Wednesday 26th April 2017 Nomexy to Girancourt 26.3kms 25 locks

Lock house at 22 Igney - not even an anchor remains -
at least the house is still standing!

2.3°C Grey clouds, rain on and off all day, getting heavier in the afternoon. We set off at 9.45am, only 1.3kms to the first lock 24 Héronnière (all locks still about 3.00m lift). Bois de l’ Héronnière on our right on the 1.8kms pound to lock 23 Vaxoncourt. A short distance to lock 22 Igney – a photo in Hugh McKnight’s book “Cruising French Waterways” showed a picture of a house surrounded with anchors and flags, wooden storks and paintings of boats – all gone,

along with the keeper, a former

Graveller Feldspath winding,
bows to the left, stern end swinging towards us

péniche skipper and his family. 1.4kms to Lk 21 Plaine de Thaon. There was a winding hole and a loading place for gravel from the gravel pits along the Moselle. A modified péniche called Feldspath, with steering from a wheelhouse in the bows, came towards us then turned sharply into the winding hole right in front of us as if we weren’t there! Charming. A VNF lady in a van went past. The lock house at lock 21 was bricked up. Lock 20 was renamed L’Abbatoire – it was called Thaon–les-Vosges in our guide book. On the very short

Gravel boat entering loading bay specially
designed for it - and speed

pound we passed another modified péniche called Quartz and passed a cruiser, called Wander-Lust moored on the quay before lock 19 L’Usine de Thaon. 1.5kms to lock 18 Chavelot and we passed the third graveller, called Mica. Came to the conclusion that Thaon was not a quiet place to stop with gravel barges flying back and forth all day long. Had some lunch on route to lock 17 Prairie Gérard. We passed the place where the gravel boats unload by crane and the gravel is taken away from the canal on a big conveyor belt. There were also 

The rear end of Quartz, adapted peniche
heading downhill, about to collect more gravel

big piles of sand and another conveyor belt on the Moselle side of lock 16 Chavelot. Lock 15 Cote d’Olie was hidden around a sharp right bend under a bridge and there was no repeater light triangle, so Mike backed up to the light so he could see when it changed to green. The arm leading to the town of Epinal went off on the left after lock 15, the junction was on a very short pound, with the start of the fourteen lock flight of Golbey in front of us and we noted that all fourteen were linked but also 15 was linked to them – so if you want to go to Epinal (from either direction, up- or down-hill) you have to notify VNF to reset

Just one brave soul moored on the quay at Thaon-les-Vosges

the locks. All the previous locks had been activated using a telecommand aimed at a zapper post which flashed to say it had started the lock working. The fifteen work one after the other. On the junction there was a VNF office and workshops (with fourteen vans parked there) a VNF man came out to ask where we were going, Mike told him before he asked the question. Lock 14 had blue plastic experimental gates (which had been there over ten years so they must still be working OK). I lifted 

Last of the three gravellers, Mica,
steered from wheelhouse in the bows - heading towards us

the blue rod (corroded with rust so it was stiff, hard to move it) and the lock eventually started filling. These locks are slow and in need of maintenance with loads of holes in the concrete walls. Lock 13 had a concrete skim over part of the right hand wall and the width had been measured and recorded on the wall in eleven places, all were well under the standard 5,20m, some places were reduced in width to 5,13m making this very tight if not impossible for some péniches. The house at 12 was bricked up and covered in graffiti. Under a railway bridge, the gates at lock 11 were vibrating badly, making a deafening noise until the paddles opened. A longer

The unloading place for the gravel barges, abv lk 17

pound lead to lock 10 (all the lock pounds so far had been very short but wide to act as reservoirs for times of busy lock working) and the old piling was rusted away leaving gaps of about 10cms in each panel. Bits of wood stripped of bark went floating past. Astounded, I said to Mike, look beaver snacks, we haven’t seen any like that since Germany! A VNF van followed by a woman in a van marked “hygiene” were stopping and going into each lock cabin. Mike hopped off at 9 to have a look to see if he could see what they were inspecting – rat 

VNF HQ above lock 15, opposite the branch to Epinal

traps! Must be nibbling the lock control wires!!  DB Corriculum from Den Haag came down lock 8 and the crew waved as they passed in the rain. Several of the next locks had beautifully restored lock houses. I made Mike a cup of soup as it was getting decidedly chilly, under 4°C, and still raining heavily. At lock 5 Mike took pictures of proof there were beaver here, a chewed-off tree stump, pencil shaped so no doubt who did that and a tree with loads of bark missing, all on the lockside. Lock 3’s house had a long extension along the side 

Plastic gates on lock 14 Golbey flight

facing the lock, it had huge shuttered windows all along the length of it like a conservatory, very smart. Lock 2 had no house at all and the top lock house was lived in, two children in rain gear watched us lock through from the tail end bridge. The rain still poured down. Just after 4pm we set off on the 10.9kms summit pound at 360m ASL. The pound was low, down by about 30cms, showing the extent of the great big holes in the old piling. A lovely winding pound, better appreciated in sunshine. A large canal reservoir at Bouzey is 

Plastic gates on lock 14 Golbey flight

supposed to keep the top level full. At 5.35pm we arrived at lock 1 Trusey, the first of the 46 locks dropping down to the river Saone at Corre. Zapped and we had a short wait while it filled, I lifted the blue rod and we dropped down 3m then moored on the quay below behind a German DB called Martin II that we’d seen several times on the way, there were a couple of other cruisers too, moored on the long open

Beaver damage - demolished tree at lk 5 Golbey flight

quay at Girancourt. It was 6pm.

Mooring in the pouring rain at Girancourt