Tuesday 17th April 2018 Roville to Nomexy 23.9kms 14 locks.

Moored at Roville by the silo

3.7ºC. Sunny and hot. Light breeze. Somewhere across the other side of the canal a donkey was braying loudly as we set off at 9.20am. Just a short distance to lock 38 Bayon which was empty - as were all the rest and we saw no other boats moving (same as yesterday), plus all the ladders (bar a couple) were on the side opposite the rods. Distance between locks was on average 2kms. There were two lady walkers who stopped to watch us lock through 37 Chaud-Rupt and had a chat. At 36 Bainville Mike

Painted bricked up windows. Bainville

tried zapping with the phone, oops, it didn’t work. The rod and ladder were on the same side, whoopee, and we had gongoozlers watching from the tail end bridge. Saw the first kingfisher of this year on the longer 2.5kms pound to lock 35 Gripport. I made a cuppa. A VNF van went past on the road, heading uphill. There was a little VNF lorry by the lockhouse. The van arrived and one of the three occupants got out and fetched the record sheet from the lock cabin then asked where we were

Below lock 38 Bayon

headed. VNF were doing bank protection work, removing trees and adding rocks to the canal edge. On to Moulin de Gripport lock 34. Another VNF man in a van turned up at 34, he took a rope and lifted the rod for us while chatting with Mike. Some pounds have water feeds from the river and there was an overflow getting rid of the excess just above lock 34. As the day became hotter so the clouds of midges grew, fortunately for us not biting ones. Up lock 33 Socourt, and on to 32 Plaine de Charmes. The river and canal wound round the old town of Charmes up two more locks 31

See-through piling

Charmes (wasp nest in top end gate) and 30 Moulin de Charmes. Took photos of old chimneys, one looked like the stack for a stationary steam engine with a high roofed building with big windows behind it. Two Dutch barges (Popov and Adhi Kaya) plus an un-named cruiser filled the layby - they were there last year, the next quay had no boats but upwards of 12 campervans were making use of the water and electric posts. Lock 29 Vincey was in a small town of the same name and there were old factory buildings lying derelict. From Vincey there was

Old lock house 35 Gripport - now a home for bats

an old railway track alongside the canal, its rails had gone but ballast and concrete sleepers were still in place. A bit further on the main railway line ran alongside the canal. Lots of cyclists and walkers were using the metalled towpath – we saw one speedskater on rollerblades but she wasn’t going very fast. Into lock 28 Portieux and the wind blew the bows over to the right wall so I was able to lift the rod and save Mike a walk. A VNF lorry was loading big branches from chopped down trees, it was accompanied by a

Bank protection work at Gripport

VNF van with flashing lights. In lock 27 Fouys Mike lost the rope while climbing the ladder (he ran out of slack and had to drop it or it would have pulled him off the ladder) so I had to recover it (it sinks) and reverse back to the ladder for him to collect it – glad we had no watchers when making a pig’s ear of it! When the lock was almost full a TGV train went past – the railway was about 10m from the lock. That was loud! Leaving lock 26 l’Avière we went over an aqueduct crossing the river of the

Storm weir at Gripport

same name, l’Avière, a tributary of the Moselle. A fisherman was fishing in the canal, he was sitting in the shade on the non-towpath side beyond the aqueduct. We’d seen lots of fishermen fishing the river and its lakes but none on the canal. The towpath was thick with traffic still, a youth on a motorbike (no plates) went roaring past at a dangerously high speed when there are children on bikes about. Last lock of the day 25 Nomexy and we moored at the quay with trees and a picnic table (a young man

Disused factory chimneys at Charmes

was asleep on one its bench seats). The same guy who was walking his dog when we were here last year was on the quay and said hello. Tied up at 3.40pm and set up the TV etc. Mike went off on the moped to get the car from Pagny 100 kms away.

