LA MEUSE AND ITS TUNNELS

We have friends staying and couldn't have picked a more beautiful river with mountains coming right down to the river banks. The scenery is amazing, but........

La Meuse - Beautiful scenery

......it has several tunnels and one was the narrowest, lowest tunnel we've ever been through with no lights! It was 3.1 metres at the sides and 3.5 in the middle (we're 3.4 high). So after discussion with the lock-keeper, he lowered the canal by 20 cm!! Wonder if they'd do that in UK for you?? Even so, it was.........breathe in, duck down and steer the boat in a very straight line. Stressful or what??

Watch the roof and the sides!!

INDUSTRY AND ART

Just to prove it is not a perfect idyll on the waterways of France we sometimes have to compromise on location of mooring. Well it can't be Reims every day!

It was only an overnight stop! (Grain silos on the Ardennes)

Good news, art never far away, however not quite sure what was going on in this suburban garden.

Smoking in public.

CANAL DES ARDENNES - LOCKS, LOCKS AND MORE LOCKS

In a nutshell, very pretty. With the added challenge of narrow locks 5.05m wide and with Soraya's 4.5m width there is not much to spare when driving 80 tonnes in between two stone walls. Once in great practice for lassoing bollards 3.7m above your head.

A tight fit

The main excitement of the route is the virtual staircase of locks in the middle section, some 26 of the 44. Well 28 actually as you cannot moor anywhere else. You have to book your passage and once you start you have to continue. It's about an 8 hour ascent (or descent). Quite daunting to start with but actually great fun and a full on all day as locks are often as close as 50m apart. No stopping for lunch!

One of the many écluse (locks) houses

Pretty but narrow section. There are many.

The narrow sections are tricky when meeting a wide commercial barge. Hold your breath and whatch out for the trees, there really is no room. The VNF (Voies Navigables de France) really need to do some serious tree surgery.

CHAMPAGNE

Reims, what is it famous for, well apart from an amazing cathedral, great shopping and some good bars there is this champagne thing going on. Had to go to Taittinger for a look around the caves. Not much to look at on the surface but below ground in Roman excavations they have, at the Riems site alone 4 kilometres of champagne maturing caves with ~two million bottles, mainly the bigger sizes magnum to melchizedek (by special order only) as well as a few thousand vintage bottles.

This little alcove contained 72,202 bottles! Sounds like a party.

The trip was quite fascinating and informative and of course was followed by a tasting or two.

Margaret getting into the spirit, well actually the gaseous white wine (champagne). We paid all this money and they never offered a beer! I'll stick to the pubs next time. 

FESTIVAL SOISSONS EN SC'AISNE

Once again we got stuck in a place. Soissons is a great small town with lots happening and in particular lots of religious buildings including a ruined Abbey, Saint Jean des Vignes and a very large Cathedral. Good news it's not all religious stuff it has a 'Festival Soissons Sc'Aisne'. Part of the festival is the Halte Nautique (Mini Port/Quai) we were moored at and they were having there own 'do'. We were asked to move Soraya as we were in the way of their fluvial activities. No problem we moved 100m down the quai with too much help. We're we available this evening? Yes, well come to the Halte Nautique for an Apero.

The Halte Nautique had obviously received EU funding. Great facilities including a pucka theatre, yes their own choir:

Yes they were excellent

And more importantly a free bar and food! Well we had agreed to move the boat. Good news EU funding is put to a good cause.

Adjacent to the festival site in the ruins of the Abbey is an exciting space used for art exhibitions and installations. Yes my other love along with good Food and Beer (not quite sure of the order) and of course Margaret. There was a great exhibition by an artist I had never heard of called Vladimir Skoda (pity about the surname). It was superb. Especially in the 13th century ruins/restored buildings.

Pure shapes and surfaces in a 13th century space.

In another space he had mobile pieces. They were amazing. Tried to instal a video in the blog but to no avail. Why do these things have to be so annoying, any ideas why not?

FROMAGE TORTEAU

Are you familiar with 'Cheese Tortoises' well you should be? They are great and not quite my newest best friend but good. They are a very light sponge cake/bread with a cheese taste and a deliberately burnt top.

As sold

The interior

Sorry if you don't like all the food/wine stuff but much more interesting than Margaret and I in the local pub, champagne house. Well as they say more of that later.