Day 58 & 59: 9th and 10th August 2017 Rolampont and the summit.

Yesterday we had a longish day and were all pleased to arrive at Rolampont. After a day of many locks (again) we stopped at a small halte where I got out the craft stuff for the kids to play with at a picnic bench ashore. All seemed to enjoy themselves!

Today we reached the summit of our climb into France. We finally reached our last ascending lock where there was a small hut with a sofa in to mark this momentous occasion.

We've been a bit lazy with boatschool over the past few days as there have been so many locks to negotiate but today Esmé enjoyed putting a skeleton and various organs together like a jigsaw puzzle.

She also finally convinced us to let her go ashore in locks so had a great time playing with the crew of Polux.

We were a little unsure what to expect of the 4km Balesmes tunnel, but in the end the instructions were pretty clear. We had to wait and leave a big space between Polux and Laurin so after their entry we were left waiting for a good 10 minutes or so.

Then eventually we were given the green light.

And into the tunnel we went. We had to follow the green lights and not catch up with the red.

Finally we made it to Piépape where we had dinner and then went aboard Polux for celebratory drinks. Downhill all the way to the med now!

Day 56 & 57: 7th and 8th August 2017 Froncles and Chaumont

When we installed the new hatches on Laurin I dreamed of laying in my bunk at night and being able to see the stars above me, I didn't really expect to wake up in the morning looking up at trees! In fact when we first dreamed up this adventure going through the French Inland waterways was not even on the radar, it seemed a bit of a cop out and I always expected that we would go across Biscay. In the end though it seemed the most practical and family friendly option. We would not be limited by the weather so much and we would get to the Med much quicker than we would day hopping round the outside, the idea of doing long legs across Biscay having gone out of the window after realising that the kids would need a much gentler start to our adventure. The rivers and canals of France have been both a joy and frustrating at the same time. Beautiful scenery, fantastic entry into Paris, and a great day at Disneyland, coupled with endless lock frustration and the often boring chug chug chug of motoring for days on end. It will be interesting to see how we decide to return at the end of our adventure.

As well as probably more electronics time than we anticipated, the kids have played outside lots, and Esme's legs sport bruises which I'm sure are similar to the ones I gained in my childhood summers.

The kids have also become more resourceful, playing endless imaginative games and despite the many arguments, actually playing together far more than they would ever have done at home. Patrick is sure that Esmé will follow in our footsteps and become an engineer. She was gutted when she broke her fishing net, we left her to it and the next thing we saw it was fixed... Esmé style!

The day we left Joineville we saw absolutely stunning scenery, motored over aquaducts, and finally arrived at Froncles which was also a campervan Aire.

The kids all played together at Froncles and the comedy moment of the day had to be listening to AJ teaching Esgar how to play chess... despite the lack of a common language.

Today we were heading for Chaumont. The Danes had already left when we popped our heads out at 8am so we left shortly after at 8:15. It was a dull and miserable day but Patrick was enjoying the lack of heat.

We went through a number of very tall locks which were at times a little tricky... and dirty!

And the kids stayed down below, first doing school which today included a few academic games on the electronic devices followed by learning how to play draughts.

We had lunch on the way and then when we eventually arrived at Chaumont I rushed off to the supermarket to stock up. The kids and Patrick joined me later on to be my pack horses and we eventually got back to the boat at about 6pm where we stowed the food and I made on of our favourite dinners of Thai Green Curry and Noodles.

Day 54 & 55: 5th and 6th August 2017 Saint Dizey and Joinville

Yesterday we had a lazy morning, big breakfast and did some housekeeping jobs round the boat. I went shopping to top us up for the next leg of the journey and then after lunch we went swimming at the pool opposite the halte.

We were a bit concerned as we had heard stories that French swimming pools don't allow swim shorts and men need to wear speedos.... Patrick very definitely does not possess a pair. After a quick discussion in broken French with the lady behind the counter it seemed that not only could Patrick not go swimming without speedos, but there was nowhere for him to watch us all swim. Given the swimming trunks on sale at the pool were 25 Euros we revised the plan and Patrick was only too glad to be able to go back to the boat while I bought 3 tickets for me and the kids. Then in steps another sales assistant who understood the situation and said "I can find some others... wait here!" We waited and she returned with a random pair of trunks that must have come out of the lost property box. Patrick desperately looked at the label hoping they would be a wrong size but the lady insisted they would be fine, and that there was no charge. Not only that but she marched us all through the ticket barrier despite us protesting that we only had 3 tickets! So for less than 10 Euros we all got to swim and Patrick got a "new" pair of swimming trunks. We all had great fun in the pool, though Patrick spent most of it being very careful as the trunks were a little on the large size and he was a bit worried about losing them!

