Wednesday 7th June 2017 Champagne-sur-Vingeanne to Cusey 25kms 13 locks

Bridge nr Fontenelle

9.6°C Sunny but with a cold wind and lots of clouds. Still very windy. The boat was in the shade so it was quite cool and didn’t warm up much, what a contrast with last week, 17°C outside and 19°C in the cabin! A VNF van went past while we were having breakfast. Set off at 9am, pushing the boat out to minimise the weed round the prop. Beyond the first road bridge there was a bad smell of sewage. The silo quay was badly overgrown, the loading chute hadn’t been used in years. Most of the locks were completely empty so the gates opened as soon as we zapped.

Derelict house at Fontaine-Française

Up 35 Beaumont (2.90m), 34 Dampierre (2.90m) and 33 Licey (3.40m) then 32 Fontenelle had to empty about half a metre of water before the gates opened. The previous locks had filled gently using ground paddles by the top end gates, but now, from 32 onwards, the ground paddles put water in through holes in the bottom of the chamber and still the locks filled very gently. The same at lock 31 Fontaine-Française (2.90m), a metre of water in the chamber emptied out. The

Water crowfoot in flower

derelict lock house was now home to nesting martins, flying in and out through the cut out diamonds in the old wooden shutters. No sooner had I said “The clouds in front look very dark”, than we had a short, sharp downpour. Mike got the brolly out and I put my waterproof on to go out to lift the rod on lock 30 Lalau (3.40m) then the sun was out again. Thick brown mud came up from the bottom of the lock with the water bubbling in. Up lock 29 St Seine (3.40m) and passed a small

VNF peniche Peter Pan

Dutch steel boat coming downhill on the longish pound (2.7kms). There were moorings that had been made for small boats by putting in concrete aprons, each about three metres long, we’d used them once years ago by attaching the bows to one and putting a quant pole out to the bank off the stern, not an easy mooring. Passing a farmyard alongside the canal and into lock 28 Pouilly (3.50m). The next pound was a long one at 3.8kms. We saw an empty péniche coming

House and cafe at St Maurice

towards and thought whoopee a commercial at last – then saw that it was an ancient (and pretty battered) boat called Peter Pan and belonged to VNF. Surprised to see how far over to our left it went, instead of giving us half the channel it went well into the weeds. Smiles and two waving VNF men, then hard astern as they went aground! Oops, trainee day? Didn’t take but a minute for them to get back into the deeper water and set off again. A little further on there was a fruit farm with trees and bushes covered with netting on a

VNF van at St Maurice

slope that couldn’t be used for growing wheat or mustard. At lock 27 Lavilleneuve (3.60m) the gates were open with a red light and a flashing green. Uh? We went in and then backed out far enough to cover the photoelectric sensors and went in again – astounded that trick got us a solid green light and we didn’t have to call VNF – how did Peter Pan get out without being detected? Or did he come into the chamber twice so the lock thought there were two boats in the chamber and was still waiting for No 2 to exit? We’ll never know. The lock worked normally. A VNF van was on the lockside at 26 St Maurice (3.60m)

Rope grooves bridge nr Percey-le-Petit

where the lockhouse had been extended with a restaurant alongside it. No one there, lunchtime must be over. I made our lunch as we went on to lock 25 Romagne (3.40m) which also had an inhabited lockhouse. A van was outside, it said “Cloches, Horlogues et Reparations Electrique”, what a mix. A man came out of the house wielding an old fluorescent lighting fitting The next two locks were about 2kms apart. Up 24 Courchamp (3.20m) the shade trees along the canal here seem to be predominantly hornbeams, then through a bridge that had had a new deck, which was painted bright metallic blue – the old stone base had tow rope grooves giving away its age. On up 23 Bec (3.0m) noting we had a tarmac cycle piste

Eco bank protection - recycled tyres

again. Then we saw the first cyclists we’d seen since the beginning of this canal – two men on VTT bikes. A purple heron took off from the bank and landed in the top of a tree, no photo opportunity. As we arrived at our destination for the night, Cusey, a VNF man in a van stopped to ask if we were stopping here, when were we setting off again, what time and where we were going the next day? Why does he need to know – all the locks to the summit are automatic? A lady with a small dog offered to take a rope as we came in to moor. I had our centre

Moored at Cusey

line as the wind was blowing off the bank, so I said thanks but we’re OK as I pulled the boat in against the bank and Mike got off to tie up. It was 3.15pm. Mike asked her if they charged for the mooring, she said she hadn’t seen anyone to collect any money, but the electricity was working (not the water though). Tied up close to the bows of her lovely wooden cruiser (Dutch) as we had rocks at our stern where the moorings ended. No Internet for the first time on this canal. TV worked OK and French TF1, but both phones were a bit feeble. UK News all politics in view of tomorrow’s General Election.