Wednesday13th June 2018 Montargis to Cepoy 5.82kms 3 locks.

Following a cruiser into lock 36 Buges

12.9ºC Grey overcast, brighter later, much cooler. Set off at 10am as we weren’t going very far. We hadn’t been going very long when we were overtaken by British cruiser, so Mike increased speed to follow it to 35 Langlée where we shared the lock. The lock was automatic, but not fully, so it was worked for us by a lock keeper using a large yellow hand-held control box. Mike told the cruiser’s skipper that we’d heard yesterday that the Seine was a flood and the navigation was closed. We must have passed him yesterday as he said he’d been moored in Montargis and he was on his way to Nemours. Mike asked the keeper if he knew about the floods,

The abandoned canal d'Orléans from lk 36

he didn’t and suggested that we ring the control centre. (Looked online at Vigicrues website and found that there were no floods on the Seine or the Marne, that's a relief!). 400m to the next lock, 36 Buges. A small Dutch sailing boat came up in the automatic lock, then we followed the cruiser round a sharp right hand bend into the chamber, off to our left was the start of the canal d’Orléans which is closed. Told the skipper to carry on and not to wait for us at the next lock as it was 2.2kms away. We slowed down to our usual 5 – 6kph. Took a photo of the house on the unusual angled quay where the canal changed to the Canal du Loing. The cruiser was going down in lock 1 Cépoy,

House on the angled quay

the first lock on the Canal du Loing, when we arrived. The aerials for activating the system are on the lockside cabins, Mike zapped and the lock refilled after the cruiser had cleared the lock. Down 1.8m slowly. The moorings in the small town of Cépoy were filled with live-aboards and dead boats. We moored next to the cycle path (also used frequently by cars) just beyond the last moored boat, knocking four pins in to tie to as there were no bollards and the passing traffic rarely slows down for moored craft. It was 11.50am. We had only just tied up when a VNF van went past, waving. Lunch. Mike looked to see where he could park the car. The area had been "improved" so there were new barriers and no parking signs, so he decided to leave the car at Chatillon another day and he’d

Moored by the towpath at Cepoy

probably move it on to Nemours tomorrow. 

Tuesday 12th June 2018 Chatillon-Coligny to Montargis 25kms 10 locks

Orange lilies growing wild along the canal banks

14.2ºC Sunny after heavy rain the previous evening, clouds gathering later and a few showers of rain. Just us on the moorings still. Set off at 9.40am.  3kms to the first lock. When we were 1km from lock 25 Lepinoy, two cruisers went past, a British one and a Dutch one. A large steel cruiser was moored above the lock. A man in a van worked the manual lock for us. Work was in progress on making the towpath into a cycle piste and the storm weir opposite and inflow from the

Tar sprayer - turning the towpath into a cycle path

river had a coffer dam around it so they could make the tarmac path across it. There were orange lilies growing along the banks, don’t think they are wild, just garden escapees. 2.3kms to lock 26 Montbouy where a young lady worked the lock. A little further on another large hotel boat was moored. A long pound of 8.4kms. Another British steel cruiser went past. 1.5kms from the next lock a Locaboat hire boat went past. The next four locks were automatic,

He will never swallow that!

linked, and the first lock 27 Montambert was activated as we passed through a set of sensors. There were cameras at each lock. I lifted the bar and we dropped down 3.70m (all four locks about the same depth) Lock houses were empty and one had all its windows smashed. Down 28 Chesnoy – a lizard raced down a wall into the grass. A man in a van turned up at lock 29 Moulin de Tours and the guy was very chatty and interested in the boat. He told us that the Seine was currently in flood and was closed – that might cause us a few problems. The water in the next pound was cristal clear but with lots of weeds, our man in a van said that they had stopped putting chemicals in the water. Next pound was back to mud coloured. Down 30 Souffre Douleur – what a name for a lock – suffer pain! Where did that come from? we asked – he had no idea. There were a couple of edible snails on the damp

Stainless steel pipe to put ropes round
in lock 28 Chesnoy

lock walls. Rain poured down as we headed for the next lock on a 1.9kms pound. Lock 31 Sablonières (soap maker) had been part modified, it had manually operated gates (our keeper had asked if we could get through one, yes no problem) but the paddles were operated using a heavy duty yellow control box. Our man in a van phoned to tell the next keeper we were on our way. 2.3kms to lock 32 La Toilerie (linen maker) where a more or less silent keeper worked the manual lock for us and asked if we were continuing, yes. 4.1kms to the next lock. On towards the large town of Montargis with some very posh architect-designed houses along the road alongside the canal. Where we had moored in the past by the maison de retrait (sheltered housing for the elderly) there was now a long line of mostly dead boats, some of which were looking pretty ropy, and a few boats with crews aboard. Lock 33 La Marolle was next to the VNF offices and a man and a young lady (under tuition) came out to work the lock and take registration numbers. The man handed Mike a controller for the automatic locks on the canal du Loing, the next lock was automatic then we’d have to ring the keeper at lock 35 when we set off to tell him were coming. A short distance to lock 34 La

