Tuesday 15th May 2018 Genelard to nr Digoin 28.2kms 10 locks

Chateau gatehouse by lock 19 Digoine

11.1ºC Grey skies, damp with a cold wind. Fleeces on and I added a windproof jacket later. Had a chat with the crew of Suzanna and their beagle pup as we were getting ready to move. They’re going the same way as us but then the Nivernais. They were staying another day at Genelard. Set off at 9.50am. Ten minutes to the first lock 17 Montet. Like most of the rest of the locks on this canal the lock house was shuttered and hadn’t been lived in for a long time. Down 2.5m and on to a 4kms pound. Made a cuppa, passing

Black kite

the old pottery kiln in Montet and into Palinges, the winding canal alongside the equally winding road. Down another 2.5m in lock 18 Thiellay. Mike tried taking photos of the birds of prey, lots of them searching the canal and farmer’s fields for anything edible. Mike spotted one dive on a fish by our bows then land in a tree by the towpath to eat it. A man on a quad bike was rounding up some Charolais cattle, but two managed to escape and galloped to the furthest end of the meadow. Down 2.8m in lock

Furthest point south

19 Digoine. There was a lovely gatehouse to some chateau right by the lock. 3.5kms to lock 20 La Gravoine. More buzzards and black kites, some having bother with crows. 2.7kms to lock 21 Haillers which had a smart extended lock house hiding behind a thick hedge and a van parked outside it, down another 2.6m. Lock 22 Volesvres house had been vandalised, shutters and windows smashed. A cycle path appeared on our right, the road had swapped to the left and

Solar heated water

was now the D979. A 5kms long pound. A large parking area had been created for campervans but there were only two parked there. Under a new bypass bridge for the N79 around Paray. A sharp right bend and we were at the point furthest south in our trip, now heading north west. Sandpipers flew in front of the boat. Factories heralded the outskirts of Paray-le-Monial – a famous pilgrimage place for Catholics from all over the world as the cult worship of the Sacred Heart started here. Into lock 7 Hyron, which was worked for us by a VNF man in a van

Hireboat at lock 24

from the small cabin on the lockside using a large yellow control pad. 2.8kms through Paray. Noted the Mr Bricolage DIY shop had closed down, probably relocated. A Canalous hireboat set off from the moorings and was going to force his way in front of us – he didn’t, but as soon as the canal was wide enough he overtook. Mike took a photo of a house roof with solar water heating, not getting much hot water today! There was a cruiser coming uphill in lock 24 Quarres and so our hireboaters were having to wait. We followed them into the chamber and the VNF man (with a

Moored at the end of the canal du Centre

perpetual cigarette on the go) worked the lock and then stood chatting with the hirers who were French. About half a kilometre to lock 25 Mont so we shared the lock with the hireboat and the VNF man worked the lock from the cabin. 3.2kms to the next. The large hireboat set off first and was soon out of sight. Under the new N70 road bridge and there were what looked like derelict (but may not be!) factories, there were cars parked by one so may still be working. Our canal guide said one factory was Eternit (which I looked up and found it was an asbestos factory). When we arrived at lock 26 Bessons the lock was half empty with the hireboat descending in it. They certainly hadn’t been doing the legal maximum speed of 6kph! The keeper turned the lock round, then had trouble with the gates – they opened and then closed again! He rushed round to sort it out in the cabin. All went OK after that. Last lock on the canal du Centre. It was 4.10pm when we left the lock and we tied up a couple of kilometres further towards Digoin at the end of the canal du Centre according to the map, attaching to the piled bank with mooring pins. A British couple from Cornwall came past on bikes and paused to have a natter. We spent the next half hour putting the world to rights. It was nearly 5pm by the time we’d finished tying up. 

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).

Wednesday 9th May 2018 Montchanin to Montceau-les-Mines 11 kms 8 locks

Lock 5's bricked up empty house

12.8ºC Breezy, grey clouds, brief sunshine later but wind turning cold. All the other boats left before us except for the narrow DB. Gave them all a good head start (most went in the opposite direction to us), and didn’t set off until Mike had been to ask if it was OK to leave our car on the furniture shop’s car park for a couple of days. No problem. It was 9.45am when we left – a man in a VNF van in the yard alongside asked where we were going, etc. Chilly, we put fleeces on and kept them on all day. A short distance on the last of the

