Three men in a boat

Three men and a boat.Martin, Richard and Gareth.

 

 There is a certain trait among Englishmen that compels them to take on excentric expeditions. I have to confess that I once had similar leanings. So when a very British looking rowing gig tied up astern of us one hot summer evening in Amiens, I was compelled to learn their story.   

The much traveled 'Wossname' with 

'Montmorency' resting on deck. (Read the book)

Wassname carries the souvenirs of many noble voyages

These three retired gentlemen are the nucleus of a crew which has rowed Wossname up or preferably down rivers, voyaged out to sea and traversed many canals in Britain and Europe. They were in the flotilla that escorted Gloriana, the royal barge, down the thames at the 2012 Queen's Jubilee pageant, and have competed in the 2014 Great River race. Some of their epic rows have raised funds for charities of their choosing. Spoiler here, Wassname does the "boring bits" being towed on a trailer.

Farewell Amiens and the Somme

Amiens Cathedral rightly dominates the skyline

After sunset, the Cathedral light show is stunning.

In the porticos, lighting colours the stone carved saints,

 as they would have originally been painted 

Antiope finds a Somme mooring

This peaceful river once defined the front line.

we are just a few Kms out of Amiens

These lift bridges are managed by the roving lockeepers

Weed munchers, doing a great job keeping this waterway clear

Meanwhile, after a restful few weeks on the Somme, we will begin our own passage down to Paris.

It is hard to imagine while cruising quietly through this postcard landscape the horrors seen here, and the futile loss of thousands of lives during two world wars. Now on a bankside mooring the only sound is the rustling of leaves. 

Lovingly restored narrow gauge locos at Cappy

We take the tourist train behind a diesel loco. 

( Steam at the Weekends ) 

At Cappy, a narrow guage railway museum houses trains that once hauled munitions on both sides of the front line. Remnants of those lines through the woods still survive,  these days they carry tourists like us.

 

Another train on another day.

The Armistice Carriage. Another reminder! 

We had returned to Compiegne, this time with family guests aboard, and took time out to visit the site of the armistice signing in a railway carriage on November 11th 1918.      'The War To End All Wars'. 

This wagon, sadly, is not the original. Adolf Hitler demanded that the French surrender 21 years later in 1939, was signed in the same carriage, then had it moved it to Berlin. In 1945 as the Allies closed in on Berlin it was burned, reputedly by the SS.

 River levels permitting we continue South on the Oise river to join the Seine, Paris and eventually the Yonne.

Picardie

 As I write we are moored in Amiens in the heart of Picardy and in a quiet spot in the shade of trees and a 15min walk to the largest catherdal in France.

With some relief we have descended the 35 locks on the French western end of the Sambre navigation. Here we joined the Oise river which flows into the Seine and Paris. At Compiegne we are back in the mix with commercial traffic again. 

                                                                          

Amiens cathedral, dating back to 1220 took 60 years to build.

Notre Dame in Paris could fit inside with room to spare. 

 

A plaque in the Cathedral honours the

 Kiwis who helped defend Amiens in 1916

Jules Verne was born and lived in Amiens.

Much of his inspiration is on display around the city 

With a little time in hand before heading South to Paris and with guests aboard, we headed North up the Canal du Nord and onto the Somme River. It is 12 years since we last cruised the Somme. During this time the hire boat fleet once based at Cappy has gone, and the waterway has become much less travelled. Many of the small waterside hostelries have closed up. This delightful and peaceful river needs more visitors. 

The higher levels of the Sambre

were clogged with weed making for very slow going

Descending the Western Sambre.

Sadly this route will decline without more boat traffic   

We are back among the commercials at Janville, Canal du Nord.

Lifting gates, at Noyon, Canal du Nord.

The commercial craft have priority.

Aproaching the 1km Panneterie tunnel, Canal du Nord 

One way traffic only.

Concentration needed on the helm

This heron does not miss a trick.

As the lock empties, he picks off the stranded fish.

 

Compiegne

Jeanne d'Arc in a defiant pose before the 'Mairie'

in Compiegne

Here she is again, by the railway station.

Jeanne d'Arc is one of the patron saints of France

Compiegne has a strong connection with Jeanne d'Arc. As a wilful teenager she led enough French people to rout the English, who ruled much of France back then. It was in Compiegne that in 1430 the Bugundians (loyal to the English) captured her and for a ransom, handed her to the English who then burned her at the stake for leading her army in mens clothing, declaring this to be religious heresy. 

From here, we head South to Paris.

 

The Storm.

On the night of 27th June, following a record breaking week long heat wave, a wind storm swept across Northern France. 

A mighty bankside willow is shattered by the storm

As I write, we are waiting at Le Gard having reached the summit level of the Sambre a l'Oise canal. The VNF, 'Voies Navigables de France' have halted our onward navigation, while they try and clear swathes of trees that have fallen across the waterway. This we are told may take another week. 

