A thousand miles in the Rob Roy canoe on rivers and lakes of Europe

Front matter

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Contents

CHAPTEE I.

Page

Canoe Travelling — Other Modes — The Eob Eoy — Hints —

Appendix

Hints for Canoeists — The Rob Roy's Stores — Chart of rocks and currents — The Canoe Club — The Kent — Danger — Exercise —Sun — Odds and ends — Future voyages ... 291

Chapter I

Canoe Travelling — Other Modes— The Bob Boy — Hints — Tourists — The Kivers — The Dress — I and We — The Election.

The object of this book is to describe a new mode of travelling on the Continent, by which new people and things are met with, while healthy exercise is enjoyed, and an interest ever varied with excitement keeps fully alert the energies of the mind.

Some years ago the Water Lily was rowed by four men on the Rhine and on the Danube, and its " log " delighted all readers. Afterwards, the boat Water Witch laboured up French rivers, and through a hundred tedious locks on the Bale canal. But these and other voyages of three or five men in an open boat were necessarily very limited. In the wildest parts of the best rivers the channel is too narrow for oars, or, if wide* it

B

2 THE CANOEIST.

is too shallow for a row-boat ; and the tortuous passages, the rocks and banks, the weeds and snags, the milldams, barriers, fallen trees, rapids, whirlpools, and waterfalls that constantly occur on a river winding among hills, make those very parts where the scenery is wildest and best to be quite unapproachable in an open boat, for it would be swamped by the sharp waves, or upset over the sunken rocks which it is utterly impossible for a steersman to see.

But these very things, which are obstacles or dangers to the " pair oar," become interesting features to the voyager in a covered canoe. For now, as he sits in his little bark, he looks forward, and not backward. He sees all his course, and the scenery besides. With one powerful sweep of his paddle he can instantly turn the canoe, when only a foot distant from fatal destruction. He can steer within an inch in a narrow place, or pass through reeds and weeds, branches and grass; can hoist and lower his sail without changing his seat ; can shove with his paddle when aground, or jump out in good time to prevent a decided smash. He can wade and haul the light craft over shallows, or drag it on dry ground, through fields and hedges, over dykes, barriers, and walls ; can carry it by hand up ladders and stairs, and can transport his boat over high

CANOE TRAVELLING. 3

mountains and broad plains in a cart drawn by a horse, a bullock, or a cow.

Nay, more than this, the covered canoe is far stronger than an open boat, and may be fearlessly dropped headforemost into a deep pool, a lock, or a millrace, and yet, when the breakers are high, in the open sea or in fresh water rapids, they can only wash over the covered deck, while it is always dry within.

Again, the canoe is safer than a rowing-boat, because you sit so low in it, and never require to shift your place or lose hold of the paddle ; while for comfort during long hours, for days and weeks of hard work, it is evidently the best, because you lean all the time against a swinging backboard, and the moment you rest the paddle on your lap you are as much at ease as in an arm-chair; so that, while drifting along with the current or the wind, you can gaze around, and eat or read or chat with the starers on the bank, and yet, in a moment of sudden danger, the hands are at once on the faithful paddle ready for action.

Finally, you can lie at full length in the canoe, with the sail as an awning for the sun, or a shelter for rain, and you can sleep at night under cover of it upturned against a bank, with an opening for air to leeward, and at least as much room for turning in your bed as sufficed for the great Duke

b 2

4 OTHER MODES.

of Wellington ; or, if you are tired of the water for a time, you can leave your boat at an inn — it will not be " eating its head off," like a horse ; or you can send it home or sell it, and take to the road yourself, or sink into the dull old cushions of the " Premiere Classe," and dream you are seeing the world.

'With such advantages, then, and with good weather and good health, the canoe voyage about to be described was truly delightful, and I never enjoyed so much continuous pleasure in any other tour.

But, before this deliberate assertion has weight with intending " canoeists," it may well be asked from one who thus praises the paddle, " Has he travelled in other ways, so as to know their several pleasures ? Has he climbed glaciers and volcanoes, dived into caves and catacombs, trotted in the Norway carriole, ambled on an Arab, and galloped on the Russian steppes ? Does he know the charms of a Nile boat, or a Trinity Eight, or a Yankee steamer, or a sail in the -ZEgean, or a mule in Spain? Has he swung upon a camel, or glided in a sleigh, or trundled in a Rantoone ? ' J

Yes, he has most thoroughly enjoyed these and other modes of locomotion, fast and slow; but the pleasure in the canoe was far better than all.

