Cruising with the Carters

An update at last Fouolain to Joinville

I have been remiss for a few days and missed out on a couple of updates

April 15th Foulain to Chaumont

Short day today because it rained and rained, less than 4 hours. Going down in the locks is easy, we don't bother to tie up, just hover in the middle, so we don't go out in the rain.

We expected to find a washing machine/dryer at our destination port in Chaumont but the washing machine at the Capitainerie was out of order, so I had to do some washing on board by hand, running out of undies 🙄. This is another another port where we have to pay, 11 euros for the night including electricity, not too bad. I think we are going to be paying for quite a few stops from now on till we reach the end of this canal. Not many pics because it was pouring with rain most of the day, sun's out now though

Grey skies, mist over the hills

An aqueduct over the Marne river

April 16th, Chaumont to Froncles

Gee, it was cold today, 6C at 9.00 which didn't seem too bad, but it never got above 7 and there was a cold Northerly wind. We made good time with our telecommand to control the locks until we got stuck in one when the gates wouldn't open and had to call for assistance. But the lockie was there promptly and we were soon on our way again. We have stopped in a village called Froncles, which has 2 boulangeries. We haven't seen a bakery since Fragnes, a week ago, and we have run out of frozen bread. But most importantly, this little port has electricity (so we switched on the big fan heater asap) and a washing machine and dryer. For the grand total of 15 euros we get the boat mooring, unlimited electricity, washer and dryer, and water, which we didn't use because we still have plenty in our tanks.

Another tunnel but only 300m long

Apparently it is one of the very few double width tunnels so barges can pass through in both directions at the same time

Exiting a lock and passing a lift bridge

A lovely old village

April 17th Froncles to Joinville

First thing this morning I went to the boulangerie. Well, this was an eye opener for me. They must have had 20 different kinds of baguettes. I'm partial to a baguette and can tell the difference between a supermarket baguette, a baguette froment and a baguette traditional, but 20 different kinds? Anyway, I bought a Petrisane, nice, very nice, but just like a traditional 🤷‍♀️

We left about 9.15, much warmer than yesterday, and at the lock we discovered that there was a barge already going down, so going in the same direction as us. Cruising behind a barge is a slow and frustrating business because they manoeuvre in and out of locks so much slower than we do, because they are so much bigger and heavier. So we hung back and travelled a bit slower than usual. They were already tied up at the halte nautique in Joinville when we arrived and immediately came over to apologise for holding us up. What nice people.

There is a Lidl about 200m from the boat so trotted off to buy some fresh sliced bread for the freezer (seeing I couldn't get any this morning), and a couple of other essentials, like wine and broccoli.