Sunday 14th September
We spent all day travelling east along the Canal Marne au Rhin reaching the last lock before the summit 3.30pm. This lock is 15.4 m deep and takes over half an hour to fill. There were a lot of hire boats waiting to descend but luckily we were the only boat going up. We cannot go much further along the Marne au Rhin as the boatlift at Arzviller is out of action so we have turned north along the Canal de la Sarre that follows the River Sarre towards Germany and stopped for the night at Houillon. We were wrong about the cold weather, it is still sunny and hot so back to sundowners on deck.

Our last lock on the Marne au Rhin 15.4m

Mooring at Houillon

Tuesday 16th September
Yesterday we started are descent of the Canal de la Sarre. The first 11km is relatively flat and runs between several lakes with only 2 locks and then there is a 5km stretch with 10 locks so progress is slow. The locks were automated about 3 years ago, they are all exactly the same depth at 2.678 and the bollards sensibly positioned, the canal is free of weed and the banks well maintained, it must be the German influence. Signs here are bilingual (French / German) and the locals speak German Platt as readily as French but we are told once you cross the border it is all strictly German. We are moored at Mittersheim and today we cycled to Fenetrange, a fortified medieval town 6km away and had a picnic lunch outside the 15c chateau as it was closed!

Canal de la Sarre

New locks that work

Mooring at Mittershiem

Fenetrange

Lunch at the chateau

Wednesday 17th September 
We travelled to Harskirchen but the halte nautique is now a base for hire boats and there is no space for larger boats. Fortunately we found a lovely spot below the next lock with views over the Sarre valley. We went for another cycle ride and visited a working water mill. This area was German from 1870-1918 and the villages still look more German than French.

Mooring below Harskirchen

Mill with working waterwheel

Very German looking town

View over the Sarre valley

Thursday 18th September 
We have moved a short distance to Sarrable and went out for lunch. The food is not as good here as in Burgundy but everyone is very friendly. Most of the shops in Sarrable are closed down, as in many of the towns we visit but money has (and is) being spent on the public spaces here. We are moored by a small park on the outskirts and we have found there is a smart new mooring near the centre with free electricity and water which is unusual in this part of France. In the afternoon we cycled over the pont canal de l’able, one of the first metal bridges built in France in 1867, and up the hill to the Chapelle de la Montagne with fine views over the countryside.  

Lunch at Sarrable

Sarrable

Mooring outside Sarrable

Chapelle de la Montagne

Sunday 21st September
On Friday we continued our journey north and reached Wittring by lunchtime. We moored outside the local restaurant but it was closed for refurbishment. There are no other shops or businesses here but surprisingly there is a railway with several trains a day. The church is close to the mooring and the clock chimes very tunefully every 15 minutes and bell tolls the hours, thankfully it stopped at midnight. Yesterday we left early, having been woken by the bells at 7am, and reached Sarreguemines on the German border. The mooring in town is just before the last lock in France. We are not able to take Tesserae into Germany because the International Certificate of Competence (in boat handling) we hold is not recognised there for boats over 15m. In France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg the ICC covers vessels up to 23m.
Finally the good weather has ended and it has rained all day.

Mooring at Wittring

Automatic bread machine

Wittring

Up early before sunrise

Cakes in Sarreguemines

 The other side of the bridge is Germany

The old Casino at Sarreguemines

Mooring at Sarreguemines

Friday 5th September
We arrived back on Tesserae on Tuesday after spending a busy 3 weeks in the UK. We had planned to set off yesterday but Bob and Lynn arrived by boat on Wednesday and after an evening socialising we decided to leave on Friday. Bob and Lynn are friends of Robert from Norfolk and have been travelling on their broads boat around France for several years. It was Bob and Lynn who gave us the idea of travelling around Europe by boat and they gave us a lot of useful advice. This is the first time we have met up with them in France.
It was just as well delayed our departure as the Meuse canal has sprung a leak and if we had gone along it as planned we would have been stranded for a fortnight (which is how long the VNF predict the repairs will take). So we have headed east on the Marne au Rhin canal towards Strasbourg, which we cannot reach as the Arzviller boatlift is broke (again!) and will not be operational until next year.
We had to wait for the fog to clear before we could leave Toul but it turned into a glorious day as we joined the R. Moselle. We have not been on a large river since leaving the Soane in June and the broad expanse of water is a pleasant change to a narrow canal. We are moored at Liverdun and sat on the back deck to watch the sunset over the river.

Joining the Moselle

A wide River

with large locks

Mooring at Liverdun

Sunset over the Moselle

Sunday 7th September
We are still at Liverdun, it is a very attractive mooring and although it is foggy first thing the days continue to be hot and sunny. Yesterday we walked round the old town that is perched on a cliff high above the Moselle. It is a picturesque setting and two sets of bridal couples were having photographs taken. Today there was a festival of the Madeleine in Liverdun and the waterfront was covered in market stalls selling mostly junk. There were also water activities; bungee jumping, country dancing and helicopter rides. It was a popular event and the crowds milled around until 8pm.

Liverdun

The Moselle at Liverdun. Tesserae can be seen just above the trees

Fete de Madeleine 

Monday 8th September
Very thick fog this morning it was 10am before it was clear enough for us to leave Liverdun. At Pompey we turned right off the Moselle towards Nancy where we moored at lunchtime. We are on the free quayside opposite the Marina that charges inordinate mooring fees.  By us are two barges belonging to A and B (Alex and Brian) an Englishman and an Australian. In the evening we noticed a photographer and his model taking photos alongside our barge and later we saw them having drinks with A and B.

Waiting for the fog to clear

Moored at Nancy

Tuesday 9th September
We walked around Nancy today and had lunch at the Excelsior Brasserie. This restaurant has the original 1911 art nouveau interior designed by the Ecole de Nancy artists. In the afternoon when our feet started to ache (it was very hot) we took the tourist train around the old town. In the evening Alex and Brian came for drinks and they told us last night’s photo shoot had continued onboard B’s barge and this time the model was in the nude. The photographer and model are coming returning Thursday evening to take further shots. Louisa said we would be leaving on Thursday morning!

Excelsior Brasserie

Place Stanislas

Wednesday 10th September
Today we took the bus to Musee de l’ Ecole de Nancy which is housed in the former home of Monsieur Corbin a wealthy merchant of Nancy and patron of the arts. This unique art nouveau collection includes work by Emile Galle and other artist of the Ecole de Nancy from 1885 – 1914.  There is also a beautiful garden and if we had realised we could have had a picnic lunch there.

Musee de L'Ecole de Nanacy

The bathroom window

Friday 12th September
Yesterday we left Nancy and continued east along the canal Marne au Rhin. The locks are automatic operated with a radio controller, the first lock was faulty and we had to wait for a VNF man to fix it. The rest of our journey to Crevic was uneventful and we moored at a pleasant rural location and went for a walk in the afternoon.
Today we travelled 10km to Einville au Jard. Only two locks but the first one had jammed with a hire boat in it and they were waiting for the VNF to arrive. We thought the same had happened at the second lock but it was just very slow. No sundowners this evening, the clouds have come in and it is feeling decidedly cool.

Crevic

Einville au Jard