Canal de la Marne au Rhin (Est): Lutzelbourg to Saverne

8 & 9 May 2017

10 kilometers, 3 hours, 30 minutes (including 30 minutes total waiting for VNF). 9 locks.

Cool (8C) and misty conditions envelop us as we see the lock lights change from double red to single red at 08h30 – can they be starting early? Surely not but we pull in lines and scuttle up to the lock praying that one of the many ‘interestingly’ skippered hire-boats do not decide to join us as, in most cases, that adds quite a bit of time (and sometimes damage) to one’s journey. At the lock the light stays stubbornly red so we tie up again and wait patiently until 09h00 when we see the upstream lights go green, three boats enter, the gates close and their light goes red. Ten minutes later the ubiquitous VNF van comes past and parks, the lady lockie hops out, enters the little structure and waves us in and we are on our way.

Country home.

Five locks later we zip in, I grab the blue pole to activate the lock, lose my balance and grab the nearest object to steady myself – unfortunately the ‘object’ was the red emergency pole and it was duly activated stopping any further lock activity. Lynn called the VNF on the intercom and there we waited like muggles for twenty five minutes. Much ‘desoles’ (sorrys) later the lockie started the mechanism and we were on our way through pretty scenery but in cool and misty weather, arriving at Saverne at 12h30. Unless you can get one of the wall places mooring can be interesting, especially in a rising cross breeze. It was a case of reversing between two rows of boats and doing a ninety degree turn and then trying to tie up to a miniscule finger which just had to be upwind. Ahead, astern, bowthrust to avoid being blown into an adjacent Linsson, and more of the same until Lynn had managed to secure two lines and while struggling to fix a spring to stop our bows creating chaos, the port captain arrived and said we could breast up to the Linsson. Gratefully we allowed the wind to blow us onto their starboard side where we made fast!

Glued together!

Note tiny finger on our right.

And our view across the water is majestic!

The view from the saloon window - Rohan Palace.

We pay €30 for two nights including ablutions, water and electricity,

stroll around the nearby funfair

and retreat back to Elle to continue with chores. Despite being a public holiday (VE Day) there are no celebrations at all – maybe it is a sensitive issue with this being an area having a strong German background? Tomorrow we explore Saverne.

Housekeeping: Lynn has been beavering away fitting our new cushion covers, hanging two dozen new curtains which she had made at home and which look great (but which has entailed unhooking and then re-hooking about a million curtain hooks)

Out with the old...

... and in with the new. curtains and covers.

scrubbing grime and algae out of the scuppers, cooking and cleaning – and all this on top of her admiral/deckhand duties. What a gal! We have also replaced one new ceiling light and have two more to do in the galley area but need to buy some brass screws, replaced nine incandescent ceiling light globes with LED’s (100 watts replaced by 7.5 watts) and four to go. The kitchen neon, over-cooker light has been replaced with a bright white/yellow/red LED bar, the ancient cassette recorder has been removed leaving a gaping hole which will be filled temporarily until I can find a piece of teak veneer with which to cover the gap properly,

the Weber braai now has a temperature gauge,

the new depth sounder has been fitted, and the ladder gangplank has a new cover to protect the wooden walkway (which needs re-varnishing already). Lots more yet to do but at least a start has been made.

Tuesday 9 May 2017.

The morning starts off with an early rain shower and temps around 7C but soon clears into a wonderful day. Not being able to offload the bikes without great difficulty, we trundle down the canal path keeping the magnificent pink sandstone facade of the Chateau des Rohan (which strongly reminds me of the Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires) on our left, take a first left and then a left again and we are in Grande Rue with the spacious and gracious Square of the Unicorn just ahead on our left.

Square of the Unicorn

Front entrance to Rohan Palace.

The street is lined with quaint shops, cafes and restaurants interspersed with some real gems like the courtyard of the Mairie (Town Hall)

The entrance to the Mairie is on the right.

This is what is through the arch.

And this.

And this.

and the 12^th Century pink sandstone church.

Shopping entails collecting some wine and pastis from the small Carrefour, some smoked sausage, smoked ham and beef mice (minced right in front of us) from the boucherie

How would you like your meat minced?

before the need for coffee becomes all important. Strolling past flower boxes filled with spring flowers including a variety of magnificent tulips

we select a café and go inside, find a table and enjoy a delicious café lait with fresh croissants. Then 

it is back onto the Grand Rue and over the crest of the hill the demographic changes with chic giving way to pizza outlets, schwama joints, some middle eastern food outlets and recruitment agencies, insurance company shopfronts, and the cinema.