The weather during the summer was, indeed,

THE ROB ROY. 5

exceptionally good; but then rain would have diminished some of the difficulties, though it might have been a bore to paddle ten hours in a downpour. Two inches more of water in the rivers would have saved many a grounding and wading, while, at worst, the rain could have wetted only the upper man, which a cape can cover ; so, even in bad weather, give me the canoe.

Searle, of Lambeth, soon built, according to my plans, the very boat I wanted.

The Rob Roy was built of oak, and covered fore and aft with cedar. She was made just short enough to go into the German railway waggons ; that is to say, fifteen feet in length, twenty-eight inches broad, nine inches deep, weighing eighty pounds, and drawing three inches of water, with an inch of keel. A paddle seven feet long, with a blade at each end, and a lug sail and jib, were the means of propulsion ; and a pretty blue silk Union Jack was the only ornament.

The elliptic hole in which I sat was fifty-four inches long and twenty broad, with a macintosh cover fastened round the combing and to a button on my breast ; while between my knees was my baggage for three months, in a black bag one foot square and six inches deep.^

* Here it may be well to state that since the fourth edition of this book was published the author had another

6 HINTS.

But, having got this little boat, the difficulty was to find where she could go to, or what rivers were at once feasible to paddle on, and pretty to see.

Inquiries in London as to this had no result. Even the Paris Boat Club knew nothing of French rivers. The best German and Austrian maps were frequently wrong. They shewed villages on the banks which I found were a mile away in a wood, and so were useless to one who had made up his mind (a good resolve) never to leave his boat.

It was soon, therefore, evident that, after quitting the Rhine, this was to be a voyage of discovery. And as I would most gladly have accepted any hints on the matter myself, so I venture to hope that this narrative will lessen the trouble, while it stimulates the desire of the

and better canoe constructed (but with the same name), and in her he voyaged through Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Holstein, and some German waters.

The account of this voyage is given in u The Eob Eoy on the Baltic," (Low and Marston). The recent improvements of the canoe are described in that book ; while the establishment of the Canoe Club, of which the Prince of Wales is Commodore, with about ninety members all using canoes, has quite naturalized the paddler's art in England, and other similar clubs in America have diffused it among our western cousins. A list of the Canoe Club is given in the Appendix.

TOURISTS. 7

numerous travellers who will spend their vacation in a canoe.*

Not that I shall attempt to make a " handbook'' to any of the streams. The man who has a spark of enterprise would turn from a river of which every reach was mapped and its channels all lettered. Fancy the free traveller, equipped for a delicious summer of savage life, quietly submitting to be cramped and tutored by a " Chart of the Upper Mosel," in the style of the following extract copied literally from a Guide-book ; —

(1) " Turn to the r. (right), cross the brook, and ascend by a broad and steep forest track (in 40 min.) to the hamlet of Albersbach, situate in the midst of verdant meadows. In five min. more a cross is reached, where the path to the 1. must be taken; in 10 min. to the r., in the hollow, to the saw mill ; in 10 min. more through the gate to the r. ; in 3 min. the least trodden path to the 1. leading to the Gaschpels Hof ; after J hr. the stony track into the wood must be ascended," &c, &c. — From B 's Rhine, p. 94.

This sort of guide-book is not to be ridiculed. It is useful for some travellers as a ruled copybook is of use to some writers. For first tours it may be needful and pleasant to have all made

* Special hints for those who intend to " canoe it " will usually be given in the footnotes, or in the Appendix.

8 THE RIVERS.

easy, to be carried in steamers or railways like a parcel, to stop at hotels Anglified by the crowd of English guests, and to ride, walk, or drive among people who know already just what you will want to eat, and see, and do.

Year after year it is enough of excitement to some tourists to be shifted in squads from town to town, according to the routine of an excursion ticket. Those who are a little more advanced will venture to devise a tour from the mazy pages of Bradshaw, and with portmanteau and bag, and hat-box and sticks, they find more than enough of judgment and tact is needed when they arrive in a night train, and must fix on an omnibus in a strange town. Safe at last in the bedroom of the hotel, they cannot but exclaim with satisfaction " Well, here we are all right at last!"

But after mountains and caves, churches and galleries, ruins and battle-fields have been pretty well seen, and after tact and fortitude have been educated by experience, the tourist is ready for new lines of travel which might have given him at first more worry than pleasure, and these he will find in deeper searches among the natural scenery and national character of the very countries he has only skimmed before.

The rivers and streams on the Continent are

THE DRESS. 9

scarcely known to the English tourist, and all the beauty and life upon them no one has well seen.

