Barge Date:  07-24-2018

The Sarre and the Inclined Plane

It has been some time since I wrote about travels so perhaps that is a sign that not a lot of major places have been visited. But some interesting pictures perhaps.

East from Nancy, we headed for the Canal de la Sarre.  We went down the canal and headed north for the German border. Here are some pictures along the way.

Lorraine and Alsace are areas of Europe that have been home to storks.  But like too many birds, their number has gone dangerously low. So several towns have programs to bring the big bird back to their local area and buildings.  You have to look up to find them but often if you look down and see large white areas on the sidewalks you know to look up. Saint Nicolas du Port and Sarralbe are two such towns.  In particular, for Sarralbe, they have created a city trail  by placing brass stork medals in the sidewalk that you must follow and then look up to catch a view.

Saint Nicolas also has a nice church which is interesting because the inside is very bright. Normally you go in and you work to see things.  Have seen several this year that are inviting.

July 14 is the national day for France but we were treated to fireworks the night before, all from the comfort of our boat.

And still some very nice farm land with a touch of the 21st century in harmony.

Our travels down the Sarre ended at Sarreguemines. We just stayed overnight but found some sights to see and a nice restaurant.  And Marianne found her first WOB (Women on Barges) in some time.  We ended up being with them for several days. This town had been a factory town years ago and some of the buildings seen here were part of the recreation facilities offered to employees.

And proof that we have yet to see it all, how about this boat?

Another fine person we met is John W.  He single hands a 25 meter barge, Johanna, and does "self-catered" trips in this area. But many years ago he traveled to India and began helping the tribal population in the southern area of the country.  By training, he is a nurse, and and he established what is now called a NGO.  His work can be reviewed here:  http://www.nwtws.org

So part of the year he is in Europe then he packs up and goes to his work in India.  We offered some financial support and if you would like to help John's good work the information can be found on his web site.

This is the season for hire boats and in this area they greatly outnumber owner boats.  This is a good way to experience canals in France.  Certainly not a barge experience but you travel the same waters. They range in size for a family of 2-4 to very large with 10-12 people on board.  Very little training is offered so you see these boat "armorized" with fenders.  A boat that has been around for several years show the scars from people just out having fun and doing so too fast.

Going east now on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin we are faced with the big drop. We are somewhat in mountainous area but not big mountains.  This is a problem for canals. Too many locks require too much water and the solution was to build the inclined plane lock, the Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane, and not waste a drop.  Used the hand-held video camera to take some video.

A few years ago there was an accident at this operation.  A larger tour boat that gives rides to people wanting to experience the incline was entering at the top when the caisson suddenly moved causing the boat to be nearly cut in half.  No one hurt, I think, but put the facility out of action for almost 2 years. So much extra water poured into the lower section of the canal that there had to be some evacuation downstream.

The inclined plane replaced 17 locks and a great quantity of water, always in short supply. The drop/lift is about 44 meters (compared to about 3 for the surrounding locks).

As you enter at the top you have a great crowd of people looking at your every move.  A time to look good or perhaps look bad which is always good entertainment.  More details here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Louis-Arzviller_inclined_plane

Our next interesting stop is at Lutzelbourg.  You know you are in Alsace by the German names and most of the boaters are now German. Tied up in town and made a hike up to an old castle ruins that sit high above the town and the canal.  Good pictures, taking time, a long walk, lost then found the trail and a steep decent.

Marianne before learning we must also walk down.

Lionel

Finally, this post ends in Saverne. The canal comes right through town and a big drop lock - 5 meters - is located by a busy restaurant.  Another opportunity to look good or bad. The town has an old castle that many think looks a bit like Buckingham Palace.

A couple of social comments.  We noticed last year and also this year the great number of eye glasses stores.  Far too many it would seem for the population.  In this town I counted 4 in a two-block area with 2 being side by side.  Maybe they all knew that President Macron would push for all French people to be entitled to new glasses every 2 years, I guess paid for by the people. It is now the law.

Clothing - lots of stores which I don't go into but we did find ourselves in a store for babies. Note the pair of Levis jean, shorts in fact, for a baby.  50 Euros. Makes you wo nder what adult sizes might cost.

It has been hot.  Taking some fun out of boating.  Winter project - make screens for all the cabin windows.  Most sunny days in some period of time since 35 years ago.  Today they say global warming;  I don't know what they said 35 years ago.

