Kerr Barging Blogs

After leaving the "Canal between Champagne and Burgundy" we turned into the Saone River, called the "Petite Saone" in these higher reaches.The Petite Saone

We stopped in some very attractive towns including Pontailler, Mantoche and Gray. One night was spent anchored in a small inlet surrounded by water lilies, visited by swans, frogs, fish and dragonflies.
We had a memorable dinner in Pontailler, choosing the regional menu and enjoying what it offered, including frogs legs (Penny's first occasion to try them).

Our stopping place in Mantoche
Gray is the largest town in the area and has a prosperous but turbulent past, so many of the old buildings no longer exist. It was a major port so the banks of the river were lined with quays.

As we worked our way up the river there were fewer towns nearby and there were even days without fresh bread available.  However, two   lock keepers offered local wine for sale, one adding honey displayed so that it caught the eye as the boat rose in the lock. In one lock cottage we bought a dozen eggs collected on the spot, with explanations that the two white eggs were just as good as the ten brown ones. Another had a magnificent vege garden and we bought a lettuce cut while we waited. The keeper's wife had baked rhubarb tarts.  In a very remote mooring, an elderly man and his wife drew jp in a small white van late one afternoon with a basket full of farm produce- eggs, lettuce, beans, carrots, radishes and courgettes. All prices were very moderate and the food could not have been fresher.

The town of Gray
In the small town of Scey sur Saone (1600 residents) the old mill on the river has been converted into a hydro- electric station producing 340Kw. This is the first example we have found of such a useful conversion. Scey sur Saone was also where we enjoyed this year's "Fete de la Musique", held around France on or close to the Summer solstice, June 21st. In Scey it took the form of a concert at the Mairie whose building also is the village school. There were stalls selling soft drink, beer and wine as well as frites and sausage baguettes. The first act featured a dozen children from the primary school singing very beautifully. Next was what I know as a concert or stage band featuring musicians of all ages playing instruments ranging from flutes to tubas to percussion, no strings. Their standard was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed some old favourites from our many years of attending similar concerts featuring our children playing flute, clarinet and tuba.

Fete de la Musique- Scey sur Saone
The concert was moving onto some rock numbers when we decided to call it a night and go home for our own dinner, a bit more to our taste than sausage baguette and fries.

Port sur Saone was the final town we visited on the Petite Saone. Like Gray it has been a major port for river traffic, but it seems to have had a more industrial past.

We had intended to continue up to the top of the Saone at Corre and enter the Canal des Vosges to join the Moselle River and proceed into Germany, but at Port sur Saone we found that the Canal des Vosges was closed at Corre for an indefinite period. 

Regards,

Penny and Dave

Typical French Village (Courchamps)	Notre Dame Chapel- Gray Basilica
The beautiful Mairie at Gray (on voting day for the new government)	The old Citadel walls at Gray
The bridge at Gray	Our friends the Hauckes visit us
Our beautiful mooring at Scey sur Saone	Lavoir (old washing house) at Ray sur Saone
The Chateau at Ray sur Saone	Swans on the barrage at Gray
Giant stone book of rememberance at Ray sur Saone	Beautiful carved wooden mermaid sculpture at Scey sur Saone

In our home town of Avalon we have a  troublesome roundabout. Just as you come off the "Bilgola Bends" which take a twisting route towards Avalon Beach, there is a small but scary roundabout with roads coming in at odd angles. It causes all sorts of problems for visitors and locals alike. Every now and again the Council plants shrubs there in an attempt to make it attractive but they need to be very low profile. Inevitably they suffer and die.
The other Avalon roundabouts are nothing more than raised concrete circles at intersections of small streets. The local bus and any trucks need to drive over them because it is not possible to go around.

