The Very Best Birthday Ever

We were ready for the off again.  And it was just 8km to France.  The weather was lovely and we were planning a long-ish day with a number of locks and a slightly worrying tunnel.  And it was Rob's birthday too!

The fun started in the first lock when the lock
keeper wanted us and a hire boat full of Germans right up the front.  I could hear on the radio that a big commercial was coming in.  It was tight and the hire boaters were nervous and the commercial bowman cautious.  It's possible the animation gives an ide.:   I knew the commercial skipper would be careful and he told the lock keeper very firmly to fill slowly.  He then told us just as firmly that he would be overtaking before the next lock and not sharing again.  Didn't argue.

We arrived in France and reported with papers at the first lock.  The welcome was warm from a nice lock keeper who spoke excellent 'French for Idiot Brits'.  He wished me happy birthday and gave me a large remote control for French locks and off we went cruising into the the Ardennes National Park.

It was soon time for the Ham tunnel.  Only about 500m long and about a metre wider than Taddy.  But that curved roof looked tricky and we'd been warned that the brick lining soon gave way to bare rock.  I stared intently at the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel and steered for it, ignoring all distractions.  Somehow the temperature shot up - I certainly felt sweaty.  But 5 minutes later we emerged having not touched at all.

The scenery was as beautiful as the weather and we cruised on enjoying our new power to control locks with a TV remote control.  The locks were much smaller and there was no chance of big commercials.  But they're pretty tight if 2 pleasure boats are sharing and they fill pretty fiercely.

We arrived in the town of Fumay, the first of several towns located in loops of the river (ie with the river on 3 sides).  Nice town and nice welcome but we had an amusing taste of French bureaucracy.  There was queue to pay in the 'Capitanerie'.  Not surprising really because she had to hand-write out 3 receipts with the details of each boats: €8 for mooring, €2.50 for electricity and €0.44 for tourist tax.  It gave her a job I suppose!

Fumay was pretty in a decayed sort of French way but the eating options were pretty limited.  Rob celebrated his birthday eating pizza.  Perfect end to a perfect day.


Comments

  1. Alan and Rosie4 June 2019 at 13:02

    Looked like a close call with the commercial but great bit of helmsmanship through that tunnel. Apologies for any typos but I'm working with one fully functioning eye at the moment. Had a cataract op on my right eye yesterday

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown5 June 2019 at 13:01

    Any historical WW2 historical evidence ref Battle of the Ardennes?? Suspect you are probably too far south now. Have a copy of Beevor's "Ardennes 1944", which is a brilliant read. Loving pats to Cora. xx

    ReplyDelete

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