On to Strasbourg.

Barge Date:  07-19-2018

Working the Locks

I have this fancy video system on the barge for several reasons.  I am hoping it makes me better at doing some things because it give me views that I can not have just looking out of the wheelhouse windows. It gives me a chance to review moves I have made or to see things that happen fast, like the little dog falling into a lock.  And it might be a deterrent to those that might want to jump on the boat at night or while we are away.  I will need to add one more camera next year to do the security correctly.

But here is something else I can do.  Below are two videos that will show you how I handle the barge and work a lock.  Each clip has been processed to show fast motion.  You don't want to take 10 minutes or so to watch in real time.  The process is slow but "things" can happen quickly if one does not pay attention.

The first video shows the barge entering a lock low and what is done and what happens as the process continues to where we are high in the lock.Whether we are coming in high or low, the best way to enter is with some speed.  The rudder works much better if the prop is passing water to and around the rudder. Quick adjustments can be made if the prop is turning; if not turning, you can still change the orientation of the barge but you must make more turns at the helm and it takes longer.  So come in with some speed and the prop turning, but not too fast as there are lock doors at the other end.   And if you are coming in high, what you see at the other end is a big drop off.  You don't want to go there.  It takes some practice and also confidence that the barge controls will work when you want them to.

Coming in low, you need to get a line on a lock bollard.  We prefer to come in and attach on the starboard side.  This is because the prop is rotating clockwise (as seen from the stern) and what I will be doing after a line is on a bollard is allow the engine to work very slowly - called tick over - driving the barge forward against the line. So the barge goes forward  but is stopped by the line then the stern will swing to the right wall and will stay there during the period the water is rising.  In this clip we are on the port side because that is where the control is for closing the lock doors and filling the chamber. But left or right, it still works, but works better on the starboard side.

You have to put the line on a lock bollard at the right distance from the bow and far end of the lock so that, as you rise, the boat does not go too far forward. The line must be strong enough to handle this stress.  Some of this can be controlled at the throttle. If there is another boat to the stern, we will put 2 lines on in such a way that the boat can not move forward or back and into the other boat.  If two lines, we will stay with them and adjust length if needed. We always prefer to be the first boat in the lock.

I think you can see in this video when the water starts to enter the lock.  This can sometimes be gentle or it can be a big rush and toss you about.  We will want to be pushing tight on the line as this happens.  But after the first rush, a current develops in the lock that tends to hold the boat without the use of the line.  When possible, I will turn off the engine and ride it out.

Leaving a lock is handled at about the same speed as the entry.  Too little speed or without the prop turning tends to lead to some bumping going out.

The second video will show how we handle the boat when we are being dropped in the lock. Whether up or down, both can have dangerous "things" happening.  Going down is generally seen as being more of a problem normally due to inattention.

Again, we come in with some speed and with the prop turning.  Will want to be eyeing the lock bollards for the right one to work but will also be looking at the edge of the lock wall near the bollard we will use. Ideally, you want a smooth edge.  The line will be moving over this edge and you want to prevent it from getting caught in a crack or some rough spot.

Here is what happens if you don't pay attention. As in going up, you want to control the barge in the lock.  The line is attached to a bollard on the boat and is looped around the lock bollard (there are, in fact, several methods but this one demonstrates the potential for problems).  As you go down you are letting out line from the loose end of the rope.  It would be better if we had two bollards at the middle so we could keep the lines separate. The line has to be smooth as you release more.  Water goes out of the lock at the bottom of the doors on the down river end.  This is normally gentle but each lock is different. Should your line get locked in a crack on the edge of the wall or at the single boat bollard, you will not be able to release more line and the boat will begin to hang from the line. And this is not good.

We have learned that with a drop less than 4 meters we will put the rope lope on the lock bollard with the loose end around the single bollard at the middle of the barge. Much safer as the only point of rope problem is right at boat bollard with is right at your feet.  We have learned to flip off the rope this distance and it is some what of a challenge to see if you can do it on the first attempt.

It has never happened to me but it does happen on a regular basis. The remedy is to cut the line.  We have small hack saws on the boat near where we work the lines and it does not take much effort to cut the line because now it is very taut.  A couple of cuts and it will break and the boat will drop.

When going down you can not walk away from your line. You stay with it, watch how it is moving.  Prevent the line from catching on the wall or at the boat bollard.