Mural below Nomexy lock 25

Monday 16th April 2018 Richardménil to Roville-devant-Bayon 18.5kms 7 locks

Moored at Richardmenil junc with Nancy branch,
absorbing sunshine

5.1ºC Sunny with lots of clouds, warmer. Set off at 9.35am. Mike reversed to take a photo of the zapper post, which also had three cameras for the junction each with a motion sensor. The towpath was very rough, no tarmac here, further on the towpath was not used by VNF and very bad in places. The suburbs of Richardmenil ended as we went under the A330 motorway bridge and into farmland. Two VNF operatives, a young lady and a young man, each with a van, were at lock 45 Basse Flavigny when we arrived. All the locks had ladders on the

Zapper post and cameras at junc Nancy branch

wrong side for us – ie opposite the rods, OK for péniches. Plus all the locks were at least 3m deep. Mike did his usual climb up the ladder with the rope then walk round to lift the rod. The birdsong was loud as we went through woods on the river fed pound to lock 44 du Prieuré. A short pound took us to lock 43 Haute Flavigny which had four fancy lamps on the locksides. The Moselle ran a tortuous course below the canal on our left as we followed its valley. A long pound of over 5kms through more woodland. A deer was swimming across the canal from our right, oblivious of the fact that the piling on the river side was far too high for it climb out – it turned around and swam back across the canal and quickly disappeared back into the woods from whence it came. Up lock 42 Benney and 2kms to lock 41 Crévéchamps. A man on a bike had paused by the lock cabin to eat and Mike shouted across to him to ask if would like to lift the blue rod for us. He did – a big smile when the siren went off and the yellow lights flashed on the bottom end

Lock house 45 Basse Favigny

gates as it closed behind the boat. Honorary lock keeper eh? I made some lunch and we ate it as we went on to lock 40 Neuviller-sur-Moselle, then past the village of the same name. Two ladies were walking the towpath enjoying the sunshine. Our young lady in a van was at lock 39 Bayon. Mike went up the ladder with the rope and she worked the lock for us from the cabin (the lock must have a fault). Mike went to tell her we were staying overnight at the silo quay, OK, so we’d see her next day – nope – she’d worked the weekend so she had the next two days off. Told her we were

Fancy lamps at 43 Haute Flavigny

heading for Nomexy next  - she said she lived there next to the wharf. Mike wished her a bon weekend. The silo team were busy, lots of lorries plus their weighbridge was being calibrated. Mike asked to see the Chef, busy, so he asked the secretary if we were OK to stay overnight on the quay – she gave him the look that said “Why are you asking, no one else does?” and she said OK. We tied

Moselle from aqueduct at 43 Haute Flavigny

up at 2.15pm

Deer swimming across the canal on the 5km pound

Old lock house at 40 Neuviller-s-Moselle

Sunday 15th April 2018 Neuves-Maisons to Richardménil 2.34kms 2 locks

Junction canal de l'Est and Nancy branch

9.4ºC Sunny and getting warmer, except for the chilly wind. Set off at 9.30am. Mike untied and went across the big winding hole to zap the post, the lock emptied  - 47 Messein and we went up 1.6m. The house alongside was bricked up. 2.3kms to lock 46 Mereville, a deep one 4m. Mike climbed the ladder, glad this one was dry. We left the top at 10.15am and we tied up a few minutes later by the junction with the Nancy branch in Richardménil. 

Saturday 14th April 2018 Pagny-sur-Meuse to Neuves-Maisons 39.4kms 18 locks

Leaving the pontoon at Pagny

5.1ºC Overcast but sunny later, rain after we’d tied up. Set off at 8.30am an early start as we wanted to clear the industrial Moselle. Through Foug tunnel to the top of the long flight down into Toul. A lovely lady keeper worked the top lock for us, a deep one, number 14. All 15 locks were less than a kilometre apart and we had only two problem locks, 15 which filled but didn’t open and I was just about to get off and walk down to the use the lock intercom