Boats at Jeff's yard in Montchanin

summit pound, past Jeff’s yard – full of boats as always – and on to lock 1 Ocean. There is no sensor or hanging pole so the locks are set by the roving keeper. All the locks closed down, lock lights out, after we’d passed through them so we were the only boat moving and the keeper had programmed them to shut down after we’d left. The keeper arrived at lock 2 Brenots and asked if we’d got a problem – no only just got here – not as fast as the cruisers – OK - then Mike pulled the rope. Lock 3 Farée and we noted how quiet the D974

Linkage for opening and closing gates (lock3)

had become – there is a "new" bypass N70 which takes most of the traffic. Lock 4 Paizenot had a lived in house but the garden was brown, looked like it had been dosed with weedkiller. Beautiful blue meadow sage flowers on the lockside. Below the lock there was an old loading staithe. The lock house at 5 Planche-Calard was derelict. The house had gone altogether at lock 6 Brûlard, just a capped well remained. It took longer than usual for the lock to empty and the gates to open. The pound below was low, the gauge at lock

Meadow sage at lock 3

7 La Roche showed there was 30cm of water missing. The house beside lock 7 was lived in but well fenced off from the lock. Through Blanzy, now stacked out with boats both at the mooring and beyond the road bridge. We paused under the bridge and Mike went to look to see if there was any drinking water – nope, taps turned off, apply at the Mairie. Our last lock was 8 Mireau, also with a lived in house and a well-fenced large garden. A big Liebherr digger was parked right alongside the lock. The lock emptied slowly then the gates took ages to start to open, didn’t open fully and then all the power went off. 1pm. Backed up to the ladder by the top

Old loading staithe near lock 4

end gates and Mike went to call on the intercom – someone answered - it was very loud and unintelligible, Mike told them lock 8 was en panne. It took half an hour for our man in a van to arrive, same one as we spoke to this morning when we set off. Mike asked if he’d come all the way from Montchanin. Yes. It was 1.30pm when we left lock 8 and fifteen minutes later we tied up next to a newly rebuilt Leclerc supermarket. There was a wooden staging about 10m long for floating shoppers, the boat overhung each end. We had some lunch and then went shopping. Useful to have a supermarket right on the doorstep. Mike went searching for some expanding foam in a can to beef up our two remaining fenders which keep getting flattened when the boat leans on them in locks. Filled them with foam and left them on the decking for the foam to cure.

Boats moored at Blanzy

Moored by Leclerc supermarket in Montceau

Tuesday 8th May 2018 St Julien to Montchanin 7.32kms 8 locks

An experimental video of lock 3 Fourneau filling - no time to get back from the blue rope front right to add a rope to the rear floating bollard (the one you can see is the front one, also on the right) before the incoming water pushes the boat left and holds it against the left wall.



7.6ºC Sunny and not quite so hot, nice breeze. A hireboat went past heading downhill around 9am. The cruiser that moored overnight by us also set off around 9am heading uphill, we gave him a head start and set off at 9.50am. The final eight locks to the summit were worked without any problems. Lock 8 Abbaye was a deep one at 5.13m and again like the day before the rope was at the top end and the lock started filling before Mike had backed off to the floater, and so the boat was pushed by the water on to the left hand wall and rose easily, ropeless. Lock 7

Water incoming at Ravin lock 4

Rocher, although only a 2.5m rise did the same as the previous ones with gate paddles – up on the left wall again. Up lock 6 Motte 5.19m and 5 Forge 2.6m with the same effects. Passed the Swedish cruiser we'd seen several times before heading downhill above 5. I had to find a small brolly to get to the rope at lock 4 Ravin without getting drenched as the top end gates and cill were pouring water. Up another 5.18m. Tried doing a video of the water coming in at lock 3 Fourneau as the fountains of water were quite spectacular. A very young VNF man in a car came to chat as we

Below lock 1 Mediterrannee. 

came up another 5.18m in lock 2 Charmois. He said he hadn't seen a narrowboat for three years, he was interested to know about the type of boat and cargoes carried as his canal in earlier days had carried millions of tonnes of coal each year, mined at Montceau-les-Mines. Traffic on this canal must have been impressive. Just one “shallow” lock left to do 1 Mediterrannée, 2.6m lift – Mike shinned up the ladder. The cruiser which set off from St Julien before us was moored above the lock. On to the summit level (about 308m asl) at 11.45am. Through a winding

View down the flight from lk 1

stone lined narrow channel with a bridge carrying the TGV trains, then past the reservoirs on the left bank, higher than the canal (and full of water Mike reported later) with fishermen along its edges. Passed a British widebeam called Lazybones – sure we’d met before - off to the Med. Tied up by the VNF atelier in Montchanin at 12.20pm, just us. Lunch and then at 3pm I gave Mike a hand to get the bike off and he went back to Fragnes to get the car. While he was away I

Painted lock cabin lock 1

got on with the chores, uploaded the photos and had just started on the log when he returned. Two DBs had moored towards the road bridge behind us and as the evening progressed, a cruiser moored behind us and one in front, plus another beyond the road bridge behind us. Quite busy all of a sudden.

