Friday 25th May 2018 Abv lk 10 Rosière to Decize 24.9kms 6 locks

Foxgloves

12.1ºC Sunny and very hot, clouds building up in the east from midday. Pins uprooted and ropes back on board ready to get moving at 9.15am. Arrived at lock 10 Rosière at just after 9.30am and a new keeper in a van had the lock ready for us. Down another 2.5m after Mike had unclogged the weed that was in the lever valve for the cooling water for the manifold and gearbox. He asked the keeper what the stuff he’d fetched out was called – desherbage, he said (weed, OK). 4kms to the next

Boats moored at Gannay

lock. Killed the first big cleg (horsefly) of the year – sign it was getting really hot and we’re still in cattle country. We passed a former canal house with a plaque over the door which said Garde, so when we got to lock 11 Gailloux Mike asked the keeper if that was someone who looked after a weir or a feed for the canal, no, it was just someone who looked after the canal (must be the equivalent of a lengthsman on UK canals). Down a further 3.4m and said au’voir to our man in a van as we left. 3.2kns to the next. We

Retaining bar to stop windlass coming off
lock 13 L'Huilier

passed a Locaboat hire boat

heading uphill just before the moorings at Gannay. The boats in the layby were mostly DBs and British. A resident keeper worked lock 12 Vanneaux for us and we were soon on our way again on a long pound of 5.7kms. Gently winding canal with cows grazing on our left and fields of wheat on our right. Passed a cruiser heading uphill, British. There was a young lady lock keeper at 13 L’Huilier, she was winding a touch on the bottom end paddles to make shutting the top end gates a bit easier. Mike hopped off to shut one gate for her and take photos

Gas "gun" bird scarer

of the new catches on the paddles to stop windlasses coming off. It was 12.15pm and we were surprised that she wasn’t having her lunch, no it’s OK she said – no problem. 2.7kms to the next, told her we’d be there in half an hour. In a field on our left there was a bird scarer, a gas bottle with a valve that lets a small amount of gas into a tube, when ignited with a spark plug, goes "BANG" – works well - keeps the crows and pigeons off the newly sown field. A couple on bikes went past on the towpath 

Stork on nest at KP59.5

heading uphill. Glad to see the storks had returned to their nest on a pole at KP59.5 – they’ve been nesting there every year for a long time (they can live over 30 years and we know they were there 16 years ago) and had more chicks in the nest today. Our lady keeper had lock 14 Motte ready for us. Below the lock terns were diving into the canal for fish. 6kms to the next lock. The canal is tree lined for shade but the sun was overhead and it was sweltering in the mid 

Foot-operated catch on lock gate
lock 14 Motte

30’s. Another resident keeper, a young man, at lock 15 Saulx – a beautifully kept house and lockside garden. Told him we were staying in Decize for the weekend so he gave us the phone number for the keeper at 16 Acolin for when we want to set off on Monday. A short distance to the junction with the canal leading down to the Loire and the Nivernais canal at Decize, we went just past the junction and winded to moor by the VNF. There was a resident boat and two hireboats moored further down the canal. It was 2.35pm 

Clouds starting to build up

Windlass in place with guard that stops it
coming off while winding. Lock 14 Motte

Moored at Decize

and roasting hot. Mike went off on the moped to collect the car from Pierrefitte.

Thursday 24th May 2018 Pierrefitte to Abv lk 10 Rosière 24.2kms 6 locks

Abbaye de Sept Fons through the trees

10.1ºC Misty first thing then sunny and hot, blue skies, white clouds building up late afternoon. The Aussie boat that moored behind us overnight (a widebeam made in the UK that they bought in Briare) left at 8.40am heading uphill. Mike managed to stop a VNF man in a van to tell him that we were leaving Pierrefitte, see you at the next lock at 9.30. We set off at 9.15am. The only boat left on the moorings was a smart French cruiser. A short distance to lock 4 Theil. The keeper in a blue van was chatting with the guy who was cutting the towpath grass. We had one gate open for us (they do talk to one another) and he wound the