An edible snail in lock 30 Souffre Douleur

Reinette (the frog) which was surrounded by crowds of people, including a bunch with a tour guide who was busy doing his speech. Gongoozlers everywhere. Glad when the lock gates opened and we could continue. More boats were moored below the lock – a very smartly painted blue and white péniche called La Petite Venise which was a restaurant boat. A tripper was heading for the lock we’d just left – with more crowds of gongoozlers. Under a bridge and past the police station where more old péniches and DBs were moored. We carried on towards

Chateau in Montargis

the end of a very long quay along an old railway track, which is used once a week by the silo. Two péniches, having just loaded at the silos, were setting off heading downhill towards Moret. It was 4pm. As we were tying up a town council van arrived and stopped by the boat - two young men got out ready to do some strimming, but one wanted to try his English and Mike and he conversed for a while, he said they each had to cut 10kms of grass a day – that’s a lot of grass. While I was putting stuff away and about to go in the cabin via the side doors, a young blonde lady started talking to me in rapid French – I hadn’t got a clue what she was saying, I lost it after she’d said she was sorry to bother me but.. so I replied in English to say I hadn’t understood, it turned out she was asking me for some drinking water. OK I filled a glass with cold filtered water from the 'fridge and got Mike to hand it to her, she drank it, said thank you and carried on walking. What that was in aid of we have no idea – maybe she was just thirsty? 

Moored in Montargis looking back at town

Moored in Montargis looking away from town at silos

Sunday 10th June 2018 abv 13 Javacière to Chatillon-Coligny 11.6kms 12 locks

Control rods and buttons. Lk 18 St Barbe 

13.9ºC Grey clouds, showers, then sunny again. Mike went to the lock and called on the intercom to get a keeper to set the automatic locks for us. A man in a van arrived and we set off at 9.20am, down lock 13 Javacière, all six locks were around 4m deep - they replaced the Rogny 7-rise staircase that dated from the time of Henri IV – work started to build the canal in 1605 but completion didn’t occur until 1642, the staircases were all replaced by singles in 1893. Our keeper was very chatty and we explained to him

Remains of the Henri IV 7-rise at Rogny

that there was no Internet on the summit pound so we were off to Chatillon. Down another 4m at 14 Racault, pressing a green button on the control panel to set the lock working. Down lock 15 St Joseph – our keeper was dead-heading the roses at the house. There were a lot of concrete bank repairs around lock 16 Chantpinot. Lock 17 Rogny, our man in a van was tending more roses on the lockside. Took photos of the remains of the seven-rise on our way past it to lock 18 St Barbe. The keeper asked if we were stopping at Rogny, no, it’s not raining we’ll carry on to Chatillon. Five minutes later it poured down. There was a Nichols

Wind vane? Lk 22 Briquemault

hirebase in the arm at Rogny and Meanderer, a hotel boat, was moored on the quay plus three DBs.  A pleasant 4.7kms pound to a flight of three at Dammerie.  The keeper had just emptied lock 19 Dammerie so we tied to a short wooden staging above the lock. A 5m wide Dutch cruiser came up and went past, sucking water out from under the boat with his wash – this tightened our centre rope taking a patch of new red paint on the handrails off down to bare steel. The keeper said the last VNF man hadn’t told him we were coming – must have thought we were going to tie up when it

Notice at lk 24 Chatillon asking pleasure boaters to behave!
fat chance of that!

 started raining.  He said we could go in the chamber and he’d be back at 1pm and drove off in his own car leaving his VNF van on the lockside. Back to manually operated locks, Mike closed one gate behind us and we sat in the cabin in the shade (sun now out again). Our man in a van was back at 1pm and we set off down the three locks, each one dropping 3.5m. Lock 19 Dammerie was manual as was lock 20 Picardie – a Locaboat came up and then we went down. Lock 21, Moulin-Brûlé, had been

Lock house 24 Chatillon

partly mechanised, the gates were wound manually, but the paddles were lifted and closed with a yellow hand-held control box. 2.7kms to the next group of three locks, passing the Chateau Mivoisin mostly hidden by trees. These were shallower at 3.30m each. A young lady keeper with a moped worked lock 22 Briquemault – there was an interesting wind vane on the cabin roof. She had to lift the Llangollen type lift bridge at the tail end of the lock up by a couple of inches to get our mast under it. A bearded man in a VNF van came to help at lock 23

Moored at Chatillon

Town streets Chatillon-Coligny

Gazon and they opened both bottom end gates as there was a Dutch cruiser waiting to come up below 24. The man in a van drove down to 24 Chatillon and worked the manual lock for us and we told him we’d stay at Chatillon until Tuesday morning as we had some shopping to do on Monday. A short distance into Chatillon, passing a slipway and a couple of boats on the finger pontoons, we went on beyond the smart capitainerie (water and electric free) and tied up at the end of the quay behind a large Dutch cruiser. It was 2.55pm. 

