Jaulgonne to Mareuil-Sur-Ay

21/10/2012

Glorious sunshine, but A has been struck down by a serious dose of (man) flu – he was lights out last night at 20.00, but we took it easy this am, so cast off at 11.00.

The river current seems much the same, but the first lock seemed much calmer than yesterdays experience.

The last couple of locks in the Marne, before handing back the remote, were strange – wide, with sloped sides and a pontoon to moor to, which rose with the water level.






Here drinking water is available, as we were advised by ‘Rival’ but not sure if you get enough time to fill up before the procedure expects you to leave?! At the last we handed back the remote (farewell freedom?!) and proceeded into the Canal Laterale a la Marne, bypassing our originally chosen stopping point for the night – Epernay.

As the capital of the Champagne region, Epernay was definitely a place calling J to visit, but this being a Sunday, the idea of trolling the streets looking at all that sparkling fizz behind glass without being able to taste a drop was more than J can handle, so we rode on by!!

And in the Canal Laterale our freedom as such has not been rescinded – the locks are automatic, not with sensors which pick up the boats presence but with a dangling bar that you twist to activate the mechanism. 

At the very first lock the Marne current is arriving across where the bar is hanging so was pushing us all over the place – attempt 3 got us where we needed to be and we were good to go!

After much debate we chose to stop at Mareuil-Sur-Ay because it is the last point advertising electricity in this canal (another 60km left to go here before moving onto the Canal de Champagne a Bourgogne – wine to wine, yay!) so we thought we’d take advantage... Only the port ‘shuts down’ on September 13^th and all power has been switched off - but one of our neighbours said when it gets dark he can get us power on the sly, don’t tell anyone! Then 5 other boats have arrived and he’s got a busy evening as he promised it to everyone!!  Another reason to stop, is that we’re not that far from the heart of Champagne country (Ay, the previous town, INVENTED it!!) so hopefully the caves are not all closed on a Monday morning and J can go shopping!!

By the way, boat moored next to us is going the same way and is more than a smidge taller than us, so we might become his shadow – then we can be sure we pass all these upcoming bridges!!