From David@scars.demon.co.uk Sat Jun 12 11:43:54 1999 Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 09:48:15 +0100 From: David Long Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Reims to Douai - Part the first Monday, May 31st: We left Wigan for a smooth, relatively quiet M-way trip down to Dover, and enjoyed a lovely cruise across the Channel on the day the French side of the Tunnel was in turmoil, with English Bank Holiday drivers taking on French strikers - "The Old Enemies", as the local French Press put it! Very cordiale entente! En route we stopped at Alan Perkin's in Canterbury for a late lunch, and to meet up with Michael Clarke to hand over exhibition boards for the World Canals Conference at Lille/ La Louviere next week. MC then had to suffer the delays on the English side caused by the French strike. Give me the Ferry every time. We stopped overnight in one of those cheap wayside motel-type places (and a drive around Dunkirk looking vainly for somewhere to eat - Dunkirk was closed...) we finally got chips and sausages from a mobile friterie. Then had another easy journey down to our mooring south of Reims. After a couple of hours preparation, we set out at about 4pm. This was our first run since we had the prop modified (it was too big, and shallow-pitched). It worked - at half the previous revs, it went 25% faster, with less fuss and vibration. Quite a relief. We had a lovely evening's cruise, including going straight through the 2302m Billy Tunnel, to the marina at Sillery, reaching it as the canal closed at 7.30pm - perfect timing. On the moorings were a couple of Dutch boats - including one flying the Para Regt's Pegasus pennant - they were from Arnhem, and had given shelter and help to wounded paras, the last of whom died last year. Nearby is a massive French WW1 necropolis, which is being refurbished - whether the bodies under the ground will actually be under the new memorial stones above when it's finished, I don't know. On the Wednesday morning, I pedalled back the 12 or so miles to fetch my car, so that eventually it would be in Reims where I could stroll to it from the station at the end of our trip. We then continued our run into Reims itself, where I finished off the messing about with the car, and we finally set off in earnest on our trip. We were bound for Douai, where FALCON would be placed to join the flotilla of boats which will sail during the WCC to link the two Conference centres of Lille (France) and La Louviere (Belgium). An imaginative idea, which was supposed to be supported by a number of English narrow boats which were to be shipped across for the occasion. Unfortunately those plans, despite a long gestation (we discussed it here about 12 months ago!), came to nothing. The necessary messing about with the car had taken longer than I hoped, and I had picked a route on which I could put the new prop arrangement through a variety of waterway trials - different-sized canals, and a river. Not the shortest route, but not necessarily, in theory, the longest in time. We had therefore to crack on. By closing time on Wednesday, we'd reached Loivre, short of our target at Berry au Bac, junction of the Aisne Lateral and the Aisne - Marne Canals. We'd been stymied by a couple of laden peniches ahead of us. Next morning we let them and an early riser get clear, but still caught up the rear boat after an hour or so. The boats fit the locks so perfectly that when a laden one enters a lock, the wall of water it pushes ahead of itself bounces back just as it's trying to get through the gap - and makes slow work of the job. Our next day's target of Soissons, however, was still achievable, given the small number of locks, the section along the Aisne river, and that the commercial traffic is split three ways from Berry. We started in perfect weather - but the clouds gathered ominously as we locked down onto the river, in company with an Australian group, inspired to go boating by seeing narrow boats at Leeds some years ago. The cruiser they were on was nothing like a nb! They raced on ahead as we chugged out of the lock and picked up speed in the river - but FALCON was now riding the stream, instead of being dragged along by it as with the old prop.. My satisfaction at this, however, was soon dampened by an absolute deluge! Lightening crackled around, and visibility was reduced to fog levels. I couldn't, as I would on a canal, knock the boat into neutral to don waterproofs and hat - I just had to stand there and take it. I survived, and the sun came out to dry me off quite substantially by the time we swung round to moor at Soissons. More later. -- David Long Sankey Canal Restoration Society http://www.scars.demon.co.uk/scars/