Travels with Forty Roses

Sunday, 10 September 2017

L'Escaut et Le Canal de Saint-Quentin

In my last blog, devoted to the Braderie in Lille, John was concerned that I had not mentioned our summer and our arrival back at the boat. Here goes! We had a busy and brief summer it seems. June 10 to August 20 at the lake was simply too short a time to squeeze in all the people we wanted to see and the things we wished to accomplish. However, given the situation with our visas which expire on September 12, we had to be back earlier or so we (I) thought! To make a complicated and long story very short…we only had to be back a few days before the 12^th. Next year we will know better unless the rules shift again. So, we made an extra and early trip to Toulouse where we are registered. But it was good to be back in that lovely city and enjoy a place we know well for a couple of nights.

On Wednesday the 6^th of September, at a very early hour, as we readied the boat for departure from Wambrechies, who should come sauntering along the quay but Monsieur Chiron, our friend and keeper of the boat this summer. He was there to toss the lines off and wave us goodbye as we turned south down the Deûlemont and began our journey toward Auxerre. Earlier that morning we found a note in a plastic bag taped to our window from Philippe, Valerie and Lucien wishing us Bon Voyage. It gave me a lump in my throat to have Bernard there to say goodbye and receive notes from the lovely little French family for which I dared to cook dinner. The one thing I wish I could go back for is a photo of Bernard. How foolish of me not to take one. He is the kindest man and we hope to go back some day to see him.

Tonight, we are tied up at Honnecourt sur-Escaut in preparation for an interesting day tomorrow. We will traverse the Souterrain de Riqueval, a 5670M tunnel. We are to be towed through in a convoy of boats. The convoy will be rather small as we understand there are only two other boats to go with us. This has been a beautiful trip so far with many locks so we have become experts. Well almost. It is a totally mechanized system. At the beginning of the L'Escaut/Saint-Quentin in Cambrai we were given a remote-control device. At each lock, there is a signal. Simply point the remote to have the lock empty and open and once tied up inside click the remote for the gates to close and the lock to fill. When the gates open off we go to the next. And we have seen only 3 other boats which is rather amazing given the beautiful area.

As we bicycled through the town of Cambrai I was most interested to see that François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, more commonly known as François Fénelon (1651-1715) was a French Roman Catholic Archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. As the Archbishop of Cambrai, he served for many years. During the War of the Spanish Succession, which produced many refugees Fénelon opened his palace to those fleeing the ongoing conflict. His belief was that all wars were civil wars. Humanity was a single society and all wars within it the greatest evil, for he argued that one’s obligation to mankind was always greater than what was owed to one’s country. Oh, for more of this thinking today!

Some of you know I was born and raised near Fenelon Falls in the Kawartha Lakes. Our little town was named after François’s half-brother, Father Fénelon. François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon (1641-1679) was a Sulpician missionary in New France. He was ten years older than his half-brother François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai. Why they shared the same name is difficult to understand and the reason lost in history. They were of different mothers but they were both born at the Château de Fénelon in Sainte-Mondane, Périgord, Aquitaine, in the Dordogne river valley and both were educated at the Séminaire de Saint – Sulpice in Paris. I do wonder if the little community of Cambray close to Fenelon Falls is somehow a derivative of the French Cambrai where Father Fénelon’s half-brother was the Archbishop. Is it not a small and interesting world?

Getting Ready to Depart Wambrechies

Early Morning Departure Down the Deûlèmont Canal

Our Friends Philippe, Valerie, Lucien and Pupè a little French Bulldog.

Philippe is an artist with an Atelier in Lille.

Beautiful Day, Not Much Commercial Traffic on the Deûl

Leaving our First Big Lock since last June..We Made it!

Lovely Old Lockmasters House at Ècluse Thun l'Évêque where we tied up overnight

Our Evening Visitors

Remote Control for Locks

On the Saint-Quentin Canal. All Automated Locks. Man Holding Remote as Usual!

