined 13kms and 15 locks and had a quick explore of the village, via the under-canal tunnel, the same as the one at Cosgrove on the Grand Union. We then settled down to listen to the France-Croatia final and realised how rural we were when they won and there was just one solitary trumpet from the house opposite and about three cars hooting through the village over the next few hours.

By the time we pushed off on Monday 16^th, it was already baking hot as we cruised 13 kms and 18 locks to a large, empty basin at Uzemain. It took us about an hour and a half longer than we thought as we got stuck following a barge that was too big to share the locks with, so had to wait at each lock for them to go down, the lock then fill, or if we were lucky, bring someone up, and then follow on down. It was such a lovely day though and the scenery just glorious with the whiff of pine accompanying us much of the way, we didn’t mind the snail’s pace.

A slight change of scenery going through this cutting.

Stunning hydrangeas in this canal-side garden

A brand new quay has been built here for moorings but they've not quite got the new signage up, so these temporary ones are here meantime (I thought it was graffiti until i could read what it said!).

Tiny Quaintrelle all by herself

We'd passed this boat earlier and reckon she is one of the prettiest boats we've seen (apart from Quaintrelle obviously....)

The French do enjoy a Fete, and in this rural area, the next celebration was eggs – we were rather sorry we wouldn’t be here for the Fete de l'Oeuf!!

Hold me back - the excitement is overwhelming!

Once the engine had cooled, Mike changed the engine oil filters, water separator and diesel filter – just the belts to do and we’ll be all tickety-boo for hitting the Rhone!

There was more of the tree-lined scenery the following day that took us a short hop to one of the most rural moorings we’ve been on – it was glorious!! No phone, internet, tv signal at all – just us, the trees, the birds and lots of butterflies! I loved it and we made the most of catching up on some admin (ie. I wrote a blog entry!), and just enjoying the ambience of the wooded countryside. In the evening, we barbequed again, fourth night in a row as it’s been too hot to even contemplate using the stove to cook, and then as the now becoming usual evening thunder arrived bringing with it a sprinkle of rain, we settled down to watch a DVD. The choice was Dunkirk and we both sat spellbound. At one point I looked up at the window and was kind of surprised to find myself sitting on our little boat, as I was so hooked into it. We thought it was a fantastic film – well done Toby, loved it!!! Once our heart rates were back to normal it was to bed, in the dark silence of the forest, our dreams taking us to our second-last day on the Vosges.

At some point in time there was a lot of commercial activity on the Vosges as it linked the North Sea with the Mediteranean. This was an old disused factory, Peaudouce, which I must look up as I recognised the name for some reason - pronounced by me as Pea Juice.......