Houseboat in the French Ardennes - Day 5 - Revin

13.06.23

After our morning walk to the Boulangerie, we make our way back. It quickly becomes clear that locking upstream is a different story than going down. Where do you secure the ropes on the slippery-gray mud-algae mixture? In the best case, there is a helpful French person at the top who takes the ropes with a hook. However, more often than not, Lara and Jan hold the ropes with the hooks on the ladder while Denis steers. But after the 9 locks today, we can definitely handle it.

Since we know that we have a long distance ahead of us tomorrow (Charleville was recommended to us), we try to go a bit faster today and drive straight to Revin. The sun is really scorching today, and gradually the group retreats inside. Complaints about sunstroke and sunburn can be heard - the energy level was definitely better on previous vacations. However, we pass two tunnels in a row today and enjoy the brief cooling in the form of drops from the ceiling.

Arriving in Revin, it turns out once again that we cannot refuel the water and electricity. But it's our own fault, sleeping in and being late. However, we have coincidentally found the most beautiful mooring of the vacation so far. A peaceful, small harbor with sparkling clean sanitary facilities and palm trees lining the dock. Funny enough, we meet the kiwis from yesterday again, and we also recognize some Dutch people. Apparently, you meet each other again on the Meuse.

We were not quite as thrilled with the local hunting horn group, who kept playing the same 5 tones in the adjacent park over and over again. And that lasted for a good hour. (Did not improve our mood.) After cooking and having dinner on the boat today, we wanted to explore the town, but once again, we had to realize that the French villages here in the north are like ghost towns. Everything closed or for sale - almost like in an apocalypse.

So we spend the evening in the cozy company of just the four of us on our deck. Vicky and Jan stay up until they finally see the Milky Way and count some shooting stars. Today wasn't as bad as we thought it would be at times.