Lumes looms

Consenvoye to Lumes

92 km

16 locks

25 hours

The next morning it was up early and off to Vilosnes. The weather by now had taken a turn for the worst and on top of being wet was also very cold. By the time we reached Vilosnes I had the stove lit. The rain did not stop that day or the next and eventually with our hoods up we decided to brave the elements. On leaving the comfort of our home, even the dogs complained.  We walked up a long road through the village, which now resembled a river, and out the other side.

Our mooring in Vilosnes

One of the sights on our wet walk around Vilosnes

It was nice to eventually get back to a toasty warm boat.

Luckily, I did remember to take down the French flag before lighting the fire

Before we set off the next morning, Tracy took the dogs for a walk and came back laughing her head off. She had bumped into a very wet and excitable Labrador on her journey and could hear an English accent shouting “Wilson!” “Wilson!” “Wilson!” Then watched as a large Yorkshireman ran over like a monster truck out of control. There was fear, desperation and panic in his eyes (anyone who owns a dog will understand the feeling when you are trying to control your dog and the hound has other ideas). “You’re not the man from that Youtube video are you?” Tracy asked him. Bright red and completely out of puff he ignored her as his dog continued to coax him in to some form of exercise.

The following day was warmer although not sunnier but it was nice to be back just in our t-shirts. Looking at our guide, we decided to head for Dun-sur-Meuse. Although the lock just before the port had other ideas and gave up the ghost as we entered. Tracy did the usual and jumped off to contact VNF, just as an English chap walked up. He was on a peniche waiting on the other side of the lock to ascend.

We could see one space left on the jetty and were both looking forward to getting tied up and the kettle on. Once VNF arrived the English chap had a conversation in French with him and established that the port on his map didn’t exist so he decided to turn around and moor on the free space we had our eye on. “You can tie up next to me if you like” he said sheepishly.

With the two dogs it would have been very awkward as our boat was much lower, so we shrugged our shoulders and said “Thanks anyway but we’ll have to say c’est la vie”.

We motored for a few more hours looking for somewhere to moor, before eventually reaching the next port.

This was also full so we continued even further. It was 5.59pm when we finally reached a lock with a short grass bank on one side. We pressed the remote to activate the lock and knew that going through would be all or nothing, as the lock would be turned off as soon as we exited. Tracy leaped from the boat once I was in place and scouted the lay of the land. As it turned out, the banks of the canal on the other side of the lock were very high and it would be impossible to tie up. With the lock turned off, we knew our mooring pins would be safe from being ripped out of the soft grass by larger boats, at least until morning so we decided to reverse out and moor up next to the short grassy bank after all. Worryingly, the lights on the lock remained on green all night and were still on green when we were leaving the next morning at 7.30am.

Our lock mooring. We don't really like using stakes as boats whizz past very fast

After such an early start, we reached Mouzon at lunchtime.

The mooring in Mouzon

And a quick trek around the town

The unusual tourist information office at Mouzon

You had to make a quick dash through here as the pavement runs out

A stroll around town established that there was not much in the way of entertainment so rather than pay the €8 at the port, we decided to carry on eventually tying up next to a barrier at Remilly.

Our mooring tied to the barrier in Remilly

There was an auberge advertised with ‘amarrage’ (moorings) and a map to show the way down a side arm of the canal. Fancying lunch out, we set off the next morning but unfortunately, there were no further signs and the people we asked for directions just looked at us blankly.

Eventually, we gave up hope of finding it and resigned ourselves to the fact that it would be cheese sandwiches for lunch. As we were approaching the lock before Sedan, a huge troll of a man was facing our way shamelessly having a pee. “bonjour” we shouted thinking he would quickly turn away from us, but no he just carried on, had a shake, wiped his hands on his trousers and zipped himself up.

This wasn't the troll having a pee but a random fisherman I captured. Nobody seems embarrassed or wants to turn away

Casually, he strolled over to us and stood slack mouthed beside the lock without blinking. In fact, the only time we got any reaction from him was when Tracy asked about the cows out on the field (there was a farm next to the lock and she presumed he worked there). His whole face lit up and by the time we were waving him au revoir, there wasn’t a thing you could tell us that we didn’t know about the four-legged beasts (in French that is).