The PSA foundry at Sept Fons

bottom end paddles – then we spotted that a top end paddle was still open and water was shoving the boat off the wall. Our lock keeper swiftly shut it. 2kms to the next lock, winding through cattle country with trees along both banks as is often the case on this canal. A stork flew over and minutes later an egret. The same keeper worked lock 5 Putay for us, then bid us au’voir as his colleague would be at the next lock. 6.5kms of meandering mud-coloured water to the next. A big project was underway building a new railway bridge alongside the old one across the river Loire,

Lock 8 Beaulon

getting ready to slide the massive structure into place. Would be great to see that done – maybe it will be on TV. Into Diou. Barge Aurigny was moored there, its crew waved – looks like they were preparing to paint their roof. Lots of yellow iris along the canal banks and masses of acacias, lots of its white flowers floating on the canal in big floating mats blown by the wind. Crossed an aqueduct over the river Besbre, straight into lock 6 Besbre. A new man in a VNF van worked the lock for us, dropping 

Boats moored at Beaulon

down 3.2m. Below the lock an arm on the left takes boats into the town of Dompierre-sur-Besbre. On past the PSA foundry (still working, making crankshafts and brake parts) and past the Abbaye de Sept Fons, surrounded by parked coaches. 3.6kms, the last 1.5kms dead straight, to lock 7 Bessais. It was nearly midday so we half expected our keeper to have gone for his lunch, but no the lock was ready for us and he worked it. We left the lock at 12.05pm so he wouldn’t be very late for his dinner. 4.9kms to the next so it should be after l’heure à manger by the time we get there. Mike pointed

The Lighthouse at Garnat

out that we no longer had a metalled cycle piste for a towpath. We could hear the song of a rarely seen bird, golden oriole, in the woods alongside the canal. A new man in a van greeted us at lock 8 Beaulon. He said Ghengis Kahn! How about that, very few people know that Temujin was the name of the famous Mongol warrior – he didn’t know it meant man of iron though! There were four campervans and four boats moored in the basin at Beaulon, still loads of space for more. Not today! 2kms to our last lock of the day and our chatty keeper was there to work lock 9 Clos du May for us. Two boats were moored below the lock in the shade, a small DB and an ex-hireboat with silver reflectors in its windows (we do that when it gets unbearably

Moored in the wilds before lock 10 Rosiere

hot, only 25ºC today with a cool breeze). Took photos of The Lighthouse by the moorings in Garnat-sur-Engievre, now shuttered and empty it used to belong to some English friends Roy and Audrey who had a narrowboat but settled there and converted the old wine warehouse into a large and comfy house. An ex-hireboat was moored (looked permanent) with its bows on the empty pontoon. 5.7kms to the next lock and we’re not going through that until tomorrow so we have loads of choice for a wild mooring. A tractor towing a grass cutting machine was heading in the same direction as us. We stopped short of Rosière lock and tied up using pins on the non-towpath side. Had to spray our ropes and fenders with bug killer as an army of large black ants decided to invade. It was 2.30pm

A golden oriole - not my photo (I wish!)

and typical – we had not seen another boat moving all day - and a large white cruiser went past as Mike was knocking pins in the corners of the piling to tie up. Peace returned after he’d gone and the grass cutter had trundled on towards the next lock. Set up the satellite dish and then looked for French TV (not a good enough signal here – middle of nowhere). 

Friday 18th May 2018 Molinet to Pierrefitte 11.2kms 2 manual locks

Sign board at Molinet

8.3ºC Sunny but still with a cold wind. Fleeces on. Went out in the car at 8.30am to have a look at the next three mooring possibilities, Coulanges, Pierrefitte and Diou. All looked OK and no boats moored on any of them. A boat had gone past, also heading downhill, as we set off in the car. It was 9.45am when we left the quay. The campervans were just starting to move off and the cycle path was already busy. Nice to have the sun out for a change. Past the excellent moorings at Coulanges,

Outnumbered by campervans

we needed to go further to charge the batteries. Mike phoned the VNF man in van who does the next two locks, he said he was at lock 3 and would be at 2 in fifteen minutes. Told him we would be about half an hour. A whole school of ten-year-olds plus teachers on bikes went past, all waving and shouting hello, bonjour, coucou! We could see the lock from about 500m away and there was one boat in the lock and the bottom end gates were still open. Another boat arrived and the keeper closed the gates and wound the paddles to

