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| Our mooring at Pont Tremblant |
-0.3°C Sunny but cold, clouds in the afternoon
and the cold wind picked up. Winded and set off at 9.05am (we’d winded when we
arrived to moor on the quay so we could have the side doors opening on the water side). A small yacht,
two cruisers and a DB (a bit scruffy, but looked lived on) were moored at the end of
the quay by the lock and VNF had put an old tug on the bank – set in concrete.
Down lock 2 Girancourt (again all locks dropped 3m approx.) The lock house was
very smart, lived in. 1.3kms to lock 3 Barbonfoing, no house. 600m to lock 4
Launois, whose house was bricked up and
slowly decaying. 1.2kms to lock 5, the
start of the flight called the Descente du Void de Girancourt. The edges of the
canal banks were covered in marsh marigolds and the first sandpiper of the year
went yodelling its way down the canal in front of us. Seven locks, one after
the other – the first, lock 5, was named Void de Girancourt, it had a barn to
the right hand side and a big old farmhouse and barn on the left. The next lock
(6) had no house, nor 7, but 8 had a beautiful house below it (not a lock house)
and there was a nice quay with rings and picnic tables. Locks 9 to 12 (12 is
the next one beyond the end of the flight) were all linked so
no need to zap
although the old posts were still there. The post above 9 was very close to the
lock so I zapped it from the bow (Mike usually zaps from the stern) then the
next to zap was lock 13. We passed a DB coming up in 10 as we’d just cleared 9.
Lock 11 had a posh cabin for the VNF crews to have lunch in - Mike went and had
a look through the windows - it was equipped with tables and chairs, plus a
microwave and there was a picnic table outside in case it’s not raining. Lock
12 Brennecôte was ready for us. Took a photo of the notice in the lock cabin
window,
which had been translated into the most appalling English, bet the
German translation was just as bad. Another shuttered, empty lock house. Back
to zapping at lock 13 Thiélouze. Its lock house was in ruins, the back half of
the roof had fallen in and the walls were covered in graffiti. Down 14 Port de
Thiélouze – the large farmhouse close by the lock was up for sale. There were
two old lock houses, the oldest had no roof or windows and the youngest was
shuttered and empty. Made some lunch as we went down 15 Thillots, another
shuttered lock
house that needs renovating. Down 16 Méloménil, which was close
to the village of the same name. The lock house there was bricked up, the big
extended house on the other side looked derelict but as smoke was coming from
its chimney so it must be inhabited. Down 17 Reblangotte, another vandalised lock house
covered in graffiti. At 18 Uzemain the lock house looked renovated, but we
weren’t sure if it was lived in - another house was for sale by the lock. Our
chart marked a mooring with a water tap below lock 18, no signs of either, in
fact the layby had yellow floating cones to indicate that
it was shallow. Cross
that one off! Down lock 19 Charmois l’Orgueilleux, yet another vandalised lock house.
A cold wind was starting to pick up as we ran down to lock 20 Coney, named
after the little stream whose valley the canal now closely follows - our last lock of
the day. There were two VNF vans by the lock, one had a trailer and an orange
plastic boat which they were about to launch into the canal above the lock. A
man on rollerblades and stopped to chat with the VNF crew. One of the VNF men
came over to have a brief talk with Mike to ask where we were going, etc. We
winded again
and moored on a 20m pontoon above lock 21 Pont Tremblant. It was
3.15pm. Satellite TV was OK, but no phone, French TV or Internet.
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| An old VNF tug set in concrete |
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| Good French to English & German translator required by VNF!! |
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| Old lock house at 14 Port de Thielouze |
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| Very old lock house at 14 Port de Thielouze |
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| A Jay searching the leaf litter |
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| Old house at Melomenil |
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| More modern extension of the same house at Melomenil |
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