Sometimes...

...there just isn't a whole lot to write home about. This is one of those times. We are in the charming but noisy port at Bar-le-Duc a couple of weeks earlier than anticipated. We're on the Marne-Rhine canal and there is very little traffic - we see perhaps one of two other boats each day. The weather is fine and we are both well.

Now that we have managed to track down a Waterways Guide for Champagne-Ardenne, we can decide where to go next. We are to meet our friend, Rob, on the 6th of September and he will be "somewhere near Reims". As Reims is the capital of the Champagne region, there is some incentive to see if we can get there, even if it wasn't part of our initial planning. We'll do some study and let you know.

The "high point" of this canal involved negotiating a 4.78km long tunnel at the lowest speed we could possibly manage without losing steerage - it took about 1 hour 20 minutes and wasn't a whole lot of fun. All the information we read or received about it (including some in writing from the VNF that day), suggested that we would be towed through the tunnel by an electric chain tug because there is no ventilation. This didn't happen and we had to follow the chain tug and two other boats through under motor at minimum speed. Because of the chain tug system - whether it is towing or not - there are only two times in the day when you can go through the tunnel in either direction. Because of the lock opening hours, it's impossible to get from the previous port to the tunnel entrance before the morning crossing at 10:30, so the three boat represented all the westward traffic for the day.

Leaving Bar-le-Duc today and heading towards the end of the canal at Vitry-le-Francois. When we get there, we'll need to decide where next.