Saturday 21st April 2018 Pont Tremblant to Fontenoy-le-Chateau 13.5kms 14 locks

Above lock 23 Usine de Thunimont

5.9ºC Sunny and hot with a little breeze. The Dutchman must have walked back to the zapper post as he untied his boat at 9am and went straight into the lock. We did likewise at 9.35am. Still lots of fishermen about. All the pounds between locks were about a kilometre in length, getting longer just before we stopped. Down lock 21 Pont-Tremblant. The house by the lock was lived in with several cars parked outside. Into the forest, trees starting to turn green with new leaf. Lock 22 Thunimont  still had a house, but

Old factory at lock 23 Usine de Thunimont

no one had lived in it for years. The old factories were still standing at 23 Usine de Thunimont, most of the windows now looked smashed. The lock house was bricked up. Below the lock there is a swingbridge, operated by a VNF man in a cabin. More rocks had been placed along the canal banks towards lock 24 Harsault to prevent errosion. 24’s lock house was rather posh. A large cruiser was moored at the picnic area above lock 25 La Colosse, the skipper very kindly zapped the post for us which was close to his boat. 25 had no house. Down 26 Forge

Swingbridge at Thunimont

Quenot and 27 Basse Pommier, both had decent but empty houses. No house at all at 28 Basse Jean Melin, the lock had been refurbished, good concrete walls and metal edging. A group of very smart houses close to the little town of Bains-les-Bains occupied the canalside above lock 29 Pont de Coney, another empty lock house. The bottom end lock gates on 29 didn’t open fully – weed and twigs behind one of them – soon after we left the chamber the second red light came on – another one to fix for the VNF. Lock 30 Montroche’s poor house

Swingbridge at Thunimont

was bricked up – not worth saving? There was a strong smell of hot pine resin as we went through the forest to lock 31 Manufacture de Bains, another empty house. Through a stone lined cutting with high walls round sharp bends (péniches must have loved this section) another old derelict factory was atop the end of the wall. A spider with bright green legs came to visit Mike – he put it on the lockside at 32 Gurupt – which had a lived in VNF house with extensive workshops, quiet as it’s Saturday. A car stopped by the lock and a couple walked their dog down the towpath. Lock 33

Swingbridge at Thunimont

La Pipée was by some old mill buildings and it also had an inhabited lock house. The rods were on the opposite side now (our right hand side – they’d been on the left all day) Down the last lock of the day 34 Amont Fontenoy - another lived in lock house with an ancient tractor parked by it. The pound below had new bank protection, huge great rocks almost all the way along the pound into Fontenoy. We winded (to have the side doors on the wet side) and moored opposite the Le Boat hire base – seventeen cruisers waiting to be hired and three moored cruisers. It was 2.45pm. As we tied up the trip boat set off down lock 35.

Above lock 34 Amont de Fontenoy

Moored at Fontenoy le Chateau