On the Beach

La plage - Saint Quentin

On a whim we turned our backs on the canal du Nord and headed up the Oise and then onto the canal St Quentin. The canal du Nord is the main waterway to/from the north and carries a lot of commercial traffic. This gives it a slightly fearsome reputation which, I have to say, having travelled the more circuitous route – ignore! Whilst the canal du Nord may have large ships and few interesting places to stop it is a fast (in boating terms) and easy trip. There is a tunnel, of course, but there is also one on the St Quentin. Having traversed both tunnels give me the canal du Nord one any day. More on that later.

Before the opening of the Canal du Nord in 1960s the St Quentin canal was the main freight waterway and in the late 1800s up to 110 barges crossed the summit daily (through that tunnel... I cannot begin to imagine that!). Nowadays, after leaving the Oise and joining the St Quentin proper, there is very little traffic at all. Some days we met only one boat. The St Quentin is certainly a more attractive waterway than the Nord passing through pleasant countryside and some interesting towns and villages. The canal was on the front line of the first World War and so is part of the ‘Poppy Route’ around the battlefields of the Somme.

We spent a few days in St Quentin itself. The well set up port hasn’t had an operator for several years and is completely free – including the electricity. The local boating club keeps the place tidy, there’s a secure entry and there are a few friendly long term residents. It seems a real shame that the place isn’t fully operational. We’ve heard a few people saying they would like to base their boats there.

St Quentin was very badly damaged during WW1 but like many French towns reasonably sensitively reconstructed afterwards. The large, main square is surrounded by elegant buildings and during the summer is filled with tons of sand for a month and turned into a beachside resort. There are pools, fountains, umbrellas and deck chairs. Childrens’activites catering for different age groups are set up in separate areas and parents,some clad in bikinis and bathers, enthusiastically join in. Best of all it’s all free. It is always great to see how the different towns in France provide excellent and free activities for their communities. Well, like all of us, they do complain about their taxes, of course, but at least they can see something tangible for them even if it is just sand. Sadly, for everyone concerned, the weather this August has been fairly dreadful.

From St Quentin we travelled to the fine city of Cambrai via ‘The Tunnel’ - both of which deserve a post of their own.

Waiting in the rain for the Riqueval Tunnel - can things get worse?

Unfortunately, yes.