29th August
We are now off the canals and on the river Marne, on our final stretch to Paris. We had an eventful day on Friday. We made an early start from Vaudemange as we knew we had chain of 8 locks to get through. The sun was shining and we were making good progress until just after the lock at Mareuil. There was a keep left sign and one buoy to indicate the water was shallow on the other bank. The shallow area obviously extended a lot further than we realised as I managed to run us aground! David tried various manoeuvres without success, we were stuck fast. What to do? Luckily, there was a man on the bank who offered to drive over the other side and attempt to tow us off with his land rover. I phoned the vnf to let them know what had happened as we would be blocking the navigation with the rope. We launched the dinghy and I got in and rowed across with a tow rope and, with the help of the 4x4’s winch, the boat was freed. What a relief! We gave our saviour a bottle of (David’s) champagne and continued on our way.
We had hoped to moor at Ay or Dizy and then cycle into Epernay, but Ay was too shallow and Dizy was full so we ended up turning towards Epernay. It started to rain and we had the heaviest downpour we’ve seen, (David sent me down below – a first). To finish off the day nicely, we ended up on our most expensive mooring yet @ €2/m!= 34
However, we liked Epernay and were able to get the fridge cold, charge all our electrical appliances, fill up with water, do the washing and visit a Champagne producer (included in mooring fee). The tour did go some way to explain the high price of champagne. All the pinot noir grapes have to be picked by hand so as not to damage the skins, which would taint the colour of the wine. They are then pressed very slowly, again because of the skins. A second fermentation takes place in the bottle. The bottles are gradually turned upside down so that the sediment collects in the neck. The necks of the bottles are then frozen and the gas in the wine forces the frozen sediment out, et voilà. Ready to drink in about 3 years.
We are now off the canals and on the river Marne, on our final stretch to Paris. We had an eventful day on Friday. We made an early start from Vaudemange as we knew we had chain of 8 locks to get through. The sun was shining and we were making good progress until just after the lock at Mareuil. There was a keep left sign and one buoy to indicate the water was shallow on the other bank. The shallow area obviously extended a lot further than we realised as I managed to run us aground! David tried various manoeuvres without success, we were stuck fast. What to do? Luckily, there was a man on the bank who offered to drive over the other side and attempt to tow us off with his land rover. I phoned the vnf to let them know what had happened as we would be blocking the navigation with the rope. We launched the dinghy and I got in and rowed across with a tow rope and, with the help of the 4x4’s winch, the boat was freed. What a relief! We gave our saviour a bottle of (David’s) champagne and continued on our way.
We had hoped to moor at Ay or Dizy and then cycle into Epernay, but Ay was too shallow and Dizy was full so we ended up turning towards Epernay. It started to rain and we had the heaviest downpour we’ve seen, (David sent me down below – a first). To finish off the day nicely, we ended up on our most expensive mooring yet @ €2/m!= 34
However, we liked Epernay and were able to get the fridge cold, charge all our electrical appliances, fill up with water, do the washing and visit a Champagne producer (included in mooring fee). The tour did go some way to explain the high price of champagne. All the pinot noir grapes have to be picked by hand so as not to damage the skins, which would taint the colour of the wine. They are then pressed very slowly, again because of the skins. A second fermentation takes place in the bottle. The bottles are gradually turned upside down so that the sediment collects in the neck. The necks of the bottles are then frozen and the gas in the wine forces the frozen sediment out, et voilà. Ready to drink in about 3 years.
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