Thursday 13th April 2017 Contrisson to Fains-les-Sources 14.3kms 14 locks

Peniche reversing to lk 57 Contrisson

2.6°C Grey clouds and a cold breeze. There were occasional glimpses of sunshine in the afternoon. A pénichette went racing past us going uphill at 8.00am just after Mike got up. Péniche Feeling was coming down lock 56 backwards and he reversed down the pound, having terrible trouble with swirling water and the breeze. By the time he arrived at the lock it had shut up and returned to standby. The skipper had to phone VNF to send a man in a van to reset it for him. Chatted as he sat

VNF van on the way to re-set the lock which had timed out

waiting for the lock as we’d met up with him several times over the years. We set off just after 9am as the “jockey” arrived. Not far, just a short distance, to lock 56 Braux, through the last set of sensors, the lock set itself and we went up another 2.6m. The pound above was short only 870 metres and the water was low as four loaded boats had turned here over the past few days. Took photos of the Arcelor Mittal steel works where the boats had delivered about a thousand tonnes of

Steel works above Braux lock

steel coils and photos of all the boat graffiti. The next lock 55 La Haie Herlin was activated by telecommand -  zap a post on the towpath, which flashed to say it had worked and the lock emptied ready for us. All the locks along this stretch are about a 2.7m lift. An even shorter pound of 540m lead to lock 54 Damzelle, which was very slow to fill as there was only one paddle out of four working. Insufficient water was coming in to overtake the leaks out of the bottom end gate, so

Boat graffiti

the top end gates didn’t open. Mike called VNF on the lock cabin intercom. I got on with the chores. It was 11am when a man in a van arrived and opened the gates for us. 585m to lock 53 N D Grâce, which was empty so we were soon in and up. 620m to lock 52 Revigny, the town of Revigny was visible from the canal across a wide field on our left. There was a VNF workshop on the lockside and very useful bins, plus working drinking water taps. Beyond the lock was

More boat graffiti

a good mooring place with picnic tables and trees – the latter made it useless for us as we wouldn’t get satellite TV through the trees. A long pound! 1.050kms to lock 51 Bois d’Ecoyer. The lady who lived in the lockhouse came out to take her small dog walkies and said hello. Just under a kilometre to lock 50 Petit Fraicul, then 840m to Grand Fraicul lock 49. On the way to lock 48 Neuville there was a little train in someone’s garden, its coal wagons filled with flowers. A shortened converted péniche, called Aldoka, came down lock 48, its smoky exhaust blowing straight at the steerer. Wow - 1.175kms to lock 47 La Doeuil. A VNF van went up the road alongside the canal to lock 46 Mussey. The railway line was also alongside the canal and a very scruffy (covered with graffiti) two car train went past heading for Bar-le-Duc. There was a lift bridge at the tail end of Mussey lock, the lock worked but the gates didn’t open. Telephoned VNF. They sent our man in a van who arrived 20min later. He told us he’d been very busy today running up and down the canal. Mike said we’ll see you later then as we left – ah no, this was the last lock of his section. Au’voir! 750m to Chacolée lock 45 then over a kilometre to lock 44 Varney. The old

Four boats delivered 1000 tonnes of these coils of steel

lockhouse still looked lived in, but the grass around the lock was long, uncut and full of ladysmock. 880m to our last lock of the day 43 Remercourt. A white rabbit was grazing the lockside grass and dandelions in a moveable hutch with no floor. A really long pound of 2.14kms to our destination at Fains-les-Sources where we moored on new bollards next to piling before the pay moorings by the lock (full of “dead” boats). It was 3.30pm and we were whacked, all that fresh air

Bunny eating lockside grass

again. Did the usual chores and

Lock and liftbridge working at last

then made a cuppa (skinny day). Mike made new feet for the solar panels. Glad we’d kept the coal fire going all day as it was chilly.

Little train with coal wagons full of flowers