Today we made an early start as the Danes had arranged for the VNF guy to accompany us (as is required) through the next section which includes a number of bridges. We arrived at the first lock at 9am as agreed but unfortunately no VNF guy. After a phonecall he arrived at 9:20. Typical French timekeeping! We both fit into the locks ok, and slipped into a rhythm of Polux going in first and us following behind. We did have a bit of a panic at the first bridge operated by one of the twist poles where we had got so used to Ola opening all the locks for us that we nearly missed the sign that said each boat had to twist the pole. We had visions of the bridge closing on us.

This section was incredibly beautiful, almost alpine like, but it was also very weedy... perhaps as a result of the stoppages in recent days meaning there was less traffic.

Some of the locks were extremely full too, with the upper lock gates looking rather like waterfalls.

At the end of the day we arrived at Joinville which was our planned stop for the night. There wasn't really enough water for us but with a little help we both nosed our way in and tied up with our sterns sticking out into the canal. It will do for tonight!

The kids (big and small) had some fun with buckets of water and generally had a great time

Dinner was boat pizza much to the kids delight!

Day 53: 04/08/17 Orconte to Saint Dizier. Finally we met some more boat kids!!!!

Today we had a rather late morning as we were all pretty tired from the long day yesterday and we only had 15kn to get to Saint Dizier. We took advantage of the large sink at the halte and did some hand washing before setting off, just a little too late as the peniche we were following yesterday was ahead of us.

We followed the peniche to the first lock, waited for them to go through and then tried to operate the lock using our remote... no joy! Another phonecall and opportunity for  me to practice my French brought us another VNF guy to help with the lock and give us yet another replacement remote. We're starting to wonder if having mobile VNF guys is actually a cost save on individual lock keepers given how frequently we need them, although it seems that the beautiful lock keepers houses are now either sold on or rented out.

On the plus side, apart from the issues with the remotes we have entering and exiting locks pretty much down to a fine art. I drive us in and slow us right down while Patrick takes the plastic boat hook, (AKA the Nimbus 2000 as AJ likes to pretend to be Harry Potter and use it as a broomstick,) and lasso's the first bollard with the stern line which he then throws at me. I then try to manoeuvre to get the bow close enough so that he can also lasso the bow line. We then use the remote or a lever to operate the lock and Patrick usually drives us out after dropping the bow line.

A lock or so later we noticed another mastless yacht behind us which appeared to have kids on board. Several locks or so later this was confirmed and we finally met for a chat when came alongside at a quay to wait for an engineer to fix the last lock before Saint Diziers. The family were Danish and were also travelling to the Med, however they only have a year so will go to Spain after exiting the inland waterway system.

Once alongside the quay at Saint Diziers the kids got to really make friends proving again, that lack of a common language is no barrier to friendships. The kids played pretty much all afternoon while I went to get the tokens which would allow us to have free water and electricity. I also checked out the prices and times of the swimming pool which seemed ridiculously cheap compared with everything else here. On taking some tokens to the Danish boat we decided to stay at this free halt for 2 nights and take advantage of the cheap swimming tomorrow.

After dinner the Danes came over to Laurin and the adults enjoyed some beers and pleasant company while the kids watched films and ate sweets! A lovely evening and even better that Ole was a boatbuilder so could give us a second opinion on Patrick's fix of our seacock. He said it was fine to leave it until the Med to fix! Result!

Day 52: 03/08/17 Chalons to..... somewhere peaceful after a lock!

Today was all about the locks. We were trying to make some progress as in 2 days the canal closure would be lifted, so Patrick and I dropped the lines at 8:20 then waited for the kids to wake up before having breakfast on the run. Some of our bread was going stale so I made cinnamon eggy bread which everybody enjoyed.

I'm always amazed at the peniches which seem to be run by husband and wife teams who take their cars along and crane them on and off the boats.

We had an idea to stop at Vitry le Francois to visit a chandlery but this was dependent on there being space at a quay as the marina was too shallow. They quay's were either full of commercial vessels or very weedy looking so we continued on. It was about 2pm by this time and the next sensible looking stop was 13km away, and about 5 locks which should have been doable in the 4 hours before the locks stopped operating for pleasure craft. We entered the first lock after Vitry after waiting for a boat to clear the lock. We were then handed a remote control for the remaining locks as we struggled to keep Laurin safe as the water came right up to the top of the recessed lock sides.

Onwards to the next lock which would not open with the remote. It was really breezy so after struggling to hold position in the canal I made a phone call back to first lock, which,  with my broken French was somewhat successful in that the lock suddenly started to operate. The remote then operated the gates once in the lock.

