Thursday 19th June 
On Tuesday afternoon we went to the railway station to check the times of the trains from Paris to discover there has been a national railway strike for the last week. The ticket clerk had no information when it might end. We let Lesley and Bernard know and they are a bit miffed because they had phoned the SNCF office in London a couple of days ago but were not told about the strike.

The mooring at Langres is free and has electricity and water but oddly the electricity is turned on for one hour three times a day 7-8am 12-1pm and 7-8pm. So L has been up early the last two mornings to put the washing machine on. The town is built on a rocky cliff 130 metres above the R. Marne. The nearest shop is a supermarket halfway up which we went to by bike but the hill was so steep there was as much walking as cycling.
We watch 15min of world cup football, just enough to see England knocked out.

Saturday 21st June
Lesley and Bernard arrived yesterday, by hire car.  In the evening we walked to the restaurant we had had lunch at on Tuesday to find it closed. The owner was very apologetic but had decided not to open as everyone was watching France play in the world cup. So it was back to Tesserae for canned canard (also known as emergency duck).
Today we visited Langres and walked around the walls of this ancient city. The 21st June is “Fete de la Musique”, last year we joined in the jolly but low-key celebrations at St. Jean de Losne. Langres looked like a much bigger affair with bands setting up loudspeakers outside every café. We headed back down the hill to the peace of the canal as the rival groups were tuning up! We had dinner at the canal side restaurant; having phoned to check it would be open. The owner greets us with aperitifs on the house and we congratulated him on France’s footballing skills.

Emergency duck. Very tasty 

Langres

Setting up for Fete de la Musique

Yes he did order two puddings

Tuesday 24th June
We left Langres on Sunday; a student lock keeper accompanied us for the six manual locks to Rolampont. D. and Lesley cycled back to Langres to pick up the car in the afternoon. On Monday Bernard and Lesley toured the area by car and we moved Tesserae a further 15 km down the canal to Foulain. A quite elderly lady lock keeper managed the locks to day she was not very talkative but super efficient. It turned into a very wet evening and Lesley drove us to the local hotel, “Le Chalet” for dinner. It was a funny old-fashioned place but the meal was okay.
Bernard and Lesley left us today and we moved on to Chaumont with an other efficient lady lock keeper.  After Chaumont it is back to automatic locks, which do not work as well as lady lock keepers.
In the afternoon we hear that the French air traffic controllers have gone on strike for 6 days. Will Bernard and Lesley get home ok?

We don't need to open this swing bridge

Student eclusier (with life jacket)

Lesley on the ropes

Rolampont

Foulain

Lift bridge

Doing the washing at Chaumont

Saturday 28th June
We left Chaumont on Thursday and travelled 10km to Bologne.  We negotiated 2 swing bridges and a tunnel on the journey. Only one lock was not working and 10 minutes after we phoned the VNF office a man arrived (on a tractor) and fixed it. Yesterday, we travelled to Froncles. This is a proper halt nautique with water and electrics shared with a campervan site. There were six unoccupied vessels on the quay with one free space left that was just too short for Tesserae.  With the help of some campers we attached the bow to the quay then D went ashore and moved up 2 of the unoccupied boats to make enough space for us to moor. L. said we should stay here for two nights, as mooring had been such an effort.

Swing bridge, tunnel and lock all in 500m

I wish all tunnels were like this

Deux feu rouge. Call for help

Help arrives on a tractor

Bologne

Froncles

Just enough room for us

Tuesday 1st July
On Sunday we left Froncles. The weather forecast said occasional showers but it soon tuned to solid rain, the first time this year we have had to travel in the rain. We planned to stop at Donjeux but a commercial barge occupied the mooring so we travelled on to Joinville. As we approached Joinville the canal seemed to have a grassy lawn on each side. As we came closer we realised this was weed so thick that we could almost walk on it. The barge was struggling to make progress and we were glad we were stopping soon. We moored at the halt nautique at Joinville, the boat resting on a carpet of weed.
On Monday afternoon we walked around Joinville and like so many small French towns it seems to be gradually closing down. We visited the Chateau de Grand Jardin, which was listed as a historic monument in 1925. There are a couple of empty rooms open in the chateau but the renaissance garden is the main attraction with its knot gardens and labyrinth (maze), also a “romantic park” based on 18th century English landscape gardens.
Today we restocked with food and wine from the local supermarket and had lunch in town with an Irish couple who are on a narrow boat.
We have been very impressed by how well organised the VNF have been since we left the summit at Heuilley-Cotton. Before arriving at Joinville we were visited by VNF staff each evening to check our plans for the next day and if it was a different person on duty the next day they actually knew our plans, this has never happened before. L pointed out that that it was a woman in charge in the office as well as a high proportion of female lock keepers. However no VNF person has visited us over the last 3 days so L reckons we have left the female run section of canal and will be back to the usual chaos when we leave tomorrow!

A lock keepers garden

Very weedy

Joinville

more weed

Chateau du Grand Jardin

Bacchus

19th century romantic park

Joinville