Beauty and the Beast(s)

Since leaving Corre on June 7, we have cruised during seven consecutive days and are now moored at about the halfway point of the Canal des Vosges, just a few kilometers outside of Epinal. There is a branch canal that we could take to a marina in Epinal, but as we were in Epinal last week by car, we have decided to forego that particular pleasure.

The Canal des Vosges is the southern branch of what used to be called the Canal de l'Est (canal of the east). The construction of the canal had been under consideration for many years, but after the French lost the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and a new French-German border was set up to the west of the Alsace region, the need for a new waterway to provide for the north-south flow of goods through France became critical. The Canal de l'Est was built from 1874-1887, running 245 miles (394 km) from the Belgian border in the north to the Petite Saone River in the south. The northern section canalized the Meuse River, and the southern section canalized the Moselle River. In 2003, the northern and southern sections were renamed: the northern section became the Canal de la Meuse and the southern section became the Canal des Vosges. 

We don't usually cruise seven days in a row, and truth be told, I was ready for a "day off" a couple of days ago. Sometimes it's nice just to stay in place and not have to go through the morning cruise prep routine. We've been mostly keeping to cruising days of 3-4 hours--and occasionally less--and it's a good thing, because the cruising on the Canal des Vosges has been rather physically demanding. A couple of illustrations show why this has been true.

The following chart shows the elevation changes on our proposed route this year. At the far left is our departure from Port Royal in Auxonne. The purple line shows where we were as of this morning--at the summit of the Canal des Vosges.

The gradual rise at left is the 20-some locks we passed through on the Petite Saone River. And
the steep slope is when we really started climbing on this "Beast" of a canal stretch: 46 "up"
locks over 55 kilometers, with an average rise of 3 meters/lock.

This is what getting the boat tied up in a
 3-meter-deep lock looks like. I had to step up
 on the lower roof and s-t-r-e-t-c-h to get the
 loop of the line over the bollard on the lock wall.
It was a better option than climbing a slimy ladder.
The number of locks per day ranged from 6 to 10.
I think I may be an inch taller at this point. 

The main reason why we have cruised so many days in a row is that we were concerned about the water depth in the canal. The winter was wet, but it's been a relatively dry spring--not completely rain-free, but not enough rain to keep the reservoir feeding the Canal des Vosges as full as it should be. As a result, the guaranteed depth in the higher reaches of the canal is now listed as 1.6 meters. As the summer temperatures rise, the evaporation will increase, and so will the chances that the vnf may have to shut down navigation on the canal due to lack of water resources. It's happened before. We thought it would be wise to get through this stretch while we still could.

Upper: tough going as we entered the summit pound at Girancourt,
with shallow water and trees encroaching on the canal. We
 were lucky we didn't meet another boat in this stretch.
Lower left: we left a trail of stirred up mud behind us as we
cruised the summit pound yesterday, a sure sign of shallow water.
Lower right: the low water left the backside of the Bouzey pontoon
on dry land. We had originally thought we might moor there. Nope.

In addition to low water issues keeping us on the move, it was also the case that, with one exception, the lower section of the Canal des Vosges doesn't have much in the way of population centers i.e., sightseeing. Our mooring stops were either in quite small villages or completely out in nature. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the cruising landscape put the "Beauty" into the week even as we dealt with the "Beastly" number of locks and low water (and some fishermen, let's not forget the fishermen). Tying up by lunchtime in a quiet village or canal side picnic area made for restful afternoons, but it didn't necessarily make us wish to spend multiple days in any particular place.

Our first two days were spent in and out of rain. Good for the canal, not quite as pleasant for us. Still, the first day's cruise to the very quiet village of Selles--a boatman's village until the end of the 19th century--was pleasant enough. With just over 200 inhabitants, it's probably not surprising that we saw hardly a soul as we walked around town during a break in the rain. The village had the basics:

The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in Selles
(not open).

Renovated housing (upper) and preservation of
a few historic dates (of unknown significance).

Evidence of businesses that no longer exist (clockwise from
upper left): a hardware vendor; unknown; a butcher and
purveyor of cold cuts; and an auto repair shop.

Frank walks toward CARIB.

We may be in the foothills of the Vosges "mountains", but
it's still largely farm country. And the winters get cold, so 
everywhere you look there are piles of firewood.