Colourful kites on the Gray roundabout

Here in France we have found that most roundabouts are much larger and allow those approaching more time to judge where other roundabouters are going. The other major difference is that many of these roundabouts are decorated, some with plantings of flowers and shrubs, others with feature displays. We were recently in the town of Gray and admired two  roundabouts in the middle of town. Summer was about to start and a dragon boat carnival was being held. One roundabout was set up like a beach. Sand had been imported and blue striped bathing sheds, palm trees and beach umbrellas enhanced the beach effect. The second roundabout sported colourful kites. I'm not sure if the drivers approaching had time to admire them, but we pedestrians really appreciated the effort.

Summertime roundabout- Gray

Seeing these took us back to the first time we had noticed a roundabout feature in France. This was in the small town of Genlis in Cote D'Or, Burgundy. Each of the four approach roads featured a sculpture of a woman representing the agriculture and industries of the area. We were setting up Anja before we took possession, driving a rental car. We used to always come in from a particular direction and were tempted to drive round and round a few times to get a better look at them, but it was always too busy. In the end we just had to stop the car and get out to have a closer look.

Genlis Roundabout

 Genlis Roundabout

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

We have recently visited three interesting towns built to take advantage of small plateaus above the surrounding countryside. It is easy to see how much confidence the "high ground" allowed and it seems that none was successfully invaded.

Joinville
The town of Joinville was first a Roman town (369) but the town that remains was built around the foot of an 11th century castle, the home of the Dukes of Guise who were powerful in the court of France. Of particular note was Jean, the 9th Sire of Joinville who accompanied Louis IX (St Louis)  to the Crusades and was his chronicler. He was rewarded with the belt of St Joseph, now on display in the 13th Century Parish Church. While this may or may not be actually the belt of the Saint, it is very ancient  (it was brought back from the Holy Land in 1250) and we were surprised to come across it in the French countryside.

During the 16th century the Joinville family also built a holiday chateau in the town itself and that has been preserved. We were fortunate to arrive here during the "Festival of Gardens". The extensive gardens of the chateau and the Chateau itself were open to the public and featured  magnificent roses and pretty walks winding in and out of the streams which ran through the gardens and formed a moat around the chateau. We succumbed to the challenge and attempted the maze.  

Joinville Chateau

Joinville is built next to the Marne and several other streams run through it. There are many fine ancient houses still in excellent condition, attractive stone bridges and also "Lavoires", communal laundries, built along the streams. The streets and lanes were very windy and crooked and many buildings leant into each other.Joinville Chateau gardens

Chaumont
The next "Plateau" town was Chaumont where the castle was built in 940, though now only the base of one tower remains. The walls were 2.6 metres thick.Chaumont US-French War Memorial

The Basilica of John the Baptist at Chaumont dates back to the 13th Century and is notable for its fine art including both paintings and sculptures. It is the venue for one of the first pilgrimages of France, the "Grand Pardon", when all sins were forgiven for those who were present.It was instituted in 1475 but is celebrated only during the years when the feast of St John the Baptist, June 24th, falls on a Sunday.  As it happens, 2012 is one of those years and it is clear that there will be great celebrations with concerts, street decorations, re-enactments and displays as well as religious observances. Judging by the photos from the past there will be huge crowds coming to Chaumont that weekend.

Old chapel- Chaumont

Langres
The third "Plateau" town is Langres, again built on a high spot dominating the surrounding countryside. The first town here was built by the Romans and the fortifications date back to the 3rd century. A 1st century town gate remains. The excellent Museum and Art Gallery displays artefacts from the Gallo- Roman period including a huge mosaic unearthed when the Museum was being modernised.
A walk around the ancient town walls gave wonderful panoramas over the surrounding plains.
We were grateful to discover a bus which took us to the centre of the old town, and an inclinator which gave us a head start coming down.

Langres Street

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

 Langres Roman Mosaic

Here is a slideshow with some other photos of the three towns. We will add some further descriptions, but until then:

The firemen/women were practising their skills just behind Anja. This is the third time this has happened on this trip!

Note: please be a little patient before the pictures start appearing...

