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| "Berlin Wall" at lock 5 |
5.6ºC Sunny and hot. Set off at 9.40am. Lock 2 Girancourt was slow to fill. Mike put our sunshade up as
it was already getting hot. A lady walker went past, waving and calling bonjour
as we trundled down to lock 3 Barbonfoing. All pounds were short ones, less than
1k and most of the lock houses had either gone or were empty and dilapidated. Down
lock 4 Launois. There were few cycles passing now, although the towpath was
still metalled. Quiet through the woods except for the birdsong. Lock 5 was the
start of the Void
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| Lock 5 - broken breeze blocks in lock wall |
de Girancourt flight. I think that the wall
next the lock
must have been in danger of falling down so VNF had erected a “Berlin Wall” L-shaped concrete supports. The lock chamber wall had many broken breeze blocks. The first VNF
van of the day went past as we went down lock 6. Mike started timing our passage
through the locks, 14.5 minutes for lock 5, 12.5 minutes for lock 6. A second
man in a van set lock 7 for us, so it was ready when we got there, useful as
the zapper post was on the far side of a wide section. He’d set the next too,
but it had timed out and the gates had just closed so we just had to zap it and
the gates reopened. There was a nice lived in house below lock 8. Lock 9 was
linked to the next three, so no zapping needed. A black kite flew low over the
boat, checking for dead fish, too fast to get a photo. In lock 10 Mike rescued
a toad which was hanging on to the vegetation on the lock wall
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| Toad hanging on to the wall in lock 10 |
as the water
level dropped. I let it go free in the next pound. Our man in a van was working
lock 11 (must be a fault) from the lock cabin. Two large brown centipedes were
running up and down the lock wall as the chamber emptied. Down lock 12 and back
to zapping. Lock 13 Thielouze was empty so we had a short wait. As I lifted the
rod a cyclist stopped to chat, a Swiss man on a two week cycling holiday and a big
fan of narrowboats. Lock 14 Port de Thielouze had two lock houses – a very old
one with no roof and a newer one which was empty. Lock 15 Thillots filled, but
there was no green light, so we reckon it needed a new bulb. Mike was visited briefly
by a brilliant ruby-tailed wasp, a beautiful insect, half bright red, half brilliant blue. Down 16
Melomenil. Mike saw a pine marten watching from the non-towpath side, standing
on its hind legs like a meerkat, again gone to fast for a photo and I missed it. Down 17 Reblangotte
and Mike spotted a new style level sensor so he took some photos. Our man in a
van was chatting with a cyclist at lock 18 Uzemain as I got off with our bags
of rubbish and a ripped up fender, I
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| Very old house at lock 14 Port de Thielouze |
said I’d spotted the VNF bin and he said
they were rare and I agreed with him. Mike picked up a green bug – a shield bug
nymph - once identified he put it back on the grass as the lock emptied. Down
lock 19 Chamois l’Orgueilleux, passing a newly refurbished mooring along the
edge of a “wide” (shallow, so marked with floating bollards) no good for us as it was surrounded by forest, there would be no satellite TV reception there. There had been no phone signals
for quite some distance, which shows how remote the valley is. Down lock
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| Old lock house at lock 14 |
20
Coney (named after the river whose valley we would now follow) As we left lock
20 we noted that the gates didn’t fully open, branch jammed behind one gate. The lights for uphill traffic
had gone to double red "en panne" – broken down – another job for our man in a
van. He was checking the feed from the river below lock 20. Mike told him we
were stopping on the pontoon and moving on in the morning. There were several
families fishing before the port. A Dutch registered cruiser was occupying
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New type of sensor lock 17 Reblangotte. Rubber buffer
instead of a large spring. |
almost half the pontoon at Pont Tremblant, we overhung the end of the pontoon.
The cruiser looked like it had been left for quite a while and was a nuisance really as we usually moor where he was to be able to get the Astra satellite. Never mind,
we have alternatives. Mike put our extension cable out and set up the satellite
dish on the bank. Just after 6pm, lock closing time, a Dutch yacht arrived and tagged on
alongside the Dutch cruiser in front.
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| New type of sensor lock 17 Reblangotte |
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| Two red lights - out of order - lock 20 Coney |
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| Moored on the pontoon at Pont-Tremblant |
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