Chateau Thierry to La Ferté sous Jouarre

40 kms,  4 locks, 4.75 hrs

Yesterday:

I went for a brisk walk early to get some exercise and my rambles just happened to take me past a bakery where I bought the obligatory baguette, and a fougasse.  We haven’t had one of those before.  It is savoury , not a sweet pastry, and a little like a pizza.  It has a thin crusty base, with herbs mixed into the dough, thin slices of cooked potato on top of that, then bacon bits and the whole lot is covered in melted cheese.  Very delicious, and a very filling breakfast.  Probably better for lunch.

We left Chateau Thierry soon after 8.00 intending to stop at Nanteuil sur Marne 24 kms downstream.  It looked like a nice village on Google earth, with a good pontoon, and it looked like a good place to spend a couple of days.  We are not sure if the locks are operating on Sundays yet; they don’t in the low season and we think high season starts on 1^st May.  

Surrounded by vineyards

Rather imposing 

Sunny but the wind was cold.  

But we got to Nanteiul to find red/white “do not enter” tape tied around the pontoon.  On closer inspection we could see that it was damaged.  

What a shame.  So we kept going.  

Many villages have these small pontoons.  They are free and often have electricity and water

There are some pretty canalside properties 

and villages on the slopes.

The scenery changed: no more vineyards, and the villages with quays or pontoons are much further apart.  Even our phone and internet signal disappeared.

40 kms downstream from Chateau Thierry we stopped at La Ferté sous Jouarre.  It took us 4 hours 45 minutes and included 4 locks.  With a 2 kms/hr current pushing us downstream we travel at about 10 kms/hr.

Approaching La Ferté sous Jouarre from upstream, the mooring is hidden behind the island on the right

Facing back upstream, the pontoons are visible

Njord is the second in line

There is a long pontoon here (well, 3 separate pontoons) but one is damaged (looks like it has been rammed by a heavy barge), one is 90% taken up with a barge (a live-aboard with no one on board, taking up 40m of a 50m pontoon and hogging 2 electricity points - selfish, thoughtless and inconsiderate) and there was just one space left on the third pontoon, only just big enough for a 9m boat to squeeze into.  It is a very pretty mooring, surrounded by trees, screened from the road, quiet and a grocery store in walking distance.  Plus there is free electricity and water.  All in all a good place to stop.  The weather forecast tells us the temperature is going to plummet, with rain, for a couple of days so we might just stay here for a bit.