Thursday 12th April 2018 Naix-aux-Forges to Demange-aux-Eaux 14.3kms 13 locks

Muddy walls in lk 13 St Amand

7.7ºC Hazy cloud to start, soon turning to blue skies, sunshine, but a cold wind. Set off at 9.45am. Up lock 14 La Barboule which had been sitting empty with a green light overnight. The entrance sensor was stubborn, it hadn't "seen" the boat, so Mike had to back out close to the sensor and try again, then it worked. Nice to have dry walls – no sticky gooey mud. Another load of washing on as there is a tap at lock. Out of lock 14 on an aqueduct over the river Mèligny (tributary of the Ornain) 1. 2kms to the next lock. VNF had been doing bank protection work using rocks, with a sacking cover, eco friendly to encourage plant growth, but it looked like work had stopped. Up lock 13 St Amand which was empty. The top end gates didn’t open so Mike gave them a bit of manual persuasion (a little push just to awaken the magnetic reed switch). Our VNF man in a van was checking for weed blocking the gates at lock 12 Charmasson. From here the canal does some interesting sweeping bends and some of the locks have repeater lights when the lock itself is around a blind bend. There was a little old foundry and lots

Marsh marigolds

of casting boxes along the bank before lock 11 Trèveray. Our keeper wearing a red woolly hat (not a diver or a follower of Captain Cousteau – Mike had asked him) was at his control centre. All the locks 1 – 17 can be worked remotely from here (hence lots of empty locks with wet muddy walls) and Mike had a guided tour (again – he did that when we were here last year). No cameras, he said, too expensive. He told Mike to expect an empty péniche, which was coming through the tunnel and he reckoned we’d see it around lock 5. Up locks surrounded by very pleasant scenery, 10 Charbonnières, 9 Petit Forge, 8

Huge mat of dead weed abv lk 5 L'Abbaye

Laneuville, 7 St Joire, 6 Boeval (the wind was a pig here and blew the boat to our right – the rods and ladder were on the left and it was hard work wriggling back to the other side. (A bow thruster would have been useful here) 5 Abbaye de Evaux, 4 Montfort (no signs of the commercial yet) 3 Bois Molu and then two VNF vans went downhill and we spotted empty péniche Burnaout coming out of lock 2 Demange. Our last lock of the day. Bugger it! Mike was fed up of muddy ladders so I lifted the rod and we rose ropeless. The gates stayed shut again – gave them a tiny little nudge

Below lock 4 Montfort

with our bows - that woke the sensor up and the gates opened. A short distance to the pontoon below lock 1 Tombois. It was empty, just us. Moored at 2.55pm

Black kite - lousy photo

Joire village from lk 7 Joire

Bank protection work below lk13 St Amand

Empty peniche Burnaout below lock 2 Demanges