Leaving the mooring at Molinet

fill the lock. Two very large hire boats emerged and went past and we went into lock 2 Thalène. I put our centre rope around a bollard and Mike closed one gate behind us and wound a paddle for the keeper. A drop of just 2.5m and we were on a 3.2kms pound winding between fields of ever-present Charolais cattle with trees along both banks, with lots of acacias in flower among them. Some of the school kids on bikes went past heading back to wherever they came from. At lock 3 Odde we had two keepers, the previous one and a helper so we were redundant. The younger one gave Mike the phone number to ring when we want to leave Pierrefitte. They opened both bottom

Moored at Pierrefitte before the
hireboats and campervans arrived

end lock gates and set a feed paddle to keep the pound topped up. 3.9kms to the next but we’re not going quite that far today. Past the nicely refurbished restaurant called La Péniche and moored on the long quay at 12.20pm, nicely timed for lunch. Again we had campervans for company, lots of them seem to be keen fishermen. Mike went to recover the car from Molinet. Now we must get ourselves psyched up to start painting the roof and handrails as this is an ideal spot to do it.

Wednesday16th May 2018 Nr Digoin KP0 to Molinet 8.1kms 1 lock

Liftbridge at the feeder from the river Arroux

8.8ºC Grey overcast, cold wind. We set off at 9.45am after fetching in all the pins and ropes. Through the first bridge and we were on a new canal, the Latéral à la Loire. Mike took photos of the Arroux, a feed canal that was once navigable. Factories encroached on the canal once more, smells of cut wood identified the purpose of one building plus stacked wooden pallets and further on there was a yard with piles of ceramic toilets wrapped in plastic, Digoin is famous for its ceramic

New toilets in Digoin

industry. Houses on both banks as we entered the town. The former Recla boat builders’ yard had lots of old Canalous hireboats moored among the old cruisers and barges. Boats were moored both sides of the canal and the Canalous hire base with its newer boats moored on the right, then on the left beyond the road bridge more moored boats, most looked like “dead” boats and a few were inhabited. Over the river Loire, which was flowing fast after all the recent rain, on an aqueduct 241m long. The

Moored boats in Digoin

keeper at lock 1 Digoin was filling the lock for us – it was the same guy as yesterday, still smoking like a chimney. A lady pushing a pushchair stopped to chat. She woke her sleeping grandson to look at the boat, he was completely under impressed – think he just wanted to finish his nap in peace without Grandma telling him about a boat which soon disappeared from sight – the lock was nearly 5m deep. The keeper had given Mike the phone number for the keeper at lock 2 (which he reminded him

Aqueduct over the river Loire

was manually operated) so we could ring him when we wanted to continue as we were stopping at Molinet next day. Below the lock the canal opened out to the size of a small lake for the next 500m or so. Past the turning to the Canal de Roanne à Digoin and on into Molinet. Just past the road bridge there was a working boatyard with lots of old boats moored that had seen better days. A little further was a new quay with a “dead” boat at one end and a couple fishing at the far end. The fisherman asked

Below lock 1 Digoin

if we wanted to moor where he was fishing, no, you’re OK there – we pulled back so we were stern to stern with the dead boat. It was 11.30am. Gave Mike a hand to unload the moped and he went to collect the car from Genelard.

Tuesday 15th May 2018 Genelard to nr Digoin 28.2kms 10 locks

Chateau gatehouse by lock 19 Digoine

11.1ºC Grey skies, damp with a cold wind. Fleeces on and I added a windproof jacket later. Had a chat with the crew of Suzanna and their beagle pup as we were getting ready to move. They’re going the same way as us but then the Nivernais. They were staying another day at Genelard. Set off at 9.50am. Ten minutes to the first lock 17 Montet. Like most of the rest of the locks on this canal the lock house was shuttered and hadn’t been lived in for a long time. Down 2.5m and on to a 4kms pound. Made a cuppa, passing

Black kite

the old pottery kiln in Montet and into Palinges, the winding canal alongside the equally winding road. Down another 2.5m in lock 18 Thiellay. Mike tried taking photos of the birds of prey, lots of them searching the canal and farmer’s fields for anything edible. Mike spotted one dive on a fish by our bows then land in a tree by the towpath to eat it. A man on a quad bike was rounding up some Charolais cattle, but two managed to escape and galloped to the furthest end of the meadow. Down 2.8m in lock

