We left Dinant on a lovely fine morning and headed south towards the French border at the town of Givet. The Meuse was beautiful with high cliffs and lovely castles such as Freyr below.
We arrived at the French border around lunch time and bought our 'vignette', the pass that enables you to cruise the french waterways. It costs 130 euros for a month. Then having done the formalities we headed on past the huge fortress that dominates Givet towards our first tunnel at Ham. It was blue skies and warm winds as we entered the tunnel which stretched for 1500m to cut off a huge loop of the Meuse. It was difficult steering in the pitch black with the roof of the tunnel only cms above us and not more than a metre on either side. Eventually we saw light at the end and emerged to our horror into an immense thunderstorm.
The sky was really dark; it was pouring with rain and there was a lock we had to get through which was a struggle in the heavy rain. The storm had come from nowhere and on one side of the range of hills it was fine and on the other almost pitch black. Then it started hailing with hailstones the size of golf balls. There was nowhere to stop; nowhere to go, so we throttled back and tried to see our way through the gloom and the lightning bolts. The windscreen wipers were going flat out until one of them packed up. Eventually as we were approaching the next lock it started to ease.
In France at least until today, all the locks are automatic. We were issued on our arrival with a yellow box like a garage opener and we simply pushed the button when we were near a lock and the gates opened and closed and we went up as if by magic.
The weather remained fairly drizzly for a couple more days as we plodded up river through the best part of the River Meuse. High wooden cliffs towered above us as we motored through remote valleys where civilization only treaded lightly.
There were quite a few boats heading South into warmer climes but with the automatic locks progress was easy. We reached the end of the gorges at Charleville-Mezieres and tied up at a long pontoon and went for a walk around the town. It has what is reputed to be the best square in Northern Europe, the Place Ducal, and it was attractive but I would like to know whose opinion it was the ebst and show them some other squares.
After Charleville-Mezieres the weather turned absolutely gorgeous. Hot and Sunny up until now. The scenery changed as well. No more high cliffs, but a pleasant river valley with cows grazing on the banks and rolling hills in the distance.
We stopped at Mouzon and visited an Abbey Cathedral which for such a small town was outstanding. Then on and on in the glorious weather and glorious scenery through Dun sur Meuse where dined on the deck that night.
Today we have arrived in Verdun passing lots of war cemeteries on the way to take the last place on the quay. Whew!! It is a lovely quay right in the cenre of Verdun. It is FREE, and has FREE electricty and water and lots of restaurants just off the quay. We plan to stay 3 nights as I have hurt my shoulder with all the locks and need rest and voltaren. So far since we left North Holland we have done 732km and passed through 77 locks. We are now further South than Paris and a long way East of the Channel. We have clocked up 80 engine hours. To Strasbourg where we leave France we have many 80 more locks to do and another 280 km. We will visit the citadelle at Verdun and some of the war memorials and old battle fields over the next few days, and report back next week when we will be (or should be) in Nancy.