Foug tunnel

when Madame opened the gates for us from her control panel at 14. Lock 18 had failed completely and had two red lights (en panne – broken down). This time I was almost at the lock when Madame arrived in her VNF van and she worked the lock from 18’s cabin. We had already noted that vandalism must be a problem here as the usually large lock cabin windows had been bricked up and now had only tiny windows, not big enough for a vandal to climb through. Just after lock 24 was the Port de France in Toul, a majestic

Lock cabin on Foug flight - note tiny windows

mooring basin which was pretty full of boats of all shapes and sizes. On past the Vauban fortifications and under the former railway bridge which is now a footbridge where we spotted two kids sitting in the window hole, their bikes leaning on the wall behind them. Took their photos in case they were thinking of doing any mischief. They didn’t. A short distance and we came to the automatic lift bridge. There was a queue of cars waiting to cross it as we passed through. A couple more locks and we arrived at 27, where a chatty man in a van arrived to ask us which way we were going, Neuves-Maisons, OK, and

Rods and intercom with funny face Foug flight

he booked Toul lock on the Moselle for us. Straight on was the continuation of the Marne-au-Rhin that had been abandoned in 1978 when the navigation was modified, we turned right into the lock 27bis and dropped down on to the canalised river Moselle, turning right to head uphill. A huge gathering of swans took flight as we approached Toul lock, the first of three big locks (180m x 11.4m) built to take very large cargo boats to the industrial area alongside the upper Moselle in Neuves-Maisons. The first lock had a pair of chambers,

Lock 14 chamber with bottom end gates open

plaisance use the “small” lock – péniche size 38.5m x 5.05m. Up the wall with recessed bollards, lifting the rope higher as the lock gently filled lifting the boat 4.4m. The canal above the small lock winds past Toul. I made some lunch but Mike found a problem – no cooling water – the filter must be blocked. He took it apart and the pipe leading to the big metal filter was blocked with weed and bits of twig, picked up on the Marne-au-Rhin. Tapped a pin into the bank and he cleaned it out, glad he noticed it before the river, but annoyed it was delaying us. Ate our lunch as we went on up the canal and then straight out on to the Moselle. Lots of four-man (mostly women) coxed rowing skiffs were flying up and down the river with two orange RIB speedboats keeping an eye on them on the 8.5kms reach to Villey-le-Sec. No small lock this time, up the wall gently, this time rising 7.20m. A very pleasant 13kms meandering through forests, with an old railway track on the left hand bank. Noted trees that had been felled

Boats in Port de France Toul

and stripped of bark by beaver below the next lock. Neuves-Maisons lock was a trifle less deep at 7.10m. When it was full the keeper came down from his tower to hand us a new zapper. We asked what time the locks closed on the canal de l’Est Sud. 6pm. It was gone 5.20pm and would take fifteen minutes to reach the next lock! We were going to moor two locks higher, so we asked if we could moor above his lock and move on in the morning. Not a good idea, there was already one big river

Kids hiding in bridge window Toul

barge at the quays above and another one due early tomorrow. Moor below the next lock was his advice. We did, passing the heaps of scrap and a German 2,000 tonne boat called Luma from Trier, then a steel works producing coils of steel wire which was stacked along the canal bank and on lots of railway wagons. There were bollards and old trees to tie to on the piece of wasteland below the lock. We tied up just before 6pm.

Church at Toul from the Moselle

Moored  in Neuves-Maisons below  lock 47 on canal de l'Est

2,000T river barge at wharf in Neuves-Maisons

Coils of steel wire on wharf at Neuves-Maisons

Friday 13th April 2018 Demange-aux-Eaux to Pagny-sur-Meuse 31.6kms 13 locks

Moored at Demange

2.4ºC Overcast and chilly after a cold night. Set off at 9.30am. Lock 1 Tombois was ready for us. I walked up to the lock with a short boat shaft to hook the mooring line, and when the lock was full we topped up our water tank. Several VNF men were buzzing about. One collected the zapper and one said he was our support cyclist (he makes sure we’re OK as he cycles along the towpath in the tunnel with us and checks in at designated intercoms to call base to say we’re all OK – Health and Safety gone a little bit OTT). It took us and our attendant cyclist an

