travelingkiwis – Kiwis Do Fly

France and Belgium April/May 2026

We are taking things a little slower and changing things up a bit. A little less housesitting, and a bit more directed towards a wish list. We have talked about a canal boat trip somewhere in Europe for a few years now. About a year ago we booked this bucket-list trip and now finally the day has arrived.

We arrived at Pont-a-bar in the Ardennes region of France where we were introduced to our home-upon-the-water. She is a beauty, 9.3 metres Penichette, 30hp Volvo engine; we will be very comfortable here. The weather is stunning, blue sky and balmy temperatures. We anticipate 21 awesome days ahead of us.

On arrival at Pont-a-Bar the owner was very excited that we had the boat for 3 weeks, not the usual around here. She was also very excited as there was a couple from New Zealand here getting their boat ready for the season. We were introduced. After talking for a bit we realised that they were from Australia. It always amazes me how sometimes people from up this end of the world have absolutely no idea of the geography past the equator. We really enjoyed their company and managed to polish off a couple of drinks onboard our wee home. It was great to get their “local knowledge” of the river Meuse and the area we were planning to travel to as they have been sailing this area for a few years now.

We had a lesson on how to get up and down the locks the next morning, then headed up the Canal des Ardennes – see you in 3 weeks! There is a 3 light system for the locks, green and red sequences which mean different things. Our very first lock solo was 2 red lights. Oh, what was that again? We had to look up our guide to discover it means that the lock is out of service. What a start! So, we turned around and steamed right back past the starting point and the Aussies, and off to the river Meuse instead.

It was a fantastic 3 weeks. We travelled 272 kilometres, navigated locks 62 times and 2 tunnels in both directions. The boat preformed beautifully. We plodded along at around 6 knots. Originally we wanted to do a circuit, ie not go over the same ground twice. We are so glad we took the advice not to, as we would have had to be travelling about 5 hours every day to get around. We travelled down river toward Belgium and turned around at Profondeville. We were able to really take our time and some days we didn’t leave the dock. It was surprising how different things looked from the other direction.

The locks in the French section were small. Enough room for 2 boats of our size at once. The lock was activated by remote control from our boat, this set off the operation sequence which saw us several meters lower on the other side. The lights showed a green and red. This meant that the lock was being prepared. The gates were shut, the chamber needed to fill up with water. Once full, the gates opened and the red light went out leaving only green, we were good to go. Once inside the chamber we loop our bow line onto one of the huge bollards. Careful not to tie off otherwise we would be “hung up” hanging down the wall with no water – not the best seamanship! There is a ladder inside the chamber which is the full depth of the lock. Inside the ladder cavity are 2 poles. Once we were ready, we could push the blue pole up (never touch the red one, we were told, this is for emergencies). The alarm sounds and the gates close behind us. We must let the line out as we descend and the boat, along with the water level drop. Once the water is at the same level as the canal on the other side, the bottom gates open, we release the lines and putt-putt out and carry on our way. Some of the chambers are really deep. The walls are slimy and green. We start to wonder how we are going to navigate back up, where do we tie the ropes? We will have to figure that out when we get there.

Commercial barges take up a lot of space

Once we entered Belgium there was commercial traffic on the river. This meant that the locks had to be a lot bigger. These locks were operated by a lock keeper. I have decided that this is the job for me, I would love to be a lock keeper in Belgium. It would be like being a lighthouse keeper, but not so remote. As you approach these locks you are supposed to use you VHF radio to let them know you have arrived. We don’t have a VFH radio on board. Being such a little boat, often the keepers did not see us coming. We would wait and wait. Often, we had to tie up alongside before the lock and take a walk to the keepers house. They were mostly very friendly and would activate the lock and away we would go.

Going up turned out to be not as hard as we thought. There were tie off points along the walls inside the chamber and you could also tie off on the ladder wrungs. We had to use bow and stern lines in the big locks. Once the gates were closed and the water was released, there was quite a pressure wave coming right at us. As the water filled the chamber, we had to hold the rope tight to keep the boat alongside but let it out at the same time so that the boat could go up with the water. On the very deep locks, we had to do a quick change in the middle of the flood to re-loop the rope up higher as it was now way below the boat.

