Tues 28 May
Am tucked up in bed in our cabin with a cup of ginger and lemon tea perched between my knees writing up this blog after a lovely meal of lasagna and some nice French red wine (one is the same as the one we had when we were on board 4 years ago) on board Linquenda as guests of Erika and Knud. My Friend is asleep - Happy Wedding Anniversary (lol!).
What a day (I seem to be saying that EVERY day!). We left Saarbrucken (eventually) at about 1.30 p.m. after much pfaffing about by My Friend looking to buy a replacement battery charger cable for his camera because the other one had got damaged - some how.
So, having missed the train, we had to wait an hour for another (still minus a cable) and finally started cycling along the Canal des Houilleres from Sarreguimines (we are now back in France) about 2 p.m. in lovely sunshine, only to run into a storm as we approached Sarralbe about 20 kms later.
It had been lovely riding on an excellent (in some places, new hot-mix) bike trail with canal on one side alternating with river, wetlands or lakes (further along near Mittersheim: these were the Etang de Mittersheim - huge!) on the other.
The storm broke and we were shaken by huge claps of thunder and flashes of lightning which seemed to crash almost in the canal next to us as, by this time, we were "sprinting": a verb used loosely here given we are riding German-engineered hybrid bikes that are cycling's equivalent of Sherman tanks, complemented by huge panniers; we really have a HUGE amount of stuff given that we have winter and summer gear, rain gear, and walking boots from our walk in the UK. Believe me, we are a sight to behold, and the idea that we might in any way be in for line honours with the 'Man from the Isle of Man', is not one to be reflected upon too seriously.
Nevertheless, we made it to shelter under a bridge in pretty quick time (exchanging queries - as we went - with each other about the likelihood of being zapped by lightning: My Friend said we'd be OK as our tyres are made from rubber - always a fountain of information...).
We stayed parked here for about half an hour with a family of 5 (including 3 little kids) who were on a week-long cycling "holiday " - camping ?! You'd have to be fond of cycling - right?!
When there was a break in the weather, we made 'a dash for it' and were hit again by a storm about 10 kms later. This time we sheltered under the eaves of a house of the éclusier at one of the locks. Another break, and we set off again for the next 10 kms - actually, really pleasant and pretty riding along the canal path (when it wasn't raining).
A call from Erika & Knud advising they would be near Lock No. 2 gave us something to aim for although, being only at Lock No. 14 was somewhat disillusioning, as my butt sure was sore!! I started counting down locks in French in my head and aiming for any bits of hot mix to minimise the number of bumps, ouch!!.
We arrived near Lock No. 2 only to find NO BARGE and, looking at the map, we saw there was a split in the canal back at Mittersheim. Quelle horreur! But all was fine for, as we were checking our map, Linquenda came into view down at the end of the straight sweep of the canal. I was soooooo relieved.
But apart from that, it was a truly magical moment as Linquenda came into full view, making strong progress along the canal towards us. She really is a magnificent boat.
Wednesday 29 May
Good night's sleep and a bit of a sleep-in. Phew! Recovery time. I could take a week of this!
I listened to the sounds of Knud steering the barge out of port; then breakfast followed before we sailed along the Canal de Saar up to a T-intersection: we turned right to Nancy (and the port of Port-Ste Marie where Linquenda has been tied up through the last winter); then left to Strasbourg, the direction we will now take. We are now on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.
We will do 30 kms today to K.248 near Niderviller. No rush - 8 kms/hr is the max. here anyway on the canals. Makes a lovely change from the UK where the driving was horrendous - it didn't matter whether you were on the motorways or tiny back roads: everyone was in a bloody rush, lots of people travelling over the speed limit, sometimes on quiet single-lane roads, and so aggressive!
Have just passed Gondrexange, then onto Xouaxange (a pretty little canal hamlet).
Morning tea: coffee and toast with cheese, jam. Yum!
We are now moored near Hesse so poor Erika can ride through to Sarrebourg for some supplies - in the rain!
Spent the rest of day reading, chatting, doing The Age Weekend Magazine puzzle, a short walk along the canal, more reading, delicious dinner, early to bed.
Friday 31 May
It's sunny! What a cracker of a morning!
Phew! We are through. Actually, it is very difficult piloting as the barge keeps drifting left and right in the tunnels. A little more sailing along - all very relaxed up to the Plan Incline de Saint-Louis Arzviller.
See this youtube video:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=4M8jqoLb2co&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4M8jqoLb2co
We were the first barge through for the day and as soon as we exited the Incline at the bottom, it stopped working! It took the VNF a while but they got it working again - we could see the apparatus going up as we sailed off after morning tea.
We are now sailing through to Lutzelbourg via 4 locks (3 kms) - it took 2.5 hours by the time we waited at the locks for other traffic to go through and one lock which had the red lights on which wouldn't turn green and Knud had to ring for the little white VNF van man to come and fix it.
The sun is out only intermittently as the clouds are rolling in - but we are enjoying it when it IS out! The weather forecast for the next few days through to Sunday is NOT GOOD.
Lutzelbourg is very pretty and we had a nice walk UP to the ruins of the 12th century chateau overlooking the town - surprisingly without getting wet.
A visit to the nice boulangerie/patisserie and lunch and a walk (for Erika and me) down the canal path to the next lock (and we got very wet!); some more reading of newspapers and some blogging; and drinks with another Australian couple who own a barge.
Tomorrow we leave "Linquenda" and ride to Barr. At least, that is Plan A. However, the weather forecast is very bleak. Plan B is to cycle to Saverne a short ride away and perhaps take the train to Strasbourg and either cycle from there (weather permitting) or continue by train all the way to Barr.
We'll see.
We'll see.
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