Our second cruising day was probably the most difficult for us. It was still grey and rainy, which put all of us in a slightly "down" frame of mind. One stretch of the canal was very shallow and had trees encroaching from one side, so of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, that is the stretch where we met another boat. (In general, we didn't see much boat traffic during our cruising). CARIB had to move toward one side of the canal, and the scraping sounds on the hull as we slid over rocks on the canal bottom were not pleasant. That was followed shortly by two fishermen (it was a Sunday, so fishermen were out in force) who had their fishing poles deployed and who stubbornly refused to pick them up and reel in their lines. They seemed to think that CARIB should quickly and easily maneuver into the trees so that they could leave their lines out. One of the lines ended up getting caught on something under our hull. The fisherman managed to get it back, but no bribes were going to be paid by us that day for the results of their overinflated sense of entitlement.

Ah, but the sun finally came out as we cruised into Fontenoy-le-Chateau, our stop for the day, improving our spirits greatly.

The red "ici" (here) sign lets us know it's time to activate our
 remote control device (telecommande) for the last lock prior
to mooring in Fontenoy-le-Chateau.

Fontenoy was a fortified town from at least the 10th century up until the town and its castle were burned by French and Swedish troops in 1635. Close on the heels of the destruction of the Thirty Year's War was a plague epidemic that killed two-thirds of the inhabitants. Prior to the destruction, the town was a significant trading center. Afterwards, it took until the middle of the 18th century to rebuild the town to prosperity. Forges, nail works, tile works, quarries and more were active in Fontenoy. Its decline to the quiet town it is today began during the First World War.

The neighborhood "laundromats": a small lavoir
(upper) by the port and a spread out lavoir close
to the church.

Upper: Saint-Mansuy church (15th-16th C)
Lower: An embroidery museum. From 1850, 
Fontenoy was a center of "white embroidery" 
and had over 500 artisans employed in the trade.

Left: the 19th C city hall. Upper right: a fresco of Julie-Victoire
Daubié, who in 1841 was the first French woman to receive a
Baccalaureate degree. Lower right: our mooring in Fontenoy.

 

A panorama of what remains of the Fontenoy Castle that was destroyed in 1635.

Lon walks toward the oldest part of the castle. The
indeterminate lump at the top of the photo is the 
donjon (sounds like "dungeon", but is actually
 equivalent to the castle keep), which dates to the
 late 10th C. Efforts are underway to preserve what is left.

Lon and I were under watchful eyes as we wandered the
castle grounds.

Like any self-respecting fortified castle, it occupied the highest
point in the area. Here is the view over the church and town.

The sun has stayed out since Sunday as the temperatures have gradually risen. We were in the thick of a mostly natural landscape with a few villages sprinkled in for good measure. After reaching the summit of the canal yesterday, we find ourselves in a more populated area.

Sightings of other boats have been rare most days; one or two
at the most. Monday was the exception, when we met at least a
half dozen boats coming downstream. Perhaps this was due to
the absence of rain after a dreary weekend.

Another rare sight--a lovely canal side chateau.

Frank and Lon on CARIB's flybridge.

La Manufacture Royale, an 18th C industrial manufacturing
site involved in tin smithing. It is a classified Historic Monument
open for tours, but unfortunately for us, there was no mooring to
be had in the area that would have allowed us a stop for a visit.

Our nature moorings, quiet and dark at night.

This is what 5 a.m. looked like from the boat in Forges d'Uzemain.

Upper: a lock in a peaceful setting.
Lower: a path was cut for the canal through rock.

A very unusual sight--this commercial barge passed us at our
La Colosse mooring on their way to the Netherlands.
 

This lock side cutie barked and barked as we entered the lock--
but he/she only wanted to be petted.

Today we finished the challenges of the very shallow part of the Canal des Vosges with a 14-lock marathon descent down the "Chaine de Golbey." Because today's high temperature was forecast to be in the low 90's F. (low 30's C), we got an early start from a mooring that was relatively close to the first lock. One click of the telecommande and then the remaining locks were programmed to sequence for us without needing to activate anything. Aside from a 30-minute delay at Lock 9 due to a malfunction, we made good time and were moored near the bottom side of the 14th lock by noon.

Here I am tending the lock line as we descend in
one of today's locks. Two additional locks can be
seen beyond. If we had to do 14 locks on a blazing
hot day, at least we were going down. Much easier
than up--no more stretching!

We'll be cruising again tomorrow to try to get to the next town before the predicted storms of Sunday--and a day "in port" for us.