Furthest point south

19 Digoine. There was a lovely gatehouse to some chateau right by the lock. 3.5kms to lock 20 La Gravoine. More buzzards and black kites, some having bother with crows. 2.7kms to lock 21 Haillers which had a smart extended lock house hiding behind a thick hedge and a van parked outside it, down another 2.6m. Lock 22 Volesvres house had been vandalised, shutters and windows smashed. A cycle path appeared on our right, the road had swapped to the left and

Solar heated water

was now the D979. A 5kms long pound. A large parking area had been created for campervans but there were only two parked there. Under a new bypass bridge for the N79 around Paray. A sharp right bend and we were at the point furthest south in our trip, now heading north west. Sandpipers flew in front of the boat. Factories heralded the outskirts of Paray-le-Monial – a famous pilgrimage place for Catholics from all over the world as the cult worship of the Sacred Heart started here. Into lock 7 Hyron, which was worked for us by a VNF man in a van

Hireboat at lock 24

from the small cabin on the lockside using a large yellow control pad. 2.8kms through Paray. Noted the Mr Bricolage DIY shop had closed down, probably relocated. A Canalous hireboat set off from the moorings and was going to force his way in front of us – he didn’t, but as soon as the canal was wide enough he overtook. Mike took a photo of a house roof with solar water heating, not getting much hot water today! There was a cruiser coming uphill in lock 24 Quarres and so our hireboaters were having to wait. We followed them into the chamber and the VNF man (with a

Moored at the end of the canal du Centre

perpetual cigarette on the go) worked the lock and then stood chatting with the hirers who were French. About half a kilometre to lock 25 Mont so we shared the lock with the hireboat and the VNF man worked the lock from the cabin. 3.2kms to the next. The large hireboat set off first and was soon out of sight. Under the new N70 road bridge and there were what looked like derelict (but may not be!) factories, there were cars parked by one so may still be working. Our canal guide said one factory was Eternit (which I looked up and found it was an asbestos factory). When we arrived at lock 26 Bessons the lock was half empty with the hireboat descending in it. They certainly hadn’t been doing the legal maximum speed of 6kph! The keeper turned the lock round, then had trouble with the gates – they opened and then closed again! He rushed round to sort it out in the cabin. All went OK after that. Last lock on the canal du Centre. It was 4.10pm when we left the lock and we tied up a couple of kilometres further towards Digoin at the end of the canal du Centre according to the map, attaching to the piled bank with mooring pins. A British couple from Cornwall came past on bikes and paused to have a natter. We spent the next half hour putting the world to rights. It was nearly 5pm by the time we’d finished tying up. 

Thursday 10th May 2018 Montceau-les-Mines to Genelard 18.4kms 8 locks

Vertical lift footbridge. Montceau

13.3ºC Grey skies and a very cold wind again. Ascension Day today, so a holiday and everything shut except the big supermarkets. Fleeces and jackets on. Warming up and sunny our when we stopped. A cruiser went past heading in the same direction as us at 9.15am. We left at 9.35am hoping we’d given him enough head start. Into Montceau and lock 9 Montceau was nearly full (on the doorstep of a large VNF establishment). A lady with a clipboard came out to take our SSR number and wished us a

Counterbalanced liftbridge. Montceau

pleasant journey. Down nearly 3m and on through the town. We wondered why the excellent pontoon moorings with water and electricity in the centre were totally deserted, not a single boat. Maybe wanting to charge too much? Through the liftbridges, three of them, worked by a keeper in a cabin at the middle one. The first is a modern vertical lift footbridge, the second a conventional counterbalanced bridge and the third a modern hydraulic lifting road deck. The skies were looking much darker but thankfully we had no rain. The D974 road continues to follow the canal (or vice versa).

