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| 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
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| 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
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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
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| 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
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| 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
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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
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| Clouds starting to build up |
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Windlass in place with guard that stops it
coming off while winding. Lock 14 Motte |
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| Moored at Decize |
and roasting hot. Mike went off on
the moped to collect the car from Pierrefitte.
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