Blue pole and red pole to activate the gates

We had enough diesel onboard to take us the distance we wanted to go. There was 250 litres of water onboard. We had a book which showed where all the jetties were and where we could get water or tie up and use power – just like a camper van on the water. This was mid-April into May, the summer season had only just begun. This meant that the Capitaine was often not there, so, free to stay – but, no power or water. We managed well with no power, we had plenty of battery power and gas for cooking, but water was a bit of a problem. There were a couple of days where we ran out and had to use bottled water.

The boat was well thought out and well provisioned. There was everything you could need in the galley. 2 burner gas cooker and a gas oven. Fridge, coffee filters, cork screw – yes they still have corks in their wine bottles in this part of the world! All crockery and cutlery, pots and oven dishes. We cooked most nights and created amazing meals. Confit of duck one night! Safe as to say, we did not miss out on anything! We visited the patisseries most mornings when there was one and ate the best bread and pastries in the world, paired with the most delicious cheese.

There were some very beautiful villages along the way. We stopped for a few days at some places that we particularly liked. The countryside changed quite a bit from start to finish. Beautiful green fields and wide-open spaces to sheer cliffs and sharp jagged points. So many bridges, everything from motorway traffic and trains to small foot bridges. It is a very pretty part of the world.

We had a fabulous 3 weeks. This was a bucket list item and it did not disappoint. The weather was fantastic for the first week then the temperature plummeted. We were very glad we had brought warm clothes and rain coats. It came good again by the time we finished. 3 weeks you are sure to get all weather eh!

PS Our friend Wayne in New Zealand was curious about her name and discovered that it translates to “gorse”

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Canal boat named AJONC with yellow flowering plants on top, two dogs at the front, and a woman steering from the back.

Engen, Germany November 2023

It is November and here we are back in Europe. It has been 4 years since we were here last, and we have been really looking forward to coming back. Sadly, it is Autumn (Fall) and will be full on winter soon, but we love Europe and how cold can it really get? (remember I said that!)

We are met at Zurich airport by our lovely homeowner and accompanied through the three-change train journey up to and into the village of Engen in Germany. It is a sunny day, so everything looks so pretty as we make our way through into the German country side.

The two dogs we will be looking after are shy to start with but soon come round and are so lovely. We have not had anything to do with Sighthounds before and found these two to have such gentle natures and are so loving . It did not take long for us both to fall in love.

The village of Engen is small, only 10,000 population. We were staying in the “Old Town”, very cute and very old. A High Street with a beautiful church and a castle. It is said to be one of the best preserved medieval urban ensembles in Southern Germany. Our house was toasty and warm, built right under the castle. With only one external wall, it was as if the house had been sculptured and pressed into a mound of clay that hardened into the bedrock that was the castle’s foundation. The house was 4 levels high, and the walls were near enough half a metre think. Shutters on the windows, door opening right onto the street, so pretty.

The dogs were gorgeous! Such elegant faces and long legs. It was fascinating watching them sit and curl up with those long legs, they seemed to fold up like a builder’s measuring tape. We walked with them 3 or 4 times each day, there was so much beautiful countryside to explore. It was not very warm so the doggies had coats to wear if it was below 10°C, – they only went without their coats once! The colours were beautiful as the leaves had changed and were falling, we expected that all the leaves would be gone by the time we left.

I really admire people who speak multiple languages. We can only speak English but can usually get away with being understood with various hand gestures and of course “Google Translate” We love the challenge of being understood, but this one takes the cake. Our gorgeous neighbour, Maria, has lived in that same house for sixty years. She is originally from Italy and is so lovely. She would knock knock on our window and bring us espresso – Italian espresso that she had made, or a bottle of Italian Rosé. We would sit and have a conversation. We don’t speak German or Italian, she does not speak English and prefers not to speak German. So we manage with a bit of everything – a bit of Spanish even comes out. So funny! the laughs we had over that Italian Rosé, unforgettable moments we will never forget.

