Saturday 28th April 2018 Gray to Lamarche-sur- Saône 34.2kms 2 locks

Lock 18 Heuilley

8.1ºC Grey overcast skies, showers (some heavy) and brief glimpses of sun. Set off at 9.30am leaving one DB on the quay, the two cruisers had gone upriver. Mike said the smart houses on the outskirts of Gray facing the river all had elegant outdoor covered swimming pools in their gardens, except one which had a very dilapidated large green wooden shed. A DB went past heading upstream, taking photos of us! Shortly afterwards a Swiss yacht followed him. 8kms of gently winding river bordered with trees, beyond which were empty meadows. Past the riverside

Looking upriver at KP262. Navigation channel is to the left,

village of Mantoche then turned right into the lock cut through flood gates then about a kilometre to lock 17 Apremont, the first of the subsequent locks widened from 5.20m to 8m. Rain started to pour down as we dropped down 2.2m. A cruiser was pirouetting in the weir stream below, looking not best pleased, no idea why.  Brolly up and on downriver on a 15km reach. A pénichette called Flo went past heading uphill at KP268. Shortly after a very large black-hulled cruiser went past. Changed departments from

Old barge abandoned in gare d'eau Heuilley

Haute Saône to Côte d’Or near Cecy as we headed into the forest and a very remote area of the river with no villages or houses for the next 10kms. The river went over two open weirs on our left and we turned right into the canal section leading to Heuilley. Two male swans were intent on a face-off, feathers fluffed up and necks back directly in our path for the bridge over the canal, just swerving out of our way at the last second. The old abandoned barge was still in the gare d’eau (canal layby) so we took more

Junction with the Marne a la Saone canal

photos. Our brolly was up and down as the showers poured then stopped. The last few kilometres of the canal leading to the lock were dead straight. Passed the start of the Marne à le Saône canal (the d’Heuilley canal, now renamed the canal entre Vosges et Bourgogne!) which is closed until the beginning of May – péniches were queuing side by side blocking the canal below the first lock. Into lock 18 Heuilley (the lock was once widened to 8m but had been narrowed again for some reason) and, after a large

Peniches, side by side, waiting for the canal to re-open in May

bumble bee stopped trying to get under the peak of my wet weather cap and I managed to lift the blue rod we dropped down a further 2m. A cyclist stopped on the lockside to watch but didn’t speak. Back on the river. Another 8kms of winding through the forest, past the little town of Pontailler-sur- Saône (nice offline marina and free moorings on a stepped quay) a large cruiser with an even larger French flag flying from its stern went past heading upriver. On past the Poudrerie Nationale, deep in the forest, where they

Quay(no longer used) for the gunpowder factory

still manufacture gunpowder. We moored at the old sand quay in Lamarche-sur-Saône at 3.15pm, still raining and cold, with fishermen at either end of the quay and more than a dozen campervans behind the wharf. Had some late lunch and left setting the satellite dish up until there was a pause in the rain.