Moored by the VNF workshops at Montchanin

Monday 7th May 2018 Les Maranges to St Julien 18kms 15 locks

We didn't believe our eyes when this came round the bend!
Engine and steering at the front or it's going in reverse.

10.5ºC Very hot, sunny. Temperature in the cabin soared to 29ºC. We left the quay at 9.20am. The towpath cycle piste was very busy. The first VNF van went past on the towpath heading uphill. Lock 23 near St Gilles was almost 3m lift. Mike went up the right hand ladder in the gate recess with our centre rope – the blue rope to pull was at the top end on the left. Hotel boat Hirondelle was coming down in lock 22 so we had a short wait while they cleared. Lock 21 near Dennevy had an old lock house with a plate that said it was lock 28. Lock 20 was full with the top end gates open – it had refilled,

A relocating restaurant?

so we assumed something else was coming down. After ten minutes wait Mike walked up to the lock to see what was going on – nothing moving above so he called on the intercom (which was noisy and the voice sounded like a high pitch squawk, he could hardly make out what was being said). A VNF man in a car arrived and reset the lock from the cabin controls. That had taken nearly 50 minutes to sort out. As the previous lock, lock 20’s house said it was lock 27. Mike took photos of the damage done over the years by péniche bows on the bottom end gates. Wonder when the last péniche passed through here? There were a few DBs

Downhill traffic

moored in St Leger and some very dirty old boats at the end of the built up area that looked like they needed some TLC. Not again! Lock 19 was full with the top end gates open. Mike threw a rope around some Armco by the busy D974 road on our right and walked up to the lock. Couldn’t get close to the bank for the remains of the old sloping stone edges that didn’t get removed when the road edge was piled – he had to jump for it! The intercom was distorted, even worse than the previous one – and no one answered it. Time 12.30pm – lunch break. There

Damaged gates lock 21

was a phone number on the lock cabin, Mike had taken a radio with him and told me the number, I rang it – it bleeped three times and hung up! I tried the number we had for the flight up to Chagny, same thing, three bleeps and hung up. The man in the red vest that reset lock 20 for us said that we could only use the intercoms to report a malfunctioning lock, there were no phones (cut backs?) After 1pm Mike tried the intercom again – someone answered but it was too distorted to make out what they were saying. So in desperation Mike tried “ghost

Damaged gates lock 21

boating” – he put his hands over the entrance sensor at the top end pretending to be a downhill boat – then pulled the rope – the gates closed – we might have cracked it! – and then everything went off including the lock lights! Oh well, that might attract the attention of the VNF. A cruiser arrived, followed by the guy in the red vest. Mike was still at the lock so he had a chat with the Irish skipper who told him that he had just been stuck in a lock over lunchtime and it had taken until 1.20pm for the VNF to come and reset it and let him out. He said he didn’t intend coming via the Bourbonaisse route but his boat was too high for the Marne-au Rhin (couldn't pass some of the bridges) and the Marne-à-la-Saône was shut so he had no choice. The man from the lock house came out to chat with guy in a red vest. The cruiser cleared and I took the boat into lock 19. Mike had taken a boat shaft with him so he hooked our centre line and the VNF man pulled the blue rope. It was well after 2pm when we left the lock, another hour and a half wasted. 1.8 kms of canal to the next so time to calm down and stop calling the VNF names. Lock 18 worked OK as did lock 17 in the quaint little village of St Berain-sur-Dheune (we’re following the river valley of the Dheune). Locks 16 and 15 were very

Boats moored at St Leger-sur-Dheune

close together. As the afternoon wore on the road alongside the canal became much busier with lots of motorbikes, sometimes upwards of twenty riding together – the winding road must be a popular weekend run for them. The last two locks had had new gates. Took a photo of the old well next to the dead house at lock 15. On the way to lock 14 we saw the most amazing thing afloat since we left Germany – a floating wooden cabin – a restaurant from Montceau-les-Mines by all accounts – called Que-C-Bon, powered by an engine in a housing at the front end, which was very slow running and noisy. Slowly it chugged past and we took photos. There was an extensive garden centre below 14 and a beautiful house alongside the lock. Lock 13 had no house and I heard the

