Slow boat to the Saone

On the third of April 2013, we prepared to depart Nancy for the first outing of the season. Peter M was still with us as was our French friend Thomas. He said that he hasn’t been on a boat on the canals since a day trip when he was at school. He was coming a few kilometres with us and would ride his bike home from the other side of town. The day before was busy with final purchases and the tidying up of loose ends. We had visitors for afternoon drinks. Phil and his daughters, Jasmine and Samara (from Imagine next door), Thomas and Stephan also joined us.

Typical of these occasions, with the help of another bottle or two, afternoon turned to evening and Marg fed us all. A good hearty bolognaise.

10.00 hours on Wednesday 3rd  and we departed the Port of Nancy and immediately into our first “ecluse en panne”- a lock that should have worked automatically but didn’t. The VNF were called and soon we were off again.

We turned off the canal de la Marne au Rhin  into the embranchment du Nancy – a bypass canal that skirts around the city, basically a short cut to the canal du Vosges.

Thomas left us here and we continued on. 

After a night “green banking” on the embranchment, we were soon on the Canal des Vosges headed south. That night Marg prepared a lovely meal. Ocean trout with potato, carrots, mushrooms and a winter cabbage. The cabbage was  given to us by Thomas and was grown by his parents. We had never seen it before, an interesting vegetable with a good flavour and texture. Over the next few nights we had it in a number of meals.

 

This canal follows the Moselle River as it climbs toward Epinal and at one point we crossed it on a “Pont Canal”.

We moored at Charmes, a delightful town that has a long history of being pillaged over the centuries. Every invader seems to have almost destroyed the town including the last world wars. It now seems prosperous enough as the scene below would indicate.

While we were here this enterprising entrepreneur came past on his cycle taking orders for pizzas which he returned with a short time later.

Next morning we moved on to Nomexy and re-visited Chatel sur Moselle. We had spent a short time here on our first trip to Nancy. There are ruins here of a fortification which was commenced in the 11^th century and expanded almost continuously until it was ordered to be destroyed by King Louis XIV in the 17^th century. It was then partially blown up but mostly filled with thousands of tonnes of rock and earth.

We were very fortunate to be shown over the reclaimed structure by some members of the family of the archaeologists who headed an association formed to recover the Chateau.

Over 100,000 tonnes of earth and fill have been removed from the ruins. By filling these chambers they were preserved rather than destroyed and their condition now is pretty much as they were when the Chateau was abandoned.

Next day, off again, soon we were close to Epinal and off to our left, the Embranchement d’Epinal follows the Moselle to the city. This has been closed for some months as there are repairs being done to a pont canal that crosses the river. The water level where we were had been lowered by 1.5 metres. Matilda would be close to the bottom and the going was very slow.

The rain continued and the rivers were running quite quickly. Fortunately the level in the canals is controlled and we had no problems.

But the commercials kept coming.

We were  descending in a valley alongside a stream that was to become the River Coney. A little known river but all the way there were signs of industry and prosperity from the past. We saw numerous quarries and mines around the valley and hillsides and many villages had buildings that had been factories.The village names  like le Grand Fosse – (the Great Quarry), Forges d’Uzemain - (Uzemain’s forges), les Forges and la Manufacturer tell the story of their past history    

The stream between these buildings had been a water race, turning a mill wheel powering machinery in the buildings. Now a running torrent in the rain.

We stopped one night at Fontenoy le Chateau which had been the centre of lace manufacturing in France. A very attractive town but now mostly derelict. It is a shame to see the effects of the world wide problem of population gravitation to the big cities.

On April 13 we arrived at Corre. The canal meets the Saone River here –  called the Petite Saone in this location. With all the rain, the river was in flood at about 2 metres above its normal height and was officially closed to navigation. We took the opportunity to stay still for a few days. 

The stairs at the front of the lock continue down to its entrance.

The port and facilities here are run by a Swiss couple and most of the boats in their port are Swiss owned. A super market close by was used to top up our supplies and with the weather finally looking like spring had arrived, we relaxed and took in the ambiance.

