Thursday 30th August - Viéville to Chaumont

The plan was to leave at 9 o’clock but it was nearer 9.30 before we untied.  The forecast was for cloud all day but no rain and indeed, we left under full cloud.  We had a shower shortly before departing though, so the deck was wet, the ropes were wet, Crews’ gloves were wet and therefore Crews’ hands were cold and wet too!!  Not pleasant cruising weather.  In the distant hills an autumn mist hung over the trees and it’s not even September yet!
We had stayed in Chaumont last year for a week - our friends, Andy and Sally were to join us for a few days but literally an hour before they arrived, the toilet decided to break down, so they spent two nights in a hotel in town.  The logistics were not too good though as the town is up a very steep hill and more than a kilometre away - luckily they had their car.  The weather was not kind either with frequent bouts of heavy rain, so our memories of Chaumont are not too favourable.
After our third lock, Crew made herself a cup of coffee, mainly to warm her hands!  The locks all went well - apart from two almost 4m deep, which involved a bit of a stretch and we arrived on the quay around 12.30.  Henk arrived an hour later, so we helped him in and had a well deserved drink on the aft deck.
After lunch Skip went to the supermarket for supplies (a good kilometre walk) then went to the Capitainerie to pay our dues and ask if we could get a car to take us up into town to a restaurant we had visited three times last year.
We had an aperitif on the back deck at 7 p.m. and a car duly arrived at 7.30 to take us into town.  By road it’s about a three kilometre steep climb.....no way is Crew going to make that even when Skip tells her that he knows a short cut!
The meal was fairly good but pricey for what it was.  We retired to the saloon for digestifs.

16 km. 8 locks. Just over 3 hours

Wednesday 29th August - Vieville

We had decided to stay another night in this pleasant spot as the forecast wasn’t good for the day.  As it turned out it wasn’t too bad during the day with just the odd light shower but after a good amount of sunshine for a couple of hours around lunchtime, the rain began again and the temperature dropped considerably.
We took advantage of the warmth and lunched on the back deck, then retired for a siesta.  Crew could tell that Skip was getting restless when she rose to find him doing jigsaws on his I-Pad and listening to classical music!!
Henk decided to walk into the village for a bite to eat between rain showers but found the restaurant closed on arrival.  Although the bar was open he decided to return to his boat, only to be caught in a shower on the way back.  Crew prepared croque monsieurs for supper and we watched some patchy TV.

Tuesday 28th August - Froncles to Vieville

We decided to travel separately, as it is much quicker in the locks with just one boat, so we left fifteen minutes or so before Henk, at ten o’clock.  A much better day, weather wise with sun and cloud, not much wind and no rain, so a very pleasant cruise through the pretty countryside.
Three easy locks later (albeit the middle one was a stretch at almost 4m deep!) saw us before a lifting bridge just before the halte nautique in Viéville.  As it was well before lunchtime we were lucky and a VNF man was on hand to lift the bridge for us without delay.  They are tracking ourselves and Henk by asking us of our movements, which makes for an easier cruise.
We arrived around 11.30 and Henk followed on about 20 minutes later.  We had pre-decided to lunch in the village if possible at the Au Pied de la Roche........we were in luck, they were open and serving a very reasonable ‘menu’ at €12 for three courses.  As it turned out were were undercharged so we had a very reasonable lunch!!
After another lazy afternoon with Skip sitting under a tree, reading for quite some time and Crew below doing the same thing......followed by a sleep!
Henk came over for an aperitif but left fairly early as he was feeling a little under the weather so we went below to watch TV for a couple of hours, then bed.

9 km. 3locks. 1 3/4 hours

Monday 27th August - Donjeux to Froncles

We left alone at 10.15 as Henk was still in his dressing gown - he’s worse than Crew!  He will come on a little later.  Having cruised this route last year and looked up last years’ blog we knew that at the first lock (at almost 4m deep) it was going to be a struggle to get a line onto the bollards.  Indeed Crew couldn’t even see the bollard she was to tie onto!!  Not ideal cruising weather as a light drizzle was descending on us - however, worse was to come!  Around 11.30 a.m. we were the recipients of a deluge and we both got extremely wet.  The locks had changed character too, with a lot of swaying backwards and forwards.....a good job we didn’t get seasick!
We arrived in Froncles at 12.30 p.m., luckily in the dry and Hilary from the barge we moored behind yesterday took our lines, so settled very quickly.  The halte nautique is very efficient with water and power and is also a camper van stopover but sits in a valley with a wooded hill of around 75 metre height, so........no TV!
Skip went into the village for supplies and Henk arrived around four o’clock.  He came aboard for a beer and a chat for a while.  We all felt tired for some reason, so we parted company for a quiet evening and early bed for a change!

