We are motoring at the moment. It makes a change and on our way to Metz. The exciting thing, for us, is that we have moved from the Seine Basin to the Rhine Basin. No more up hill it's all down hill from now on. At the top of Le Canal de la Marne au Rhin there is the Tunnel de Mauvages, a mere 5 km long (4877m to be precise). Until 2011 you used to be towed through, now it's DIY, one at a time. Due to its narrowness it takes about 1 to 1.5 hours and to make sure all goes well you are accompanied by one of the VNF waterways personnel on a bike. I suppose they still feel they should escort you as they have always done. The journey is quite stressful as it is full on concentration for an hour and a half with only inches to spare on either side. One wrong move and the wheelhouse roof gets a nasty scrape.
In the tunnel with our cycling escort.
The towing vessel has certainly made its last navigation, in a state of dereliction at one end of the tunnel. It did provide a solid mooring for the night.
The derelict toueur with Soraya ready to go.
After the tunnel there is a superb aqueduct over La Meuse. There are many small aqueducts or 'Pont Canal' as they are called. This one was quite dramatic.
Soraya braving the heights over the river Meuse.
1 comment:
Good to see you are on the move again!!
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