The other side of town.

Crossing the bridge on the southern side of town we are soon back at Elle and Lynn takes a load of washing to the laundromat, and then another, while I set up the Weber and thread elasticated ripcord through our gangplank cover hem.

Wondering where Lynn has gone to I go on deck to hear her in conversation with the inhabitants on the boat behind us, Gewa , a boat we have seen quite a few times but whose owners we have never met. In no time we are introduced to New Zealanders Jon and Terry McMillan and spend quite some time chatting before they set of for Lutzelbourg and an appointment with their sanding machine.

After cuisse Carter we stroll off to a small farmers market being held at the station and come away with some veggies, farm butter, half a loaf of stunning bread and two homemade pork pies for lunch tomorrow. A leisurely beer at the beer garden in the marina, cheese and biscuits for supper and it’s off to bed with a book and an early night. We have a long way to go tomorrow.

Xouaxange to Lutzelbourg

7 May 2017

23.7kms, 5 locks, 2 tunnels (Niderviller 400 meters, Arzviller 2.3 kilometers), 4 hours 30 minutes.

Departing Xouaxange before 7 am in almost incessant drizzle (I was dying to get into new waters)

Cruiser called March Brown - not really a flybridge?

we headed up past Hesse and Niderviller and in no time at all were faced by a red ‘no go’ light at the 400 meter Niderviller tunnel. Sigh! Yes, after Lagarde the canal operating times were from 07h00 but from the Niderviller-Arzviller tunnel system it goes back to 09h00 to 18h00 again.

Anyway we slotted into an opening at the waiting quay where shortly an odd looking converted Tjalk-like Dutch barge made it obvious that they wanted to go through the tunnel before us.

Luvverly weather.

The 'halte' before the tunnel.

Fat bumpy boat on the left.

Fair enough as they had spent the night at the stop so at nine o’ clock when the lights turned green we followed them through, in turn being followed by another hire boat. The first tunnel was fine but in the long tunnel it became obvious that they had no independent lighting and that the skipper was not very experienced as they bumped from side to side at 4 kph down the length of the moderately lit tunnel followed by our old spotlight and newer LED lightbar turning the gloom into daylight way behind them - most strangely our absolute fear of dark tunnels and the claustrophobia, sweaty palms, dripping foreheads and terror seemed to have disappeared completely. Who said boating was not therapeutic!

Pretty!

The long tunnel - cool!

Then it was full speed for them to the big boat elevator lift where they had to wait some 20 minutes until we leisurely arrived. Down we went

and we locked together through the next five locks with them repeating their sequence; flat-out until the lock, multiple bumps going into the locks and then flat-out again. The Arzviller lift is really lovely and made more so by the surrounding views but what I found most fascinating was cruising the stretch of the canal up to the lift which replaced 17 locks. Through spring blossoming oak trees one catches glimpses of old lock-keepers cottages in the valley below. Fascinating!

And so we arrived at pretty Lutzelbourg at 11h15, tied up to a serviced quay, strolled into the village to buy a baguette, ate Confit de Canard aboard, found an excellent SFR Fon signal using our iBoost, spoke to Ian and Sian who are now in Pagny sur Meuse, and updated the blog.

Today is French voting day (yes, on a Sunday!) and tomorrow is Liberation Day so we will do the short distance to Saverne and spend the night before rushing on to Strasbourg where we hope to organise a Free data/call card – unlimited calls in France (and to South Africa) and 100GB per month data for E19.99 per month!

A bit more tomorrow if I can.

Lagarde to Xouaxange - Time to play Petanque (French bowls).

6 May 2017

26.3kms, 7 locks, 5 hours 50 minutes.

