Tuesday 24th April 2018 Corre to Conflandey 30.5kms 4 locks

Below the lock at Corre on the River Saône

11.2ºC Grey overcast start, sunny and warmer later. No signs of life at the lock at 9.30am so Mike went for a walk down to see the keeper He was in the cabin with a lady VNF operative, but hadn’t put the lock lights on. Untied the boat and went down to lock (still no lights on) gave  the zapper to the keeper and noted that there was a slot cut in the refurbished lock wall with a sealed pipe above it ready for new automatics – so his job’s days as a lock keeper were numbered. Below the lock, upstream on the Saône, Fluvial Loisir had a base where boats

Boats moored at Corre on the Saône

were moored and a few campervans were parked next to water and electricity posts. Out on to the river Saône heading downstream, narrow with lots of bends in its upper reaches. Cattle or sheep grazing the riverside meadows. Mike reckoned the flow on the river was minimal – about 0.8kph. After 2.5kms of river we went into the first canal section at KP404 (distance to Lyon where the Saône joins the Rhône), noting there was no longer any sort of path along the bank. On through single flood gates past the village of Ormoy

Church at Ormoy

which sported two ancient lavoirs (places where women used to wash their laundry before piped water and washing machines were invented) and a church with beautiful Burgudy tiles. Hills in the distance! First river lock 1 Ormoy – twist the hanging pole to activate the automatics, then lift the blue rod as usual. The lock house was shuttered, not lived in. 3.3m lower we set off on the river again. 6.4kms of winding river down to lock 2 Cendrecourt. The sun came out, at last! A cruiser was moored at the landing stage in Cendrecourt. The lock house had been turned into a VNF workshop and there were several cars and VNF vans there. Down another 3.8m and continued downstream, passing the junction with the un-navigable tributary called the Amance. A German cruiser went past heading uphill without a smile or a wave – only the third boat to pass us heading in the opposite direction since we left Condé! Fields of bright yellow colza on both banks. We had lunch on the move. Two moored boats filled the 20m landing stage at Montureux. Into lock 3 Montureux-les-Baulay. House lived in, car parked outside. The lock had walls 2m higher than the water level in the lock – I had to climb the ladder to lift the

Lavoir at Ormoy

rod. Down another 2m and Mike had a little problem – the ball fender by the stern rolled up onto the gunwale and distracted him – then the rope twisted and jammed and in seconds the stern end was suspended, not by much beacause he quickly grabbed a sharp knife from the engine room and cut the rope. We haven’t done a daft thing like that since our first trip down Ronquieres! That time it was my fore end rope and I hadn’t realised that the water level in the tank would change when we

Crumbling house at Ormoy

reached the bottom. He trimmed the rope and re-spliced the loop. Slightly shorter but still serviceable. Made him a cup of tea to get over the shock and I made myself a café latte. Watched a coypu swimming along the river's edge under the overhanging trees keeping pace with us for several minutes before disappearing into a stream. Amazed there was someone else moored at Conflandey above the lock, a masted DB. Just enough of room for us on the end.

Mooring above lock 4 Conflandey

Lock 2 Cendrecourt

Lock 1 Ormoy