Top lock - 1 Tombois

hour and ten minutes for the passage of Mauvages tunnel 4887m in length on the summit level of the Marne-au-Rhin canal west branch, at a height above sea level of 281m. We were now out of the Seine basin and into the Meuse valley. Started downhill at 11.30am following the valley of the little river Mèholle, down a flight of twelve linked locks (each lock activates the next) each lock drops the boat 2.9m and the pounds between are all under 1km in length. The first five locks, Mauvages, Villeroy, Chalède, Grande Charme and St Esprit, no longer had lock houses. All the rest had lived in houses except for lock 9 Biquiottes which had no house and lock 12 Void whose house was bricked up. We had lunch on the move as we carried on down the flight. All the locks were easy to work, just lift the blue bar and each one worked a treat. Mike spotted lock 10’s control cabin (only used when there are problems) was full of flies, thousands of them and more hovering about outside wanting to get in – had something died in there? At the last lock a

Old engine shed abv Tombois

charming, chatty VNF man in a van came to ask which way we were going, we told him towards Toul – if we’d gone north on the canal de l’Est we’d have had a new zapper, but on the route we’re taking we don’t need one for a while. It was 2.35pm when we finished the flight. The sky was a hazy grey-blue with flat clouds and the light was weak like you get at the start of an eclipse, I took photos as we followed the N4 on an embankment looking down on all the traffic. Under the N4 bridge and out into quieter countryside. Dust came across the canal in great clouds as vehicles moved in a cement

Old tunnel tug now in retirement

works on our right, fortunately not as we were passing. Mike paused on the aqueduct over the river Meuse to take a photo of the weir, which looked like it was about normal water level. At 4pm we turned right at the junction with the canal de l’Est, following the railway which was high up above us following the contours of a hill. Round meandering bends into Pagny-sur-Meuse, where we moored on a pontoon at 5pm behind a ginormous Belgian three-decker cruiser (no one on board must have been left there for the winter). The alternator belt had been

Entrance to Mauvages tunnel

squeaking, so Mike changed it, and was surprised that it was a lot more damaged that he had suspected

Exit to Mauvages with barrier and safety boat

Church at Pagny-sur-Meuse

Old towpath traction engine

Another old engine by VNF offices and workshop at Void

Church at Void 

Pale sky overlooking N4

Weir on river Meuse from aqueduct

Thursday 12th April 2018 Naix-aux-Forges to Demange-aux-Eaux 14.3kms 13 locks

Muddy walls in lk 13 St Amand

7.7ºC Hazy cloud to start, soon turning to blue skies, sunshine, but a cold wind. Set off at 9.45am. Up lock 14 La Barboule which had been sitting empty with a green light overnight. The entrance sensor was stubborn, it hadn't "seen" the boat, so Mike had to back out close to the sensor and try again, then it worked. Nice to have dry walls – no sticky gooey mud. Another load of washing on as there is a tap at lock. Out of lock 14 on an aqueduct over the river Mèligny (tributary of the Ornain) 1. 2kms to the next lock. VNF had been doing bank protection work using rocks, with a sacking cover, eco friendly to encourage plant growth, but it looked like work had stopped. Up lock 13 St Amand which was empty. The top end gates didn’t open so Mike gave them a bit of manual persuasion (a little push just to awaken the magnetic reed switch). Our VNF man in a van was checking for weed blocking the gates at lock 12 Charmasson. From here the canal does some interesting sweeping bends and some of the locks have repeater lights when the lock itself is around a blind bend. There was a little old foundry and lots

Marsh marigolds

of casting boxes along the bank before lock 11 Trèveray. Our keeper wearing a red woolly hat (not a diver or a follower of Captain Cousteau – Mike had asked him) was at his control centre. All the locks 1 – 17 can be worked remotely from here (hence lots of empty locks with wet muddy walls) and Mike had a guided tour (again – he did that when we were here last year). No cameras, he said, too expensive. He told Mike to expect an empty péniche, which was coming through the tunnel and he reckoned we’d see it around lock 5. Up locks surrounded by very pleasant scenery, 10 Charbonnières, 9 Petit Forge, 8

