SEPTEMBER
30 Aug - 10 Sep - 2004
Having spent the past three weeks exploring Bruges, Gent and Brussels, possibly the best parts of Belgium, we were now heading back into France as we had four separate bookings to get to in Reims, Paris and Cambrai. These trips would take us more than 1,000 km and use over 1,000 litres of diesel fuel so the opportunity to top up our tanks with 40c per litre diesel in Belgium rather than i1.10 per litre gazole in France was high on our priority list. We cruised to Captain Neptunia in Peronne, took on the fuel and headed south via Valenciennes to Cambrai, our eventual winter port.
At Valenciennes we moored canal side amongst commercial barges and in front of one of the town=s university colleges for the night and the next morning, disembarked our bikes for an exploration of the town. On the way into the town we had to negotiate a large round-about during peak traffic and Maureen very nearly came to grief with a fast moving car cutting her off and very nearly hitting her. We survived the incident however and headed into town, some distance from the canal, it being a large town.
Most everything appeared to be closed (museum and tourist office) despite this being a Tuesday so we had a look at one of the churches, assisted by an aged gentleman who obviously had a deep affection for the building and it=s purpose and decided to head on out of town. We caste off at midday and by 5.00pm were in the port at Cambrai.
Cambrai was once a busy commercial port but like many other French canal towns it has lost most of the factories and warehouses that used to employ many barges. The facilities that remain however are used by pleasure boats and a number of other semi or full time charter or education vessels. The port now is filled with (mostly) English people who live semi permanently on barges similar to Van Nelle but who return to the UK during winter. These include Tam and Di Murrell who use their 25m Friesland to conduct barge handling and PP courses, Bob and Bobby Marsland who do charter cruises, John and Val, and US couple Bill and Sylvia who are converting a small barge for their next summer=s use. Bob, an English ex RAF pilot is on a cruiser and a couple of other boats are currently unoccupied.
We pulled into the port and stopped at the Capitainerie to take on water before moving into a space reserved for the missing >Tinker=s Tug= currently away for repairs. We soon made friends with the other boating residents and the Captain - Gerard. We had two days only to do washing and shopping before again heading out southwards towards Champagne for our first rendezvous with Peter Livingstone, a Perth friend who was at the time on a masters hockey tour, culminating in Athens after the cessation of the Olympics. We were to meet him in Reims, introduce him to the delicate pleasures of Champagne and then cruise towards Paris. But first we had to get to Reims.
Our first highlight on the journey was one day from Cambrai at the famous Riqueval Tunnel. Supposedly sited and directed by Napoleon 1, this 6km tunnel was built around 1800 to make possible a direct route from the northern industrial towns to the Champagne region and thence Paris and was operated as a tunnel de touage - or towed tunnel. Barges were roped together and pulled through by men, then horses. This method was later upgraded to using a windless at the end of the 6km that was powered by relays of 6 horses and finally by an electric tug system that pulls itself along by means of a chain laid underwater and electric cables strung above. As the tunnel is not ventilated, engines cannot be used as early experiments with coal fired steam engines tended to asphyxiate the bargees. Today, the tunnel still operates with the latest version of tug (built in 1912) pulling up to 30 barges (theoretically). We were one of three on our first experience and alone the next time. The trip takes 2 hours and after the first experience can be a bit boring but is a grand adventure in history.
There is also a museum at the small town above the tunnel that deals with the history of the system. Interestingly, the Germans used the tunnel in the first world war as a safe dormitory for their troops, it being quite close to the front lines. They concreted the entrances and filled the tunnel with barges, converted into sleeping accommodation for resting troops. The tunnel was taken by the allies with little resistance in 1918 during the big final push to victory.
Just past the tunnel we found a lovely canalside picnic spot with an indented section for boats, complete with bollards and a strange roof. We had a very quiet night there and by 1200 the next day were in St Quentin, the city from which the name of this canal derives.
St Quentin was celebrating the 300th anniversary of one of its famous sons and was that night to host a grand spectacle, >Sax in the City= and a large fireworks display. We decided to stay for the fun.