Saturday 9th June 2018 Summit abv 12 Gazonne to abv 13 Javacière. 4.2kms

Moored above lock 13 Javacier

15.5ºC Sunny and hot. Thunderstorm late afternoon. Mike went off on the moped to move the car on to Chatillon-Coligny. A family of Canada geese (they were once very rare in France) were grazing the towpath by the lake. I got on with catching up on the log and photos. Checked the internet and this morning the stupid thing worked, but now it doesn’t! When Mike returned he suggested we move to the other end of the summit level – maybe we’d get the Internet from Rogny town, which is at the bottom of the locks. We had some lunch and set off into the forest at 2.15pm. A Dutch cruiser went past in the opposite

The storm gathers over Rogny........

direction about ten minutes later. Fly swatters out as some very large horseflies were determined to suck blood. Fishermen were spread out along the old silo quay and, beyond the road bridge, the forest receded where there was a large maize field on the left and a field of colza on the right. At 3.15pm we tied up next to an old quay just before to the sensors for downhill boats for lock 13 Javacier. The bank was steep and grassy so Mike had to get off and knock pins in as there was only one remaining concrete bollard. It had been a waste of time moving as we had no Internet at all and no phone! A thunderstorm raged around us but we didn’t get the cooling rain to go with it until late afternoon. 

Friday 8th June 2018 Hautes-Rives to Summit above lock 12 16.6kms 8 locks

Workmen replacing the painted railings

14.7ºC Sunny and very hot 35ºC outside but a cool breeze made it feel less. Set off at 9.35am. More of the bank had been repaired with concrete edging. The first boat past was a small Dutch cruiser at 10.10am. Workmen were replacing the ornate fencing along the aqueduct which must have been taken away for painting, sprucing up one of Eiffel’s great masterpieces the Briare aqueduct. Loads of boats were moored in Briare along the canal (and no doubt many more down

Painted railing and temporary barrier

the three locks into the town (the canal that was built before the aqueduct) as it’s a very popular historic town. As we went past the top lock of the flight down into the town, the keeper came out to wave “which direction” – we indicated that we were going straight on, not visiting the town by boat today. At the junction with the old canal ours changed from the Latèral à la Loire to the canal de Briare. Now tree lined both sides it was cooler and the water had turned a deep peaty brown. Lock 5 Vernon was

Briare church from the aqueduct

automatic - but worked for us by a very chatty young lady. We started off well – she was holding a pole with a hook on it on the right hand side of the chamber for our rope, but Mike went up the disgustingly muddy ladder on the left with our centre rope. The rods to activate the lock were on the right and also on the box at the top there were buttons, red and green, to press instead of lifting the rods. She pressed the green, (red is the emergency stop button, equivalent of the red rod). Water came bubbling up from the bottom of the chamber, initially on the right but as the lock filled it changed to the left and the boat moved over to the right. There had been no useful bollards on the left and, as the boat changed sides, Mike slung

The old canal built before the aqueduct
which took boats down to cross the Loire

the rope across and walked round. She said she would carry on in her car to the next, 6 Courenvaux, which was only 1.5kms further on. It was ready when we arrived and this time she took the rope and put it around a bollard for us – but in totally the wrong place as there wasn’t one opposite where the centre rope was attached. Talking to the keeper she said that lots of people don’t bother with ropes. OK we’ll do the same, it’s not really doing anything, just complying with the

The Briare aqueduct - note that the
decorated column on the right is missing its green bits

regulations. It was 11.50am when we left the lock and she said she’d see us at the next after lunch at 1pm. 2kms into Ouzouer-sur-Trezée where there was a pleasant mooring next to a car park. We tied up and had some lunch. There was a large cruiser moored there too, German we thought, but no signs of life when we set off into lock 7 Ouzouer at 1pm. We rose ropless, effortlessly. The little river Trezée was right alongside on our left, separated from the canal by a stone wall. The girl set the lock working (she said she has to work the lock as they have to maintain a flow using a feed

Lock 5 Vernon

paddle at this lock) A man in a van arrived and set off up the towpath. 1.8kms to lock 8 Moulin Neuf – first one that we worked ourselves, I went to the bows and lifted a muddy green rod (well the top bit was green, everything below the water level when the lock was full was a dark brown shade of mud) Up 3.6m ropeless. Less than 1km to the next, lock 9 Les Fées (the fairies!) Our man in a van hit the button for us before he drove off to the next. Up another 3.4m and only 300m to lock 10 Notre

Weir into the river Trezee below lk 8 Moulin Neuf

Dame. Again, the keeper pressed the button for us. This one was deeper at 3.9m. The keeper gave us a thumbs up and we went on to lock 11 Challoy and I lifted the rod. The river alongside had been turned into a beautiful large lake – now a feature of this area. The keeper was at the top lock 12 Gazonne and worked the lock for us. Told him we were going to stay for the weekend on the summit pound and go down the locks on Monday. We tied up by the lakes just beyond lock 12 at 2.45pm. It was very hot (max at

Water into the canal from river Trezee below lk 8 Moulin Neuf

Lock lights at 9 Les Fees

Moored on the summit abv lk 12 Gazonne

37 degrees outside - a bit cooler in the cabin) and we were glad to finish putting stuff away and setting up the TV dish and be in the cabin with a fan recirculating the air. Four boats came past heading for lock 12 and went down two at a time.