Verdun

Having travelled on the Meuse for many days we decided to take a few days rest in Verdun .Free electricity and water in the city centre were an added bonus. Verdun and the surrounding area has many monuments to long dead Generals and high ranking millitary. The scene of the battlefield was forested in the 1920s and most of it remains so today. The craters from the bombing can still be seen and even today in the areas that have been returned to agriculture unexploded bombs and equipment from the battle continue to be dug up.

Verdun is in the department of Meuse in the region Lorraine . It was the scene of the Treaty of Verdun ( 843 ), which founded the modern Europe. Over the centuries it has been the scene of many battles including the very bloody Battle of Verdun in the First World War which took place from 21 February to 19  December  1916 near Verdun in France , between the French and German armies. Designed by General Erich von Falkenhayn , commander of the German army, according to the version he gave in his memoirs as a battle of attrition to "bleed the French army white" There were more than 714,231 dead, missing or injured, 362,000 French and 337,000 German soldiers, an average 70 000 people for each of the ten months of the Battle  This is the longest and one of the most devastating battles of the First World War and the history of war.

(click to view )

To Corre from Verdun

     Having had a restful few days in Verdun we set out again stopping at Le Croix sur Meuse ,St Mihiel,Commercy,Pagny Sur Meuse and finally to Toul .On the journey into Toul we passed through the Fough tunnel which is 1km long. Toul is a lovely city with a beautiful cathedrial. We spent some days there where we met another Irish couple travelling in the opposite direction. We had at this stage met a lovely English couple who had brought their cruiser from Holland like ourselves.It was nice to meet English speaking people as we didnt meet too many in the journey so far.

We locked out of Toul on Sunday 18th August and joined the River Moselle. We were back with the monster locks again and the large commercial barges!.By Sunday evening we had reached the Canal des Vosges.Unfortunately the first two locks broke down(they operate electronically) and we had to spend the night tied to  tree. Over the next six days we did 90 locks over 109 Km . It was pretty hard going and we were glad to arrive in Corre at the end of the Canal des Vosges and the beginning of the river Soane

The Meuse

The Meuse flows 950Km from the village of Meuse in France to Holland where it divides to a number of branches as it makes its way to the sea. It is known as the Maas in Holland and we first came onto it at Woudrichem where it is known as the Afgedamde Maas . We went from that to the Bergse Maas and left it near Den Bosch to join it again at Maastricht. Since then we have travelled on it and its associated canals for a further 50Km in Holland 130km in Belgium and so far 150km in France . The first 40 km in Belgium is a long industrial estate serviced by monster barges up to 4k Tons. It is extremely dificult for cruisers or private barges to find mooring in this area. The large barges service  to Namur and after that to Givet in France vessels of 2k tonnes ply. Again mooring for private pleasure vessels is scarce.Despite the scarcity of suitable mooring spots the scenery from Namur on is spectacular . From Givet the river flows in a deep valley with towering cliffs .There are tunnels at Ham and  Revin which was a new experience for us . Here and there along the banks you can see evidence of a past war which brings home to you the great horrors that happened here in the past.

We have now reached Verdun a very historic city and scene of great bloodshed in the Great war. We will stay a few days to view the sights and then continue our journey southwards.