Hydraulic lifting road deck. Montceau

Past the entrance to the coal basin, a huge area of open water which cries out to be redeveloped as a magnificent marina – maybe one day. Down lock 10 Chavannes with an over abundance of ropes to pull – four, one at each corner! Nice VNF house alongside the lock. A short distance to lock 11 Vernois – its house had been empty for a long time. A longer pound, 4.3kms. Passed a DB with a car on its bow heading uphill. A sandpiper flew along the canal bank. Lock 12 Four also had a house long time

Empty pontoon moorings in Montceau

empty. Lock 13 Azy had flags and steering wheels, all the signs of a former boatman’s house. A Dutch cruiser was just leaving lock 14 Ciry, heading uphill. Another longish pound of 3.3kms. We went past two big seething black balls, shoals of tiny baby catfish, hadn’t seen any of them for years, not been in the right place at the right time. A black kite circled overhead, following us in the hope that we would stir up a fish dinner for him. Lock 15 Civry had a beautifully renovated lock house and a guy came out to

Deep cutting before Genelard lock

chat. It had been turned into a Gîte and the man and his friends were renting it for four days - a long weekend. 2.6kms into Genelard. We passed two electric launches moored at a charging point below the lock. Must be for hire. Through the road bridge and into the deep cutting. Someone had made signs to adorn the walls asking why it was built, I took photos. A keeper was waiting for us at lock 16 Genelard, to ask us the usual questions. We’re staying for the weekend, moving again on Monday – he gave us the phone number to book the manually operated locks. He said not to pull the rope as it links to the

Moored at Genelard

next lock and we’re not going through that yet, so he operated the lock from the cabin for us. Below the lock the canal widens out. There was a large DB flying an American flag on the left bank and a French flagged widebeam on the right. We winded below the lock and moored behind the wide beam. Its French skipper came to chat. Free water and electric here he told us (we’d forgotten).

Wednesday 9th May 2018 Montchanin to Montceau-les-Mines 11 kms 8 locks

Lock 5's bricked up empty house

12.8ºC Breezy, grey clouds, brief sunshine later but wind turning cold. All the other boats left before us except for the narrow DB. Gave them all a good head start (most went in the opposite direction to us), and didn’t set off until Mike had been to ask if it was OK to leave our car on the furniture shop’s car park for a couple of days. No problem. It was 9.45am when we left – a man in a VNF van in the yard alongside asked where we were going, etc. Chilly, we put fleeces on and kept them on all day. A short distance on the last of the

Boats at Jeff's yard in Montchanin

summit pound, past Jeff’s yard – full of boats as always – and on to lock 1 Ocean. There is no sensor or hanging pole so the locks are set by the roving keeper. All the locks closed down, lock lights out, after we’d passed through them so we were the only boat moving and the keeper had programmed them to shut down after we’d left. The keeper arrived at lock 2 Brenots and asked if we’d got a problem – no only just got here – not as fast as the cruisers – OK - then Mike pulled the rope. Lock 3 Farée and we noted how quiet the D974

Linkage for opening and closing gates (lock3)

had become – there is a "new" bypass N70 which takes most of the traffic. Lock 4 Paizenot had a lived in house but the garden was brown, looked like it had been dosed with weedkiller. Beautiful blue meadow sage flowers on the lockside. Below the lock there was an old loading staithe. The lock house at 5 Planche-Calard was derelict. The house had gone altogether at lock 6 Brûlard, just a capped well remained. It took longer than usual for the lock to empty and the gates to open. The pound below was low, the gauge at lock

Meadow sage at lock 3

7 La Roche showed there was 30cm of water missing. The house beside lock 7 was lived in but well fenced off from the lock. Through Blanzy, now stacked out with boats both at the mooring and beyond the road bridge. We paused under the bridge and Mike went to look to see if there was any drinking water – nope, taps turned off, apply at the Mairie. Our last lock was 8 Mireau, also with a lived in house and a well-fenced large garden. A big Liebherr digger was parked right alongside the lock. The lock emptied slowly then the gates took ages to start to open, didn’t open fully and then all the power went off. 1pm. Backed up to the ladder by the top

Old loading staithe near lock 4

end gates and Mike went to call on the intercom – someone answered - it was very loud and unintelligible, Mike told them lock 8 was en panne. It took half an hour for our man in a van to arrive, same one as we spoke to this morning when we set off. Mike asked if he’d come all the way from Montchanin. Yes. It was 1.30pm when we left lock 8 and fifteen minutes later we tied up next to a newly rebuilt Leclerc supermarket. There was a wooden staging about 10m long for floating shoppers, the boat overhung each end. We had some lunch and then went shopping. Useful to have a supermarket right on the doorstep. Mike went searching for some expanding foam in a can to beef up our two remaining fenders which keep getting flattened when the boat leans on them in locks. Filled them with foam and left them on the decking for the foam to cure.

