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| Langres, on its fortified hilltop from lock 10 Prees |
12.4°C Sunny most of the day – a
few clouds in the afternoon, but soon back to sunny and very hot again. We left
the quay at 8.30am. The cruisers were not showing any signs of setting off and
there were five campervans which had parked overnight. A couple of kilometres
to the first lock, 10 Prées (3.40m) which had an empty lockhouse with no
windows. A young lady in a VNF van went past us heading for the lock. It was
manually
operated and she’d got it filled and ready for us and I managed to get
her to stop running round to open a second gate. A very pleasant YL she soon got the
hang of working through one gate and Mike hopped off to help winding paddles as
and when he could. 1.5kms to lock 11 Thivet (3.60m) and another derelict house.
2kms to lock 12 Vesaignes (3.40m) the lock was undergoing alteration to
automatic and there were several campervans on the locksides with the occupants
sitting out in the
sunshine who now had a passing boat to watch! 1.9kms to lock
13 Marney (3.40m) where the house was beautifully looked after and the garden
very neat. A woman brought a child to look at the boat, he was aged about three
and pretty much unimpressed. 1.3kms to lock 14 Pommeraye (3.30m) with cyclists
in lycra whizzing down the towpath. The Chef was there at lock 14 to ask where
we were going to today, what time we were starting tomorrow and where we were
headed for. He was chatty and pleasant. The lock was a slow one, they’d started
putting the hydraulics in and had removed the paddle on the right so only the
left paddle worked (each gate used to have two paddles if I remember correctly). The boss gave the girl a hand to open the gate which was
very hard to get the capstan moving. Below the lock there were loads of wild
strawberries growing in the crevices on the stone walls leading down to the
towpath and lots of tiny fruit on them. 2.5kms to lock 15 Pré Roche (3.40m) Another
empty lock house and the lock was half converted and still had to be worked
manually. 1.3kms to the next, lock 16 Boichaulle (3.40m) an occupied house and
a lock part
converted, again only one paddle working so it was very slow and
Mike gave the girl a hand to open the gate. Below the lock there was a silted
up winding hole then a narrow section with cabin-high stone walls both sides,
the Marne on our left. There were moorings provided at Foulain, a couple of ten
metre piled aprons, but no takers. Lock 17 Foulain (3.70m) was faster with two
paddles working. A short pound of only 600m took us to lock 18 Pecheux (3.70m).
1.7kms to the next so I made some lunch. Our gas bottle expired, so I steered
the boat while Mike did the changeover of bottles. A red kite was circling
slowly over the field on our right. Lock 19 Luzy (3.20m) was soon empty with
two paddles working. Below the lock the vertical liftbridge had been
demolished, no doubt to be replaced soon with a more modern liftbridge. 2.9kms
to lock 20 Val des Ecoliers (valley of the schoolboys!!) (3.90m). A lockhouse
with a large verandah extension and a very dirty car parked by it – inhabited
or not? We thought not. 1.5kms to lock 21 Foulon de la Roche (4.00m). Two VNF
men were cutting the grass, they stopped
and took over working the lock for the
girl, she was temporarily redundant and so was Mike. Getting closer to
Chaumont, a large town (the biggest on the whole canal route apart from Vitry)
so cyclists and fishermen were more in evidence. 1.3kms to lock 22 Chamerandes
(3.80m). A child was sliding down the sloping concrete edge of the canal,
splashing into the water and then doing it all over again, watched by a parent
maybe, or older brother, from his car on the towpath. Through a narrow section
with high stone walls either side. More fishermen. Into 22 and said au’voir to
our young lady lock keeper. We went against our principle of not tipping people
for just doing their job as she’d worked
very hard doing thirteen locks (when
most mobile keepers only do three or four locks then another takes over) on a
very hot day. She had told us she was a first year medical student, doing a
five year course to be a clinician, so the money would be useful. 2.9kms to the
next. The towpath was more in use by cyclists and pedestrians as we came close
to Chaumont. There was a group of about nine or ten
youths on the last bridge before lock 23 Choignes (3.60m). They were jumping
from the bridge
into the canal. Took a photo which they thought was great fun.
Then I closed all the doors and Mike got our big fishing brolly out and moved the boat over to the right hand side so they couldn’t jump in down that side as the edges were too shallow. Several jumped in, feet first, making a loud
splash - but didn’t get the boat wet. A crowd of lads on the bank got on bikes
and followed us to the lock. Now this was starting to feel a bit threatening.
We’d just realised it was Wednesday afternoon and the schoolkids were out in
force on their midweek half day off. There were more of them swimming in the
canal just before the lock. When the
lock was full we went in, I lifted the rod and Mike kept
the boat in the middle
of the chamber, too far for any of them to jump on to the boat. The lock house
was inhabited, but no one around. One youth asked a very strange question – had
we got a motor? Yes. (Silly question – we hadn’t got a horse!) What sort?
Perkins. By which time the lock was almost empty. Relieved to get away from
that lot, they weren’t aggressive, but we felt menaced – first time since leaving
the UK – apart from once in Germany. Below the lock were more high
banks as we
were in a shallow cutting. 1.6kms to lock 24 Val des Choux (valley of the
cabbages!!) (3.00m) another inhabited lock as we were near to the town. More
high walls and another cutting below lock 24, then out into more open
countryside. We went past the pay moorings at La Maladiére, there was one
cruiser moored there and loads of campervans. Put mooring pins in at the back
of some piling and tied to the bank by the gardens of some houses. A very
pleasant spot, nice and quiet. A long day for us - it was 4.40pm. We both went
to sleep, mild heat exhaustion again - the temperature in the cabin was in the high 20°C s
and outside had been 35°C
plus.
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| A well-equipped back-packer abv lk 10 Prees |
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| Church and chicken sheds at Versaignes |
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| A radar motion detector, now long redundant nr Versaignes |
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| Our mighty little lock keeper, winding a paddle on lk 12 Versaignes |
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| Grooves worn in the stone by countless boat ropes. lock 14 Pommeraye |
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| Footbridge over the river Marne by lock 19 Luzy |
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| A lizard in the paddle gear box lk 19 Luzy |
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| Remains of a vertical liftbridge at Luzy |
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| The youth of Chaumont about to jump in the cut |
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| Moored near Chaumont at La Maladiere |
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