6th -9th August 2016. From Courcy to Sillery, via Reims, on the Canal de L'Aisne à la Marne. Dwarf beech trees are to be found near the Champagne village of Verzy. On to Condé, then the Canal Latéral à La Marne to Chalons-en-Champagne.

Having enjoyed drinks aboard Johanna Maria with Holly and Michael last night, we set off, heading for Sillery, via Reims.

This part of the Canal de L'Aisne à la Marne is very straight, but at least it has a pretence of having a towpath, which both the Canal de L'Oise à L'Aisne, and the Canal Lateral à L'Aisne were sadly lacking in many places, with trees in profusion right to the water's edge.

While cruising through Reims, there were a great many oarsmen and oarswomen to avoid, although this ladies four was of quite high quality.

Having “done” the city last year, we did not stop in Reims this time.

There are war graves at Sillery, with over 10,000 men being remembered there.

Moving on, we could see Verzy, a Champagne hill village, over to our right. It is below the red arrow, and looks a long way away! We are going to cycle to it this morning.

We left The Puzzler at Beaumont-sur-Vesle, and cycled up the road through the vineyards to Verzy. As it was Sunday, all the Champagne caves were firmly shut! We left our bikes in the village, and walked up the hill beyond to find the famous Dwarf Beech trees. According to our book, they were only 300 metres from the village, but we think that was to encourage visitors, as it must have been at least three times that! There are quite a lot of them, hiding in among the normal size trees in the woodland.

Cycling back was a great deal easier! We moved on through one lock to moor under some trees, and had a visit from Paul, which was a pleasant surprise.

We were following a blue barge, Miamorpat, towards Mont-de-Billy tunnel, anticipating a slow crawl behind him, but he pulled over to let us through. We have been impressed by the consideration of most commercial boats this year.

Shannon loves to look ahead in tunnels.

We soon reached the chain of 8 locks, leading down to Condé. We activate the first lock, then all the others know that we are coming and prepare themselves for us, which is very clever! Lock 22 was really pretty – so well cared for.

In Condé we saw the narrowboat Termujin, which has travelled all over Europe.

Turning right on to the Canal Latéral a La Marne, we cruised as far as Tours-sur-Marne to spend the night rather close to a barge, which came in after us.

All the shops in Tours were closed for their summer holidays!

A lovely avenue of plane trees flank the canal, soon before Chalons-en-Champagne.

The port at Chalons was nearly full, and everyone was very friendly, with the English and Irish outnumbered by the New Zealanders!

Just to be different, this large elephant floats at the far end of the port.

19th - 22nd June 2015. Past Mont de Reims and vineyards for champagne by Verzenay. On to Châlons-en-Champagne.

The chalk hill of Mont de Reims lies over to our right, with champagne vineyards to the left of the village of Verzenay. The chalk is perfect for the grapes for making champagne.

We continue steadily up the locks to reach Billy Tunnel. A barge was just leaving the tunnel so, as the lights went green, we hoped for a quick passage. However, only one barge was allowed through our way before the red light, so we had to wait about an hour before we were given permission to go.

The tunnel has lights all the way through, with a narrow towing track, where the train used to run. As the tunnel is 2302 metres, or 1.43 miles long, it was good to see sunshine at the far end.

We were delayed again at a lock, while we waited for the barge, Opa Sigi, to squeeze through, then pass The Puzzler. The lock size here is 38.5 metres by 5.05 metres and Opa Sigi is 39 metres by 5.05 so it is a very tight fit for him.

Having gone down 8 locks, we reached the village of Condé sur Marne, where the original towing train was by the last lock.

 

The covered market can be seen in the centre of Condé sur Marne and gives the village real character.

On Saturday we moved on to Châlons-en-Champagne, which is a lovely town, with two cathedrals. We visited St. Étienne Cathedral first.

The stained glass windows are most impressive, using this green colour which, we were told, is special to this cathedral.

We saw several timbered houses in the town.

Next it was on to the second cathedral, Notre-Dame-en-Vaux.

Both cathedrals were quite light inside, due to all the glass, which has been used wherever possible, either as stained glass, or as plain leaded windows.

On Sunday we sailed as far as Soulanges, where the village church was quite a contrast to the cathedrals. All these village churches are locked, which is a shame.

We continued on through Vitry-le-François, which is a centre for the restoration of old barges. This one is just having new portholes cut, so has a long way to go.

Just past Vitry we joined the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne. The banks of the canal are lined with many different varieties of trees, and remind us of being in an arbotetum. No labels to identify them all though!