Rain, Rain Go Away

I almost hate to express the sentiment in the title of this posting, given that so much of the U.S. is suffering from extreme heat and drought. But it has been a wet couple of weeks here, the current week particularly so. After a lovely weekend the clouds and rain moved in and we don't seem to be able to shake them. There has been flooding in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and we have received numerous advisories to mariners in the last two days regarding navigation stoppages on various rivers, canalized rivers, and canals in the French waterways network. The Petite Saone (which we left just a week ago), the Canal de la Meuse, and the canal des Ardennes have been affected by navigation stops due to high water, to name just a few. In fact, the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne-which we are currently on-is also closed to navigation starting about 90 kilometers ahead of us. As of this writing we can still cruise for a few days before we reach that specific area, so we hope and pray that the sun comes out soon and stays around long enough for the water levels to drop. What is unknown is the amount of damage that will be left in its wake.

Monday, July 12, was spent off-and-on driving in the rain--and completing a sequence of 8 deep locks--to get to the village of Heuilly-Cotton at the summit of the canal and the entry to the Balesmes Tunnel. We walked around briefly, and decided it was an attractive village, but there wasn't a lot going on there.

The Church of Saint-Loup D'Heuilly-Cotton,
parts of which date to the 15th century

A memorial in the church graveyard states: "French remember
eight heroes martyred and slaughtered by the Germans on 
the 28th of June, 1944 so that France may live". The eight people
shot were in a railway convoy that was taking prisoners to Germany.

We walked toward the tunnel entrance to get an
idea of the approach.

We moored for the evening just prior to the signal for
 the tunnel. A great spot, except for the house nearby
 with several very noisy watchdogs. The Rottweiler
in particular was a true "Hound of the Baskervilles" 

On Tuesday morning, as well-rested as we were going to be, we tackled the 5 km/3 mile long tunnel. 

Approaching the tunnel on a gloomy morning, but
at least it had stopped raining

The green light giving us the go-ahead. It's not
obvious from the photo, but we could just barely see
the light from the tunnel exit 3 miles away.

Looking ahead: It certainly wasn't bright as daylight,
but at least there were lights along one wall. It might
have been more nerve-wracking if the only light
came from the boat.

Looking back to where we'd been. Lon did a great
job of driving, and my role was to tell him how far
we were from the walls so that he could make the
appropriate adjustments.

The beautiful view that greeted us after one hour and
15 minutes in the tunnel. Still gloomy, but not raining.

We knew that the tunnel would require intense concentration--and it did--so we were pleased with our decision to make it a relatively short cruising day and stop just a few kilometers down the canal in the port for the town of Langres.

Miracle of miracles, the sun came out for a while
in the late afternoon. Lon takes advantage
to relax in his bare feet with a cold beverage.

The port is in a lovely park-like setting. And we
have all the benefits of electricity, water, and a relatively
short trip to a supermarket (although the hill on the
approach to the store was rather steep)

All good things must come to an end, and the rain moved in with a vengeance. We haven't seen many other boats on this canal, but one came cruising in after the heavy rain started, so Lon went out to assist with the landing and we ended up having docktails in the CARIB salon with Tom and Lyn Lewis. Tom is of Irish descent, and has had an extensive post-military career as an itinerant singer and composer of sea shanties (see www.tomlewis.net). A  very interesting and fun couple. 

We knew that heavy rain was coming, so our planned stop for the town of Langres was timely, insofar as it's nice to have electricity and a secure mooring when the weather is bad. The shame of it is, however, that Langres seems to be a very interesting town, and the rain made it impossible to explore it to the fullest.

Langres is a medieval city surrounded by 3.5 km of wall and sits on a rocky promontory high above the canal (and over 1500 feet above sea level). The wall contains towers from the 15th and 16th centuries, gates from the 16th-18th centuries, and a Gallo-Roman gate from the 1st century. Its Cathedrale Saint-Mammes was constructed in the 12th century and updated in the 18th century. It was the birthplace of Denis Diderot, a French philosopher of significance during the "Age of Enlightenment." We taxied to the center of the town this morning and walked to the cathedral and a few overlooks along the city wall before surrendering to the elements and seeking refuge in a restaurant for lunch.

A very wet Langres town center

Tom, Lyn, and Lon on the city wall

17th century gate and guardroom

Tour Saint Jean, the last artillery tower constructed
at Langres (circa 1538). In the late 19th century
it became a communications center--for pigeons! The
birds, which could cover 100 km in 80 minutes, were
used to deliver messages up to World War I.

Our lunchtime view overlooking Place Diderot.
Yes, those are raindrops on the window.

We're planning to leave Langres tomorrow morning and continue north, but we will have to see how the canal situation is in the morning and make a final decision then. The rain seems to be lessening and the weekend forecast looks relatively good, so fingers crossed that the canal closure won't spread further south to where we are.

It continues to be a year of "sort of" plans.