Back in home port of Epinal

So all great cruising seasons come to an end and 2017 has been a delight. 777km and 118 locks latter we arrive home to Epinal.

The relentless hot weather continued so what an opportunity to get a bit more maintenance work done, so Knud had a busy few days stripping back wooden deck and recoating


Some quality time in the engine room doing secret mens business



Then time for the tarps to go on



Can you in your wildest dreams imagine a local council in Australia constructing some play equipment like what the local Epinal council has just constructed for the kids to play on.? Top of the highest point would have to be 3mt high, lots of sharpe concrete edges to hit on the way down. Weekends and after school hours kids are swarming all over it.


Don't let appearances deceive, this may look like a cute , quiet little bar but........beware. Inside there is a Karaoke machine. As the locals compete to see Who has No Talent until 2 in the morning , we are held captive on our boats a matter of 50mts away.

So Linquenda is winterized and tarped up for winter, our haversacks packed and we are off on our Baltic adventure.
Watch this space.

Metz to Charmes with Trudie & Gabrielle

Trudie & Gabrielle spending some mother daughter time together in Italy, Spain & France so we were thrilled when they said they could come for 5days on Linquenda. One night with them in Metz, a hurried tourist ronda , a quick bit of pink therapy in the shops took care of that afternoon.



Next morning bright and early we set off , evening destination Liverdun. A big cruise for us, 55km and 5 locks, all went smoothly with only a couple of little waits at locks. Arrived to Liverdun in time to go up to town for a look around, if you want more photos there is an earlier blog on Liverdun.
Another gorgeous evening so dinner up on deck.


Next morning bright and early we were off, made our VHF radio announcement to lock, no response got to lock , nothing happening, moored to high concrete quay, tried radio again, tried ringing different phone numbers supplied by VNF finally a person! Lock keepers are on strike, locks will open again at 13.30 ! oh well looks like we wait for 6 hours. 6 hours passed pleasantly chatting, sewing, reading, very relaxing. Lock keepers finally appeared and we were locked through. We were still on the Moselle River so locks are 200mt long 11.5mt wide so the actual locking process takes a good 20min to hallf an hour. The weather was taking a turn for the worse, winds picking up and rain starting, we had hoped to have been at our destination by this time securely moored instead we were just beginning. By the time we got to Toul it was bucketing down, our last lock saw me drenched to the skin as I did the ropes.
Small world, Aussies from Perth Dianne & John on Dijon arrived latter to moor at quay , we met them 2 years ago north of Berlin, last year just south of Amsterdam and now here in Toul.
Next morning , gorgeous, who would have thought the weather was so wild the day before. We continued up the Moselle River only 25km or do till we left the big river behind and were back on the Vosges Canal.

enjoying the gorgeous weather

A stop below lock 40 Saturday evening and into Charmes by early aftrnoon Sunday. Up to station to get tickets to Paris, an extended walk to work off the afternoon tea and so anther lovely day flew by.
A great time with Trudie & Gabrielle on board, up to Charmes station to say goodbyes Monday morning, they off to Paris we heading to home port of Epinal, 30km and 16 locks away.

Saarburg to Metz, 3 countries with the Millikens

High time to get some posts done.
Had a wonderful 5 days with Pam , Andrew & David Milliken on board. They joined us in Saarburg, arrived eventually by bikes they had hired from Trier. It was not an auspicious start to their cycling holiday, rain and punctures but they did finally get to us in Saarburg. Revived with local grape juice everything looked better.
Next morning we left Saarburg, Germany, headed 10km downstream on Saar River then made a sharpe turn left onto the Moselle River, now we are heading upstream, soon following the Luxembourg border , a quick stop in Grevenmacher to get water, Millikens did a quick reccy of said town then we pushed on to Remich, where we had decided to stop for 2 nights. Weather had deteriorated, rain on and off for next couple of days, however this didn't stop the tourist activities going on.
Sunday morning bright and early we set off, what a gorgeous morning, first stop fuel , its a LOT cheaper in Luxembourg, then a stop at Schengen, a quick look at Schengen museum that gives a history of the Schengen Agreement. Then it was goodbye to Luxembourg, next stop France, has been a wonderful summer in this area.
Millikens outside museum
know what this sign means
but what do they mean by this one
Pam getting photos for blog
Gorgeous evening so dinner up o deck


Last swim for the season

Evening light, so beautiful

So next day we pushed onto Metz, another beautiful day. A bit of bike maintenance when we arrived, Pam & I set off for a quick tourist tour of Metz, and no a couple of hours does not do the place justice.
pre dinner drinks up on deck before heading out for a beautiful dinner
Next morning, surely they aren't rain clouds, oh dear looks like they may be. Oh well .
David doing a few last minute adjustments
Knud with few last minute instructions
Then it was time for farwells and they were off, a wonderful 5 days together.

Pottering

Pottered back down the Saar, left Völklingen with Anna and Andreas, a mix of weather but generally on the whole wet. Did manage a BBQ, , very spoilt with Andreas supplying and cooking some rodyr ,deer ,he had shot while out hunting.


We got back to Schwemlingen, just before the Saar bends, a stunning area, steep hills, river winds, hairpin bends.


One of Andreas German police friends Villy works in Trier and is a fund of knowledge on local history. Very kindly he offered to be our tour guide for the afternoon so offf we set to Trier by train. On arrival to Trier hbh we were greeted by police swarming into the station, bit over the top I thought for a welcome but no they wont for us, station was quickly cleared, bomb threat. Welcome to Trier.
What a great afternoon, saw and learnt so much.
Villy
Anna , Knud, Villy & Andreas Porte Negro in background
Streetscape of Trier





A wine after a tour of underground cellars

All too soon it was time for Anna & Andreas to head home to Denmark , a great week with dear friends. We continued on down the Saar, stopping at Hamm, then to Saarburg. Knud been busy with painting & repairing wheelhouse roof.
Popped back to Trier for the day to visit the museum, a Peter Krisam exhibition



And a Shibori exhibition, for those of you who know my material obsession you will understand how enthralled I was with this.

Völklingen Hütte

The Völklingen Ironworks are amazing and to my eye really very beautiful.
A very brief recap of their history , 1873 ironworks built by Julius Buch at Völklingen , closed 6 years later
1881 ironworks bought by Carl Rochling and he starts producing pig iron
1883 first blast furnace goes into operation, from here on all number of firsts happen as the ironworks get bigger and bigger
WW2 and a darker side of history as many many thousands of prisoners, forced labour work here and die.
1975 world wide steel crisis
1986 Völklingen Hütte blast furnaces shut down , local government agrees that the place needs to be preserved.
1994 Völklingen Hütte becomes first industrial monument on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site List

Can't pretend I understand all the production processes, I was concentrating on the arty aspect so hence my photos are more artistic than representative of the production process. We were able to wander through and up and over the plant, amazing experience. So in no particular order......