2012 Centenary Cruise Week 2 Péronne to the Meuse (Mouzon)

After enjoying the sunshine of Péronne we set off once more on Monday with a less encouraging forecast. Half a dozen locks, one tunnel and 45 km brought us to Noyon at the junction of the Canal Latéral à l'Oise. Here the gas ran out. Changing from UK Calor to european gas means changing the pressure regulator, but as luck would have it we were moored next to a garden centre that could provide all we needed by 0930 the next morning.

Tuesday brought cold and rain, and we were stuck at the first lock for over an hour waiting for commercial barges to go through. By 1300 we had completed only 3 locks and 350 metres, so by evening we had completed only 28km, mooring at Guny. The consolation was that we were now in the much smaller and attractive Canal de l'Oise à l'Aisne. Suddenly there were kingfisher, heron, buzzard and jay everywhere, and although the weather was still uncertain, we pushed on to the halte nautique at Bourg et Comin (just a pontoon by a field but at least there was free electricity). By this time we were beginning to have some problems with the 24 volt alternator, which meant trying to conserve our service batteries, not using the bow thruster or autohelm, and leaving the fridge off until we could reach mains electricity.

The direct canal route south passes through champagne country and Reims, but repairs to locks in this section meant taking a longer diversion either via Paris or via the Ardennes. Leaving Paris for another trip we set off up the beautiful Canal des Ardennes. The canal is much narrower, winding through dense woodland, climbing into the Ardennes hills, giving a real feeling of isolation. By 1900 we were one lock short of the village of Chateau Porcien when the lock system closed, leaving us tied up alone for the night once more.

A lunchtime halt

The next day was a little brighter and warmer. We stopped at the small town of Rethel for fuel from a garage (transported in 20 litre containers balanced on our bikes) and supermarket provisions. These included a bottle of Champagne to toast (rather belatedly) 500km completed on the trip so far. Evening found us in the Halte Nautique at Attigny, eating at a Pizzeria run by a most peculiar and grumpy couple. This theme, incidentally, was continued by the stroppy waitress in Bourg et Comin and the unhelpful camp site manager in Sedan. In an area which is clearly facing hard times, you might think that tourist income would be welcomed, but we repeatedly found that basic information was not provided and elementary services were closed. French tourism take note, although it must be said that most French people we met were friendly and helpful, and admired our boat.

As the Canal climbs into the Ardennes there is a steep flight of 27 locks in less than 10km, some of them only 100 metres apart. Nick stayed with us for this day so that we could have one crew member ashore to handle lines and activate lock mechanisms. The flight took us over six hours (meeting a commercial barge on the way down at lock 23) but by nightfall we were at the small village of Chémery sur Bar, sharing a beer in a bar straight out of a horror movie, featuring France's last remaining toilet without a seat, a landlady with no teeth and a display of pornographic videos for hire. We did not linger.

After days in the forest we were looking forward to reaching the Meuse, partly because we would finally turn south, and partly because the city of Sedan offered luxuries like showers, electricity, fuel and a meal out. The last few km of the Canal des Ardennes were idyllic: gentle rural scenes of “mists and mellow fruitfulness”, before meeting a lunatic hire boat careering round a blind corner which resulted in the loss of our fresh herb planter. At Sedan, Edwards-May in “Inland Waterways of France” suggests both the town quay and the berths at the camp site which we had used in 2007. Well the town quay was silted up and unusable, and the pontoons in the camp site were closed. Apparently no boats are welcome in Sedan after 15 September, and boats of any size are not welcome at any time (the pontoons being much too light for our 30 tonnes).

Mouzon Boulangerie - note the bikes outside

So it was that our week ended 15km further on at Mouzon, where the halte nautique was also closed, but the electricity was still on, even though the toilets and showers were locked, and the water taps were dry. But the lady in the boulangerie was delightful, and at least our route had turned inexorably south, towards Verdun, the Moselle, and the Saône.