Revin to Haybes

18 kms, 4locks

During the night the rain arrived – it rained and rained and rained. And it got cooler – hooray!  I was so happy.  The rain eased off during the morning to an intermittent drizzle

We had planned a short trip for today so I decided to take advantage of the, as I thought “free” laundry, but when I tried it out at 8.00 I discovered that it costs €3 per wash and €3 for the dryer.  Oh well, if it’s too good to be true it probably is.  But the price was still really good, and it was so convenient so we decided to wait till the Capitainerie opened at 10.00.

Meanwhile I went off to the bakery for a fresh baguette, but this time I bought a multi-grain baguette which was twice the price but also twice as nice. 

Ian discovered a family of swans, and a local told him that yesterday there were 8 cygnets but he saw a big catfish take two of them!

Apart from the cute swan family, note proximity of barge to our stern

During the morning a huge, plus/minus 38m, barge arrived and decided to nestle in between our boat and the one astern of us.  With much performance from their propeller creating an enormous wash that bounced us around, they eventually made it but had to take down their stern flag pole (after Ian told them to) and we had to move about 2m to make room for them.  That was annoying seeing there was plenty of room for them further along the quay.  But what really got our goat was when the arrogant owner called us and said “Thanks for moving but it wasn’t necessary, I have a good eye for this.” No, he wouldn't have got in if we hadn't moved. And his wife made a snide comment about “plastic” boats being easy to squash.  Frankly, and DBA members take note, anyone with a commercial size barge should use commercial moorings and not try to fit into ports des plaisance which are intended for smaller pleasure cruisers – and just because out boat is under whatever a snotty barge owner considers acceptable, that does not mean we are “plastic”!  I am really tempted to add a few four letter words here. It must be the heat, yesterday I had a rant about Dutch boats not giving way to other boats on the canal and today its about commercial size barges!

The marina at Revin - note the big gap where the 38m barge could have moored.

Little Njord, squeezed in astern of the big barge

 Anyway, by 14.00 our laundry was washed, dried, sparkling clean and smelling like roses, so off we went.  Again the scenery was delightful, and with the cooler weather, so much easier to appreciate.  Yes, there was a little rain from time to time but nothing to get excited about (unlike 38m barges!).

Immediately after leaving the marina (to the left under the bridge) we had to do a dramatic turn to the left to go through a 250m tunnel

The entrance to the tunnel

Scars from previous passers by?

Exiting the tunnel you do a 90 degree turn to the right... 

and into a 4m lock

Back into the dramatic Ardennes landscape

The prosperity of this area was built on slate mining, evidenced by the massive slate retaining walls we saw alongside the canal (on the right)

We arrived at Haybes at 4.30, paid our dues to the Capitainerie (€5.10, everything else is extra) and I took a walk around the town. 

The good pontoon at Haybes

The Town Hall

A very impressive menorial to the First World War

The only boat on a massive pontoon - no need to fight for a place - that's why we cruise at this time of year ( oh, and also because - usually it's not too hot)

To me the most interesting thing is that this area was on the front line of the German’s advance into France really early in the Frist World War and there was a huge battle here on 24^th and 25^th August 2014 which demolished the town. 

A really nice place to stop for the night, or more, I think the area is well worth exploring.