Go West

Our last night on the Canal Marne au Rhin gave us a lovely mooring and calm evening.  I flew my drone to get this nice picture.  The weed had cleared and the weather was beautiful edging towards hot . . .

At the end of the canal was a junction.  Turn left for the Bourgogne and right to the Marne.  The town at the junction is Vitry le Francois and that seemed a nice place for the weekend.  Arriving at the harbour it seemed full but the delightful harbour mistress, Pascale, waved us in and chased off another boat that was slow leaving.  This was the end of our 2 weeks with Marille the Poodle and son-in-law Chris arrived to stay overnight and collect her.  It got hot. A heat that had us hiding from the sun and draping sheets to keep the boat just a little cooler.  We visited a Vet to get something stronger to stop the idiot Retriever gathering ticks.  That was a success for some carefully researched French.

We set off west on the Canal Lateral de la Marne, a man-made canal tracking the upper reaches of the Marne river.  There's no remote control for the locks on this canal and instead one uses a 'perche' or twiddly pole which hangs over the canal about 300m before each lock.  Some careful steering and a quick grab and twist soon became second nature.

This canal was wide and very quiet.  We cruised 24 hours before we saw another boat.  It was very nice with plenty of moorings and some pretty little villages.

We were heading into the champagne region and were looking out for vineyards.  Nothing yet!

After a couple of peaceful days, we arrived in Chalons en Champagne.  There's some crafty marketing there as the town was called Chalons sur Marne until 1998 until they changed it.  Can't imagine that happening in the UK.


But the harbour in Chalons is very nice.  They have a 'green flag' and are very proud of it.  The young harbour master was also proud of his English.  It's a lovely town and we stayed a few days. 

Great excitement as the Tour de France was passing through.  Not much interested in cycling but we tagged along.  The 'caravan' was hilarious: a parade of sponsors carnival floats thundering at high speed through the narrow streets.  A British H&S specialist would have been mortified!  Then came the racers and it was all over.  But quite good fun really.

It was hot and I was feeling shaggy.  I decided it was time to try out my French at the barbers.  I carefully practiced 'clippers on the back and sides and scissors on top', and sallied forth to a suitable looking establishment.  Sat in the chair, I delivered my instructions.  I then looked left and right to see young men having the sides of their heads shaved and the top left so they looked like cress grown in an egg shell. 'Mais pas comme ca', I quickly said.  The barber grinned and said 'un classique'.  That sounded OK and I let him loose.  A great job and very reasonable so I left the best tip I have for a long time and rushed back to the boat feeling relieved!

I'm getting the hang of this France thing.

Comments

  1. Unknown11 August 2019 at 14:57

    Alors, mon vieux, biens fait!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown11 August 2019 at 15:06

    Malheureusement et très soudainement, nous avons perdu notre bon ami, Mick Neville, qui habite avec sa femme Lys, au village. il est décédé à l'hôpital il y a plusieurs jours. Un grand choc pour nous tous. Nous étions amis depuis plus de 40 ans.
    Alors, mes amis, profite au maximum de la journée .... Bisous x

    ReplyDelete

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