14 to 17 August 2016
61.3 kilometers, 6 locks, 2 lifting bridges.
14 August: Metz to Pompey: 49.8 kilometers, 4 locks, 6 hours.
15 August: Pompey to Nancy: 11.5 kilometers, 4 locks, 2 lifting bridges.
On our way to Metz we had noticed a lovely halte fluviale at the small town of Pompey and decided it would make a perfect stopover on our return trip. At the first lock we were joined by a Belgian flagged cruiser and, after quite a wait, another lovely old cruiser
crewed a young couple - they had just bought the vessel in Germany and were taking it back to their home somewhere in the south of France. However being fairly new to boating and possibly not wanting to push their engines, they were quite slow between locks which made for a longer day than it otherwise would have been.
Passing Pont-a-Mousson we saw the children-filled
Gewa which had been moored near us in Sillery but whose owners we had not met.
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| Gewa |
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| It takes all types... |
The small pontoon at Pompey is lovely
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| Duck! |
but there is not much to the town itself
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| Look right... |
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| ...and left. |
and, being a Sunday, the place was dead anyway so we spent the remainder of the day doing chores.
A late departure on Monday morning saw us through the big lock at Frouard followed by a sharp turn to the right and into the small but at seven meters, relatively high, Ecluse du Jonction Frouard and then we were on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin branche Est and winding our way south to Nancy where we just managed to squeeze into a vacant mooring in among some very tatty liveaboards (with a couple of equally tatty owners, one of whom had a disgusting habit of urinating down the side of his boat in full view of everyone)
Take your pick.
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| Get knotted. |
in the Port de Plaisance St Georges.
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| The Captainerie |
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| The bridge above the captainerie |
Nancy, with its fabulous Sanislas Square, is a gorgeous city and the square is the most perfect place to sip a coffee and watch the world go by.
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| Place Stanislas - words fail... |
After three lovely days of exploring
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| Gardens |
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| Basilique Saint-Eprve |
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| The beer cafe Le Ch'timi - great. |
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| Truffle salami at Les Freres Marchand |
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| Black pudding with sauteed potatoes - yum! |
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| Ancient city gate |
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| The light show in Stanislas Square - not as good as Toul though |
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| Art Deco splendour |
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The Museum of Fine Arts on the Square - not
to be missed. |
it was time to head off again but in the happy knowledge that we would be passing through Nancy again next year.
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| Salut! |
An aside: On a mooring opposite us was a boat with a familiar name - La Rose en Vie - owned by John & Brenda Davison who had given us much advice when we were going through the process of buying a boat. However, when I tried introducing myself to the person whom I thought to be John, I was told that he was the new owner and that John had recently died. Brenda had sailed La Vie en Rose to Nancy for them (the new owner had no qualifications) and had left that day for her hotel where she would overnight before travelling back to England - I was most disappointed at having missed meeting her but later that evening the new owners arrived at Elle with none other than Brenda in tow - she had left her tickets aboard La Vie en en Rose and had returned to collect them. They joined us for sundowners which was lovely (but the wife seemed not keen at all about the prospect of spending time on a boat). Good luck with your plans Brenda and maybe one day we will see you aboard your own boat again!
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