29th - 30th August. On from Liverdun to Nancy where we visited Stanislas Square and the Musée de Lorraine. The Son et Lumière in the square was wonderful!

Leaving our mooring, we sailed past Liverdun, which can be seen on the hillside above us.

On to moor in Nancy. The main port is on the right, for those who want to pay for water and electricity. We are on the left, with an attractive park beside us.

The flowers in the Godron garden were in a different class to those on The Puzzler. This garden was laid out in 1758, on the orders of Stanislas, the last duke of Lorraine, and was Nancy's first botanical gardens.

Place Stanislas is considered one of the beautiful royal “places” in Europe. This 18th century square and the surrounding buildings are on Unesco's World Heritage List, having been built in 1755.

Many of the surroundings of the square are gold embossed, and look fantastic.

Time for a rest!

After a picnic lunch in the park, we walked to the Porte de la Craffe, which is the oldest fortification in Nancy, built in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Then it was back to the Eglise des Cordeliers, which is now part of the Museum of Lorraine.

This church was built in the 15th century.

This was the mausoleum of the Dukes of Lorraine, and there are many carved statues of them, with animals at their feet.

In the church the “old” is best represented by this ancient carving of the Last Supper.

And the “new” is shown in the painting of the Burning Bush, on a screen, by Bruno Carbonnet in 1996.

Every evening there is Son et Lumière in Stanislas Square, with pictures projected on to all the buildings around the square. This shows the town hall in daytime, followed by some of the projections. It was fantastic!

27th - 28th August 2016. Pagny-sur-Meuse, Toul, then on the river Moselle to Liverdun.

Andy and Shannon are relaxing in Pagny.

On to Toul, where a moat surrounds the old centre of town, with a splendid cathedral too. From Toul we continued on, down the river Moselle. We moved on to moor in an inlet of the Moselle, just below Liverdun. This town climbs the hillside up from the river, with the old town situated right at the top. This is a fascinating place and well worth a visit.

23rd - 26th August. On to Demange-aux-Eaux, through Mauvages tunnel to Sauvoy, then on via Void to Pagny-sur-Meuse.

Autumn is approaching, as the wheat fields are ploughed.

We pass some lovely country properties.

At Demange-aux-Eaux is another pleasant jetty.

This is the main street of Demange.

This lady is the only person about, making sure that all is perfect in front of her house.

Moving on, the water has never been clearer. There are a lot of small fish to be seen in front of the bows here.

Mauvages tunnel approaches. We will be accompanied by a cyclist through the tunnel to make sure that we are OK.

Thisraight tunnel is nearly 5 kilometres long, and is lit throughout, with parts of it reinforced with metal girders.

There were three VNF men waiting for us at the other end, but they just smiled at us as we emerged.

Sauvoy was another mooring with a handy tree for shade. Well, we are near to the mooring, but the tree looked better than the bollards did!

In Sauvoy several of the houses had barns as part of the buildings. We saw one small tractor put away for the night in one of these, nearer to our mooring, but it was too dark for a photo.

Moving on to Pagny-sur-Meuse.

Last night there were 8 boats here, and we had to double up, outside a Dutch barge. They all left this morning, so we moved on to the jetty. Since I took this photo, the sun has moved and so must we! We have backed up to the end of the jetty, for a cooler afternoon under the tree. Inside the boat the temperature is 34 degrees, or 35 degrees in the open cratch.

18th - 22nd August 2016. On to Ligny-en-Barrois, Givrauval and Tréveray.

The scenery along this part of the canal de la Marne au Rhin is very pleasant.

The current church of Notre-Dame des Vertus in Ligny-des-Barrois dates from 1552, although there has been a church here since the 10th century.

This window was made in 1548. It is interesting how the style of stained glass in churches has changed over the centuries.

This blue one was made much later.

The port at Ligny has room for several boats. We were moored behind the Dutch family, on the right, and Shannon made friends with their granddaughter, who was visiting. Great Britain beat The Netherlands in the Olympic hockey final, much to their disgust!

At Givraul we found this small pontoon, in a lovely rural setting.

Half of this house in the village of Givraul has been renovated to a high standard, while the left side is awaiting development.

The church is hidden up by the trees, but we found an interesting walk above the church, along the edge of the forest. These wood piles are everywhere, and seem to have been there for years.

This painted building was in the middle of some fields. Is it a country cottage?

The Puzzler is crossing the river Ornain at Menaucourt here. Some people were swimming in the river, but sadly we could not get down to it. The weather is extremely hot.

This is a pretty wooded section of the Canal de la Marne au Rhin (Ouest)

There are a great many locks, but each one is a little different. This approach is more scenic than most.

We found shade at Tréveray under a plum tree. The back hatch is resting on the solar panels as we have been repainting the back slides. This could not be done in Roanne in the spring, because the satellite dish was in the way! It makes it cooler in the boat at night with no back hatch on!