The Marne to the Canal Latéral a la Marne: Epernay – Condé-sur-Marne – Châlons-en-Champagne – Soulanges.

14 June to 18 June 2018.

61 kilometers, 12 locks, 1 swinging bridge.

Thursday 14 June – Epernay to Condé-sur-Marne. 18,5 kilometers, 4 locks, 1 swing bridge, 5 hours 15 minutes (including 1,5 hour re-fueling stop).

On an absolute peach of a morning we set off at a brisk down-current pace to meet up with the first lock on the Canal Latéral a la Marne, ‘Latéral’ because it is a relatively straight cutting which follows the route of the very convoluting Marne River.

If you look closely you can see the canal - straight line through the towns - and the river.

Past the abbey where the venerable Dom Perignon was reputed to have invented the champagne brewing lark,

The Abbey surrounded by vineyards of Moet & Chandon.

past beautiful vineyards

They gave us a big wave as we passed.

and then stopping at the village of Ay where there was a supermarket with an attached service station selling diesel which, over two trips, Lynn manhandled two trolley loads of jerry-cans until we had topped up with one hundred and twenty liters at €1,422/liter.

That completed we were on our way again, through the swinging bridge at Bisseul,

Bisseul

The swinging bridge open for us.

Walnuts

passing pretty towns and walnut laden trees until we arrived at the tiny town of Condé-sur-Marne where we were eventually greeted by a smiling, English speaking port captain (who is also the port captain at Châlons-en-Champagne) and where we were charged €7 for a nights mooring with electricity and water!

The port.

Friday 15 June - Condé-sur-Marne to Châlons-en-Champagne. 16 kiolmeters, 4 locks, 3 hours 15 minutes.

After popping into the boulangerie for ‘deux pain choctlat’ and a baguette

The bustling town square.

Fascinating church...

...but locked.

it was back aboard again and on our way, arriving at Châlons-en-Champagne port in plenty of time for the evening’s free champagne tasting of the house N. Potié (based in Condé-sur-Marne) and hosted by the capitainerie.

Châlons-en-Champagne is a wonderful city with a sprinkling of superb churches, plenty of bistros and cafés, lots of entertainment and clean and organised.

Our view as we rose up the lock.

Trying to keep the port weed free.

The Captainerie.

Apart from the Portuguese festival in the park adjacent to the mooring which ended with an hour of a woman singing the most dreadful fado and then turned into a very loud disco which lasted until nearly two the next morning, we had a wonderful time and agreed that it was even a place in which we could happily live.

St Etienne's Cathedral.

Eglise St Alpin.

The town hall with the Church of Notre Dameen Vaux in the background.

A typical boulangerie.

The tourist office.

The Duck Dace

Ready...

Go!

Swim duckies, swim!

The finish - our ducks are not in picture.

Monday 18 June - Châlons-en-Champagne to Soulanges. 23 kilometers, 5 locks, 5 hours 35 minutes.

All good things must come to an end so after three super days it was time to start exploring again and so, leaving in time to catch the first lock at its eight o’clock opening, we waved good-bye to Châlons and set off up the weed infested canal. After a lovely but tiring days cruising we arrived at the tiny hamlet of Soulanges, somewhere where there was no boulangerie, no chemist, no florist, no optician - nothing but a scattering of houses and a Mairie.

How these peniches fit into these small locks amazes us.

Namaste coming in to berth behind us.

The Mairie.

But the mooring was pretty and peaceful.