Peaceful villages in the French countrysideThe canal "entre de Champage et Bourgogne" i.e. "between Champagne and Burgundy"- is 224 kilometres long, from Vitry le Francois in Champagne to Maxilly sur Saone in Burgundy. It has 114 locks. It was constructed relatively recently, the Northern part finished in 1873, the southern by 1907. It is predominantly rural, offering beautiful countryside, interesting towns and unusual canal features. There has been very little canal traffic.

One unusual feature has been the number of "mobile bridges", bridges that are too low for a boat to pass under so have to be lifted or turned. There are sixteen of these, fifteen on the Northern section from Vitry le Francois to Langres. Most of these bridges rise from one side to become vertical (or almost so). One other raised the whole span so that it allowed us to pass underneath. The most unusual pivoted from the centre of the canal and swung to be parallel to the banks, allowing just the minimum space to clear on one side. The chart told us to keep to starboard, but as we were going upriver we worked out that we probably had to keep to port. We're glad we worked out which side to go or we would have been squashed between the bank and the bridge. Looking back, there was not room on the other side for us to get through.  The amazing manually cranked turning bridge

We noted one such "manually operated" bridge in our last blog. Fortunately we did not have to provide the manual labour. Most of the locks on this canal are operated by a remote  control device or else by radar controls, so we rarely see lock keepers except at the beginning and end of the day when they do their daily check. Many bridges have been marked "automatic" and we expected that they would be controlled by our "telecommander". Not so. In almost every case a lock keeper has appeared to operate the bridge. This was particularly confusing on several where we had a red light even though the bridge seemed to be up. Cars and trucks were lining up waiting. Then we noticed someone  waving his arms for us to go through, so we set off, hoping that we had correctly interpreted his signs and that the bridge would not start coming down on us as we passed. What a crunch that would be.

In the two exceptions where a bridge was left to work without assistance, they failed miserably. In the first, the bridge followed directly after a lock. As soon as the lock was full, the moment when the gates would normally open to allow us to leave the lock, the bridge beyond rose to vertical. We waited for the lock gates but were dismayed to see the bridge coming straight down again, at which point the lock gates finally opened. Just as well we had not anticipated that the bridge would stay up to let us out! This was the moment for David to practise his best French on the phone supplied at each lock to summon help.

We have been "programmed"!

The second failure also needed David's French. This bridge was supposed to be operated when we passed through a radar beam, but it obvioulsy did not repsond to our passing. After a short wait, Dave used his mobile phone to ring the number we had been given, told his story, and was told by the cheerful woman on the other end that "you will be programmed" in three minutes. As we have been married over 40 years and there are no signs of my success in programming him, I thought that was a tall order but was happy to accept just that the bridge would open for us, and that it did, by some remote over- ride. As we looked back from a long way down the canal it was showing no signs of closing again so we wondered if the waiting cars and trucks had to make a similar phone call and also be "programmed".
 

It is clear that we need to keep our wits about us and take nothing for granted. This was the case also with the Balesmes Tunnel, 4.8 kilometres long. This is probably one of the longest tunnels we have negotiated and we expected that as usual we would be made aware of strict controls so that we would not meet a boat coming the other way. We have read of someone waiting 10 hours to go through this particular stretch. As we approached there was a narrow stretch preceeded by an explanatory sign and  an unlit traffic light. We proceeded into this section and became aware that it led directly to the tunnel, no more stopping, no turn- around spot. What if the light was out because the bulb was blown and there was a huge peniche approaching us? We were both visualising what to do if we met someone in the middle- Anja will not steer in reverse.

Once into the actual tunnel our eyes quickly became used to the dim surroundings and we became aware  of a pinpoint of light ahead, growing bigger as the light from our entry became smaller. This was very reassuring as we decided that an oncoming boat would obscure that tiny light, the far end of the tunnel. So we proceeded, very relieved to finally get through over an hour later (speed limit 4kph). Looking back we could see no evidence of any lights stopping traffic coming towards us, so the mystery remains. I must note here how accurately David drove Anja. He had only 40 cms to spare each side, and yet only brushed a fender once, very lightly, in this long, dark tunnel. The tunnel must have been a very dark and dangerous place in the times of the horse drawn barges.