At Berlaimont we wait for a passage to be cleared ahead. 

Having been given clearance by the VNF to move on from Berlaimont to climb the final 6 locks to the summit, we soon come to another complete blockage forcing us to back track and wait again.

No way past this one

Once cleared by the VNF,

we slowly pass the same tree a few days later.

Even getting this far has been a challenge. For the past week, passages that should have taken only a couple of hours have taken all day. We have seen very few fellow cruisers on the move.

Cutting our way through branches tangled in the rudders

Not often I get to play in the dinghy

 There is no longer any commercial traffic on this part of the Sambre and maintenance has become a low priority. At tick over we have been wriggling around fallen trees. At one point a sapling tree right across the canal managed to tangle between our props and rudders. My own efforts to cut it clear was helped by a VNF crew who came to our aid, and on a Sunday! 

Two VNF crew turned out on a Sunday.

This stubborn liittle tree had lodged itself 

between our props and the rudders.

Lack of traffic has also allowed weed to take hold

We manage to brush past most of these fallen trees

Ecluse no 1 Top lock

On the summit level at last.

At Ecluse No 1 we reach the summit level. It will be downhill from here to Paris. That is, once they let us move again !!

I take the bike to check out the canal ahead.

I even spot this weed-eater, 

 working on the lower reaches 

At Le Gard, we wait with other craft.

 Under clear blue skies and another spell of 30+ temps.

A voice in my ear suggests that we could have taken an easier route.

Of Turtles and Trams

 June has been a month of contrasts, Belgium recorded their coldest and hottest ever days within the same month.  As I write we are moored in Hautmont, melting in a Europe wide heat wave.

A very welcome shady bankside mooring in Jeumont  

Having reluctantly turned back from our planned route South via the Dender and Blaton- Ath canals, we revisited Tounai, Peruwelz and Thieu, making our way to the Sambre route into France cruising through Wallonia, the French speaking region of Belgium.

Approaching the Streppy-Thieu lift 

Moored up inside the chamber, and

 about to be lifted 75m less than 15 mins

  The Streppy-Thieu lifts us to the summit level and the coal fields of La Louviere. This waterway has in the past been an essential conduit to carry this fuel North to Brussels and South to heavy industry in Charleroi. Now the mining spoil hills beside the waterway are green and tree covered.

Industry shows its face as we cruise smartly through Charleroi

Abbaye d'Aulne, a church was founded on this site in 657 

Not far up river from industrial Charleroi are the ruins of the Abbaye d'Aulne marking a change to a forested and rural lanscape. The abbey built in 1250 as part of a Cistercian monastry was largely destroyed in 1794 during the French revolution. A brewery now occupies part of the grounds.

We welcome the sight of the smaller locks

The Walloons have a pride in their region of Belgium 

We even spot a turtle by the riverbank

The lush green lanscape of the Sambre river.

   I confess to being a railway nut, so an extra day was called for in the riverside town of Thuin, in Wallonia but close to where the Sambre crosses the border into France. Here a private museum houses trams and they play trains every Sunday through the Summer. We ride several noisy kms into the countryside aboard a diesel powered Tram, one of many built post war powered by re-purposed Sherman tank engines. 

At Thuin, they bring the trams out on Sundays 

This electric tram once graced the streets of Brussels.

This diesel powered tram uses a salvaged Sherman tank engine.

On special occasions they fire up a steam tram. 

Beautifully restored wagons inside the tram museum  

 At Jeumont we cruise across an unmarked border into France, leaving the manned locks of Belgium behind and taking on a remote controller at the first French lock. 

The 'Telecomander' enables us

 to remotely control each lock opperation

While at Hautmont I take the proper train two stops up the line to Le Quesnoy, This town holds a strong affiliation with New Zealand, having been liberated by a New Zealand brigade in Novenber 1918, in a remarkable manner. The 2000 Germans garrisoned there were taken by surprise by just a few Kiwis who had scaled a long ladder around the back of town, and convinced the defenders that they were surrounded. not a single civilian in the town lost their lives. 

These massive high walls and a wide moat 

enclose the town of Le Quesnoy

Vauban fortified this strategic town back in 1668   

Inside this Kiwi museum, is the story of the town

 and its liberation after four years of sometimes brutal occupation. 

Weta workshop (in NZ) created this 4 times lifesize 

replica of a Kiwi rifleman.  

A symbolic ladder reaches up through the museum

The town, twinned with Cambridge (NZ) 

shows respect to their Kiwi liberators 

It was at this point that the Kiwis scaled the wall.

Evening light at Soire sur Sambre, it is 11pm mid summer.

 Once this heat wave passes, we will climb to the Sambre summit level, before heading downhill to Paris.