New gates at lock 16

first crickets of the year – Mike still can’t hear them – he couldn’t when we were in the Midi and they positively shriek. At lock 12 there was a VNF man on the lockside and he yanked the rope for us, while chatting to a young lady in short shorts, with a big grin on his face. For the first time we got flushed off the lock wall by gate paddles being drawn – previously all paddles had been fairly gentle ground paddles. No real problem, just let the rope out and the boat

Plaque at lock 15
showing that it was originally lock 22

eventually came back to the right hand wall. Lock 11 was the first named lock, Villeneuve and again the gate paddles flushed the boat over on to the left hand wall. Lock 10 Chez-le-Roi was a double depth at 5.13m. The blue rope was as usual up by the top end gates so I went on the bow to tug it. Before Mike could reverse all the way back to the floater the water started coming in and shoved us over to the left hand wall where we had to rise ropeless with an audience on the tail end footbridge. Lock 9 Moulin St Julien was also 5.13m deep and it too shoved the boat across to the left. We moored at 5.30pm in the layby at St Julien with one cruiser, one man and his dog sitting out in the shadow cast by his boat. It was stinking hot, over 35ºC outside, at least there was a bit of a cooling breeze.

Saturday 5th May 2018 Franges to Chemilly-les-Maranges 18.2kms 11 locks

First lock, No 34 in Fragnes

13.1ºC Sunny and hot. Set off just after the lock light came on at 9am. We have a flight of eleven locks to do, all of them automatic and linked. Five of them are double the usual depth as modernisation (many years ago) removed six of the original locks from what was a flight of seventeen. Lock 34 was a shallow one at 2.2m. No rods on these, blue ropes to tug instead. Typical, the first one wouldn’t work. Mike backed the boat out to re-activate the sensor for incoming boats just as our man

Derelict chapel in Fragnes

in a VNF van arrived. Chatty and informative, he set the lock working for us and told us we need to wait for one minute before yanking the rope – yes, we’d forgotten that and there is nothing to tell you that on any of the notices! A short distance to 33, which was the first of the normal depth ones (3.17m). No ladders except for by the gates at each end and the rope to pull was right at the front. Our mobile keeper obliged. He told us that there were floaters in the deep ones, all on the right hand side going up. 32, the only one named, Fontaines, was 5.12m deep. Right up to the cill at the top end and I waited 1 minute then pulled on the slimy rope, slow electric as we waited for the gates to close, Mike backed the boat down the chamber and I put our centre rope on the rearmost floater (there are two in each wall, designed for péniches of course) on these deep ones incoming water bubbles up between the boat and the right hand wall

Lorry powered peniche doing piling work

shoving the boat to the left, so I just let out the rope and the boat rose sitting next to the left wall. On to the longest pound in the flight, 2.4 kms. Our keeper was shepherding a large cruiser coming downhill. He waved. Made a cuppa. Lock 31 was a mere 2.5m easy, 30 was 2.6m and 29 just 2.4m. The cycle path alongside the canal was well used and we saw a novel form of transport – a two person side-by-side tricycle – we want one! But where would we put it!! Two more deep ones, both 28 and 27

Pulling the rope in Lk 32 and getting a free shower

were 5.2m lift. Above 28 a large hireboat came past heading downhill, crew chatting to us in English as we passed. A lady and a small boy out walking the towpath stopped to chat as we came up in 27. Lock 26 was another original at 2.6m lift, a couple on bicycles stopped to watch and chat when we got close enough to hear them. Two more locks, 25 and 24 and both were 5.20m lift. Our man in a van arrived and did the last lock for us from the cabin. He congratulated us as he said that normally small boats cause the locks  

Lock opening/closing mechanism -
what would UK Health & Safety do with this?

 to go en panne – and we did them all without him having to reset any one of them (apart from the first one and he was already there). He told us there was a hotel boat setting out from Chagny. We asked about mooring. Yes, boaters have to pay at the new moorings in the basin, but on the left is free. OK. We said thanks again and bid him a good weekend. We saw Adrienne coming through the narrow cutting leading into Chagny, so we held back and waited for the converted péniche

Remains of one of the old locks

to arrive in the wider canal before passing. Looked like the staff (all youngsters) were enjoying the sunshine so there weren’t any passengers on board. There was a line of moored DBs on the way into Chagny, some looked lived on. Nothing was moored in the basin where they had added small finger moorings plus water and electricity posts. The left hand side (by the restaurant) was also full of DBs. We gave up, no space unless we pay so we carried on, across the railway, pausing to take a photo. The hire base Escarg’eau was stacked out with moored boats

