Picquigny, Long, Abbeville, to Saint Valery 19-23 May 2022 We left Amiens on Thursday morning. From here the river had a strong current and had many sharp turns. There was some respite where there was a canal for the lock, and the occasional straight stretch, but mostly it was quite technical cruising with me on the helm, and Howard at the front looking for shallow depths or obstacles in the water. We thought we did quite a god job of it, although we did slide into the bank a couple of times. Sunset from the lock at Picquigny We were able to get a few photos in quiet stretches of the river on the way to Picquigny. At Picquigny we easily got a mooring just before the lock in a quiet part of the canal. After lunch we had a look around the town, including a cycle up a steep hill to the Collegiate Church and the ruins of the chateau. We also cycled back along the river and I was able to enjoy the lovely scenery, which I couldn’t do as we cruised up as I was concentrating during all the turns. In fact, when I went back and saw how sharp and close together the turns were, I was impressed with my prowess as a helmsman. In the evening Howard got some painting done and I got some photos of the sunset. In the morning we had to go through the Picquigny lock. This lock had three sets of doors all of which closed when we went in. The lock keeper explained to me (in French) that we needed to go down a metre in the first chamber, then move into the second chamber and go down another metre. The second chamber, however had sloping walls and no bollards, so I had to loiter inside the lock – basically try and stay stationary while the water was being pumped out – harder than it sounds. During our cruise it started raining, and, as that section of the river had less turns, Howard decided to wash the boat as we were going along. As we were coming into Long we came across some people swimming in the river. They were accompanied by a small motorboat, and Howard found out that they were pompiers (fire fighters). They kept swimming along the side of the canal even when we were close and alongside. We had been hoping to moor in Long, but the moorings were full so we were instructed to go to the moorings just downstream of town. Unfortunately this mooring was on a very fast flowing stretch of the river, and to cut a long story short, we botched the mooring and ended up with the boat wedged sideways across the full width of the river, with Howard on shore and me on the boat. The bow was pushed into the bank near some rocks and the stern on the opposite side of the river. Luckily it was the rudder not the propeller stuck on the bank. Due to the powerful current we couldn't get the boat off. So the local Somme PCE people arranged for the barrages to be closed which eased the flow somewhat, and then the two of them and Howard pulled the back with our longest rope, while I used the boat engine, and we ended up getting her back to the mooring eventually. We were very grateful and lucky that there was no damage. Our final mooring place After lunch and a rest we headed into town for a look around. It is very picturesque with a chateau, that unfortunately isn't open until July. At the barrage upstream we found the same pompiers (who had been swimming) doing excercises across the waterway. We think they were from some kind of water rescue division. Pompiers appear to have more responsibilities than back in Australia, possibly including search and rescue as well as paramedics. We also got a map with a bike tour through the marais (marsh). Although we missed a large part of it, it was interesting to go along a very narrow bumpy path. We had glimpses of the lakes and of caravans and holiday homes - some little more than a lean-to and other more spacious. The next day was great painting weather so we spent most of our time working on the boat, although I did go into town for the market. It wasn't the normal town market that I expected, it was more of a trash and treasure. One of the main streets in town was blocked off for the event. We finished the day with a lovely meal at the local restaurant overlooking the harbour. View from the restaurant On Sunday we decided to leave early as we knew another boat from the town was also going to Abbeville, but he still had to go through the lock at 9am. We didn't want to have to wait for them to pass, or to have them come up behind us and want to pass on a tricky waterway, so we left at 8am, so that we would be at the next lock at 9am. There was only one lock to pass through, which was also a double lock like Picigny, so we got to Abbeville just after 11am, and were the first boat to moor on the city mooring. The other boat joined us an hour later. In the meantime Howard cycled to Saint Valery, our next stop 16kms away, to check out the moorings, and width of the river for turning around. He came back reporting that there were no places on the public moorings big enough for us, but that he had arranged for us to moor alongside a B&B barge moored down there, the ship is called the "COBRA", lovely people. We went for a ride around Abbeville in the afternoon. We hope to spend a bit more time in Abbeville on our way home, but as Monday looked like it would be rainy all day, we arranged with the Somme PCE to leave for Saint Valery. Unfortunatley they said we couldn't go until 2pm, due to the tide, as that last section of the river is tidal between the maritime lock and the Abbeville lock. So we did work inside in the morning as it was raining pretty solidly. As instructed we set off 10 minutes after the other boat from our mooring, as we were to travel together down the river. We had to wait a little at the lock, and then do a sharp turn back onto the river from the canal, but after that it was a very straight run into St Valery. We did have 4 swivel bridges to go through. The first and last were operated manually and it looked like hard work in the rain for the Somme PCE guys who were following us down. At St Valery we had to go under the last bridge and then turn around and moor against our host boat, which we did very well (especially as there was an audience).
So we have reached the end of the Somme, with only the maritime lock between us and the sea. We are looking forward exploring the area in the next couple of days.
6 Comments
Johanna
23/5/2022 11:11:55 pm
The Sunset from the lock at Picquigny photo is absolutely stunning. A calendar candidate?
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Karen Melchior
24/5/2022 05:13:29 am
Stunning photos and stories, Deb! Good teamwork getting through the fast water, the locks and the bridges. Enjoy your time at the coast.
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Andrea Thomas
24/5/2022 05:31:35 am
That did sound like some challenging times. Just as well you are more experienced cruisers now. It does look so very pretty. Well done both of you.
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PAM KERSHAW
24/5/2022 09:59:42 am
Amazing stuff Deb and Howard. Plenty of challenges too, particularly getting stuck across the river. Before I started reading your blogs, I thought you just cruised down the rivers and canals. Wrong!!
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Paul Honore
24/5/2022 10:28:14 am
Great read, I’ll keep an eye out for future adventures - should you get a screenshot of your planned and actual route, a to date and a future would help us see where you are, I had to look up some of these places!
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Jon Murgatroyd
25/5/2022 09:41:58 am
Wonderful. Thank you for your blog.
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