We pulled into Sedan, the grey sky didn’t help, but the whole place looked very, very depressing. We nipped into the town centre had a quick look around, and bought a loaf and a couple of small pizzas for lunch (one turned out to be fish, yes that’s right fish pizza, and was even more disgusting that it sounds). We just couldn’t bring ourselves to stay there, some places just don’t have a good feel to them and Sedan was one of those places.

Our mooring in Sedan

A bit grim really

There were a few random pontoons provided for mooring along the way but they were way too short, didn't have anything to tie up to and the notice on them stated '15 tonne or less'

We were really glad we did leave, it was a very long cruise but eventually Lumes loomed into sight and we couldn’t believe our eyes as the only other boat there was another narrowboat. We moored up and went over to say hello to our neighbour. Gill was waiting for her other half to return from a trip to England and had been looming in Lumes for a few days (pardon the pun).

Our lovely Lumes mooring

The next day we went in search of the café Gill had told us about as our supplies were running low and we fancied something different. We didn’t realise that it was Bastille Day and a public holiday in France. The café was closed when we got there. We asked an old lady if there were any other alternatives in the village and she pointed us in the direction of Charleville some 7km away. In desperation, we began the long walk in the hope that something would be open in this large town. On route we met another couple and after a conversation, established that it was unlikely that anything would be open even in Charleville either. Resigned to making our own lunch, (not more cheese sandwiches) we turned around and started trudging back. 100m further along the road and we could hear “monsieur, monsieur” it was the chap we had just left on the Charleville road. “I know somewhere that is open” he said and insisted that we follow him. We turned down a road and he triumphantly pointed to a building in front of us. There it stood, ‘Loomy Land’. Not wanting to offend him, we went inside and soon realised that it was a children’s play factory with brightly colored everything. 

As it turns out, the steak kebab and chips weren't half bad

We both had misgivings about this place but were at this point ravenous and would have eaten a dead rat if it had been presented with a few chips. We had had a similar experience a few years back when we were in a campervan in Cornwall. Our campsite had no facilities and the only place available was a Haven holiday park up the road. We got there fairly early sat at a table and ordered our food. As we were waiting for it to arrive all the children turned up with Lizzie Lizard who began to lead the dancing for the kiddies’ disco. We were sat on the edge of the dancefloor and felt like a right pair of numb-nuts. When our food finally arrived, we couldn’t finish them fast enough.

A dog toilet was thoughtfully provided, not sure how often it is used though

When Graham returned the next day he showed me an ingenious gadget he had picked up off Ebay. The device screwed into a gas bottle enabling you to fill up at any garage that sold gas from a pump and worked out much cheaper than buying a new bottle every time. As we were probably going to run out of gas imminently he offered to drive me to a garage and show me how it worked. Fantastic! A full gas bottle for all of €15, this would normally cost us around €25-€35.

We all decided to have a walk into Lumes village centre the following day and have a drink at the bar. It was closed (again). Instead, we all got our fold up chairs out and sat in the shade drinking wine. Later, Gill being the amazing hostess that she is, whipped up a wonderful spicy chorizo stew for us all.

Graham and Gill with us

We ended up staying at Lumes far longer than we had anticipated, as it was just so nice to be around likeminded, friendly people. Gill writes a funny and interesting blog herself and should you wish to follow it, the URL is: www.contentedsouls.com.

When we did eventually head off, we only managed one lock and a short cruise into Charleville-Mézières as the washing looked once more like the north face of Everest and I’ve not got a head for heights.

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Moorings in Vilosnes

Cost: Free

Facilities: No water or electricity available.

Location: Rural location with no facilities.

Moorings before Lock 32

Cost: Free

Facilities: None.

Location: Rural location.

Moorings in Mouzon

Cost: There was a charge for this mooring

Facilities: Both water and electricity available for a charge.

Location: Small town, everything closed when we visited on a Monday.

Moorings in Remilly

Cost: We were wild-moored and tied to a barrier, no charge for this

Facilities: None.

Location: There was an auberge advertised but we failed to find it

Moorings in Sedan

Cost: There was a charge for moorings

Facilities: Both water and electricity available for a charge.

Location: Large town with all the usual amenities.

Moorings in Lumes

Cost: Fee

Facilities: Water available for free.

Location: Small village with a bar/tabac, hotel and the unique ‘Loomy Land’