Thursday 15th June 2017 Chaumont to Vouécourt 19.4kms 10 lock 1 tunnel

VNF men doing some piling work Chaumont

13.3°C Very hot and sunny, clear blue skies first thing, then clouds building up by midday and sharp showers of rain. Thunderstorms had been forecast but missed us. When we set off at 8.55am the VNF were working opposite where we’d moored, pushing short lengths of piling into the bank using a digger bucket while two men held each metal pile in position. There were five men, a grass-cutting machine, a digger and a small lorry to do

Condes tunnel, aqueduct and liftbridge

the work. A short distance to lock 25 Relancourt (3.50m) A VNF van had gone past on the towpath before we got there. Down the lock on to a longer pound of 3.4kms. Past a silo quay which looked disused, it hadn’t been used for loading grain into boats in a long time. Before the next lock 26 Condés (3.70m) was the tunnel of the same name and a liftbridge, all of which worked automatically after Mike went on to the front deck to zap. The bridge lifted and we went over another aqueduct over the Marne and into the tunnel, only 308m long but unusual as it is a passing tunnel - wide enough for two péniches

Condes tunnel looking back at the liftbridge

to pass. Down the lock, which had a very nice house and garden on to a short 800m pound leading to lock 27 Brethenay (3.0m) which also had a very smart lockhouse. A VNF van was parked on the towpath as men were strimming the edges of the towpath. 1.9kms to lock 28 Mouillerys (3.70m) No house. A large VNF van was on the lockside, its driver came out of the lock cabin and drove off, followed by a small VNF van down the towpath. 1.8kms to lock 29 Raucourt (3.80m) A Red

Lock 27 Brethenay and liftbridge

Admiral butterfly decided it liked Mike and sat on his head, his nose, then his hand. So he gave it some of the fruit squash he was drinking and it loved it. Transferred it to me and more fruit squash and took photos of it slurping while we were waiting for the lock to empty. Along the 3.5kms to lock 30 Bologne (3.40m) there were some beautiful houses. Below the lock there was a picnic mooring with a concrete quay and steps up to an open fronted building where there were picnic tables. Wow!

Horse with fly defence headgear

We passed a smoky Dutch cruiser going uphill, first boat in two days’ travelling. Clouds started building up towards midday. Strangely, although the cruiser had just come up, lock 30 was empty and it had to refill when we zapped. Into the lock over another aqueduct over the infant river Marne. A young man in a VNF van stopped to ask us the usual questions, where are we stopping, etc. 920m to the next lock 31 Roôcourt (3.40m). It was full, so

Church tower at Raucourt

the gates opened just after we zapped. The red roofed village of Roôcourt was spread out along the valley, with a church part way up the hill behind. 2kms to lock 32 Viéville (3.40m) also still full. 2.8kms to the next lock. In the town of Viéville there is a liftbridge and a mooring. A keeper (the lad in the van) worked the new liftbridge from a cabin alongside it (the old one had been automatic). The moorings were full, one “dead” cruiser, two “dead” DBs and a two visiting cruisers which were occupied, plus three campervans. Lock 33 Granvaux (3.40m) was approached via another

Red Admiral butterfly slurping fruit squash

shallow cutting. A couple on bikes paused by the lock to chat to Mike in French (we thought they were most likely Dutch due to their accents) they didn’t know that heavy rain and thunderstorms had been forecast for this afternoon. 1.9kms to Vouécourt (3.50m). Large fields of wheat stretched up the valley sides on our left to the forested hills beyond. The canal went into Vouécourt on an embankment higher than the village houses

Moored boats and liftbridge at Vieville

into the lock. It started to rain and it poured down – it could have held off for half an hour and let us get tied up! It had stopped when we arrived at the quay. There was 20m long concrete with a wooden decked top which was halfway up our windows (ideal for getting the bike back on the roof after Mike has moved the car on to Vitry tomorrow) and bollards set back from the quay by about 10m. Some local resident had made some flowerpot – type men to decorate the bank by the mooring, amusing miniature fishermen! It

Moored at Vouécourt

was 2.10pm and very hot and humid. Later it poured down again several times but the main storms missed us. When the rain stopped we had a good breeze through the front doors which cooled us down until dusk when we had to close the doors due to mossies and tiny moths. We both had an afternoon nap again – it’s not our age, it's the fresh air!

Miniature fishermen at Vouécourt