From City back into the Mountains

Ever since we arrived in Nancy, and especially since we rushed through the Canal du Vosges, I have been longing, with a fervor bordering on desperation, to get into the mountains.  My family, especially Julian will roll their eyes knowing how I am.

We have taken 4 excursions.
The first, a mainly car trip to the Lower Vosges around Waldsheim, although we did go on a circuit to see Grotte de Leon, a large cave in the hills.

A bike ride among forests and suburbs to the South East of Nancy

Finally we made it to the top plateau, to the mast and airfield.

Freewheeling down towards Nancy

River Meurthe

Cycle/foot bridge River Meurthe

A car trip with walk to Liverdun

Liverdun sitting on a curve in the upper Moselle before Meurthe joins it.  No marina but stone quay for a few boats next to camping. A few shops and cafes in lower town. Old upper town, tourist information and walks.

The best, a cycle ride and walking round trip from Northern Vosges La Petite Pierre, (a lively mountain town on a spectacular crag).

You can just make out the Castle at La Petite Pierre which is the Vosges National Park HQ

Slug enjoys a toadstool - on the way up or down - I don't know.

Me looking at Julian with a mixture of humour and exasperation, my usual expression with him, mainly the latter when we are in the wilds!  He's not exactly Ranulph Fiennes!

Nancy: Art Nouveau and Place Stanislas UNESCO World Heritage Site (not Art Nouveau)

The port in Nancy is close to the Centre, about 10 minutes walk from Place Stanislaz.  It's crowded with boats crammed into the pontoons and larger vessels lined alongside 2 or 3 abreast along the quay.  Camper vans are squeezed into a small concrete parking area near the bins and the office.  I think it is a combination of the chilly weather and dull skies that make it all seem dreary. 

In Place Stanislaz all is bustling and bright thanks to the cafes, golden gates and beautifully restored buildings

The public are sometimes allowed up the curved staircase of the Hitel de Ville to view the square from the first floor balcony

Majorelle Villa under scaffold. Oh well not a wasted walk as the Art Nouveau museum is just down the road, (and the sun was shining)

Inside the Art Nouveau museum housed in a villa

Glass vessel

Art Nouveau Museum from the garden

Mausoleum in garden

Part of a ceramic bathroom installation

Jardin Pepiniere at night.  (near port and next to Place Stanislaz) This garden includes a menagerie. A very pleasant and extensive public garden.  Very well cared for and well used.  Also includes a Rose garden.  Still a few roses clinging on despite the cold.

Detail of trellising on Art Nouveau museum

Nancy-Berlin-Nancy

We arrived in Nancy famous for its Art Nouveau facades and Place Stanislas, a magnificent series of buildings (18th century not Art Nouveau), statues and golden gates; a UNESCO world heritage site.  None of this was on my mind as Rachel in Berlin was really very ill with a dreadful cough and chest pains.  We thought she had pneumonia.

After dashing through the Vosges canal due to water shortages, we pressed on as fast as we could to Nancy so that I could get the train to Berlin - or 3 trains to be precise. Sian described it as a 'Holiday within a holiday', but it was only when I arrived to find Rachel a little better that I could relax.

In the end Rachel and I had a lovely 4 days.  We bought a couple of arm chairs from Mawr Park flea market

Having a rest from lugging chairs back to Rachel's flat next to The Wasserturm Prenzlauer Berg Berlin's oldest water tower, completed in 1877 and in use until 1952. The structure was designed by Henry Gill and built by the English Waterworks Company

Non alcoholic drink in Asian restaurant end of Rachel's road

There was an interesting Water tower in her street built by an English company

Rachel in foreground next to 2 other towers on a hill with the Water Tower, now flats in the background

We wandered around Berlin, went to the Fine Art Museum and spent a good deal of time in a German Bread shop/cafe.  We were too busy eating for me to take any photos which was a shame as the bread and pastries were spectacular.

Cathedral opposite Fine Art Museum

Cafe Muse, very chocolatey hot chocolate

Rachel's Road

Canal Du Vogues: a different France

At Corre we began the transition from the open flat plains of the Saone to the foothills of the Vosges.  We have met more Swiss people and seen more things that look Swiss, or at least not French.  The roofs of the houses have flattened again, no more turrets or fancy stonework.

One can see the remnants of a thriving manufacturing industry along the banks of the canal as one passes through the thick forests.  A former tin plate factory near Bains le Bains Manufacture Royale, in business for many hundreds of years in the same family, and now that same family is turning the whole operation into a tourist centre with guided tours.

The lock keepers cottages - most now empty - have been lined on the exposed side with tin plate.  It must be almost continually dark and damp in these woods in winter, the canal winds a narrow path through the trees.

We are now in the 11km pound at the top of the system.  The thick woods have given way to pasture and small villages that are expanding as new build houses testify.  There has been little rain and the water in the pound is low, due to be closed to water traffic and so we've been in an enourmous rush - yesterday 31 locks and 20 km to get to the pound and this morning starting out in thick fog to a 14 lock staircase down to Epinal.

The weather has changed.  Our first week was sunbathing weather, now the mornings are chilly.

The Saone meanders into oblivion.

The sun is rising above the tall trees that line the cramped little marina at Corre, and I'm feeling a little more well disposed towards Corre, after our arrival here in the incessant drizzle of yesterday and finding yet another town utterly devoid of shops and people, with the Intermarche 400 metres down the road. I guess I have to stop moaning about this. Julian and I repeatedly discuss this landscape of empty crumpling old towns with all the infrustructure there, but no one living in them.  We think of Rachel's quip, 'why don't all the refugees in the world come and live here?' So many people without a roof over their heads, and so many empty towns and villages, admittedly a lot with holes in the roof. If only it was that simple!

The public mooring is around the corner just past the first lock of Canal du Vosges, a floating menagerie of crusty old wrecks, but not at all romantic, just old plastic tubs in the main that are not worth paying the overwintering charge in the marina.

This is the end of the navigable Saone.  Over the past day or two, the river has become notably smaller as we have passed tributaries that feed it, and more frequently it winds in a loop through the surrounding countryside and we follow another course through a canalised channel with a lock at the start.  These are the easiest automated locks we have come across.  A simple turn on a plastic tube dangling above the water about 500 metres before the lock, immediately registers with the red light changing to red/green and gates begin to open. Then green as we approach, our signal to go in. (Unless of course we need to wait for a boat to exit the lock).

The landscape has changed from the massive flat river valley of the Saone with the vine covered hills, Cote Maconaise, Cote Challonaise, Cote d'Ore, rising to the East; to more undulating countryside.  It feels in the middle of nowhere, and when one looks to find it on Google maps, it is hard to see as there are no larger towns that pop up to locate this lonely area of the Haute Saone. Cows have changed from Charolais, to a brown and white breed and there are lovely chestnut bay, stocky horses with flaxen manes. Also lots of chestnuts!

A memorable stretch is between Ray sur Saone and Rupt sur Saone where the vestiges of former medieval fortresses can be seen, and we explored the coutryside around here on our bikes, and actually found some cafe/restaurants open - in fact we found one so busy that they could not serve us lunch!

Over the past few days we have seen very few cruising boats, it is the beginning of October, and yesterday, for the first time in 10 days we had rain instead of wall to wall sunshine, and this morning condensation is on the windows, so I have been round wiping them all with a tissue!  Forecast is good for next week, hoping for fine weather at the end of the month when Rachel joins us.