Pompey to Einville-au-Jard

38 kms, 11 locks,2 lift bridges

I woke up late today – 7.15.  In fact, it was Ian getting up that woke me up – must be the first time in almost 40 years that that has happened!   We did another run (erm, walk) to the Lidl supermarket to stock up on wine,milk, meat and fresh bread and at 10.00 am we finally got underway. 

Immediately we turned off the Moselle River and onto the Canal de la Marne au Rhine, Est.  This is the continuation of the Canal de la Marne au Rhin, Ouest (west) that we travelled on from Vitry-le-Franois for 3 days.  After picking up a telecommande from the lock keeper at the first lock, we turned sharp right into the Junction lock, 7m rise/fall, then sharp left as we exited. Interesting.  

A board instructing us to pick up a telecommande -hooray!

7 metres, quite a high lock

We were already into the outskirts of Nancy, which took some time to traverse, including waiting at 2 lift bridges, and I was disappointed that we didn’t pass through the old town area. 

The outskirts of Nancy - some pretty bits...

...and some not so pretty bits

One of the lift bridges

The Port de Plaisance - little and large

A double story office block over the canal

Once past Nancy we got back into rural countryside with a lot of villages and residential areas alongside the canal.  Not unpleasant at all,  and a nice change.

The junction between the Canal de la Marne au Rhin and the Canal des Vosges

The aquduct over the Meurthe River

This lock is a bit different, old fashioned inlet sluices

A lock keeper using the control house as a greenhouse

The magnificent church at St Nicholas-le-Port where Joan of Arc went to pray before her attack on the English army

The old part of the Solvay factory, which apparently has biggest furnaces in the world, well, in 2003

This was unexpected!

A village alongside the canal

Unfortunately, we also came across some large tree trunks - fortunately we didn't hit any of them

We had no idea where we were going to stop this evening so we just kept going till we found a nice mooring near a town with good internet so we can check up on the Formula 1 news!

Here we are in Einville-au-Jard.  

The mooring at Einville-au-Jard

The notice telling us how to get electricty/water/showers

The pizzeria opposite the mooring, one of the places to buy the jetons

The Menu of the Day - tempting!

This used to be the terminal for a narrow gauge railway, and this is the original turning point

The little railway carried passengers as well as coal

It is a town mooring with services but you have to buy “jetons” (tokens) from a choice of local shops (Pizzeria opposite the mooring, bakery, grocery shop, etc) but at €2.50 for a shower, we would rather shower on board.  And we don’t need water or electricity. Nice restful place though.