One of our purchases at the very reasonably priced captainerie at Lagarde was a set of boules or French bowls – small steel balls which you aim at a wooden (definitely not plastic!) jack and which thereafter follows the convention of English(?) lawn bowls. Xouaxange has a ‘court’ within 50 meters of the mooring so we were keen to refresh our skills not used since a trip to the south of France in the Nineties. But let us not get ahead of ourselves…

Itching to get going, we had agreed to be at the first lock, some two hundred meters away, dead on nine ‘o clock when they started operation. An hour before planned departure I saw a Le Boat cruiser lining up for the lock and the next thing was the lights showed in preparation mode – green light on and off the cruiser went. Hmmmm….consulting the oracle (Fluviale Guide) it appears that the stretch of waterway between Nancy and Lagarde has operating hours of 09h00 to 18h00 and on the next stretch thereafter from 07h00 to 18h00. In time Lynn was ready and we said cheers and grateful thanks to Colin and Joy and lined up the lock, only to be faced with double red lights (lock inoperative)! Then a single red light and back to double red with water gushing from beneath the lock doors. After a couple of rounds of this they stabilized to a single red light and, holding thumbs, we activated the remote and happily the lights changed to green/red and then to green – at last the cruising can commence!

Six uneventful locks later we were at the big Rechicourt #2 lock where a French TV crew (which we had been told about in Lagarde) were waiting; they were filming a documentary on family cruising on the canals much to the excitement of Navig France whose boat they had chosen to use. Some thirty minutes later another hire boat joined us and eventually the lights turned green but not before the lock-keeper had instructed us that the TV crew were to enter first. Eventually the three of us were crammed into the lock, the door closed, the film crew played “lock, lock” a couple of times,

The TV boat.

and the 15 meter lift started as did the ‘issues’. Firstly the lady on the TV boat in front of us released her line against some pressure on their bow while almost simultaneously the hire boat bow lady slipped her line against the rebound pressure and they ended up squashed against our stern with the TV boat almost on our bow.

The boat behind.

Ouch for us.

But even worse for the hire boat, their stern swung across to the opposite wall and became jammed and for the rest of the lift we were treated to the sound of expensive gelcoat being trashed against a rough lock wall – they exited the lock, turned around and fled back down to the safety of the Navig France base at Lagarde.

Ouch for them!

As we arrived at Xouaxange the weather deteriorated, the drizzle set in and we abandoned our game of petanque for some more favourable day.

Arrival at Port Sainte-Marie and on to Lagarde

2 May 2017 to 6 May 2017

Arrived at Port Sainte-Marie after quite pleasant flights marred only by a fella on the first leg with such bad halitosis that Lynn had to hold a wet-wipe over her nose – thank goodness he went to sleep with a blanket over his head. The second leg was fine apart from the child four rows up from us who screamed for five out the seven hours travel time – such are the joys of modern travel!

Our taxi was waiting for us and just over an hour later we were greeted by Ian and Sian who had traveled very long days from Douai to meet us; Elle had been opened, the winter cover removed (a tiresome task), the bimini erected and all was open and ready to go.

Sian and Ian in our unpacked saloon - no seatcovers.

Lynn in unpack mode.

After doing some basic unpacking we joined them aboard Njord for a delicious spaghetti bolognaise supper and then it was off to the Auberge Port Sainte-Marie where we fell very soundly asleep.

Planning on having lunch at Lagarde the next day, we unpacked the rest of the goodies, completed the de-winterising, did engine checks, filled with water and then started running the taps to ensure that all was in order - the water pump had packed up! If we ran the engine we might have blown the geyser element so Ian, the fixer of all things great and small, climbed into the cramped recess of the engine room (all six foot four of him) and stripped the pump and pressure switch, cleaned them and put the whole lot back together again – hours later it worked! So off we went to Lagarde

Some trepidation at our first 2017 lock.

hoping to have dinner instead of lunch but the place was closed on Wednesdays wasn’t it…so it was supper aboard Elle and we finally got around to a very good albeit agonizingly slow-serviced lunch the next day after which we bade Ian and Sian farewell on their return trip to Diksmuide which they hope to reach by the end of the month.

Cheers guys and a gazillion thanks!

We were moored one place down from Colin and Joy aboard Fennavera whom we had met in Port Sainte-Marie at the end of last year – they very kindly invited us aboard (again) for drinks which ended the day most satisfactorily. The next morning Lynn joined them in their car on a supermarket shopping expedition (BIG treat!) there being no such luxury in Lagarde or even anywhere close by. I waited for the resident mechanic Bill Fraser who had said that he had an idea about being able to possibly repair our diesel leak but unfortunately the pump will have to come off at some stage in order to be able to reach the leak. Lynn returned with bags of provisions and that evening we had Colin and Joy aboard for drinks and a lively chat and lots of laughs.

