France 2023. Day 9. Dun-sur-Meuse to Mouzon.

It rained all night, and it rained again most of the day as we headed towards Mouzon. We ran into another non-functioning lock and had to call a technician who was there within 20 minutes. Just as we got to Mouzon the rain stopped and it turned into a beautiful late afternoon.

Mouzon was at one time the center of felt production, so of course we had to visit the felt museum, which honestly, was pretty fascinating. We did a walk-about around the village and ended the day with a gorgeous sunset.

France 2023, Day 8. We turn around and head back to Dun-sur-Meuse

We have begun our return journey by leaving Verdun and heading downstream now, back through the 9 manually operated locks and some increasingly heavy downpours at times. It’s interesting to return on the same river and see all things you missed behind you on the way upstream.

Some of the heaviest rain so far on this leg of the journey, but it was nice enough to turn into a light drizzle at most of the locks and it quit raining completely just long enough for us to dock for the night back in Dun-sur-Meuse. Time to dry out.

France 2023. Day 7, Verdun and the ghosts of war.

We slept late, then headed up to see the Monument de la Victoire, built in 1926 to honor all of the soldiers who fought at Verdun during WWI.

Next up the hill was the amazing Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Verdun, started in, believe it or not, 457 a.d. A much larger version was begun in 990 a.d. The history just seeps out of this place.

A then we did a walk-around of the Citadel of Verdun. The citadel was built around 1624. From 1890 to 1914, an underground system with a total length of 7 kilometers was built underneath the citadel. This underground system served as headquarters of the French army during the Battle of Verdun. It is absolutely huge. We did not go inside for the tour, but the history is fascinating. Google is your friend on this one.

Skies started to threaten rain again, so we abandoned our plans to try to get up to the Verdun War Memorial and the Douaumont Ossuary outside of town that holds the remains of 130,000 soldiers who died during the battle of Verdun and were not identified. 800,000 perished in the battle of Verdun. It’s impossible to get your head around something like that.

We got back to the boat just as the fat rain drops started falling. Perfect timing for a change.

France 2023. Day 6, Dun-sur-Meuse to Verdun

Today was all about rain and manually operated locks. We left Dun-sur-Meuse right at 9am and the lock wrangler was waiting for us. This was the first of 9 manual locks on the way to Verdun. Each of the lock operators has a series of locks they man. Of course Devany, the engineer, had to help them crank the gates open and closed ;) The lock operators would open a lock for us, then jump in their trucks and meet us at the next lock. I can think of much worse jobs. When it gets busy on the canals in the summer season each lock has its own operator.

We’re seeing more and more evidence of World War I the closer we get to Verdun. Just outside the village of Consenvoye we saw the Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Consenvoye Cimetiere Militaire Allemand 1914-1918, with 11,000 German soldiers buried there.

After cruising for most of the day in light to moderate rain, we arrived in Verdun just before 5pm. Tomorrow will be WWI history. Everything will depend on the weather. It’s raining hard again.

France 2023, Day 5. Ecluse l'alma to Dun-sur-Meuse

An absolutely gorgeous day on the river Meuse that started off early with a blazing sunrise.

We continue to head towards Verdun, but today we’re cruising through rapidly greening farmland and between forested hillsides. We locked through the villages of Pouilly-sur-Meuse and the fairly big city of Stenay, which we’re going to stop at on our way back downriver in a couple of days.

We’re spending the night docked at Dun-sur-Meuse which is a major historical site when it comes to American involvement in WWI. General John Pershing advanced on the German positions here until they finally retreated.

Just now late in the day we’re sitting on the boat in a nice rain storm, and it’s the first time in years that we’ve heard honest-to-goodness thunder, which we just don’t get very often in Anchorage. Come along for todays ride.