We had a very pleasant 2 night stop at the nice little town of Fontenoy-Le-Chateau, popular with boaters as the quay was full later in the day
Not sure why they were there but there were dozens of these quotes on wooden boards all over the town, had fun trying to translate them.
We were nearing the summit of the canal at Girancourt when we approached a lock occupied by the VNF in a maintenance barge. They had emptied the 3 metre lock and were working away at the bottom. They had to stop work and come up in the lock with us. Despite it only being 11.30 am they took the opportunity to down tools and take off for an early lunch!
After the summit we then had a long cruising day on the 14 lock Golbey Staircase and down the beautiful 3km embranchment to the town of Epinal. As much as we love the rural scenery and peace and quiet it was nice to be in a large town, with lots of shops! After treating ourselves to a long leisurely 4 course lunch with wine Chris parked himself in a cafe at the end of the street and left me to it. We stayed for 3 nights for a very reasonable 7 euros per night including water and electricity. The quay on the left bank is next to an immaculately kept park, has a restaurant with live music on Friday evenings and even a farmers market when we were there.
Leaving Epinal we were now on the downhill run to Nancy although we took a leisurely 5 days to get there. The Waterways Guide warns you that on the first few kilometres out of Epinal you should look out for sand barges. Fortunately as it was Sunday we passed them moored up. Specially built for the company Sagram they are unusual in that their steering positions are in the bows
It was a good morning for spotting wildlife. This deer jumped right out of a hedge and swam across the canal in front of me, not sure who was more surprised, him or me.
Mother duck quickly shepherded her brood to the bank out of our way. I also saw a red squirrel in the trees but wasn't able to get a photo.
This was a very pretty stretch of canal with a number of specially designated wild moorings marked by blue and white signs.
Golden raindrops viewed from our window later that evening
Caught on camera hanging out the washing at the pleasant port at Richardmenil. This is a good place to stop before the final run into Nancy as it is next to the turn off to the embranchment with its 18 locks in 12 kilometres.
Having set off next morning to get into the first of those 18 locks at 9.00am we were overtaken by a German couple in a hire boat (no comment). Knowing what it's like to be at the front going up in a fairly fierce automatic lock we were happy for them to go in first. After bouncing on and off the sides in the first 3 they waited in front of the next one and said we should go on alone (he he he). The weather was perfect,the scenery lovely and we went through all the locks like clockwork. We arrived in Nancy by 3pm and moored up in St George's Basin only a 5 minute walk from the city centre and the beautifully impressive Place Stanislas, a Unesco world heritage site, considered to be one of the finest squares in Europe. Felt like we were back in Paris.
We spent 3 nights in Nancy and treated ourselves to a special belated 35th wedding anniversary meal at the famous Excelsior restaurant. Excellent service and elegant Art Nouveau decor, it was like stepping back in time over 100 years.
We left Nancy on Sunday morning waving goodbye to new French friends Chantal and Claude. We had met a few days earlier when they had moored up behind us. They had only recently bought their Sagar dutch barge Peridot and this was their first day out in it. We shared experiences and contacts as you do. Chantal speaks excellent English and as they were also heading for Nancy Chantal rang the capitaine and booked a place for us both at the port there. She also very kindly went with Chris to the Orange shop in Nancy to sort out a better internet package which was accomplished much more quickly and easily than if we had tried to do it on our own! We were very grateful.
The journey from Nancy to Toul takes you out onto a lovely wooded stretch of the Moselle river for 20 kilometres with 3 big river locks. There were still a few commercial barges around despite it being Sunday.
Oops! We nearly witnessed a disaster. Two old German guys on a small yacht had pulled into the waiting mooring with the rest of us to let a commercial out of the lock when their yacht started moving back out straight into the path of the 3000 tonne monster barge.We think the engine must have been left in reverse when they pulled over. You can see his mate frantically waving on the shore. Fortunately the commercial was able to stop. We think someone may have required a change of underwear.
There being no room for us in the port at Toul we found a nice quiet mooring just before the lock. English couple Chris and Serena on Celestia were there too and as soon as we had moored up they invited us round for nice cool drinks after our long day. They set of on their way again next morning.
Chris thought he would take advantage of the clear water here to check his bowthruster (after buying a pair of children's swimming goggles for 3 euros!).
Toul's impressive Gothic cathedral
After 3 days in Toul we are on our way again. We have decided we have time to make a bit of a detour onto the Canal de la Meuse as Chris would like to visit Verdun and its WW1 battlefields. More on that next time.
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