Monday 18th June 2018 Moret to Evry 59.1kms 5 locks

Hotel boat Meanderer in Moret

16.6ºC Overcast, one short light shower of rain, sun out later. Hotel boat Meanderer came up lock 19 as we were getting ready to untie. The skipper off the UK replica barge came to have a chat, they were going the same direction as us and he said we’d probably meet again. Down lock 19 Moret at 8.15am and handed our zapper over to the young lady lock keeper and told her that it was the best system we’d ever come across, the zapper worked from a good distance from each lock and we knew it had worked as there was a flashing orange light. Excellent. 8.45am as we set off on the last bit of the River Loing

Gil on Tigris at Moret

. Many boats were moored, as always, both sides of the river and most of them houseboats. We spotted an old friend, on his peniche called Tigris!, Gil came out for a chat as we passed. 9am we turned left on the Seine heading downriver towards Paris. We followed a 67m long loaded boat called Europa down to lock 2 Champagne. A tug was pushing two pans, plus another tug at the front, going upriver and it was followed by a pushtow pair of péniches with Gracelands at the front. We sat in lock 2 with Europa in front and after a short wait a big boat called Mustang came in. The latter descended the

Gracelands above lock 2 Champagne

2.6m drop ropeless, but the one in front did the usual and sat on one rope with his prop turning. There was a grand melée of boats approaching the lock to go up, Romantica was almost in the lock on our right before we had left it and Magister came in from our left, followed by a couple of empty péniches pushtowed, the rear one called Mexico. An exciting five minutes! Water bouncing every whichway from their wash. 17.5kms to the next lock. Took a photo of Chateau Effondre. Not long after a loaded peniche called Excelsior went past heading upriver followed by

Piling and bashed wall. Lock 2 Champagne

a cruiser. Lots of boats were moored at Valvins. Took photos of some of the mansions lining the road along the river before Samois-sur-Seine and its islands (site of a former lock). At the end of the islands we passed an empty péniche called Sitafil which had a brightly painted green, yellow and orange superstructure. Both banks of the river were lined with houseboats. A ski zone and more posh houses as we went through Chartrettes above lock 3 La Cave. We sat next to the waiting quay while four 55m long empty boats came up lock 3, then we dropped down a further 2.9m with a graveller

Following Europa out of lock 2 Champagne

and loaded péniche Cerriwen. 14.85kms to the next lock. An empty pushtow pair was waiting below. A bit further downriver in Melun another pair of péniches, Kim-Anh and Ja-Dy, were loading very dusty maize, clouds of dust billowing in the air. The island in Melun looks fortified until you look closer and realise it’s a prison. A DB was moored on the island quay. More houseboats on the left bank. A big pusher pair called Neverland went past fast and we bounced through his wash, washing our gunnels. He was followed by a big boat called Freedom with Point-P on the sides (a chain of big builder’s merchants). Two

The old sloping sided lock alongside lock 2

yachts went past with banners draped along their sides saying “End the siege in Gaza” (?) Hotel boat Deborah’s sister ship Raymond was moored on the island. An empty Dutch peniche called Fant went past heading upriver by the railway bridge. Then there were trees both sides of the river and it was quiet, derelict boats – a row of them – were moored on the left. A Pénichette went past going upstream. There was a short light shower of rain, then a wagtail landed on on our

Romantica Magister and Mexico going into lock 2

boarding ladder. It didn’t stay long enough to hunt for spiders like we’ve seen them do in the past – first one for years. An empty péniche and two cruisers came up Vives Eaux lock 4 (which had had a makeover and now sported a designer lock cabin) and then we went down 2.9m on our own. The lock keeper came out and was taking photos of us! Work was going on below on the weir. An empty called Knaff was coming upriver to go into the lock and a bucket dredger was moving across the

Chateau Effondre

face of the lock to the weir. 14kms to the next lock. A little further downriver we passed a cruiser and a DB but the lock gates were closing so they would have to wait. A short way behind them was a pair of very elegant DBs with very large Dutch flags at the rear of each one. A short distance and we passed another Pénichette with a NL flag. At Pont de Ste Assis we passed an empty 85m called Diamond, a 1500 tonner. We met the next empty péniche, called Monegeux, by the island at KP123, followed

Bad TV reception in Chartrettes?

by 65m Mirabeau and a Belgian boat called Nilobstat. We passed a sailing club’s moorings and a fast ski boat was towing a lad on a ski-board who went side to side bumping over the boat’s wash effortlessly. The bank was lined with smart houses, each one had a ski boat moored on the river in front of it. We had a short wait for uphill traffic at lock 7 Coudray. The uphill boat left fast and we had green lights, a gravel barge pushed by a tug went in and, as we started to follow it, a woman came out of the tug’s wheelhouse to tell us there was another boat behind them (we couldn’t see it for trees) and a very well loaded 45m boat called Frantz followed them in and we tagged in behind. Down another 2.9m. A Belgian pusher pair Arsene and Deodate were heading for the lock we’d just left. Not far before we passed an empty 61.5m boat called Henny heading for the lock, followed by a loaded pusher pair called Ram and Capitaine, then a threesome Pueblo and Sam, plus one whose name we couldn’t see. Five minutes later in Corbeille-Essones another empty called Isatis went upriver. The banks had high rise blocks of flats and under the road bridge we passed empty Capricieux followed by a cruiser. By the flats there was a large group of youths, several of

Loading very dusty maize in Melun

whom stripped off to their shorts and were jumping in the river for a swim as Dutch cruiser Daisy went past. We moored on the quay at Evry in front of a big empty boat called Hildalgo, whose hull was being blacked by two workmen in overalls with big long handled brushes. It was 6.30pm. They’d refurbished the moorings by the tennis courts and removed most of the bollards. Later a big boat called Summer arrived to moor in front of us and Mike went out to see if we needed to move to let them have the bollards – nope they had a gadget that fitted the semi-