Huge mat of dead weed abv lk 5 L'Abbaye

Laneuville, 7 St Joire, 6 Boeval (the wind was a pig here and blew the boat to our right – the rods and ladder were on the left and it was hard work wriggling back to the other side. (A bow thruster would have been useful here) 5 Abbaye de Evaux, 4 Montfort (no signs of the commercial yet) 3 Bois Molu and then two VNF vans went downhill and we spotted empty péniche Burnaout coming out of lock 2 Demange. Our last lock of the day. Bugger it! Mike was fed up of muddy ladders so I lifted the rod and we rose ropeless. The gates stayed shut again – gave them a tiny little nudge

Below lock 4 Montfort

with our bows - that woke the sensor up and the gates opened. A short distance to the pontoon below lock 1 Tombois. It was empty, just us. Moored at 2.55pm

Black kite - lousy photo

Joire village from lk 7 Joire

Bank protection work below lk13 St Amand

Empty peniche Burnaout below lock 2 Demanges

Wednesday 11th April 2018 Tronville to Naix-aux-Forges 12.4kms 13 locks

House with steps by Villeroncourt lock

1.8ºC Sunny with white clouds but a chilly strong breeze after a cold night. Workmen started grass cutting at 9am (not right by the boat though), we left half an hour later. Past a large factory on the short distance to the first lock. Washing machine on. Lock 27 Chessard was full, so we had a short wait while it emptied. A brilliant yellow wagtail flashed past, must have a nest somewhere near the lock. Lock 26 Nançois-le-Petit was empty and ready as soon as Mike zapped. Into the small town of Verlaines. I made a cuppa as we went up lock 25 Verlaines. We had competition for smoke – the gardener’s bonfire beat our simmering coal fire hands down. Lock 24 Maulan was full of cabomba weed and the water in the pound above was beautifully cristal clear – we could see all the fish. Up lock 23 Villeroncourt and Mike took photos of the house up above the lock and its long flight of access steps. Under the N4 bridge carrying the busy road traffic in and out of Ligny-en-Barrois and up lock 22 Ligny. The water in the pound above was back to the usual murky stuff. The big basin in Ligny was empty except for one tjalk, noted there were two campervans parked there, campers outnumbering the boats. Lock 20 Gainval was

Moorings at Ligny-en-Barois

emptying before we arrived at the zapper post – we must be getting a helping hand from the VNF controller! He/she must have gone for lunch as the next lock 20 Grèves was full, with water cascading over the bottom end gates, so we had a short wait while the lock emptied. Above lock 20 on our left was a huge newly ploughed field and a pontoon for mooring on the right. Another fisherman – unusually we could count the number of fishermen we’d seen since Condé on the fingers of one

Lock 21 Gainval

hand. Lock 19 Givrauval was also full – another short wait. A bank of white clouds was forming in the direction we were going. The ladder and rods were on opposite walls, so Mike got off up the muddy ladder and threw our centre rope across to the other side, then he walked round to lift the rod and start the lock working. A VNF van went past as we continued along the longer pound to lock 18 Longveaux, which was also full. Mike took photos of its bricked up lock

Old church by lock 19 Givrauval

house. Zapper no longer needed, as we went under the road and rail bridges before lock 17 there were sensors to activate the locks from here to the top lock. The locks are linked so that exiting a lock causes the next one to be activated. Up lock 17 Menancourt, lock 16 Nantois prepared itself as we left 17, likewise lock 15 Naix was ready when we got there. I called on the lock intercom to remind the VNF that we were stopping overnight in Naix-aux-Forges. It was 2.15pm as we tied to bollards next to bins and a picnic table.

Clouds forming

Bricked up lockhouse at lock 18 Longeaux.

 Lock 17 Menaucourt and aqueduct over Ornain.