At 9.30pm the spectacle began at the square outside the museum which holds the works of St Jean, their famous artist. A huge, fire breathing apparatus on wheels was accompanied by many whirling dervishes, dressed in star wars costumes of plastic tubes and luminous drapes. All had saxophone. Loud saxophone music emanated from large speakers on the chariot of flames which must have been relaying this from radio broadcasted from the central stage area in the main city square as it was perfectly coordinated as we approached the centre ville. Eventually we were surrounded by hundreds of creatures who hung from buildings, elevated stages and even on top of the futuristic bandstand in the huge central square - this complete with grand piano on its roof.
Actors with saxophones roped down from roofs while on the biggest stage in front of the medieval Mairie a large band of these aliens assembled, there to play custom written pieces for the next couple of hours, accompanied by others on smaller stages surrounding the square. Windows of the buildings making up the square were inhabited by back lit dancers throwing shadow replicas of themselves in writhing grotesque forms at the scrim curtains hung on the windows.
The whole thing was mesmerising and as it led up to a shattering crescendo the crowd voiced its deafening approval before breaking away to stream down to the canal side Place de la Revolution for the Feu d=Artifice - the fireworks.
We were moored just a couple of hundred metres from the edge of the fireworks launching place so had a pretty good view of the event but decided to get with the crowd, right under the bursts, immediately in front of the launch pad. This IS the BEST way to see fireworks, right under them at no great distance. It has its dangers of course and I was one of the crowd hit by spent plastic cartridges from the bigger mortar star shells, fortunately on the cheek so not coming to any great harm. No wonder we have to be 400 metres away form similar events in Australia.
After the big commercial Canal de Nord and Belgian biggies, the St Quentin canal is a return to the dreamy canals of the centre and south which are now almost exclusively tourist waterways. St Quentin still has a reasonable amount of commercial boats of the 38m size but they just add to the pleasure and interest - so long as we don=t get stuck behind them as they travel ponderously at half our speed.
We stopped at a couple of the small villages along the way, not as evening stop overs or for supplies, but because the tourist and canal guides mention that some have museums displaying artifacts from the wars. Chaugny and Tergnier were two such where we found no evidence of such museums and none of the local population were able to shed light on the subject when questioned. Things change and local enthusiasts often close little local displays, giving their pieces to bigger enterprises in the towns and cities on the Remembrance Trail.
Courcy le Chateau however is quite different. Mooring a couple of kilometres away at the point of closest contact with a direct road to the fortified hill town, one rides a bike or walks the 3km up a fairly steep hill to this beautiful village, still protected by its 9 metre thick walls, multitudes of mutually supporting towers and within the gates, ruined and rebuilt castle keeps and fortifications.
The lass in the Tourist Office agreed to open the Musee specially for us despite the fact that she was alone, so long as we would wait for her to get a friend to mind the shop. After all that trouble and having escorted us through the towers, the chateau and the museum, she refused payment and gaily waved us good bye as we flew down hill on our now seemingly jet powered bikes.
At our next stop, Pinon, we found a delightful little port and park / picnic area, right next to a small supermarket. This is obviously a great draw for the passing commercial peniches as we found that very soon we had one attached to our outside hull, generator roaring away as mum went shopping, the kids watched a movie and dad engaged us in the usual Q & A about where we were from, the boat, the lifestyle and the meaning of life. It turns out he was a carpenter from the area near St Jean de Losne in Burgundy but his wife inherited her parents barge so they decided to run it and see where it took them. They were now in their 13th year and still happy to continue.
On to Bourg au Bac where again there was no museum (as advised) and so on to Berry au Bac, a crossroads of the canals which on our original trip down from the Netherlands we found extremely busy and crammed with commercials, on this occasion we found very windy and empty. A search of the town turned up a bric a brac market in full swing but no museum so onto Courcy where we stayed for a couple of days before entering the noise and gritty air pollution of Reims. This gave us the chance to do our necessary preparation of shopping, cleaning, washing and I rode to Reims on the scooter to check out our normal mooring place.
On to Reims and just past the Port de Plaisance we moored in front of a permanent boat undergoing conversion by a local restauranteur (Alain) and a 24m peniche owned by a New Zealand couple. That evening Peter Livingstone arrived at the Gare off the train from Paris. A quick taxi trip to the boat and we were soon starting his education on the principal product of this area - Champagne.