Boats moored at Blanzy

Moored by Leclerc supermarket in Montceau

Tuesday 8th May 2018 St Julien to Montchanin 7.32kms 8 locks

An experimental video of lock 3 Fourneau filling - no time to get back from the blue rope front right to add a rope to the rear floating bollard (the one you can see is the front one, also on the right) before the incoming water pushes the boat left and holds it against the left wall.



7.6ºC Sunny and not quite so hot, nice breeze. A hireboat went past heading downhill around 9am. The cruiser that moored overnight by us also set off around 9am heading uphill, we gave him a head start and set off at 9.50am. The final eight locks to the summit were worked without any problems. Lock 8 Abbaye was a deep one at 5.13m and again like the day before the rope was at the top end and the lock started filling before Mike had backed off to the floater, and so the boat was pushed by the water on to the left hand wall and rose easily, ropeless. Lock 7

Water incoming at Ravin lock 4

Rocher, although only a 2.5m rise did the same as the previous ones with gate paddles – up on the left wall again. Up lock 6 Motte 5.19m and 5 Forge 2.6m with the same effects. Passed the Swedish cruiser we'd seen several times before heading downhill above 5. I had to find a small brolly to get to the rope at lock 4 Ravin without getting drenched as the top end gates and cill were pouring water. Up another 5.18m. Tried doing a video of the water coming in at lock 3 Fourneau as the fountains of water were quite spectacular. A very young VNF man in a car came to chat as we

Below lock 1 Mediterrannee. 

came up another 5.18m in lock 2 Charmois. He said he hadn't seen a narrowboat for three years, he was interested to know about the type of boat and cargoes carried as his canal in earlier days had carried millions of tonnes of coal each year, mined at Montceau-les-Mines. Traffic on this canal must have been impressive. Just one “shallow” lock left to do 1 Mediterrannée, 2.6m lift – Mike shinned up the ladder. The cruiser which set off from St Julien before us was moored above the lock. On to the summit level (about 308m asl) at 11.45am. Through a winding

View down the flight from lk 1

stone lined narrow channel with a bridge carrying the TGV trains, then past the reservoirs on the left bank, higher than the canal (and full of water Mike reported later) with fishermen along its edges. Passed a British widebeam called Lazybones – sure we’d met before - off to the Med. Tied up by the VNF atelier in Montchanin at 12.20pm, just us. Lunch and then at 3pm I gave Mike a hand to get the bike off and he went back to Fragnes to get the car. While he was away I

Painted lock cabin lock 1

got on with the chores, uploaded the photos and had just started on the log when he returned. Two DBs had moored towards the road bridge behind us and as the evening progressed, a cruiser moored behind us and one in front, plus another beyond the road bridge behind us. Quite busy all of a sudden.

Moored by the VNF workshops at Montchanin

Monday 7th May 2018 Les Maranges to St Julien 18kms 15 locks

We didn't believe our eyes when this came round the bend!
Engine and steering at the front or it's going in reverse.

10.5ºC Very hot, sunny. Temperature in the cabin soared to 29ºC. We left the quay at 9.20am. The towpath cycle piste was very busy. The first VNF van went past on the towpath heading uphill. Lock 23 near St Gilles was almost 3m lift. Mike went up the right hand ladder in the gate recess with our centre rope – the blue rope to pull was at the top end on the left. Hotel boat Hirondelle was coming down in lock 22 so we had a short wait while they cleared. Lock 21 near Dennevy had an old lock house with a plate that said it was lock 28. Lock 20 was full with the top end gates open – it had refilled,

A relocating restaurant?

so we assumed something else was coming down. After ten minutes wait Mike walked up to the lock to see what was going on – nothing moving above so he called on the intercom (which was noisy and the voice sounded like a high pitch squawk, he could hardly make out what was being said). A VNF man in a car arrived and reset the lock from the cabin controls. That had taken nearly 50 minutes to sort out. As the previous lock, lock 20’s house said it was lock 27. Mike took photos of the damage done over the years by péniche bows on the bottom end gates. Wonder when the last péniche passed through here? There were a few DBs