In his Guide-book route, indeed, from town to town, the tourist has crossed this and that stream — has admired a few yards of the water, and has then left it for ever. He is carried again on a noble river by night in a steamboat, or is whisked along its banks in a railway, and, between two tunnels, gets a moment's glimpse at the lovely water, and lo ! it is gone.

But a mine of rich beauty remains there to be explored, and fresh gems of life and character are waiting there to be gathered. These are not mapped and labelled and ticketed in any handbook yet ; and far better so, for the enjoyment of such treasures is enhanced to the best traveller by the energy and pluck required to get at them.

On this new world of waters, then, we are to launch the boat, the man, and his baggage, for we must describe all three,

a Arma virumque canoe."

So what sort of dress did he wear ?

The clothes I took for this tour consisted of a complete suit of grey flannel for use in the boat, and another suit of light but ordinary dress for shore work and Sundays.

The " Norfolk jacket " is a loose frock-coat, like a blouse, with shoulder-straps, and belted at the waist, and garnished by six pocket s. # With this excellent new-fashioned coat, a something in each of its pockets, and a Cambridge straw hat, canvas wading shoes, blue spectacles, a waterproof overcoat, and my spare jib for a sun shawl, there was sure to be a full day's enjoyment in defiance of •rain or sun, deeps or shallows, hunger or ennui.

Four hours' work to begin, and after them three of rest or floating, reading or sailing, and again, a three hours' heavy pull, and then with a swim in the river or a bath at the inn, a change of garments and a pleasant walk, all was made quite fresh again for a lively evening, a hearty dinner, talk, books, pictures, letters, and bed.

Now I foresee that in the description of this tour I shall have to write " I," and the word " me " must be used by me very often indeed ; but having the misfortune to be neither an Emperor, an editor, nor a married man, who can speak in the plural, I cannot help it if I am put down as a bachelor egotist, reserving the " we " for myself and my boat.

The manner of working the double-bladed paddle was easily learned by a few days' practice

* The same suit (made at Meyer and Mortimer's, Conduit Street) went also through the second voyage without a button damaged.

THE ELECTION. 11

on the Thames, and so excellent is the exercise for the muscles of the limbs and body that I have continued it at intervals, even during the winter, when a pretty sharp "look out " must be kept to pilot safely among the red and yellow lights of steamers, barges, embankments, and bridges in an evening's voyage from Putney to Westminster.

All. being ready and the weather very hot at the end of July, when the country had caught the election fever, and M.P/s had run off to scramble for seats, and the lawyers had run after them to thicken the bustle, and the last bullet at Wimbledon had come " thud " on the target, it was time for the Rob Roy to start.

Chapter II. The Staet

The Thames — The Cornwall — Porpoises — A Gale— The Channel — Ostend Canal — The Meuse— Earl of Aberdeen — Holland — TheEhine— The Premier's Son — The Eiver Main — Heron stalking — The Prince of Wales.

The Rob Roy bounded away joyously on the top of the tide through Westminster Bridge, and swiftly shooting the narrow piles at Blackfriars, danced along the waves of the Pool, which looked all golden in the morning sun, but were in fact of veritable pea-soup hue.

A fine breeze at Greenwich enabled me to set the new white sail, and we skimmed along with a cheery hissing sound. At such times the river is a lively scene with steamers and sea-bound ships, bluff little tugs, and big looming barges. I had many a chat with the passing sailors, for it was well to begin this at once, seeing that every day afterwards I was to have talk with, the river folk in English, French, Dutch, German, or else some hotchpotch patois.

BARGEES. 13

The bargee is not a bad fellow if you begin with good humour, but he will beat you at banter. Often they began the colloquy with, " Holloah you two !" or " Any room inside?" or " Got vour life insured, Gov'nor?" but I smiled and nodded to every one, and every one on every river and lake was friendly to me.

Gravesend was to be the port for the night, but Purfleet looked so pretty that we made a tack or two to reconnoitre, and resolved to stop at the very nice hotel on the river, which I beg to recommend.

While lolling about in my boat at anchor in the hot sun a fly stung my hand ; and although it was not remarked at once, the arm speedily swelled, and I had to poultice the hand at night and to go to church next day with a sling, which appendage excited a great deal of comment in the village Sunday-school. This little incident is mentioned because it was the only occasion on which any insect troubled me on the voyage, though several croakers had predicted that in rivers and marshes there would be hundreds of wasps, venomous flies, and gnats, not to mention other residents within doors.

