Saturday morning we turned around to retrace our path back up the Moselle to Nancy and the Canal de la Marne au Rhine. On our way down the river we had noticed a sign for a small pontoon in the village of Millery. It was in an arm off the river and around a corner, not really visible from the main channel but we thought we’d give it a try for our stop in between Metz and Nancy. We slowly made our way around the corner and discovered an empty 30 meter pontoon in front of a quaint village; a perfect stop for the night. As we were tying up, a gentleman came down to the pontoon and asked us to make sure we were all the way at the end of the dock because other boats were on their way. “How many?“ Cathy Jo asked in her polite French. “Dix”, said the man. “Comment? (Whaaaat?)” asked Cathy Jo. Yes, he said ten, some big and some small. We were to be part of the first summer outing of the Metz Motorboat Club. Sure enough, about an hour later, the boats turned up and we stacked them along the pontoon.
Shortly after, the pavilion and benches were unpacked and the evening meal prepared. We all shared a drink and the merryment continued.
Sunday morning about nine, the whole raftup unwound, the Club back on their way to Metz, us on our way to Nancy where we arrived a little before 2 pm. Tomorrow it would be off down the canal headed for Strasbourg.
Milling about, waiting for everyone to get
organized for the trip back down the river.
That’s one of those truly memorable events and it sounds like right from the start you were made welcome.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Ian, I just saw this.
DeleteDespite the language barrier a good time was had by all!