The very large pulley, sideways on the top of the lock wall, is from about 140years ago when horses pulled the barges. When you came to a lock, the rope was put around this pulley and the horses were sent in the opposite direction.

All the best,

Penny and David

For the last few days we have been indulging in yet another new experience- travelling on a newly re-opened Canal. From Vitry le Francois our route takes us South to Burgundy, along the Canal between Champagne and Burgundy, previously called the Canal between the Marne and the Saone. At the end of this canal we plan to travel north - east on the Canal des Vosges. This route was planned for last year but not possible then because there was a collapse at Charmes which closed the whole canal for over a month.

We knew that the Canal from Vitry was closed for routine maintenance from the end of
April until the end of May, to re- open on Tuesday May 28th. Why a Tuesday, we wondered? Because Monday was a public holiday, Pentecost Monday, the fifth public holiday in May. We arrived on the Friday before and told the Capitaine at the Port de Plaisance of our intention. It seems that this comment put us in the queue in spot number one for pleasure boats- or else we were put there because our grand- daughter Mary gave the Capitaine such a winning smile.

By this time there were six or seven commercial boats waiting so we knew we would not get away early on Tuesday. In the event, the VNF decided that it would devote the morning to getting them underway and the first pleasure boat (us) could leave at 2pm. An Englishman at the port had been pacing all morning as he thought he should be able to get underway at 10am and prevailed on David to give up our top spot to him. We were in no hurry and did so politely but regretted it later when his slow progress meant that we were waiting for him to finish at every lock.  The barge queue- right across to stop queue-jumping

So what is different about travelling from the first day of a newly re- opened canal? First,for several days you can be comfortable that no- one will be coming towards you. The entire 224 kilometres of canal is clear, so until the commercials drop or pick up a load and turn around, and until the boats from the south get past the middle, everyone is travelling the same way. We have now finished day 4 without any oncoming traffic.

Because the canal has been empty for so long, people seem to notice the barges more. Today was the first time we have ever had a toot and a wave from a train driver.

There is a great deal of weed in the canal. At times on the first day we seemed to be ploughing through underwater gardens. One of the locks broke down at the end of the first day probably because of the buildup of material in the water which prevented the gates from openning fully. The month has been used to make repairs to the sides of the canal, which can only be done when it is not in use, and it was probably drained to some extent. In general the lock mechanisms and lock walls were not on the "to do" list this time.

Because everyone is going the same way, all the locks are the "wrong" way around. For us this means that every lock we come to has taken the previous boat upwards and stayed that way. Before we can enter it has to empty again so that we too can be taken upwards. As a result evey lock takes twice as long to get through. If these were manned locks the lock- keeper would probably leave the locks ready because all the boats are travelling upstream. Unfortunately in this case "automatic" means "not that smart".  

We are very pleased that we did not change our plans, and waited until the Canal was open. It is a very pretty rural canal, with  the Marne still flowing alongside. The main town so far has been St Dizier where in 1544 42,000 soldiers of Charles V were repelled by 2,000 brave men (plus 2,500 women and children) of the town so that it was saved for Francois 1st and Paris was kept safe. It is now a modern expanding industrial town, very attractive and well maintained. The roses were magnificent in the homes fronting the canal. We were moored opposite a large swimming complex which seemed to be doing a roaring trade, with people coming in and out constantly. Other nights have been spent surrounded by fields in the quiet countryside.The manually cranked bridge

A surprise today was seeing on the chart two bridges marked "manually operated". We had already today been through several "automatic" lifting bridges operated by a VNF person pressing a button. The only other manually operated one we have experienced was on the Nivernais Canal where David had to get off the barge to crank it up so that Anja could pass through. Then Peter Aston was driving but Penny is not confident to squeeze through the narrow opening typical of these bridges, so she was flexing her muscles and doing her warm- ups as we approached the first of these manual bridges. While we were looking for a spot where a bridge- opener could get off the barge, we were relieved to see a VNF man appear in the usual little white van and start to turn the crank handle.

Best Regards,
Penny and Dave