Just as I entered the door of the quiet little church at Purfleet, a very old gentleman about to go in fell down dead in the path. It was

14 H.M.S. CORNWALL.

impossible not to be much impressed with this sudden death as a solemn warning, especially to one in vigorous health.

The " Cornwall " Reformatory School-ship is moored at Purfleet. Some of the boys came ashore for a walk, neatly clad and very well behaved. Captain Burton, who commands this interesting vessel, received me on board very kindly, and the evening service between decks was a sight to remember for ever.

About 100 boys sat in rows along the old frigate's main-deck, with the open ports looking on the river, now reddened by a setting sun, and the cool air pleasantly fanning us. The lads chanted the Psalms to the music of a harmonium, played with excellent feeling and good taste, and the Captain read a suitable portion from some selected book, and then prayer was offered ; and all this was by and for poor vagrant boys, whose claim on society is great indeed if measured by the wrong it has done them in neglect if not in precept, nay, even in example.

Next morning the canoe was lowered down a ladder from the hay-loft, where it had been kept (it had to go up into many far more strange places in subsequent days), and the Cornwall boys bid me a pleasant voyage — a wish most fully realized indeed.

UNDER SAIL. 15

After taking in supplies at Gravesend, I shoved off into the tide, and lit a cigar, and now I felt we had fairly started. Then there began a strange feeling of freedom and novelty which lasted to the end of the tour.

Something like it is felt when you first march off with a knapsack ready to walk to some vague anywhere, or when you start alone in a sailing-boat for a long cruise.

But then in walking you are bounded by every sea and river, and in a common sailing-boat you are bounded by every shallow and shore; whereas, I was in a canoe, which could be paddled or sailed, hauled, or carried over land or water to Rome, if I liked, or to Hong-Kong.

The wind was fair again, and up went my sail. The reaches got wider and the water more salt, but I knew every part of the course, for I had once spent a fortnight about the mouth of the Thames in my pretty little sailing-boat, the Kent, alone, with only a dog, a chart, a compass, and a bachelor's kettle.

The new steamer Alexandra, which plies from London daily, passed me here, its highterraced American decks covered with people, and the crowd gave a fine loud cheer to the Rob Roy, for the newspapers had mentioned its departure. Presently the land seemed to fade

PORPOISES.

away at each, side in pale distance, and the water was more sea than river, till near the Nore we entered a great shoal of porpoises. Often as I have seen these harmless and agile playfellows I had never been so close to them before, and in a boat so small as to be almost disregarded by them, wily though they be. The fcanoe rocked on the waves, and the porpoises frequently came near enough to be struck by my paddle, but I did not wage war, for a flap of a tail would have soon turned me upside down.

After a pleasant sail to Southend and along the beach, the wind changed, and a storm of heavy rain had to be met in its teeth by taking to the paddle, until near Shoeburyness, where I meant to stop a day or two in the camp of the National Artillery Association, which was assembled here for its first Prize shooting.

The Royal Artillery received us Volunteers on this occasion with the greatest kindness, and as they had appropriated the quarters of officers absent on leave for the use of members of the Council of the Association, I was soon comfortably ensconced. The camp, however, in a wet field was moist enough ; but the fine tall fellows who had come from Yorkshire, Somerset, or Aberdeen to handle the 68-pounders, trudged about in the mud with

A NOREASTER. 17

good humour and thick boots, and sang round the camp-fire in a drizzle of rain, and then pounded away at the targets next day, for these were volunteers of the right sort.

As the wind had then risen to a gale it seemed a good opportunity for a thorough trial of the canoe in rough water, so I paddled her to a corner where she would be least injured by being thrown ashore after an upset, and where she would be safe while I might run to change clothes after a swim.

The buoyancy of the boat astonished me, and her stability was. in every way satisfactory. In the midst of the waves I even managed to rig up the mast and sail, and as we had then no baggage on board and so did not mind being perfectly wet through in the experiments, there was nothing left untried, and the confidence then gained for after times was invaluable.

Early next morning we started directly in the teeth of the wind, and paddled against a very heavy sea to Southend, where a nice warm bath was enjoyed while my clothes were getting dried, and then the Rob Roy had its first railway journey in one of the little cars on the Southend pier to the steamboat.

It was amusing to see how much interest and curiosity the canoe excited even on the Thames,

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18 ON A TENDER.

where all kinds of new and old and wonderful boats may be seen. The reasons for this I never exactly made out. Some wondered to see so small a boat at sea, others had never seen a canoe before, the manner of rowing was new to most, and the sail made many smile. The graceful shape of the boat pleased others, the cedar covering and the jaunty flag, and a good many stared at the captain's uniform, and they stared more after they had asked, "Where are you going to?" and were often told, "I really do not know."