12.5 km. 5 locks. 2 1/4 hours

Sunday 26th August - Joinville to Donjeux

We left just before 10.30 a.m. - a fairly easy cruise today.  Although it was just before our third lock we caught up with a Dutch commerce, travelling very slowly.  The afternoon before he had passed us and taken one of Henks’ mooring pins out along with his power cable, which went into the water! Although he was going so slowly his undertow was very strong.  Having caught him up this meant our progress would be slow too - we hovered around for quite a while as we waited for him to ascend the lock.  Very kindly, as we caught him up again, he pulled to the side of the canal and let us pass.  Of course he then passed us after we had been safely moored to bollards in Donjeaux for about half an hour.....no problems this time!
Skip remembered that there had been a restaurant in the village but sadly a closed down one so dinner on board again!  In any case, it was Sunday, so closure is always a likelihood in France!!  We had some smoked salmon and a very nice rabbit terrine, which Henk had bought, for lunch on the back deck as the weather was sunny and warm - not the oppressive heat of days before though.
Henk came over around 6 o’clock with two videos to show us of his trip to New Zealand with his wife, Jon, a few years ago, so we watched one before a scratch meal of chicken fajitas and enjoyed the other one after dinner -excellent videos!

11 km. 4 locks. 2 1/2 hours

Saturday 25th August - Joinville

We woke to a very wet boat - it must have rained quite a bit overnight.  It also felt pretty chilly at 11c and fairly windy - a shock to the system after many days of searing heat!!
After drying off the boat, Skip went to the nearby supermarket for some supplies - we are aware that fairly soon we will be in the wilderness, with no possibility of restocking!  Henk took his electric bike into Joinville as his phone was on its’ last legs and he wanted to research a new one.  Also he can bring the heavy things without too much effort.  On our way to the supermarket we booked a table for dinner in the hotel.
We had to lunch below as it was still cold and windy up top, then had a few hours rest.
We partook of our usual aperitifs on the back deck though as a little sunshine had appeared, then made our way over to the hotel at 8 for dinner.  The food was pretty good, if a little expensive, although Henks’ tournedos did not come as expected.  He had asked for it to be served ‘bleu’ thinking it would be beef, however it turned out to be veal and was too well done for his liking so the chef appeared and remedied the situation.
Digestifs were taken below and we chatted until almost midnight.

Friday 24th August - Chevillon to Joinville

We didn’t depart until 10.40 as Crew overslept somewhat which wasn’t too serious as we only had a 12 kilometre cruise and a couple of lifting bridges which were automatic and not requiring a phone call.
The scenery was much improved as the wooded sides to the canal occasionally opened out, giving way to pretty farming countryside - still not many villages but much better than before.
We arrived just outside of Joinville where we had stopped before - a pontoon with limited power, right next to a hotel/restaurant, La Vinaigre.  We managed to moor at the end of the pontoon but Henk had to go further forward and use mooring pins and we had to share the power by using our splitter.
The hotel, which was also the Capitainerie, appeared to keep strange hours and we weren’t able to pay our dues till much later, whereupon we found out that the restaurant was closed in the evening.....Friday, I mean!!!
The good thing about this stopping place is that the supermarket was close by, so Skip bought some pork chops for Crew to cook for dinner......very generous!!
For the first time on this cruise, we actually dined below as the temperature was dropping considerably.  As we were going to stay for two nights, bedtime was a little later than usual.

12 km. 6 locks. 2 1/2 hours

Thursday 23rd August - Chamouilly to Chevillon

We left at 10.30 - our mooring for the night was to be a grass bank with no power.  The first few locks were deeper than before by half a metre but this meant they were not so violent, to Crews’ great pleasure!
We arrived in Chevillon about 1 p.m.and had to use pins to moor and a step so that we could get on and off the boat.  All the fenders had to be lowered too as the side was concrete!  A late lunch and a lazy afternoon followed.
Research on the hotel/restaurant just across the canal discovered that it was more like a commercial hotel going by the opening hours.......it was only open Monday’s to Thursdays but closed on Thursday evening.  Just our luck!!  So Crew had to take some chicken out of the freezer to defrost as we had no power and didn’t want to use the microwave for that purpose.
We dined on Crews’ version of a Thai curry and enjoyed the cooler temperature once the sun had gone down.  The weather was due to change in the next day or two, with rain forecast for Saturday so we made the most of the balmy evening.  Henk went to bed and we caught up with a couple of episodes of Poldark - expect to have caught up by the time we return home!

11 km. 5 locks. 2 1/2 hours

Wednesday 22nd August - Chamouilly

A rest day again as we had plenty of time in hand. It was going to be another scorcher so we got our jobs done before going to the hotel for lunch.  Skip and Crew had the four course set menu for €16.90 which was very good value but as Henk still wasn’t too hungry he just had a foie gras salad with toast, which he said was very good.  He then shared some of our cheese course.

