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).