Barge Date:  06-26-2019

Saint Dizier and the next canal

Just moving right along.  With fuel in the tanks we are carefree.

You know each year I bring you a toilet story.  This year I returned to the boat with "improvements" to the system.  I can now access the problem valves by removing a small panel.  Two screws. Great. I was slapping myself on the back because we have had no problems. Until I thought about it, that is.

Yep, the water line behind the electric toilet started making problems.  So I quickly and conveniently removed 2 screws to see the part I must unscrew that holds the valve.  Wouldn't you know it; the valve dropped down and behind the lower panel that has 6-7 screws, and I am thinking this could be bad.  I do not have any spares (something I am now getting).  I remove the lower panel and no valve, but I do see a small mouse hole, and if it went down there it is gone for good. What is a good work around?

So I am trying several ideas, but because this water line goes to both toilets, we will need to use one or the other.  But then I get to looking and notice that there is like a sheet of carpet or something and think, "could that little valve have fallen behind the sheet, and is it still there?"  So I plug all the mouse holes and other problem-looking spots and begin to bend back the carpet.  With a flashlight I can see the valve. I carefully maneuver the carpet and snag the valve.

So my improvement works, but  I just have to be careful when taking off the cap that holds the valve.  That is my toilet story, I hope, for this year.

We arrived in the town of Saint Dizier to a long quay and we are the only boat - and will be for most of the 4 days we are there. Not a real special town to walk around, but they do have a nice main square with cafes.  A good place to take the load off and enjoy a morning or afternoon snack.

End of Year Class outing

On June 21, the Fete de la Musique is held all over France and in some other countries.  This is a day to stop and enjoy music.  The larger the town, perhaps a better selection of sound.  In St. Dizier they had 10 settings with different types of music.  The food merchants were on hand, and it develops like a street fair.  On the main square a large stage and sound system had been set up while I enjoyed a coffee and small pie (tartelette) in the afternoon while Marianne made her third trip to a bookstore. The band we saw that night was very good.  Let's go to the video.

This African drum group was led by a man who was just recently allowed to have his family join him in France.  These are 2 of his children dancing.

This year more than the last two we have been trying to pick evening moorings that has some improvements, and after leaving St. Dizier we are able to take the last space in a county mooring.  We meet up with Martin and Eileen again, talk to a man from down under, a marine engineer, who might be interested in canal travel.  He and his wife have been crisscrossing Europe for about 3 months in a camper and will soon depart.  So we invite them and another camper couple, Steve and Ann, and Peter and Eva,  Germans with a barge, to a get-together at the quay-side table.  We all bring food and drinks and trade stories. Good evening.

We spend a day here and I do some boat work.  Starting to get hot.  The week of June 24 will have temps near 40 (100F). This night we gather with some other boaters to go over the routes we have traveled and offer suggestions about where to stop.  We leave the next morning and are able to take the last open spot in the town of Vitry-le-Francois.

This city was mostly bombed away in the last war, so you see a different layout of streets when compared to cities that have buildings going back 300-600 years and streets that are never straight. We have lunch downtown and head back to the boat.  It is somewhat cooler below deck and with the addition of window screens we have some air flow and no flies.

With no space left in the marina, we offer a cruiser to raft on to the barge.  Turns out there are 3 Belgians aboard.  And from the south of Belgium, so French speaking. They tended to stay away from us but did bring over 2 beers from the Belgian province of Luxembourg.  Do you know what a Shandy is?  Learned this from some Brits.  It is half  beer and half lemonade. Try it.  It makes beer drinkable and refreshing.

When we leave the next morning we are soon on a new canal, the Canal de la Marne au Rhin, partie Ouest.  We will travel east to Toul and then turn south. Today we see more commercials than canal people. Two of our passings were interesting.  On one side of this canal a lot of trees have been allowed to grow out over the water. We are on the tree side. So I try to plan our passing so we are not driven into the woods. Done.  The next passing happens as we are looking for our evening tie-up. Is it here, is it there?  We are going real slow, and of course the unexpected meeting with the commercial is at a good bend in the canal. But we got by.  We are in the shade by ourselves hoping for a cold front and rain (no such luck).

On a personal note (as if  any of this was not personal) at about 4am our time, 10pm Pittsburgh, June 25, a  new Horchler joined us. Christina and Andrew received a baby girl, Annelise Ardenne Rose. She arrived weighing in at 8lbs and 9oz. She is a red head with blue eyes like her father. Mother and daughter look great and both are very hungry. A happy day for all.  

Barge Date:  06-19-2019

Moving Along the Marne

From the interesting town of Langres we travel north and pass a number of small villages till we reach Foulain.  We are low on fuel and also need to use an ATM (in France these machines are "le distributeur") as fuel is normally paid by cash to the man that brings the truck to the boat. I make 2 withdrawals over two days.  My bank has a limit on the total withdrawal amount per week, but I think we are OK.