I had researched the weather in Engen before we got there and was told (by Google – so must be true!) to expect 4 snow days in November and that the average high would be 7°C and low of 1°C. I would love to see the snow! We do get snow in New Zealand but not, generally, in the North Island where we are from, unless you go up the mountains to ski. It was starting to get colder and colder; my app was starting to show the snow icon and the lows were getting lower and lower as the weeks went by. I could not believe what I was seeing when it predicted -13°C.

One night it said it would snow at 11pm. We went to put the light out at 11:15 and as a joke I said to Chris “is it snowing yet?” He looked out the window and we could hardly believe what we were seeing! It was snowing! OMG it was actually snowing!

Our house with the blue shutters, tucked in under the castle

In the morning there was a dusting of snow and that was the beginning. It carried on snowing and snowing and snowing, the trees, the fences, the cars, the roads, getting whiter and whiter and whiter. The sky was quite grey to start with but the dogs loved being out in the snow, we double coated them as it was quite wet. Then the sun came out and the whole place became a fairy tale, like a scene from a Christmas card, it was so pretty with the blue sky making all the white sparkle. It was such a treat to be here in these conditions, everything I had hoped for.

Just had to have a go at making a snowman with Helen, Reinhard and Olivia

Sunday, the day before we leave. It has been snowing heavily for days but the sun is now shining and the sky is a brilliant blue. We have met Helen, who is from New Zealand, we all decide to go build a snowman. The snow is as soft as silk and so dry that our snowman turns out a little unconventional. Reinhard pulls a few beers out of a basket in the trunk to celebrate our fabulous snowman making skills! What goes with Beer? Sausages! Well, this IS Germany, Right? but it is Sunday! everything is closed. So we just “pop” over to Switzerland to the supermarket – Switzerland is NOT closed! This is the most bizarre concept for us, to be able to just pop over to another country to buy sausages! But we did, and we had sausages and more beer back at their house. The sausages were even cooked on a BBQ, after the BBQ was dig out of the snow! What a fantastic day!

The snow was unusually heavy for this time of the year and on our day of departure the trains on the route we needed to take to Zurich airport were not running as snow laden trees had fallen across the tracks and damaged the electrics. They had put on a replacement bus from our first train-change to a destination we could use to pick up a train to connect with the one to the airport. We had to take a taxi from the house as we could not wheel our bags through the snow. We were so thankful that out awesome homeowner came with us and we decided to take the taxi all the way to the bus pick up point. Thank goodness he was with us; we don’t think we would have found the place on our own. Then we waited and waited. The bus finally turned up and we are looking at our watches thinking “ok we will still make it”

BUT…The bus driver would not let us on the bus. A whole line of people standing in the snow outside the bus while he reclined his seat, crossed his arms across his chest and closed his eyes!

20 minutes later he let us all on and we were heading out of town. Will we make it? The bus seemed to go the long way, cross-country through narrow streets and we really are thinking we will not make it. We had three options once we got to Schaffhausen, and as time marched on, each option became an impossibility. Then we stopped, about 5 minutes ahead of what my google maps was telling me. We ran to find the train that was our “if all else fails” option for getting to the airport on time. Made it! But we did ask two different people if this was the right train to the airport, it wasn’t showing as a stop on the screen and we didn’t trust that we wouldn’t end up on a train going in the opposite direction. Anyway, all’s well that ends well, we made it and got to the airport in time!

Looking back, our trip to Engen was wonderful, beautiful pets, wonderful people, cute village and the prettiest snow covered landscape I have ever seen – a bit of stress getting out of there – but hey! thats what travel is all about – expect the unexpected!

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Ajonc – The Little Canal Boat In France

France and Belgium April/May 2026

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Be Careful What You Wish For

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