A long lazy afternoon ensued with the temperature exceeding 30c again!  

The evening went as usual with drinks outside, then bed.

Tuesday 21st August - St. Dizier to Chamouilley

The fuel man arrived at 8.15 - fifteen minutes early!  It took around 45 minutes to deliver 250 litres as the nozzle had to be hand held since it was too big to fit our aperture.  Skip then went to the boulangerie and we left the port at ten o’clock.
A trouble free short cruise with just 2 locks and a lifting bridge saw us moored on the pretty quay in Chamouilly.  We had forgotten that this stretch of the canal has quite a few lifting bridges, some operated by the telecommande, some by detection and some needing a phone call.
We arrived around midday and having moored, we decided that we should turn the boat around as the sun would be on the back deck for most of the day.  So before we connected to power we did just that - much better, we could shade the deck with our sun blinds!
The electricity was a complicated affair - Skip had to post his credit card into a machine, whereupon he got a piece of paper with numbers on it that had to be put into the borne......16 hours for €8. All very odd!
The plan was to have lunch here as we were fairly early and we had enjoyed a couple of very good meals at the Hotel Cheval Blanc last year.  Unfortunately it was closed for holidays until tomorrow, so we broke out the cheese selection instead!  Plan B - lunch at the Cheval tomorrow!
Not too much in the way of work as it was over 30c.....too hot for anything strenuous.  We all decided that we weren’t very hungry in the evening but Henk suggested he would make some crepes, to which we readily agreed and Skip cooked some crispy bacon to go with them - delicious and just the right amount!
Henk went back to his boat and we watched one episode of Poldark before retiring ourselves.

8 km. 2 locks. 1 1/2 hours

Monday 20th August - Orconte to St. Dizier

We left at 10a.m. - a longer run with 8 locks.  The first lock responded to the telecommande and gave us a red and a green light, then after a minute or two, decided to change to two reds, which means a malfunction of some sort......typical, the first lock!  So after a few attempts to call an engineer, we managed to connect and help was on the way.
The canal is not particularly attractive, with not much surrounding scenery or many villages or houses to see, so a fairly boring cruise!  As the locks were so dirty, Crew fixed a rubbing board to the side of the boat as the rope surround was getting filthy and indeed, rubbing away when the turbulent cascade of water coming in bashed us against the lock wall......not our favourite locks!!
We arrived at our final lock and were waiting for the red light to go out, allowing us to enter - alas, it didn’t but against our principles, we entered anyway.  Unfortunately when we tried to activate the lock, the gates wouldn’t close!  It turned out that there was a tree branch stuck behind the lock gate.  So, another call to the VNF - Crews’ theory that if there is a problem to be had, it will happen at the first and/or the last locks was certainly true today!!
We arrived in St. Dizier after 2 p.m., got settled and had some lunch, after which Skip and Henk walked to the fuel office to arrange a diesel delivery.  Since they were able to get fuel delivered around 8.30 in the morning we decided to only stay one night and move on to Chamouilley in the morning, which is a much nicer port.
After our usual aperitifs we walked across the road to the hotel where we had dined well last year.  Maybe the chef had the night off sadly though as the food was nowhere near as good as our last visit.
Never mind-some you win, some you lose!
Digestifs then bed.

16.5 km. 8 locks 4 1/4 hours

Sunday 19th August - Vitry-le-Francois to Orconte

Skip had promised to help the couple moored next to us out of their berth at 9 a.m. as it was a very tight squeeze for them.  Slowly he made it out with no damage at all.  We left at 10 a.m. a little before Henk to make it easier for him to extricate himself from his berth.
The locks are all over 3 metres so a bit more time consuming.  The first went OK except that it was very dirty, so filthy ropes and fenders again!  We were given a telecommande for our next series of locks but on both getting settled in the lock the back gate wouldn’t close properly so after a few attempts at calling the VNF we managed to get through and help was on its’ way.  It being Sunday it took around half an hour for the engineer to arrive.  The locks on this system are also a bit more aggressive than the previous ones, so not all that pleasurable!
We arrived in Orconte about 1.30 p.m. and were greeted by the crew who we helped out this morning - a British skipper and his German wife.  They helped us tie up and then we all assisted Henk in behind us. When we stopped here last year Crew was somewhat annoyed that we had to pay €8 to stay overnight, without power or even a bollard to tie off on - we managed to use one bollard this time at least and we could have used a long lead to obtain power but we decided against as it was only for one night.
We had a late lunch and Crew planned to cook dinner.  The bank was under the trees so we had no need of the canopy and the temperature was absolutely perfect so went spent most time up top, even dining outside......lovely evening!  Added to which, it being Sunday, we paid nothing for the mooring - sometimes the typical French laziness works to our advantage!
For some reason we all felt quite tired so Henk retired before 10 p.m. and we had a relatively early night.

