Between Water and Rock

Between water and rock. That would be an apt description for most of the towns and villages we've encountered during our cruising on the Meuse the past few days. The landscape has been quite beautiful: a winding river valley between the high, green hills of the Ardennes, and towns which squeeze themselves into the small amount of flat space at rivers edge and up the lower reaches of the surrounding hills.

The portion of the village of Montherme that fits into a "boucle"
(loop) of the Meuse. We took the photo from a vantage point above the portion of town on
the opposite side of the river.

Fumay, another village in a loop of the Meuse, with one section of buildings at river's edge,
and other buildings (including the church) on the higher ground.

A pedestrian path in Fumay winds its way up the
hill toward the church. You'd better be in decent
physical shape if you want to live in these towns.

Givet, our last overnight stop in France on August 20. A fortified town "back in the day", 
its citadel (partly designed by 17th century expert Vauban) is perched on a hilltop overlooking Givet.

Leaving a lock on the French Meuse. The pictures can't really capture how tall the hills seem
when you're below them on the river.

Evidence of previous floods on the Meuse at this lock-side
building: a pole with dates and the level of the flood waters
in the indicated years.

Lon has been doing an awesome job of piloting the boat without a bow thruster. What has also helped--and it's fortunate timing--is the size of the locks has been bigger since we left Verdun. Prior to Verdun the locks were 38.5 meters long and a bit over 5 meters wide. After Verdun the locks were 47 meters long and about 6 meters wide. It has been to our advantage not to have the tight fit of the smaller locks.

And now for the really good news--we left France yesterday and entered Belgium! The locks have grown again. They're currently 100 meters long and about 12 meters wide, but the drop is still similar (2-3 meters) to what we've been dealing with all summer. The locks will get longer and wider again after Namur as we continue deeper into Belgium.  The locks are now staffed, so we no longer need a "Telecommande for Dummies" or similar automated device. We have to notify each lock via vhf radio of our approach when we are 10 or 15 minutes away. I have a standard announcement prepared, and so far I've made myself understood, but my French is not nearly good enough to understand any special instructions a lock keeper might try to give me in return.

The Meuse in Belgium--at least in our one day of experience on these waters--is much busier with recreational boats than was the Meuse in France. But as in France, the scenery along the river can be stunningly beautiful.

Bigger locks mean bigger boats. We shared a lock with the
barge on the left, and met the "monster" commercial
 barge (on the right) as we exited.

Again, the photo doesn't do the landscape justice, but one can
get some idea of scale by comparing barge to rock face.

There were a number of rock climbers, including this
intrepid soul, on the rock face on the sunny Saturday (Aug 21).

This part of the Meuse was a waterway with several
 chateaux, including the Chateau de Freyr.

We stopped for the evening in Dinant, also a town squeezed between river and rocks. Dinant is a holiday town and was "hopping" on Saturday. Like so many of the towns located at strategic spots in the river valley, its history is rife with tales of war and destruction, but this weekend it was filled with people just trying to have fun.

Our view of Dinant from our mooring: La Citadelle (another "Vauban
was here" fortification) on the top of the rock at left; the cathedral near photo center.

View onto the cathedral from the Citadelle. The
Citadelle was accessed either by climbing 400+ stairs
or by taking a cable car. It was much restored and
a little Disneyesque, but interesting nonetheless. 

There were painted saxophones all over
 town, designed to be representative
 of different countries. Adolphe Sax, 
the inventor of the saxophone, was born
in Dinant in 1814.

The U.S. saxophone with a 
New Orleans theme.

On August 23, 1914, the invading German army
killed 674 civilians of Dinant at various locations
around the town. Lon is standing inside a memorial
to those civilians. Along with the death of 10% of
the population, about 2/3 of the town was burned
 and razed during this period.

About 2 km downriver from Dinant is the 
medieval town of Bouvignes-sur-Meuse. The   
ruins of the 12th century Crevecoeur fortress  
overlook the town and the Meuse.

On a day with off-and-on rain, we were able to walk to the
ruins during a dry spell (well, mostly dry).  This is the 
downriver view from Crevecoeur.

                         

Bouvignes in the foreground, Dinant in the distance.

We have been joined in Dinant by friends from
the Netherlands, Ebe and Carla de Jong. They will
be spending a few days with us. Anyone
with eagle eyes should be able to spot CARIB III
just to the right of Carla's knee (photo taken at
the Citadelle).  

Tomorrow is another cruising day and our intended destination is the city of Namur.