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We farewelled the Mellets, left our lovely mooring at Epernay and took to the river. Next stop was Damery, and yes we are still in the champagne district. It was time for a couple of days break from cruising at our next port of Dormans. There are a number of war memorials throughout this region, Read more

The visit to the Mumm cave educated us a little on the history and production of champagne, but now we were travelling into the heart of the area we discovered there was a lot more to learn, other than just drinking it. The other most common abbreviation is CM Coopérative de manipulation. Cooperatives that make Read more

We were now on the Canal de l’Ainse a La Marne which literally means the canal from the Aisne (the river that provides the water for the Canal du Ardenne) to the Marne. It is 58 kms in length and rises to the city of Reims before descending to the Marne valley . Our first Read more

Leaving Charleville-Meziere in our wake, we cruised up the Meuse, turning right into the Canal des Ardennes. This canal was created in 1831 and enlarged to carry larger 38 meter barges in 1846. Although it mainly carries pleasure boats these days, it remains in the national priority network and provides a connection between the valley Read more

Namur is situated a the confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse. Although still in Belgium, having fort our way through the largely industrial regions of Belgium, I now could finally anticipate with excitement our up coming sojourn in France. But one mustn’t discount the the picturesque city of Namur. To the uninformed eye the Read more

There a a few routes that can be taken south from Belgium into France. In 2019 we took the Brussels Charleroi canal and in 2022 we travelled along the Boven Schelde. Alternative routes are the Lys, which is a round about way to get to the Meuse and the Dender. We had hoped to travel Read more

Having survived a chilly Easter in Melbourne we looked forward to our return to Joie de Vivre and hopefully warmer climes. Alas our return didn’t herald the arrival of a balmy spring. One week in and with the exception of one day we have not experienced temperatures north of 10 degrees. Wow that’s cold! So Read more

Before I commence this post Peter insists that I inform you, my audience that if you wish to enlarge the images you just click on them. Okay that the housekeeping finished, now on to the final chapter for this year The trip from Veere to Brugge is a total of about 120kms, and would take Read more

Zeeland is located in the south western part of the Netherlands and as its name suggests is a land of the sea, being made up of islands and estuaries. We travelled through Zeeland on our journey back to our winter port in Brugge. Our first stop on this part of the journey was Oude Beigerland Read more

Leaving Lemmer and Friesland behind us we took the canals, lakes and rivers southwest to Hasselt on the Zwartewater, then to Zwolle before we travelled up the IJssel to Central Holland. On our trip north to Friesland we had stopped off at Kampen on the IJssel and noted then river was only flowing at about Read more