13.5 km. 6 locks. 3 1/2 hours

Saturday 18 th August - Vitry-le-Francois

A sort of rest day today as we were waiting for the engineer to come and sort out our boiler.  Pascale, the Capitaine, came over to tell us he would be with us around 1 p.m., so we decided to walk into town to visit the market.  However, unusually he turned up early, just before 11 a.m. so we revised our plans.
Henk came over to help with the technical translation and after almost an hour, the problem was solved ( we hope!).  We then walked into town for a mooch around the market.  Having found it, the stalls set up in the covered market, I have to say we were rather disappointed - not many stalls at all!  The one day that Crew gets to go to market and it’s below par!!  We decided on a beer stop so Crew nabbed a table in a cafe on the main square, whilst Skip went to try and book a table at the number one restaurant in Vitry, Made in France.  Unfortunately it was fully booked for the evening - a shame because when we visited before and wanted to try it, it was closed!  So we enjoyed a couple of beers, then walked back to the boat, buying a baguette on the way and booking the second best restaurant, La Grande Brasserie.
Then lunch on board, a rest and a few jobs before we met up for our usual aperitifs at 6.30 p.m.  we then made our way back into town and enjoyed a very good meal, finishing with digestifs on the back deck, then bed!

Friday 17th August - la chausse sur Marne to Vitry-le- Francois

Aphrodite left the mooring around 10 a.m., leaving Henk to his ablutions - ther’s no hurrying that man as, a little like Crew, it takes him some time to get going of a morning!  Before we left a catamaran came by, going our way so the locks would be against us unfortunately.  Then coming up to our second lock a commerce came past us, so we thought our fortunes had turned but the lock was still against us, alas, as we had caught up with the catamaran.  He obviously had to wait for the commerce to pass, so we were back where we started with all the locks against us!  However the locks were easy and we arrived in Vitry just before 1 p.m. and Henk turned up about an hour later.
Vitry is a difficult mooring with limited space on the side at the entrance to the marina and little space to reverse into the pontoon.  We made it safely, then later helped Henk to tie up alongside us at an angle.  Henk has to go front in as he has a dinghy at his stern so that seemed to work better anyway.
We chewed the fat for a little while then had a spot of lunch.
Dinner was to be on board as we had brought some steaks from England which needed using so Crew did some preparation after a siesta.
A nice lazy evening, eating, chatting and enjoying the wine.

15 km. 5 locks. 3 hours

Thursday 16th August - Chalon-en-Champagne to La Chausse-sur-Marne

Our plan was to go directly to Vitry-le-Francois but we had arranged for an engineer to come there to look at our boiler and as he wasn’t able to come until Saturday we decided to stop halfway.
We left Chalon at 10.30 and made very good progress with all three of our locks set our way and no ‘traffic’ en route.  By the time we arrived in La Chausse the thermometer had reached 30c and no wind so we set up the sun blinds as soon as possible to give ourselves some shade.
 We had stopped here last year with Martin and Clare and remembered that we dined well in Clos du Mutigny a short walk from the canal, so it was decided that we repeat the operation since it was too hot for Crew to be in the galley!
After some lunch and a siesta we reconvened for aperos on our back deck at 6.30 as usual, then walked to the restaurant for dinner.  The food was pretty good and the service impeccable.  The last time we visited all the street lights went out as we left the restaurant so Crew made sure she had a torch in her bag.  This time however the lights stayed on and the torch wasn’t needed until we reached the mooring!
As the temperature had dropped considerably (thank goodness!) we sat below for our digestifs.  I fear we enjoyed said drinks a little too long and didn’t get to bed until after 1 a.m.

17.5 km. 3 locks. 2 1/2 hours

Wednesday 18th August - Chalon-en-Champagne

Here we are again dear readers!  We arrived in Chalon on Monday early evening, having driven direct from Blighty.  A long day, so just managed to unload the car and get basically comfortable.  Crew had the forethought to bring a previously cooked and frozen chicken curry for a quick dinner.
Tuesday morning was spent stowing everything and cleaning the outside of the boat until at 1 p.m. our Dutch friend, Henk joined us.  We had a good catch up and a light lunch on board, followed by a siesta before reconvening at 6.30 for aperitifs, then into town for dinner.
More of the same on Wednesday and when we returned to the boats, Henk brought over some special old Dutch cheese and some Pedro Jimenez to drink with it........delicious!
We start the second leg of our cruise in the morning.