Canal Boat Trip

Hesse Harbor and Le Boat base

Alsace Lorraine region

The last week of September we joined the Prices and Rentzs on a canal boat trip down the Marine Canal of the Rhine in the heart of the Alsace Lorraine region of France.

Afternoon Happy Hour on the boat deck

Originally we were going from Hesse, France to Strasburg or east.  Due to an accident in the Arzviller lock on that section, we had to go in the opposite direction from Hesse to Nancy. Nancy is the largest town in this country region of small villages.

John was our captain and Ed and Don manned the boat in the locks.

On the canal

 Laurie served as our translator as we discovered this area of France has very few English speaking visitors so few people speak English.

Our boat was 47 feet long 12 feet wide, had three cabins with attached bathrooms, a kitchen, dining area, and deck on top with umbrellas.

Our boat

It sounds big but everything was very compact. The engine had governors on it so full speed was a putting 6 mph.  You have to want life to slow down if you take a canal boat.

Typical French country side through which we traveled.

 We had envisioned going into a village each morning to get fresh croissants, and each evening eating in a quaint village restaurant. 

Sommerville- one town we did bike into in the morning mist to get croissants

In reality, most villages didn’t have a store let alone a bakery, and only a few had restaurants.  We cooked on the boat more nights than planned and most breakfasts, and enjoyed the countryside views while eating.  In one village, where we stopped to see the church, we came across a truck delivering fresh bread to houses by hanging their orders on the door.  The driver saw us watching and stopped to sell us fresh pastries.

We did have folding bicycles, so we were able to bike into villages that were not right on the canal.

Kathy with one of the bikes

Our first lock was a huge one, Rechicourt-le-Chateau lock.

The lock full.  Ed holding the boat in position with mooring line.

  It was built to replace 6 smaller locks and cuts 2 hours off the transit.  It lowered the boat about 55 feet in one step.

Laurie, Sheila and Kathy in the depths of the lock.

It was like descending into a canyon of concrete. When it opened to let us out the lower gate lifted like a garage door.

The exit door starting to open

 We were given a remote control that automatically worked all the locks on the canal between this lock and Nancy.  We only had problems twice.  Once the lower gates didn’t open to let us out, and once they didn’t close to fill. 

A typical lock. Notice the ladder on the left where the wall indents.

Both times we had to climb the ladder on the wall of the lock, go to the control booth, and phone for help.  Always a challenge when you can’t tell them what is wrong in a language they understand.  We must have been understood enough because someone always came and rescued us.

Heron on the canal

 There is a large population of herons along the canal and it was fun to see them as we motored past. Rabbits and a fox were the only other wild life we saw. There were lots of farm animals in fields along the way, and fishermen sitting along the canal fishing.

Mooring on the side of the lock to walk to St. Cathedral in background.
 

Entering St. Nicholas

The canal crossed the Meurthe river near St Nicholas, and a road near Hesse.

Canal crossing the river Meurthe

 

Canal crossing the highway

 Nancy

I’d never heard of Nancy until it became our turn around point on the trip.  It is a large commercial center in Eastern France on the confluence of major canals. 

Nancy Harbor - John shoed a lot of skill getting the boat into a slip.

It is the Paris of the east.

 The city was founded in the 12^th century as the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine. The plaza in the city center named after the last influential Duke is quite beautiful with its wrought iron gates, baroque fountains, and hanging lanterns.

The Cathedral-Primatiale of Nancy is also impressive. It was built between 1703 and 1742.  It became a cathedral in 1777 with the nomination of the first Bishop of Nancy

Epinal

The American Cemetery at Epinal

John has an uncle, PFC George D. Kinkade Jr., who died in WWII during the campaign to break the German winter line.  He is buried in the American cemetery in Epinal  50 miles south of Nancy.  As soon as we moored in the Nancy harbor, John and I headed to Epinal to visit his grave.  We assumed we could catch a train, or a bus, or rent a car. I had looked on line months ahead and trains did go from Paris to Epinal via Nancy. However, our arrival time didn’t work for mass transit and they looked at us in wonder when we asked about renting a car.  So we took a taxi for the same amount we figured a rental car would cost.  It was interesting negotiating the trip the driver spoke no English, no Laurie to rescue us, and my French is poor. He understood he was to take us, stay, and bring us back, and we knew the amount he would charge.  We told him we would need to stop at an ATM and he understood that very well.

Looking from George's grave back to the center memorial seeing 1/4 of the graves.

The American Cemetery is very impressive covering 49+ acres.  There are 5,255 graves and the names of 424 missing in action engraved on a memorial wall. They have the memorial and beautifully laid out grounds, as well as a visitor’s center for family members to sit by a fire reminisce or grieve.  The staff in charge treated us like royalty because we had family buried there.  They were getting ready to celebrate their day of freedom from the Germans with all the big wigs of the area and military personnel attending, and they stopped to take care of us.  We were escorted to John’s uncle’s grave.  Sand from Normandy was rubbed into his head stone so that the inscription would stand out.

They then took a picture of us at the grave which was put in a frame and presented to us as we left.  It was a very moving experience to say the least.

Hesse

This was our starting and ending point.  It is a quaint town with a restaurant, bakery, and the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey.

Abbey from the south

John at the original gate to the abbey grounds

Arzviller Lock

Our taxi cab drive who took us from the airport in Strasburg to Hesse and then returned to take us back to Strasburg, stopped at the lock that had broken and changed our travel plans.  We toured the lock.  It lifts the boats in a cradle pulled up the incline by steel cables.  I'm not sure I'd have  enjoyed the experience of being pulled up the hillside in a canal section.

The incline the boats travel up

The cradle that the boats are in when lifted

A model of the incline plane lift