It struck me that in England a lock is the end of our journey, usually complete with the friendly face of a lock keeper and the promise of a meal and a beer afterwards, where as in France, the locks are largely deserted, and very violent!

The next lock seemed to cycle and we had red/green on our approach which soon changed to green. In we went only to find that we couldn't get the lock to cycle. Another tricky phonecall and we were told that a man was coming. By this time we had lost so much time I couldn't see us making the deep water halte before the locks stopped working. I spoke with the lock guy and he kindly said he would follow us and open all the locks until we got somewhere with a suitable mooring. We quickly put some beers in the fridge to repay his kindness as I'm sure he was supposed to be going home much earlier than he eventually left us.

So tonights halte is in the middle of nowhere but has showers, toilets and a beautiful sunset. The kids loved scooting down the track and generally having fun.

Day 51: 02/08/2017 Lights in Chalons

Last day in Chalons  before moving onwards and south. Esmé made her first lapbook, a popular homeschool method of working on a project. Hers was a French one which was pretty much downloaded from Twinkl. She really enjoyed cutting, sticking and colouring and we will continue this tomorrow. AJ again did a lot of reading, and his favourite Big Numbers app on the iPad as well as helping Patrick out with some jobs.

Esmé and I went out to top up our shopping as the next leg is fairly remote and also not all the stops are accessible to us as some are quite shallow. That just left washing clothes and us to do as well as topping up the water tanks as opportunities to fill up are a bit scarce on the next leg. We'd forgotten to get the tokens for the washing machine in the morning so needed to wait until the Captainaire got back at 4pm before doing the washing so we had a lazy afternoon watching and I made a start on making some fly nets for the boat.

Leftover curry for tea with home made flatbreads... a favourite of ours made with 350g yoghurt, 350g flour and 1tsp baking powder.

Then for our last night I took the kids out at about 10pm to hunt for the famous lumiers of Chalons. We walked to the tourist information office where little boats charged crazy amounts of money for a lit tour of the city, and tried to work out where the lights were. In the end the rather drunken group of men I had been trying to keep the kids away from actually came over to help us and tell us which way to walk. It struck me that I am too quick to judge. They were really friendly and despite their English being far worse than my French, they were really keen to help us.

Anyway the lights were actually projections on buildings, along with lanterns along the waterway. I'm sure the boat ride would have been quite magical, but we enjoyed looking at the moving images on the old buildings, and the kids are learning lessons about budgeting.

Day 49 & 50: 31/7/17 & 01/08/17 Pausing in Chalons

Not too much to say about the last couple of days. We're enjoying the forced slow down due to canal closures further down our route, spending time catching up on some jobs. Yesterday the kids enjoyed making friends with kids on the German boat behind us. Lego seems a common language! Then later all 4 kids went off to the park, 2-way radio in hand. It felt a bit strange having a break from them. 24/7 with the kids is one of the things I was both looking forward to, and concerned about. With no babysitters on hand it is a rare moment when they aren't within 10 metres of us and when they are away from the boat it is a very strange calm.

We've eased off the boatschool a little. We are still trying to do Maths, Reading and Writing with Esmé in a reasonably formal way, however with AJ we are backing right off and trying to reduce the pressure. I don't think he has a very good relationship with learning right now (he was struggling at school) and this is something I want to improve. I would rather take our time and try to get him enthusiastic about learning than battle with him each day, although he does need some structure so we have come up with a plan. In order to earn his iPad time each day he needs to do 2 hours work, but he can choose if this is school work or helping dad. Yesterday he spent the morning working with Patrick to measure and mark up our new anchor chain. He had to devise a code to mark each 5m interval with different coloured cable ties, and today he produced a reminder card on the computer that we can refer to when we forget the code!

He's also been reading a LOT which is fantastic, and I've made a deal with him that I will get him the new book he wants on kindle when he's written a book review in the reading diary I bought him. We also spent a lot of time taking advantage of the free wifi and 230V electrics by downloading and printing activities for the kids to do over the next few days.

The kids are getting lots more confident about approaching French kids and headed down to the park to play today without needing me to support them making friends. This is a big achievement as far as I'm concerned. We meet all sorts of people on this journey, most with a considerably larger budget than us but we all have boats in common. Nobody comes alongside here without a couple of people jumping off boats to catch their lines, even if it is pouring with rain.....

.... speaking of which we had a massive rain, thunder, hail storm last night which lasted for hours. For the first time in ages we had leaks! Not impressed as one was above my bunk coming from our new hatch. Hopefully todays tweaks will have cured it!

Anyway, more learning and jobs tomorrow, hopefully followed by a late night walk to see some special lights in town. Not sure what it's all about but hopefully will find out tomorrow!