Downhill traffic

moored in St Leger and some very dirty old boats at the end of the built up area that looked like they needed some TLC. Not again! Lock 19 was full with the top end gates open. Mike threw a rope around some Armco by the busy D974 road on our right and walked up to the lock. Couldn’t get close to the bank for the remains of the old sloping stone edges that didn’t get removed when the road edge was piled – he had to jump for it! The intercom was distorted, even worse than the previous one – and no one answered it. Time 12.30pm – lunch break. There

Damaged gates lock 21

was a phone number on the lock cabin, Mike had taken a radio with him and told me the number, I rang it – it bleeped three times and hung up! I tried the number we had for the flight up to Chagny, same thing, three bleeps and hung up. The man in the red vest that reset lock 20 for us said that we could only use the intercoms to report a malfunctioning lock, there were no phones (cut backs?) After 1pm Mike tried the intercom again – someone answered but it was too distorted to make out what they were saying. So in desperation Mike tried “ghost

Damaged gates lock 21

boating” – he put his hands over the entrance sensor at the top end pretending to be a downhill boat – then pulled the rope – the gates closed – we might have cracked it! – and then everything went off including the lock lights! Oh well, that might attract the attention of the VNF. A cruiser arrived, followed by the guy in the red vest. Mike was still at the lock so he had a chat with the Irish skipper who told him that he had just been stuck in a lock over lunchtime and it had taken until 1.20pm for the VNF to come and reset it and let him out. He said he didn’t intend coming via the Bourbonaisse route but his boat was too high for the Marne-au Rhin (couldn't pass some of the bridges) and the Marne-à-la-Saône was shut so he had no choice. The man from the lock house came out to chat with guy in a red vest. The cruiser cleared and I took the boat into lock 19. Mike had taken a boat shaft with him so he hooked our centre line and the VNF man pulled the blue rope. It was well after 2pm when we left the lock, another hour and a half wasted. 1.8 kms of canal to the next so time to calm down and stop calling the VNF names. Lock 18 worked OK as did lock 17 in the quaint little village of St Berain-sur-Dheune (we’re following the river valley of the Dheune). Locks 16 and 15 were very

Boats moored at St Leger-sur-Dheune

close together. As the afternoon wore on the road alongside the canal became much busier with lots of motorbikes, sometimes upwards of twenty riding together – the winding road must be a popular weekend run for them. The last two locks had had new gates. Took a photo of the old well next to the dead house at lock 15. On the way to lock 14 we saw the most amazing thing afloat since we left Germany – a floating wooden cabin – a restaurant from Montceau-les-Mines by all accounts – called Que-C-Bon, powered by an engine in a housing at the front end, which was very slow running and noisy. Slowly it chugged past and we took photos. There was an extensive garden centre below 14 and a beautiful house alongside the lock. Lock 13 had no house and I heard the

New gates at lock 16

first crickets of the year – Mike still can’t hear them – he couldn’t when we were in the Midi and they positively shriek. At lock 12 there was a VNF man on the lockside and he yanked the rope for us, while chatting to a young lady in short shorts, with a big grin on his face. For the first time we got flushed off the lock wall by gate paddles being drawn – previously all paddles had been fairly gentle ground paddles. No real problem, just let the rope out and the boat

Plaque at lock 15
showing that it was originally lock 22

eventually came back to the right hand wall. Lock 11 was the first named lock, Villeneuve and again the gate paddles flushed the boat over on to the left hand wall. Lock 10 Chez-le-Roi was a double depth at 5.13m. The blue rope was as usual up by the top end gates so I went on the bow to tug it. Before Mike could reverse all the way back to the floater the water started coming in and shoved us over to the left hand wall where we had to rise ropeless with an audience on the tail end footbridge. Lock 9 Moulin St Julien was also 5.13m deep and it too shoved the boat across to the left. We moored at 5.30pm in the layby at St Julien with one cruiser, one man and his dog sitting out in the shadow cast by his boat. It was stinking hot, over 35ºC outside, at least there was a bit of a cooling breeze.