I have ordered deck paint and varnish which we will hopefully collect on our return from Strasbourg in two week’s time and the never ending maintenance will begin once again. As the sun is out and it is pleasantly warm, let the cruising commence!

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane...

And so the time has finally arrived for us to depart the city of Durban, to leave South Africa with our most dearest hopes that the forces of good will rid her of her parasitic president and his pestilent cronies, and to make our way to dear Elle, hopefully safe and sound in her winter mooring in Port Sainte-Marie between Nancy and Strasbourg.

All things being well we will do either Plan A, Plan B or Plan C or whichever Plan circumstances throw our way. All three planned Plans entail cruising from Port Sainte-Marie to Strasbourg on the eastern French-German border, then west to Nancy and south along the Canal des Voges and the Saone to Saint Jean de Losne.

Plan A is a mammoth cruise north on the Canal de Bourgogne, more north on the Yonne, then south on the canals du Loing, Briare and Lateral a la Loire, and north again on the Nivernais to Vermonton where Elle will be left for winter. I think that in order to do this our French tricolour will have to be flown sideways...

Plan A: 1,295kms, 609 locks, 19 'other' obstacles.

Plan B is also ambitious. From St Jean de Losne we head east on the Canal du Centre, north on the canals Lateral a la Loire, Briare and du Loing and finally south on the Yonne and a bit of the Nivernais. But pray tell, when will we ever do the southern reaches of the Nivernais as our plan for next year is to head directly to Paris?

Plan B: 1,168kms, 425 locks, 10 'other' obstacles.

Plan C is to muddle south on the Saone as far as Auxonne where we will hopefully pick up friends Darrell and Tessaa, then past St Jean de Losne to Chalon sur Saone (with possibly a quick detour on the Doubs Canal to Dole) and then in an easterly direction to Decize and finally a slow cruise up the Nivernais to Vermenton - this is looking more and more appealing but then I'm not sure when we will ever do the Canal de Bourgogne and canals du Loing, Briare and Lateral a la Loire as they are not on the radar for 2018.

Plan C: 990kms, 426 locks, 19 'other' obstacles

This is a lot of hire boat country and there are far more locks per kilometer that we have been used to so the going will be slower but we will return home much fitter - Boeuf Bourguignon, Burgundy wine and Crémant de Bourgogne permitting.

Totsiens aan al ons ZA vriende, groot geluk met wat voorle Suid Afrika, and Bonjour a la France!

Between cruises: Summer in South Africa

Since returning to South Africa life has simply gone on:

The following purchases have been made:

- A new NASA depth sounder as I could not source new carbon brushes and NASA were most unhelpful in this regard. I'm still hoping that I will be able to get some so that the old one can be repaired but at least we will have a working sounder again.

- New matching cabin lights to replace the tacky plastic ones in the galley, master cabin and forepeak have been ordered from SVB. LED globes are coming from South Africa as SVB were out of stock of that version of the light - all the existing incandescent globes will also be changed to LED saving a lot of battery. Also, a tri-colour (white/red/yellow) LED downlighter for the galley to replace the existing fluorescent tube - I like 170 lumens and only using 0.4 amps.

- A smallish (in size) 1,500W/3,000W pure sine wave inverter to replace the 300W fixture.

- A radio/CD player capable of taking an iPod and memory sticks.

- We have had new seat covers made for the saloon - hope they fit!

- Lynn made new curtains for all the windows. 26 of them!

- Early in March the port gearbox was removed and replaced with a reconditioned one from Drinkwaard Motoren BV in Holland.

We have also done some travelling in SA:

- Another two trips to the Tembe Elephant Park on the SA/Mozambique border.

- A 5,000 kilometre trip around South Africa.

Desert road to Richtersveld

Richtersveld National Park

- A long weekend of trails with the Land Cruiser Club - Southern Africa. Some pretty hectic stuff!

Just can't stay out of the water!

Spot the vehicles.

- And still to come at the end of April is a week's fishing trip to the scenically magnificent Transkei Wild Coast.

Long stay visas have been granted and the suitcases are out and are rapidly filling up - and in precisely four weeks time we will be on our way to France!