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| Rethel to Sedan | |||
Highlights: The Montgon Flight of locks - Intensely rural scenery - Sedans huge fortress |
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You'll be joining Barge Nilaya at our mooring in the small provincial Ardennes town of Rethel. Nearby and a very short train ride away, lies the fabulous City of Reims, famed throughout the world for its involvement in the Champagne industry! It is highly likely that you'll visit the 'odd' Champagne cave in town, possibly even forcing yourselves to drink yet more of the celebrated liquid? The champagne houses of GH Mumm, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot and Piper-Heidsieck offer guided tours and degustations. There is so much to see and do. Reims' Notre-Dame Cathedral is spectacular with a facade containing some 2300 statues! It's 38 metre high nave has borne witness to the coronation of French Kings from Clovis in 498 AD until Charles X in 1825. It contains no less than two UNESCO world heritage monuments, the stunning 'Palais du Tau' and interior of the 'Basilique St. Remi'. I have details of a self guided 2 hour walking tour if you are interested in following it. Reims is a wonderful city to explore at your leisure and you might decide that tonight's the night to kick start your week and splash out on a meal out in one of Reims' very chic and fashionable restaurants. 'Foch' and 'Le Millenaire' are but two of Reims three fork Michelin rated establishments. I would recommend that you consider arriving a day or so earlier to fully appreciate all the city has to offer, maybe booking a hotel in town? Then join us in Rethel by train. Back in the town of 'Rethel', you might choose to dine ashore, possibly enjoying some of the town's famous white sausages known as 'Boudin Blanc de Rethel'. There's also a restaurant serving specialties of the region. SUNDAY Having consumed a hearty continental breakfast, on Sunday morning we'll be steaming out of Rethel towards the stunning Canal des Ardennes, which is in places, a little like you might imagine the Amazon to be, with foliage that has utterly overtaken the waterway's original boundaries. Right through to Pont-a-Bar the canal is predominantly rural from beginning to end and wild remote moorings the norm if we so choose, or we can stop at some of the small towns and villages we encounter en-route. MONDAY On Monday we'll cruise to Attigny. After a lunch stop along the way in some rural idyll, in the afternoon we cruise some particularly wonderful overgrown stretches of canal and have a very good chance of spotting bird life including the usually elusive Kingfisher. TUESDAY Tuesday sees us begin to climb through one of the highlights of this navigation, the Montgon flight of 27 ecluses (locks) that raise Barge Nilaya slowly between the towns of Attigny and Le-Chesne. It's a lot of hard work for the crew, taking up to seven hours to cover what is little more than nine kilometres in distance. One thing you'll notice as we climb through the ecluses it that virtually every one has its derelict lock-keepers cottage. Last autumn ago when I passed through this flight, the overgrown gardens were so bursting with fruit that it would have been a crime not to go 'scrumping'. As a result, we feasted on apple and fruit pies for weeks and weeks afterward. I aim to break the flight in two by mooring half way up at the small village of Neuville-Day in order to enjoy a well earned drink and possibly even dinner at a pleasant little hostelry there. I enjoyed several beers there several years ago and was delighted when the owner delivered fresh baguettes and his 90 year old mother to Barge Nilaya in the morning. I'd forgotten that the previous night I'd promised her a ride on Barge Nilaya! WEDNESDAY On Wednesday we'll climb the balance of locks and pass by the small town of 'Le Chesne' to a very rural place somewhere near the village of Malmy. It's a wild bank area with two tiny hamlets nearby. Tonight, we'll either be self catering aboard or you might choose to walk a couple of kilometres to a pleasant restaurant in the neighbouring village. If you are game for more exercise, you might choose to head off for a long walk across the fields to the 13th Century church and 16th Century ruined Chateau' at 'la Cassine', maybe returning via 'Vendresse' with its ruined chateau and monastery. It'll build up your appetite nicely! THURSDAY On Thursday we pass through the short 'St. Aignan' tunnel, arriving in Pont-a-Bar for lunch. Shortly after, we'll join the Canal de l'Est taking us right into the heart of Sedan. The City of Sedan is home to one of the largest fortresses in the whole of Europe and well worth the tour! In some places the walls are twenty metres thick. There are some great dining opportunities in the old town near the chateau. You'll be leaving Barge Nilaya after breakfast on Friday morning. Trains from Sedan to Paris take about ninety minutes and from Paris to Rethel around an hour.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Unforeseen circumstances sometimes affect our cruising schedule. These can include, but are not limited to: illness, floods, weather, canal closures, canal maintenance, lack of moorings, bureaucracy, strikes, civil disturbance, acts of god, the engine, and whims and fancies of both skipper, guests and crew. All of these things might cause last minute changes to the above and cruise routes. Although rare, we reserve the right to alter any and all routes accordingly. Flexibility is the name of the game and any such changes cannot be considered grounds for cancellation of the cruise. |
