Monday 5th June 2017 Mailly-le-Port to St Sauveur 35.3kms 5 locks

Good morning - got any bread for us?

11.3°C Grey clouds first thing, then sunny with white clouds and cool breeze. A loaded Dutch péniche, Invicta, went past 8.10am heading downstream on the Saône. The river level had come up about 3” overnight after the weekend’s rain. We left the quay heading upriver at 8.30am. Fleeces on as the wind was chilly. About 7kms to the first lock through farmland mostly obscured by a belt of

The quay at Mailly-le-Port and hireboat moored bows to bank

trees along the riverbanks. Two men were fishing from a small open boat by the turn into lock 20 Auxonne, both were cheery and said bonjour as we passed. Turned the pole and a LeBoat hireboat was just leaving the lock going downriver, we went in and Mike took a rope up the ladder and lifted the blue rod. Up about 2m and found a queue was forming above the lock to come down – three hire boats plus a UK barge, the latter was in the middle and stayed there, so we had to do

Soaring red kite

a sharp right to get round him, then he tied to the dolphins as the first two hireboats had gone into the lock and lifted the bar. Another boat, a UK cruiser, was coming down the canal. We told them not to rush, they were in a queue! 9kms to the next. There were several fishermen trolling for pike along the canal. Through the flood gates at the end of the canal and on to the river in Auxonne. Past the houseboat and the stepped quay (empty). There were three boats on the pontoons, a DB

Signs for water-skiing and jet-skiing in Auxonne

and two cruisers. H2O’s Port Royal looked pretty full as we went past. As we approached the TGV railway bridge another LeBoat plus a Dutch motorsailer went past heading downriver and we were amazed to see we’d caught up with a boat (rare we catch up with anything!) which had just gone into the lock and the gates were closing behind him in Poncey lock 19. The turn pole was difficult, I didn’t get it to activate the lock, but Mike did. Two boats came down, a LeBoat and a cruiser, then we went up.

Port Royal in Auxonne

Again Mike went up the ladder. A cat came to look over the edge, it was the mangiest cat we’d ever seen, with more than half its black and white fur missing. It wandered off, must belong to the house just beyond the lock. 13.5kms to the next lock. A short canal section then through a floodgate after a hotel boat came through it first, then back on to the next river reach. Midday. A heron did a strange thing that we’d never seen before, it landed plonk in the middle of the river like a duck, sat there for a few moments, but not long

Night heron hiding in a tree. Spot it?

enough to get a photo before it took off again! A Locaboat went past heading downstream and a LeBoat was fast catching us up. Just before Lamarche a Snaily hireboat went past looking very smart, haven’t seen one of their boats in quite a long time. They are based at Chagny on the canal du Centre. Then several small cruisers also went downriver. A cruiser was moored on the quay at Lamarche, but the space behind the quay had quite a

TGV railway bridge

contingent of campervans, ten plus, and the converted lorry that was there went we went downriver was still there. The LeBoat behind us seemed to be hovering towards the quay but went on, then they looked as if they might tie up next to the restaurant Le Nyphea’s moorings, but no, they came past us and carried on upriver. Lunch. Past the hidden gunpowder factory deep in the woods before Pontailler and into the town, a new-build, very smart UK barge went past. Two cruisers were

A lesser purple emperor butterfly on the boat roof

moored on the stepped quay and the pontoon in the entrance to the Canalous basin was empty.  The ski- and jet-ski zones finished by the campsite at K252 and a kilometre further upriver the tiny tributary called Le Petit Oignon (the little onion) joined the Saône and Mike took a photo of a shooting hide with a circle of decoy ducks. Two hireboats, a Nicholls and a LeBoat came out of lock 18 Heuilley and two red lights came on at the tail of the lock and the gates stayed open. We tied to the battered dolphin for péniches to tie to and Mike went up the ladder and across the passerelle (a metal mesh gangway) to the bank and up to the lock cabin to call VNF on the intercom.

Mike on the ropes in Poncey lock

The man who answered was surprised the lock was en panne. When he returned Mike said he could see two boats at the upstream end waiting pontoon, surprised they hadn’t called to get the lock fixed. It was 2.05pm. A young lady in a VNF van arrived and went in the cabin, after checking the lock chamber. She closed and reopened the gates then put the green light on for us to go in. She was chatty and pleasant so Mike went up the ladder to ask about the telecomands on the Marne a la Saône, but we thought she misunderstood him as she replied that all the locks were activated by turning the hanging poles (that’s on the Saône). OK. The

A gun hide and decoy duck near Heuilley 

gates opened to let us out. The Dutch cruiser that was on the mooring above the lock immediately untied and came towards us heading for the lock, except they hadn’t got a green light – there were no lights on at all and the gates were closing (the young lady had probably had instructions to give the chamber a flushing to get rid of weed (as that was what had built up behind the gates so they didn’t open fully and caused the lock to go en panne in the first place) so she would be emptying the lock and refilling it. Mike gave the cruiser two hoots as we were turning left, but the cruiser just went faster towards the lock and the woman on the back shouted rudely that they had been waiting over an hour! He steered around the back of it –

A flood level marker on the lockside at Heuilley lock

a hireboat was following the Dutch boat but had the sense and courtesy to hang back and let us turn on to the d’Heuilley canal. A very weedy 1.4kms to the first lock, 43 Chemin de Fer (3.10m), which was always ready for uphill traffic, empty, gates open and a green light on. A crowd of people on bicycles went past, with lots of children - in carriers behind an adult, babies in harnesses attached to parents or on attached bikes behind parents, besides all the little ones riding independent bikes. Into the lock and Mike went up the ladder with a rope and lifted the blue rod. When the lock was full I was volunteered to ask for a

Moored at St Sauveur on the Marne a la Saône canal

telecommand for the locks at the dispenser and intercom by the lock. Pressed the button and a man answered. He asked a few questions then a telecommand came down the chute and I took a leaflet in English explaining how the locks are worked. Seems this canal is a bit more complicated than all the others as it now has several different systems, hanging poles, ones to be zapped and some moveable bridges that the VNF have to come and work manually. Should be interesting! It's been six years since we were here last.  A short distance (340m) to the next, lock 42 Maxilly (3.10m) which was already set as the two locks were chained (linked). The quay above in Maxilly (which has water and electricity now we noted)  had two moored boats, a large DB and a French cruiser, spaced out so there was not quite enough room for us to moor at either end of the quay – it was a nice afternoon, so we decided to carry on a bit further. 3.4kms to the next lock, but we decided to stop next to a piled edge just before the next lock at St Sauveur, where it was deep enough to get close to the piling on the non-towpath side. It was a bit overgrown, but that’s OK. It was 4pm.