Once the barge has reached the top or bottom, the doors will open and you leave.

At larger locks there will be an operator and they will monitor what is done and there may be different ways to secure your boat.  With some of the locks on France's older canals, you use a radio controlled clicker to start the lock process. Once in the lock and ready for the up or down, you must lift a rod to close the doors and start the process.

(The red color you see in the video is not correct.  I needed to adjust some setting to get a clear view of the two sides. The actual red on the boat is dark candy apple red.)

Barge Date:  07-06-2018

Nancy and Metz

After leaving Verdun, we moved south to the end of the Meuse River and then turned east on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.  Our last stop on the Meuse was the town of Commercy.  This is the home town of the Madeleine, a small cake that can be done up in any number of ways and was made famous by Marcel Proust in "A la recherche du temps perdu" ("Searching for Lost Time").  The town was enjoyable too. 

This is not Commercy but the stop before, St. Mihiel.  When a boat ties onto another, it is called "rafting on".

Pictures of Commercy:

Made me think of LA. 3 bridges.

Then it is on to Toul, a location that I had hoped to use as our winter mooring. Not to be.

For excitement, this leg of travel has us going through a series of locks that quickly follow one another.  They are automatic locks and we were able to set a pattern of work and movement that allowed each approaching lock to be ready for us and all had us dropping.  If my memory is correct, about 11 locks and all done in a morning.

We tied up in Toul and toured the town.  Small, but nice.  For smaller boats a nice marina.  But there was no reason to remain as I want to get to Nancy to secure a safe tie-up so we can make a return trip to Strasbourg for the residence papers.  Marianne was able to make a phone call and spoke with a person at the Prefecture who seemed to give us hope that we might be able to slip in and get the process going. Here is Toul.

Do you see the stork?

We started in the morning thinking a 2-leg trip to Nancy but locks were few, we were on the Moselle river and travel  could be fast and where we wanted to tie up was not in our favor.  So we ended up just short of Nancy but in a perfect location for re-stocking the galley and getting to a Brico. (not sure I have used this term before;  think of a Lowe's).


Saw this new French innovation in this  parking lot.

Yes, now you can do the wash and not leave the car (almost).

In the morning we moved into one of several lagoons in Nancy but not before we added to our crew. The night before, a lady was taking pictures of our boat and a conversation developed and soon we suggested that Zao join us for the short jaunt. She is French but lives out in the Indian Ocean on the island Reunion.  Thinks it would be fun to have a barge so she got a taste of the good life. 

Nancy is a fine city and the center of it all is Place Stanislas.  It is a very large square bounded by identical architecture with a statue of Stanislas in the middle. It is here that every night a laser light show takes place at about 11PM. We sat at a table with some drinks and mini burgers and watched the show. Very nice and different than the light show we saw last year in Amiens.

Here are some short videos of the light show.  Enlarge to full screen to view better.

We took a train to Strasbourg, picked up some documents sent to the marina and made our play with the prefecture.  It was not as we hoped.  Same large crowd we saw the first of June.  Same disappointment by many.  At one point the security person told people to back off the steps or the police troops would be called. We left for breakfast and returned.  Fewer people, but we were still told that we have to make an appointment online, which has proved so far impossible, and could not be seen otherwise although we now have all the required documents.

Took a picture of the office as proof we were there.  What a system; what a way to run the process.  I am prepared to see what happens in September if it continues to be impossible to make an appointment .

Took the train back to Nancy, saw the light show again, then took another train to Metz which is down the Moselle a short ride.  Also a nice city and perhaps more interesting than Nancy. Crazy street layouts and always had one confused about where you are and how to get somewhere else. I would like to come again with the barge but the present crew did not like the idea.  May return as part of the loop going down the Sarre river into Germany then back south between Germany and Luxembourg and up the Moselle.  Will see.

We are now off to the east again, a section of the canal some people call a very rural, few-cities/town- stretch of water.  We have re-stocked the galley and are ready to go.

NOTE:  For you lucky few that actually read to the bottom and so may be interested, I will have an opportunity to take on crew after Marianne returns in August. If you are interested for a period of several weeks, give me an email and I will see what can be done. Would require you getting to the Strasbourg area for a meet up.  Email is all run together but here I break it up to fool the robots: tim.horchler     @    gmail.com