Wednesday 12th April 2017 Pargny to Contrisson 9.5kms 7 locks

Flying in circles??

1.1°C After a very cold night a sunny day with a chilly breeze. Set off at 9.15am. It had been a nice mooring at Pargny, but noisy due to military jet aircraft taking off from the airbase at nearby St Dizier. Up lock 63 Pargny, a deep one at almost 3m then, 2.5kms to the next. Hazy clouds and fading con-trails in the light blue sky. For a while there were loud noises of jets getting ready for take-off, but we saw no planes. Péniche Florimonde came down lock 62 L’Ajot and the skipper came out to tell us that we’d gone through the sensors too fast! With a narrowboat, he must be joking! We had a red light. As Mike backed up he said that it was most likely he went through too slowly as we were waiting for the lock to empty. Through the sensors again and this time the lock light changed from red to red and green then the gates opened (it was already empty as the péniche had just come down it) then we went in and up lock 62 (2.6m lift) 1.3kms to the next. I made a

One brown woolly sheep with curly horns

cuppa. Lock 61 La Chaine was also empty so the gates opened as we went through the sensors. A VNF van arrived with a lady roving lock keeper (she had amazingly blue hair) to check we were OK. Yes, no problems. Up another 2.5m in lock 61 and 1.5kms to Sermaize-les-Bains. Mike was on the bows checking sensor operation so we reversed jobs and I steered the boat into the lock and he lifted the rod and the boat rose another 2.6m as the lock filled. The canal was wide and a large sweeping bend took us under a railway bridge. All we could see of Sermaize from the canal were factories and a huge silo. Our guide book said that the town was totally destroyed in 1914, except for its fountain! They rebuilt it all

Moored above lock 57 Contrisson

and restored the church to how it had been before WWI. Just 1.3kms to the next lock 59 Remennecourt. Up another 2.6m at lock 59 then 1.6kms to lock 58 Chevol. Surprised to see another péniche – this one was coming down the lock backwards – the keeper on Monday had told us that the boats who were delivering to a quay above lock 56 had to reverse down two locks to be able to wind (turn round) and head back through Vitry. Empty péniche Jomel turned in the winding hole immediately below lock 57 Contrisson, then we went up another 2.6m. Moored to the piled edge of the towpath just beyond the no overtaking sign (a stone marker like an overgrown milestone post). It was 12.30pm. Moored on an embankment we had good views across the open farmland and down below was a small flock of dark brown shaggy-looking sheep with massive curly horns – they had black lambs. Had some lunch then gave Mike a hand to unload the bike off the roof. He went to Pargny to get the car, take it on to Tronville and come back on the moped.