From Sheerness to Dover was the route, and the Rob Roy had to be carried on the coals in the engine-tender, with torrents of rain and plenty of hot sparks driven into her by the gale ; but after some delay at a junction the canoe was formally introduced to a baggage-waggon and ticketed like a portmanteau, the first of a series of transits in this way.

The London Chatham and Dover Railway Company took this new kind of " box " as passengers' luggage, so we had nothing to pay, and the steamer to Ostend was equally large-hearted, so I say, " Canoemen, choose this channel."

But before crossing to Belgium we had a day at Dover, where I bought some stuff and had a jib made for the boat by deft and fair fingers, and paddled the Rob Roy on the green,

SAILING ON THE SEA.

Rollers off the Digue.

waves which toss about off the pier-head most delectably. The same performance was repeated on the top of the swell, tumbling and breaking on the " digue "* at Ostend, where, even with little

* At Ostend I found an English gentleman preparing for a voyage on the Danube, for which he was to build a "centre board " boat. Although no doubt a sailing boat could reach the Danube by the Bamberg canal, yet, after four tours on that river from its source as far as Pest, I am convinced that to trust to sailing upon it would entail much tedious delay, useless trouble, and constant anxiety. If the wind is ahead you have all the labour of tacking, and are frequently in slack water near the banks,

c 2

20 ON THE METJSE.

wind, the rollers ran high on a strong ebb tide. Fat bathers wallowed in the shallows, and fair ones, dressed most bizarre, were swimming like ducks. All of these, and the babies squalling hysterically at each dip, were duly admired ; and then we had a quieter run under sail on their wide and straight canal.

With just a little persuasion the railway people consented to put the canoe in the baggage-van, and to charge a franc or two for " extra luggage " to Brussels. Here she was carried on a cart through the town to another station, and in the evening we were at Namur, where the Rob Roy was housed for the night in the landlord's private parlour, resting gracefully upon two chairs.

Two porters carried her through the streets next morning, and we tried a paddle on the Sambre, but very soon turned down stream and smoothly glided to the Meuse.

Glancing water, brilliant sun, a light boat, and a light heart, all your baggage on board, and on a

and often in channels where the only course would be dead to windward. If the wind is aft the danger of " running " is extreme where you have to " broach to " and stop suddenly near a shallow or a barrier. With a strong side wind, indeed, you can sail safely, but this must come from north or south, and the high banks sadly reduce its ieffect.

BARRIERS AND SHALLOWS. 21

fast current, — who would exchange this for any diligence or railway, or steamboat, or horse ?

A pleasant stream was enough to satisfy at this early period of the voyage, for the excitement of rocks and rapids had not yet become a charm. It is good policy, too, that a quiet, easy, respectable sort of river like the Meuse should be taken in the earlier stage of a water tour, when there is novelty enough in being on a river at all. The river-banks one would call tame if seen from shore are altogether new when you open up the vista from the middle of the stream. The picture that is rolled sideways to the common traveller now pours out upon you from the front, ever enlarging from a centre, and in the gentle sway of the stream the landscape seems to swell on this side and on that with new things ever advancing to meet you in succession.

How careful I was at the first shallow ! getting out and wading as I lowered the boat. A month afterwards we would dash over these with a shove here and a stroke there in answer to a hoarse croak of the stones at the bottom grinding against my keel.

And the first barrier — how anxious it made me, to think by what means shall we get over. A man appeared just in time (N.B. — They always do), and twopence made him happy for his share

22 HUY.

of carrying the boat round by land, so I jumped in again as before.

Sailing was easy, too, in a fine wide river, strong and deep, and with a favouring breeze, and when the little steamer passed I drew alongside and got my penny roll and penny glass of ,beer through the porthole, while the wondering passengers smiled, chattered, and then looked grave — for was it not indecorous to laugh at an Englishman evidently mad, poor fellow ?

The voyage was chequered by innumerable little events, all perfectly different from those one meets on shore, and when we came to the forts at Huy and knew the first day's work was done, the persuasion was complete that quite a new order of sensations had been set going.

Next morning the boat was found safe in the coach-house and the sails still drying on the harness-pegs, where we had left them, but the ostler and all his folks were nowhere to be seen. Everybody had gone to join the long funeral procession of a great musician, who lived fifty years at Huy, though we never heard of him before, or of Huy either ; yet you see it is in our Map at page 291.