Looks a Tighter Space than it is

My Morning Walk. . .Followed by a Barge!

Meeting Boat and Captain Downstream

Signage

Every Bridge has Beautiful Flower Baskets. Makes a Gray Day Bright.

For Sale at the Marchè

A Multitude of Varieties

Bunnies Too

John said No.

Ducks in a Row

Light Red Wait for Green

Reflections After A Long Eventful Day

Evening Bike Ride

Perfect Evening at Marcoing

Cats Waiting at the Door

Made Some Good Jam out of These

Sunday, 3 September 2017

Braderie de Lille

The history of the Braderie de Lille dates from the Middle Ages. The first written record is from 1127 in accounts by the chronicler Galbert de Bruges. At that time, it was called the Foire de Lille or Franche Foire and it was held in the currently named Place du Général-de-Gaulle formerly the Place du Marché. The name Braderie, or street market, appears for the first time in an ordinance of the Magistrate of Lille in August of 1446. The event held at the end of August allowed foreign merchants to sell their goods in Lille without paying taxes. This included roasting meats and food as well as goods. (Braderie comes from the Flemish word braaden, to roast.) The Braderie, held every year since, has evolved and changed over time but still contains the essential mix of established shop owners and the public selling goods in a happy mash-up of a giant jumble sale.

The Braderie in Numbers!

2.5 million visitors

80 kilometers of stalls for 8000 street traders

34 hours of continuous buying and selling

500 tons of mussels and 30 tons of frites consumed…and due to this fact Lille is attempting to enter the Guinness World Book of Records this weekend for consuming the most mussels in 48 hours.

I doubt there will be a problem!

We took the bus from Wambrechies into the city, about a 15-minute trip, and arrived early around 9AM. Already the streets were bustling with vendors setting up their goods and buyers lined up for bargains. And food! Beignets in every size are a favourite and every bakery had a street stall selling hot coffee and pastries. We walked from 9AM until 5PM when we flopped into bus seats for the trip home. We stopped once for coffee and once for lunch but were in perpetual motion the remainder of the day. Music groups were scattered everywhere in the old city and the Vauban area which had been blocked off entirely from vehicular traffic for safety and security. Despite heavy crowds and slow going in some streets all was a holiday mood with families out in full force. Carts and little wagons and every kind of conveyance that could be pulled or pushed was loaded with purchases. And what an array and choice there was. Some of the photos will show you a few of the oddest items that caught my eye. But we were busy looking too. . . for that one treasure that was someone else’s junk! My mission was finding paper weights but although I saw several none met my criteria for collection. They are highly sought after here and the French are noted for their superb collections. This Braderie draws people from all over and has become one of the most popular annual events in Europe.

But my favourite picture is John getting his Braderie haircut by Justine. Anita in Northbrook is wonderful but John now has a knew favourite, along with the price. He tells me it’s the best haircut ever?

We are happy to be back onboard and almost ready to depart. We shall be sad to leave our compatriots here at the Port de Plaisance. Everyone has been so friendly and helpful. Mr. Bernard Chiron who is a balloonist, or more correctly flies in a Montgolfière. . . has been such a help in watching over the boat while we were home in Canada and in helping us with a myriad of little things. We watch him each evening take up his passengers and fly with the breeze for a couple of hours or in the morning if conditions are right. We have a small airport to the east and acrobatic pilots, balloonists and parachutists are the predominate users. The acrobatic pilots are amazing to watch so we have our own free airshow each evening. DJ and Claudette are moored across from us. DJ, we see but Claudette occasionally as she does not travel by boat. Phillipe, Valerie and little Lucien,who is three, were here for dinner on Thursday. I was rather nervous cooking for a French family but it seems all was good as seconds were requested and bowls swiped clean with Olivier’s delicious bread. Oh, how we shall miss it! We plan to meet Phillipe’s daughter in Paris and will always keep Capitainiere Sylvie’s number on our phone in case we come back this way. It is a delightful little village and marina and we have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now off to move slowly toward Auxerre.