Verdun

The Pontoon Bridge at Dun-sur-Meuse is located in the middle of a nature area where people fish, cycle, run or hike.

As usual, we were the only boat by the bridge. 

After a couple of hours there was sudden activity in the sluice a few hundred meters from where we were. When the gates went up a boat appeared. It sailed slowly out of the chamber and breathed the space behind us. The hedge flag was red and white. Another Swiss flag. But when the wind stretched it all out, we saw it was Dannebrog. 

Finally the company of another boat and then bought a Danish.

The boat belonged to Kurt and Bente. They had lived in Switzerland for over 30 years, retired 5 years ago and now use the boat as a residence. The boat, a 28 meter long river boat, weighed 90 tons and was built for them in 2006. The tasteful and functional accommodation they had provided. It had taken them 6 years, but then it also appeared as 'state of the art'. They sail from April to October and also offer full-service tourist cruises.

The next day it was time to try the manual locks. The day before, we had called VNF and agreed departure at. 11 with destination Verdun.

When we approached the first sluice we were excited about whether the VNF could French (that's ours) good enough to understand that we had a deal. 

No problems here.

Because when we reached the lock, a man from VNF introduced himself to us as our 'eclusier'. He waved us into the empty lock chamber, received our moorings and adjusted the lock gates by turning the handles. When we were locked up we sailed out of the chamber and said 'au revoir' to our 'eclusier'. He then drove to the next lock. When we got there, the chamber was already open and we sailed in.

Easy, fast and luxury to have your own 'eclusier'

It had finally gotten hot. Great to sail in light summer clothes and do without the thick sweaters, socks, rubber boots and oil clothes. The scenery was incredibly beautiful. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Cows, horses, trees, forest and yellow fields slowly slipped past us. The pure Morten Korch.

Suddenly we saw an animal in the water in front of us. It lay heavily in the water and was about 50 cm long. When it reached the spun wall on the right bank, it dived into the water and quickly disappeared behind. 

Was it a giant rat? A giant bog pig? An otter? A beaver? A mink?

The possibilities were many. We agreed that the animal most of all resembled a mix a rat and an otter. Therefore, we decided (very logically) to assign our zoological discovery the name root.

As we lay firmly moored in the evening at the beautiful pontoon bridge in Verdun, another rudder swam past us quickly towards the stream. In addition to being 50cm long, our rowing is also a really good swimmer.

Dilute cheats

With its fine shops, vibrant café life, numerous and cozy restaurants, parks, monuments, statues, cathedral and museums, Verdun gives the impression of being a big city. But the population is only at 18.000.

The city is especially known for the battle under 1. World War.

It lasted for 300 days. By the end, 50 millions of grenades and mines had been blown up. 700.000 soldiers had lost their lives, were seriously injured or were missing. The front was pretty much the same place.  

We went out to Fort de Douaumont - one of the 40 forts that made up the fortress of Verdun. It is now decorated as a museum. A 45-minute guided tour gave a picture of the misery the soldiers at the fort had lived in. Incidentally, the fort was surprisingly conquered by the Germans and just as surprisingly conquered back by the French a few months later. It was on this occasion that the young captain Charles de Gaulle was captured by the Germans, 

From the fort we went to Ossuarie de Douaumont - cemetery and necropolis for the fallen soldiers. In the cemetery, 16.142 identified soldiers are buried. Each marked with a white cross with the name and day of death. The graves of the Muslim soldiers are marked with grave marks facing Mecca.

In the Nekropole, 160.000 rests with unknown soldiers. The building is large (137 meter long and a tower of 47 meters). This was where Mitterand and Kohl met in 1984 and finally sealed the intercession between the German and French people. 

We returned to the boat late in the afternoon, gloomy for fashion after the glimpse of such a gigantic human-created tragedy.

We spent 4 days in Verdun and got company of the entire 5 other pleasure boats.

The day before departure we called VNF again and asked for permission to sail to Saint Mihiel - 40km and 9 locks further up the river.

- Are you Heron? asked the voice from the VNF. 

- Oui, we answered gaping and got as a receipt a departure time at. 10 with destination Saint Mihiel.

The next morning we left in a cloudy and cold weather Verdun along with a large Belgian motor boat.

They were also heading for the Mediterranean. They had made the trip 3 times before, sailing a couple of hours each day and expected to be promoted for 3 months.

After 18 km and 5 locks, the Belgians stopped the day's sailing while we continued to Saint Mihiel.

Ps Any tips that can lead to clarification of what our roots are for a size are welcome.