I also think I need some fuel in our Jerry cans as I have made a bone-headed mistake.  As we were getting low on fuel I was looking at the sight tube on the starboard tank, and it looked OK.  But in the middle of the night I am thinking I need to open the valve for the sight tube to properly read it.  Sure enough, once I open the valve the fuel in the tube is much, much less.  At the worry level.

I have 5 cans on board and we take 2 and head off in a direction suggested.  It will be all up hill and some distance.  No so much a problem getting there but with 20 liters in each can there will be some weight coming back.

We are surprised by two photo plaques at a small bridge we cross.  Seems the bridge played an
important part in getting the French Leclerc division over the Marne to continue east.  The Germans did not have this bridge on their maps, so it was not destroyed. With help from engineers and most of the villagers for the use of this bridge, the Allies had constant traffic over the Marne for 48 hours straight.

We have been trying since Langres to arrange fuel delivery. We begin hearing reasons why companies will not deliver and wonder if there has been some shift of rules that make it impossible. We took pictures of the Yellow Pages in one town and used them to call companies. Impossible, they say.  One says they had a spill and it cost them.  Others talk about needing an intermediate tank on shore; they put the fuel in this tank and you are responsible for getting it into your boat without an expensive spill.  I am needing about 750 liters and I am down to about 75 in the tanks.To be continued.

Stop off at Chaumont and do another climb up to the city. Nice little town, but nothing special.  The downtown area is nice on a sunny day. We use this stop to buy a tax stamp I need to finish off my visa work.

This honors the Americans fighting in WWI

Back at the mooring we talk with Eileen and Martin off the Koopmanswelvaren V.  That is a mouthful.  They come over to our wheelhouse for an evening of talk. They have been doing the boat thing for about 10 years and will soon sell and try to find a boat that they will keep in the UK. Always fun to have these talks.

We have found someone that will bring us fuel in Joinville.  A relief. But we will need to stay over the weekend to get it on Monday.  As it turns out, Joinville is a nice surprise.  Years and years ago it was a center for some Dukes and had a nice castle and was a walled city. There are several water "paths" through the city that make for interesting views. You will need to look at the pictures here.

The Duke also built a nice little castle down the hill from his normal abode; this for his wife. Today it is a site for plays and performances and has an extensive garden that is open to the public. A number of pictures of this but I think worth your time.

Busy bee.

A good use of scrap wood, Guy. Musical boards.

The walks through Joinville are interesting with many streets and alleys with well maintained buildings.  At one point (French Revolution), the Duke gave up the castle on the hill and allowed the town residents to dismantle everything to be used to build down the hill.  He sounds like a nice guy, but this town is famous for some religious zealots that were happy to draw and quarter you if you were a Protestant.

We did a  tour of a an old building that was used for a jail way back when (16th century). Everything was in French but it was easy to see that those locked up did not have it easy.  Of course if you had more wealth and were locked up, your family might live with you in another part of the jail and you would eat better. There were numerous displays as we moved from the ground floor jail all the way to the attic. Our group included a man that grew up in Joinville but now makes movies in LA. We spoke a bit with him and he mentioned some movies he has done (Nice Guys was one) and has a Netflix movie coming up next year with Elle Fanning.  But did not get his name and have not been able to identify him from movie credits.

Up under the roof we were able to see all the timbers that hold this old building together. Always interesting.  I could also see how clay tiles are attached to the roof.  Under the bells was an old timepiece that controls the bells.  The LA movie-man knew all about this as he learned it as a boy in town, and he proceeded to wind the clock, lifting the dead weight up to the top.  Part of this included triggering the bells.

On the night before fueling we had company at the tie-up. Two commercials

We took fuel Monday morning then continued north to stop in the village of Chevillon. Our "tourist" info did not offer much to say about the village, and it is a good walk from the canal, but we struck out on a hot day and made our way to the center. Chevillon is a good example of finding something that others failed to see because of the long walk. The side streets in this village show how a town such as this might have looked 200-300 years ago. There was a small water flow through the village to end up in a building that was the laundry way back when.  Take a look.

Lots of gardens in this town.

This is referred to as a castle but was in fact a hunting retreat for some nobles.

On the main street I passed a woodworking shop and decided to walk in and say hello. The craftsman greeted me, and we had some small talk.  He has family in the US.  Marianne joined us and talked about the village.  But he also mentioned that in the next town there is a nice restaurant that we should visit.  This is a nice idea.

So on to Chamouilley.  Small village, but we find a few things of interest as well as another laundry building, but this one has the "washing machines" on display. Water is always flowing through these buildings.

The sign says "a question of survival." Death is made of plastic waste.

You've come a long way, baby.

And the meal at the restaurant in town (L'auberge du cheval blanc) was very good.