Peter Margaret and Matilda: Another house on a hill

It is Tuesday 22^nd April 2014 about 1500 hours (3.00 pm) and we are at Bignicourt-sur-Saulx. We have just returned from a small village, Pargny-sur-Saulx. We had cycled there in the hope of finding a post office to send mail back to Australia. We found the post office, an imposing building but it was only open in the mornings. So, having cycled about 4 kilometres we decided to have lunch at the town restaurant.

We left Nancy on Sunday 13^th April, slowly making our way along the canal du Marne au Rhin back towards Paris. Spring is definitely in the air and the wisteria in the Nancy water gardens was alive with colour.

We had company on board. Perry with his wife, Katy and children Ada and Owen who live on Phil’s boat Imagine and Greg who lives alone in his boat Shangri La were with us to share the trip to Toul. We had a very pleasant day leaving them in Toul at about 1600 hours to catch a train back to Nancy. We enjoyed their company and believe they all had a great day.

The weather was good and we continued up the climb from Toul to the top of the hill and through the Mauvages tunnel. This is our third time through this 4.9 kilometre long tunnel. Even though we have it sorted, it is still a harrowing hour.

The maintenance crews of the VNF were out in a number of areas dredging, shoring the banks and generally readying for the season. We have struck a number of ecluse en panne probably due to problems over winter. This disaster was a shorted out power supply that had almost destroyed a switch box. The eclusier had to manually operate the hydraulic pumps to let us through. He was a jolly fellow and it only took him an hour to complete our passage through the lock.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon after finding that we could not fit in to the mooring in Pargny-sur-Saulx where we had planned. The mooring there offers power and water and we were keen to use these facilities. Where we are now is only an hour further on and is an ideal mooring but un-serviced. We are by ourselves and enjoying the ambiance.

The surroundings are quiet and peaceful and we are going to spend a day or so here.

On the rise in the field beside our mooring we saw this grand chateau. This morning we went and had a look at it. We were welcomed in and shown through the building. It is being restored back to some of its early glory by a dedicated young Frenchman who hopes to use it as a guest house and convention centre.

The grand front is imposing with its six ionic columns. As it is a listed building he has financial help from the French government but it appears there is a lot of his money and himself in the rebuild. His father took us on a tour showing us through the guest suites that have been completed. Each suite was decorated according to a different historical period.