Hotel boat Adrienne heading downhill nr Chagny

both sides. Had a go at mooring by the towpath in Remigny, too shallow. The first mooring with bollards was at Santenay – no satellite TV - trees too tall. We carried on to les Maranges where there was a wooden faced quay with bollards and picnic tables. It was getting really hot. Glad to stop. It was 3.10pm – we’d done an extra two hours above what we’d originally planned. The timber fend-off was alive with huge black ants, so I got the ant spray out and coated the fenders and mooring lines to keep the little blighters off the boat. Lots

Adrienne stiring up the mud

of passing cyclists and the road opposite, D974, was also busy. Several boats went past heading downhill after we tied up, two went past just before 7 pm. Had a very late lunch at 3.30 pm and settled in for the rest of the weekend. 

Renovated moorings in Chagny basin

View from the canal of the railway station in Chagny

Veiw from the canal across the Dheune valley at Santenay

Moored by the cycle piste in Les Maranges

Thursday 3rd May 2018 Chazelle to Fragnes 42.1kms 2 locks.

Empty 900 tonner Barres eading upriver at Chazelle

10.2ºC Overcast with a cold north wind. A cruiser went past heading downstream and a 900 tonner called Barres went past heading upriver. Undid all the knitting, fetched the quant pole in and untied, reversed out into the middle and set off downriver again at 9.15am. A troupe of Charolais cows were watching every move. A 4kms river reach then into the lock cut leading to lock 22 Ecuelles. A Le Boat had just come up so we went into the big lock chamber and dropped down 3.20m – 56kms to the next lock (not going that far, only

Both old lock chambers at Verdun-sur-Doubs

about 31kms). Winding gently, river still wider and then past the old locks at Verdun-sur-Doubs, a péniche sized lock and a bigger one, both now disused. We turned into the river Doubs at Verdun and went upriver to see if they’d improved the moorings, nope, a bunch of cruisers were moored at the pontoons and nothing on the quays below the houses further upriver. We went through the road bridge and turned before the silos and went back through Verdun on to the Saône. The Swedish cruiser we’d locked

Old lock at Verdun

with the day before was fast catching us up and a péniche sized hotel boat went past heading upriver, the steerer we noted had no wheelhouse, strange for a boat that size. A small Danish speedboat cruiser went past heading uphill at Chauvort bridge, making a fair bit of wash, our boat bounced about for ten minutes in its waves. VNF tug Neptune went past, also uphill, pushing a pan with a crane, they had a good collection of tree branches. Busy all of a sudden. A little egret sat in a tree, ignoring the passing boats. The moorings

Riverside houses in Verdun

at Gergy were empty. A Le Boat overtook us and was soon out of sight. I made a cuppa to warm us up. Took up the rubber-backed mat on the front deck to dry it out, it was wet underneath from water sloshing in through the scuppers. On a big area of water lily pads a heron and a little egret were hunting for frogs. At 2.30pm in Chalon-sur-Saone we turned right off the river into the canal du Centre. A fast speedboat with two fishermen aboard went past – we wondered where they were going - they tied to a

Closed down boatyard and rusting boat

mooring dolphin and started fishing. The first lock on the canal is a deep one, lock 34bis was emptying and then the guilllotine gate went up. We attached our centre rope to a floating bollard inset into the wall and the lock filled gently lifting the boat 10.76m. The keeper came out of his portacabin to ask where we’d come from and where we were going. Pleasant chap, he even tried some English phrases. On up the canal, under the restaurant belonging to the Leclerc supermarket alongside the canal, noted

Silos at Chalon on canal du Centre

they’d added new mooring posts for floating shoppers to tie their boats to and had banned mooring under the restaurant (for safety – don’t want boats setting on fire under the building!) We pushed on, Fragnes is a popular mooring and had been extended since we were last here. Boats come up off the river to moor overnight as it’s an alternative to the large pricey marina on the river in Chalon-sur- Saône. We didn’t need water or electric so we continued beyond the moorings (and the kindergarten) to moor next to the busy towpath below lock 34. A

Old boats by the silos in Chalon

hireboat came down the lock and went past fast – Mike waved him to slow down, which he did. The lock stayed empty with a green light on. We hadn’t been as far as the sensors so maybe VNF were doing remote control. Once tied up I helped Mike get the moped off the front deck and he went to get the car from St Jean-de-Losnes so we could do some shopping next day. 

Below lock 34bis

Lock chamber 34bis

Bottom end guillotine gate. Lock 34bis