Haybes to Revin

Monday 27 June

15 kilometers, 4 locks, 1 tunnel, 3 hours 40 minutes (current between 2 and 4.5kph).

A lovely day so off we go, past the still deserted Fumay quay,

Fumay Port

and along the pretty waterway.

Tatty houseboat.

In no time at all we are at the 290m Revin tunnel where the lights come on automatically as one enters.

Through we went without incident, exited the lock at the end of the tunnel, swung hard downstream (right) and idled at 9kph to the beautifully manicured PdP of Revin where there was one space left – “It’s 13 meters so you will fit – just reverse in” say the team of willing helpers. Nope, reversing down-current is not a great idea so we back-up past the enormous (to us), brand new, 17m ‘ship’ and edge nose-in in front of it, almost bumping the smaller boat off our bow, occupied by a terrified Dutch couple who did not make an appearance until we were made fast 1m astern of them…I don’t make a hash of it and by some miracle we park 12.25m into a 13m spot (we’re actually 13m tip to stern but don’t tell a soul) with davits folded in. Thanks to Trevor the Aussie and the team of Belgium (some ex-Belgium Congo) and Dutch helpers who made it possible.

Tight fit!

The port, looked after by the same delightful lady for the last 18 years is like a private garden with creatively laid out flower beds, mown lawns and a duck-poo free quayside. Great place for a stop-over.

The Captainerie

In Dinant we had briefly met a New Zealand couple, Neville and Aynsley aboard Oso (means ‘ox’ and has links with the previous owner’s surname but we thought “Oso nice” or “Oso pretty” seemed a better interpretation) and they also arrived and moored up at the quay in the 'speedboat' section.

The town of Revin has two distinct sides to it: The more industrial and modern side where the mooring is (and with a big Intermarche nearby), and the old part with a couple of restaurants, boulangeries etc.

The next day we Googled somewhere to have lunch and Lynn decided on a restaurant called ‘La Ferme du Malgre Tout’ (‘The Farm Inn Nevertheless’???) which, on Trip Advisor’s map, was only a 2.7km ride away, partially up a hill. So off we went, into the industrialised part to get to a bridge which would take us across the canal (not realising that the very nearby railway bridge has a pedestrian path running next to it…), into the old part of town and up the hill. After about two hairpin turns we came across a lovely war memorial

and, after another three, a viewing spot with wonderful views of the Meuse River, the tunnel entrance and the canal – and the town of Revin.

Revin: Meuse River on right, tunnel entrance foreground of bridge, canal on left and old town center.

But no restaurant – not even a signpost. At the bottom of the hill I had noticed a sign on the side of a house announcing ‘Annexe – La Ferme du Malgre Tout’ so we decided to go back and make some enquiries; an elderly couple spring-cleaning their house indicated that we needed to go back up the hill for about three kilometres and we would find the place. So we did, hairpin after hairpin, through lovely forest and tinkling waterfalls until the slope flattened out and still we rode on, eventually coming to a split in the road with a faded old wooden sign indicating that the restaurant was 400m down the left fork – and there it was! ‘Ferme’ indeed (for any non-French speaking readers, ‘la ferme’ is ‘a farm’ and ‘ferme’ is ‘closed’) – not a soul in sight and no indication of opening times so after knocking a few times we set off for a lovely 3.7km, 380m freewheel descent back to Revin where we had a below par lunch at our second choice restaurant ‘La Bonne Source’.

Tomorrow we plan to set off bright and early for Charleville-Mézières, our last town on the Meuse before we turn onto the Canal Des Ardennes.