Cruising with the Carters: April 2016

Friday, 29 April 2016

Saint Valery to Abbeville

14 km, 1 lock, 5 bridges

We intended to spend two nights in Saint Valery. It is right on the coast, which is apparently very beautiful, and we wanted take the train ride around the bay.

However, last night we got a call from our friends Oliver and Penny in Dorset, who we have invited to join us, saying they could come for 2 to 3 days, arriving on Saturday. We arranged to meet them in Abbeville thinking we could leave at 9 on Saturday morning and be there before mid-day. This morning the river was a raging torrent. We thought it was flowing fast last night but it was even worse in the morning. It all has to do with the state of the tide. The sea lock has sluices in it which are usually left open for the river to run through, and only closed as high tide approaches.

The sea lock at St Valery. 2 guillotine sluice gates for the river and 1 gate for the boats. Nowhere for boats to tie up inside the lock. So all the river water backs up and results in, relatively , slack water. When the sluices are reopened as the tide goes down the river water rushes out at a great rate.

River rushing into the lock through open sluice gates...

...and out the other side. Note yacht marina on sea side of the lock.

All this meant that if we leave on Saturday morning we will be fighting against the river is full spate; whereas if we leave this afternoon we will be going against a reduced spate.It poured with rain all morning. Ian and I went for a walk to the bay but the visibility was dreadful – sorry, no gloriously sunny seaside pics. However, even in the rain it is a very pretty town.

A narrow street full of restaurants, bars and street cafes.

The bridge across the lock was open, but no boat passing through.

The steam train that runs around the bay.

The view across the bay, lost in the murk of a rainy day.

Shortly before 14.00 we set off back to Abbeville. This is the start of our return journey, retracing our route up the Somme, and then turning north to return to Belgium.

Ian steering from inside the saloon, avoiding the rain.

The weather continued showery and miserable until we tied up in Abbeville – then the sun came out!

Long to Saint-Valery

I could not post a blog last night because we were in an area with no internet connection. So here is what happened on Thursday 28th April.

32 kms, 2 locks, 5 mobile bridges

A cold, clear night gave way to a cold, clear, sunny morning. Hooray – sunshine! We were moored right at the lock and were underway by 9.40. As we have got further down the Somme we have seen signs warning of “Courant Violant” (strong current) and “Barrage- Risque d’Aspiration” (weir – risk of being sucked in). This is the problem: the lock is cut into a bend in the river; the river continues to stream along, the section of water with the lock has almost no stream, and next to the lock there is a weir to lead off any excess water – and at this time of year there is plenty of that. As the lock cut re-joins the river you get a strong current from the weir on one side and the river stream on the other.

Lock cut in the middle, the weir on the left hand side and the river on the right.

So far it has not caused us any problems. Being a small boat we are in one side and out the other pretty swiftly but I can imagine a 20m or so barge being pushed one way at the front and the other way at the back!

Such a pretty river

And very well looked after by the Department of the Somme (this is not a VNF waterway). We have found not only the lock keepers, but also the workers along the riverbanks, very friendly and courteous, such as this grass cutter who stopped cutting and gave us a cheery wave as we passed

The town of Pont Remy where we plan to stop on the way back.

It has a ruined chateau.

As we entered the lock a big black cloud loomed up – and down came the hail! It was the one and only shower we had all day.

Still smiling

There are some interesting chateaus along the river.

We stopped in Abbeville at a large Carrefour supermarket, where Ian bought a heater! All along the river there are free stopping places with electricity and water (€2 for 4 hours, 16 amps). We already have a 600w heater but it only just raises the temperature inside to about 14degress. Not good enough for Ian!

The river is very different between Abbeville and Saint Valery. We got a team of 2 lock/bridge keepers

who took us through the lock at Abbeville and 5 mobile bridges (4 interesting swing bridges)

The river runs very swiftly on this stretch so you need to keep well back from the bridge until it is open.

The pontoon above the lock at St Valery where we stopped.

The pontoon was very full but Ian managed to move us side-ways into a less than 10m slot.

The river was high when arrived at about 16.00, but as the tide fell on the other side of the sea lock, the river ran faster and faster. Faster than I can walk! You do not want to be going upstream against that!

Late in the evening, a ragged looking man and boy of about 14 walked past pushing hand carts full of their worldly goods (I’m guessing) and two little dogs, one on a leash and the other perched on top of the boy’s cart. The man spoke to Ian in very good English, asking if he knew where the supermarket was, which we didn’t. They went on another 50 yards and pitched a tent (a very fancy one) on the lawn alongside the pontoon. Refugees? Sad. And disturbing. These are not the illegal immigrants causing mayhem in Europe, these looked like decent people in need of a break.

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Amiens to Long

Yesterday evening our friends from Faial, Piet and Jelka, arrived in their camper-van.

We spent a very joyful evening together, had a sausage and steak barbecue, and copious amounts of wine. Needless to say we all felt a little fragile this morning. However, we had hooked up to the electricity box (€2 for 4 hours) at about 6pm to run our small heater – and at 9 this morning it was still running, a very long 4 hours. I had to do a supermarket run before setting off this morning to get some wine for tonight!

32 km, 5 locks

We phoned the lock keeper to request service, said goodbye to Piet (Jelka had gone to the cathedral) and left the mooring at 9.40. It was really cold, but that did not detract from the beautiful river.

The Engineering faculty of the University in Amiens.

Canoes from bank to bank…

… full of tiny little kids

In the lock, but where are the lock gates?

Oh, there they are!

This stretch of the river all had these rather strange double locks, although the other locks all had lock gates between the two sections.

Definitely a river, running strongly. We were in idle doing 10 knots at times and we will be coming back against the stream in a few days!

The clouds were gathering

And it hailed when in the lock!

A really quaint village: un-renovated tenements

Renovated tenements

Our lunch stop in Picquingy. There was a huge chateau about1 km before the town; unfortunately too many tress to take a photo.

Leaving the lock at Picquingy we encountered this incredible turbulence.

A group of about 8 of these funny bikes passed us.

Our mooring in Long. We got here at about 16.00.

In the shadow of, from left to right, the Town Hall, a Gothic church, and a chateau

I went for a walk, camera in hand: the chateau, only open from 1st July to 31st August.

The church, locked unfortunatley

A Butcher’s shop, hairdresser, small general grocery store, fabulous Town Hall, but I didn’t see a “boulangerie” (bakery).

And a chunk of brickwork missing with a plaque above it explaining that this is a souvenir from the day the town was liberated on 1st Sept 1944. A Sherman tank, driver blinded by smoke, missed the turning and crashed into the wall, setting 5 houses on fire.