Shortly we would be out on the river headed for St Jean de Losne and there will be more to tell

So, we will keep in touch.   

Champagne Capers

Peter M arrived in Nancy by train on Good Friday, 29^th March. The TGV arrived on time at 1720 and, knowing his carriage, we met him as he stepped off. Then a quick tram trip to the port and quite soon we were enjoying a glass of bubbles together. A quiet meal and an early night for we were off tomorrow. We were going to visit Champagne Country. We had planned to take Peter to Epernay with Matilda but the authorities closed a canal for maintenance and we are going by train instead.

These are the decorations on a roundabout arriving at the centre of the Champagne houses.

Names like Moet & Chandon,  Perrier Jouet, Castellano and Mercier were around us and we were here to look and sample their wares. We visited Champagne Mercier and went on their cellars tour. Peter and Marg had been here before but the experience was new for Peter M who was fascinated by the entrepreneurial skills shown by Eugene Mercier as he established his business at the age of twenty in 1858.

His cellars, consisting of some 18 kilometres of tunnels dug deep in the chalky stone under Epernay were decorated with carved reliefs to provide an enjoyable environment for his workers as they carefully performed the bottling, riddling, disgorging and maintenance of his champagne.  We travelled in an automatic electric train that followed, by laser, a track on the roof of the cellars while we listened to a pre-recorded commentary.

Even though the tour explains the historic manufacturing methods, the cellars are equipped for the most modern production. These automated riddling racks hold around 550 bottles each and cut riddling time to days rather than months. The bulk of their champagne is produced this way but the highest quality is still hand produced and the traditional systems are still in use.

With the aim towards large scale production, Eugene Mercier had this magnificent barrel made. It took eleven years to make, used 150 Hungarian oak trees and holds the equivalent of 200,000 bottles.  It was completed on Christmas eve 1877. Mercier transported it to the Paris Exhibition of 1889 where it was as popular an exhibit as the Eiffel Tower.

We of course then spent a pleasant hour or so sampling their wares.

The day was pleasant and we wandered  along the Avenue de Champagne and found this magnificent cottage. It was the home of Eugene Mercier later in his life. It is now a reception centre with the gatehouse occupied as a showroom for a small champagne producer.

Next day we visited the cellars of Moet & Chandon, this arch tells the story, theirs are the original cellars here. They have been used for their production continuously to this day.

Another chance to sample the wares.

Back to Nancy and Matilda by train next day and we prepared to depart on our cruising for the season 2013.

There will be lots more to tell. So – we will keep in touch. 

La Bresse re-visited

In early March, there was a cyclone off the Queensland coast, Sydney was being deluged with rain, Perth was still having 40 degree days and it was cold and snowing in Nancy.

We were going skiing.

Nancy, in the north east corner of France is close to the Alsace – German border. Between the border and Nancy is the Haute Vosges, a mountain range that although not high by Alp standards (about 1400 metres) there is usually plenty of snow. We headed to Hohneck where there is a good selection of downhill and cross country trails with good facilities for all. We drove there last year when we had a car but this time we traveled  by train and two coaches, right to the door of the accommodation.

We changed coaches at La Bresse and this was the scene at the bus stop.

This is the view from the bus on the way in. The road we traveled was beautifully snow covered.

Our self catering  studio apartment was on the wrong face of the building and looked out over the car park but this was not hard to look at.

The front door of the building opened right onto the slopes. 

The snow was good and the skiing very enjoyable.

Some of us fell over. The snow was soft and feeling just right for a good lie down! The camera person missed Peter. He mixed it with a safety fence outside our unit. No one wants to see that - or the bruise on his right temple. No other damage.....bruised pride only.

Unlike Cousin Robert  who spent five weeks skiing in Aspen, Colorado, we were only in our little place for a week and all too soon we were on the train back to Nancy. Marg’s brother, Peter is arriving Good Friday and we will be off on our adventures again.

There will be more to tell, so keep in touch.