After Iain & Helen left us we travelled northward, down the Moselle River, from Nancy to Nennig (in Germany). The main towns enroute are Nancy, Pont-a-Mousson, Metz, Thionville, all in France; then crossing over the border there is Schengen (on the Luxembourg side of the river) and then Nennig (on the German side of the river). At Nennig we ended our trip - running short of time.
Pont-a-Mousson (left photo) - Mooring on the river.
Metz (right photo) - In the old part of town.
The Moselle has its share of both industrial and rural landscapes, but the one thing we have been impressed with has been the size of the commercial traffic on the river. I think the largest we've seen has been a 180 metre long 'pusher', but there have been plenty of vessels 110 and 135 metres long.
Industry (left photo) and
Grape vines (right photo) along the river. This area is particularly noted for it's rieslings.
Once you cross over the border and out of France the Moselle becomes the border between Germany and Luxembourg. Consequently, if you walk over the bridge which connects the town of, say, Nennig (in Germany) with the town of Remich (in Luxembourg), you cross over the border mid-bridge.
Luxembourg (left photo) and ...
Germany (right photo) on the Nennig/Remich bridge.
Our return trip was equally enjoyable as we stayed at different places on the return leg. For example, we stayed at the Koenigsmacker Lock; 180 metres long and open all night. Stopping here allowed us to get the boat cleaned up for David and Juliet's imminent arrival. It's in the middle of nowhere and with no boats moored alongside of us, we were able to break out the Karcher and really let loose a mess in getting her clean (if you know what I mean).
We picked up David and Juliet in Thionville, and we are now heading south again toward Nancy.
Oops! It's six o'clock and we are in Pont-a-Mousson and David has promised to take us into town for a pre-dinner drink. Consequently this communication will have to be cut short .... Back soon.
Back again (Saturday August 17th - now in Nancy having had a very enjoyable stop in Liverdun, where we set up the BBQ and had an agreeable evening meal and wine on deck.)
Their cruiser pulled up behind us and, with one officer staying onboard, the other two stepped onto our boat and introduced themselves as the police and informed us that they were doing a check on pleasure boats in the area. They asked us for our papers and proceded to go through a very thorough check of the boat.
Among other things they checked:
Moselle River - at the Koenigsmacker Lock: Thursday 08/08/2013.
Moselle River - Thionville to Pont-a-Mousson: Friday 09/08/2013 to Wednesday 14/08/2013.
Hopefully they will make a record somewhere that we've been checked, and won't be coming aboard again for a while - my 'ticker' might not stand the test again. I'm just very thankful that we completed our TRIWV last year and that in doing so we made sure the boat was fully compliant.
But then again, you think to yourself: "Don't get too complacent Steve; there are so many rules out there that you are never 100% confident that you have covered everything!"
Anyway, we are now safely tucked up in the port at Nancy - very relaxed again.
We have had a meal with David and Juliet at the Excelsior and are booked in for another at a restaurant of David's choosing. Looking forward to that. We have also had a drink or two in Place Stanislas and aboard and visited the Nancy Market (very good also).
I am sad to say that on Sunday David & Juliet will be leaving us, but on the bright side, after they leave, Andy (our nephew) and his friend Katie will be joining us on Monday for a week's cruise, and we are very much looking forward to their visit.
We had a pleasant BBQ here at Liverdun with Juliet and David.
Did some 'frog' spotting there with David!
Andrew (our nephew) & Katie arrive today after a couple of days vacation in Paris. Just leaving to meet them at the station. Looking forward to the week with them.
Back ...
So, given the changes forced upon us, our current plan is as follows:
While with us Andy declared that there were a couple of typically French culinary specialities that he'd like to try, and included on his list were snails and pigeon. I would not be totally honest, if I said to you that Andy ate two quite large pigeons at dinner on Wednesday night, because he didn't actually eat them, he in fact demolished them! ... Never seen anything like it!!
He also did quite well with the snails, eclairs, cheese souffles and beef bourgogne, but sad to say not so well with the Andouillette (chitterling sausages) - making a brave attempt only at tasting a small piece, and then declaring "Dad told me to avoid these."
We had a good week with the two of them - sorry to see them leave on Sunday morning.
We seem never to get tired of the Nancy Light & Sound show ...
Andrew & Katie left today - enroute to Spain for a 'tomato throwing' festival. When they told me where they were going, I thought to myself ... 'Maybe that says something about the Spanish economy', although I'm not exactly sure what. Maybe if the Spanish sold the tonnes of tomatoes used, instead of throwing them at each other...
(I know what you're thinking ... 'the grumpy old bastard! Get over it!', but I just can't help thinking ... 'baby steps, and maybe they'll be out of their economic difficulties!').
After Katie & Andy left, our good friends Catherine & Romuald, and their daughters Valentine & Lorette arrived on schedule from Sampan (near Dole,in the Jura, for those who know the area). Unfortunately they were only able to stay for a couple of days, but on the upside, that's long enough that we were able to do a short cruise with them; from Toul to Liverdun. On previous stays with us we have not managed to get away from the mooring ...
Our plan, once they'd arrived, was to have a good meal in Toul (many thanks to Anthony in "La Table a Victor") and then to leave Toul and head down the canal and out onto the Moselle, eventually arriving at Liverdun. Here I was going to impress Romuald with a 'fair-dinkum' Aussi BBQ. (Plan B was that Romuald would see just how woefully I was managing the whole meal and take it over).
We had a great BBQ'd leg of lamb ... under Plan B.
I'm happy to report that we had quite a bit of help along the route - thanks to the young crew. It was a thoroughly pleasant cruise in good weather.
After Romuald & Catherine left us we spent a couple more days in Liverdun. The weather was OK most of the time, warm and still, but there was no getting away early in the mornings, as the river fog set in until about 10:30am.
We had planned to paint but it was either too damp (courtesy of the fog) or too hot to apply paint to steel, and besides, the following day the place became an Australian 'HQ' when Robin and Ron (from boat Tiara) and Knud and Erica (from Linquenda) arrived within an hour of each other. It then became unthinkable to break out the brushes.
We did however get a little bit of preparation done - between socializing.
NB: Pete and I are still wearing painting clothes in one photograph.
We had a very pleasant couple of days on the river together.
You can click here to go directly to the September 2013 web page ... click here for September 2013
(don't ask.)
Nancy: Monday 19/08/2013.
Toul: Sunday 25/08/2013.
Toul to Liverdun:
Monday 26/08/2013 to Wednesday 28/08/2013.
Liverdun:
Thursday 29/08/2013 to Saturday 31/08/2013.
or here to go back to the July 2013 web page ... click here for July 2013.
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