July 10, Joinville to Vouecourt
We set off at 8:45. There were no deaf mutes at the first lock, but the day is still young….
The canal here is so pretty – fields of corn and wheat and baled hay, villages off in the distance; tall grasses along the side of the canal – the kind that the leaves make wonderful whistles when placed between your thumbs.
When there is time between locks, I get the galley ready for the day. The first thing I do is make bottles of flavored water – peach and apricot, orange and lemon, grapefruit and mint, whatever fruits we have the odd bits of left over. These sit in the fridge and I keep adding water to them as we drink them, there is always a cold thermos in the wheelhouse (keeps things hot, keeps things cold and how…). It takes about a day for the water to flavor. Then I make jars of dried peel and zest from the rinds. Lunch underway consists of cheeses and pate with bread, and fruit. We have yet to stop anywhere that there is a place to have lunch on these hour and a half waits at mid-day.
Lock #4 today had a lovely surprise as we rose to the top – it crossed again over the Marne. This canal runs alongside the Marne River to the Saone River, so occasionally we zigzag across the river itself. This canal has 7 up locks and 43 down locks and 17 drawbridges, it is 224km long. We go up 239m on the Marne side, and down 156m on the Saone side. We will go through a 4820m tunnel that divides the up and down sides. If you’re thinking – enough about the locks, already; get with the program – it’s all about the locks, they are how we are transported from one level to the next. Are now up it the forest area – there are pine trees instead of just primarily deciduous trees.
Our lock keeper today is a nineteen year old girl, Marion. Her home town is where we will spend the night. She is very friendly and speaks English –which she is studying at a university in Dijon. She very kindly takes the line from me in the locks and puts it on the bollards – I am getting spoiled! These locks average about 4m., there are 9 today and we will travel 28k. The lock keepers houses here range from deserted to some with quaint gardens – gnomes and propeller art being the recurring theme.
It is an easy day with nothing very remarkable. We have a lovely place to tie up in Vouecourt alongside a quay but the town has nothing in it other than homes and a campground across the canal. There used to be a small shop but it is no longer in business, and there is a seasonal pizza restaurant set up under a tent near the campground but it is not open for business today. After we got settled, Marion came to visit and see the boat. She took me on a walking tour of the town. Often in these little villages, the school is in the same building as the marie, which is the town hall; and they are quite small buildings. The population here is 200. There is one interesting architectural element in town, and that is an old roman bath. It is a small stone building next to the river and has what looks like a swimming pool inside, surrounded by a walkway. It is very cool inside the thick stone walls and the pool and fountain keep the air moist. It is now only used for decoration when there is an event in the town.
Marion took me to see her home which is a small attached stone house across the street from her grandmother’s home which is on the canal. Since it was dinner time and I didn’t want to intrude on the family, I only went as far as the ground floor. It was amazingly cool inside with the stone walls and floor; that was the family room with the fireplace as the only heating system for winter. A small spaniel and grey bunny greeted me as I walked in. She had explained to us earlier that her dog is a hunting dog and her father takes it into the forest to hunt with him; evidence of his success was all over the room in the form of a deer head, stuffed fox, some taxidermied birds and a wild boar head. However, he does not use that dog for hunting wild boar (sanglier – the word for blood is sang, there is obviously some connection) as the boar are too aggressive and dangerous. She took me into their “cave” which is behind the living room and is shaped like a wine cave where they store their home canned goods and wine. Her mother heard us from upstairs and she, and Marion’s ten year old sister came downstairs to say hello. We all went over to the boat for a tour and then they went home for dinner and we cooked ours. Marion will open the first lock for us tomorrow and then we will be on someone else’s VNF territory as we head to Chaumont.