Wednesday 14th June 2017 Rolampont to Chaumont 28.5kms 15 locks

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

A well-equipped back-packer abv lk 10 Prees

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

Church and chicken sheds at Versaignes

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

A radar motion detector,
now long redundant nr Versaignes

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

Our mighty little lock keeper,
winding a paddle on lk 12 Versaignes 

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

Grooves worn in the stone by countless boat ropes.
lock 14 Pommeraye

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

Footbridge over the river Marne by lock 19 Luzy

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

A lizard in the paddle gear box lk 19 Luzy

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

Remains of a vertical liftbridge at Luzy

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

The youth of Chaumont about to jump in the cut

plus.

Moored near Chaumont at La Maladiere

Tuesday 13th June 2017 Champigny to Rolampont. 9.97kms 6 locks.

New liftbridge at Jourquenay

7.6°C Sunny with blue skies, clouding over later. Set off at 9.25am. A short distance to lock 3 Moulin-Rouge (3.40m). On the quay were a couple of “dead” boats, the UK catamaran and a new-build DB with a USA flag on the front, then halfway down the empty quay behind it was a UK cruiser which had moored overnight, no signs of life as we passed it. A VNF van went past us to the lock. A VNF man got out and told us off for not ringing Vitry

Lock 7 Chanoy

to book the locks (another one who could do with a customer appreciation course) – Mike thought the manual locks started after Rolampont where we  were headed for today. No? OK. As we went down in the automatic lock I phoned Vitry to book us to Rolampont today and to Chaumont for the next day. 1.8kms to the next lock 4 Jourquenay (3.90m) which was set up ready for automatic use. Our grumpy man in a van handed over to a very pleasant dark-haired young man who was

A tatty looking buzzard

driving the oldest VNF car we’d seen in a long while. He worked the lock from the boxes at each end of the lock. 1.9kms to the next lock but there was a bridge to work. The old swingbridge had been replaced by a new liftbridge, again set up for automatic use but worked by our YM from a building on the bank. Lock 5 Humes (3.90m) was automatic and switched on so we zapped, it worked and the YM sat in his car to watch and make sure it worked OK. As the lock was filling a herd of cows walked past

Our roving lock keeper at lock 9 Rolampont

the lock and into a lane heading uphill to a field. The cattle sheds stretched most of the 800m down the right bank to the next lock 6 Pouillot (3.60m) also automatic and working, our YM watched until we were in the lock then drove off to the next. The house alongside the lock was empty. 1.4kms to the next, between high banks, the red sandy banks on our left were well eroded by wash of traffic passing too fast. On the right was a big sloping field of wheat. Lock 7 Chanoy (3.80m)

New lock cabin at 9 Rolampont

was automatic, but not yet switched on, so our YM worked it from the boxes again. The chamber had been redone with new concrete, recessed bollards in the walls and ladders in the right places! 1.8km to lock 8 St Menge (3.80m)was our first manual lock, it was undergoing transformation to automatic, two men from the electric company Suez were working on the lockside and both very interested in our unusual boat. Had to hoot to let the YM know we could work through one gate. Said au’voir to him as we left through one gate and headed for the quay at Rolampont, no boats were moored there, but there were two campervans parked, plus picnickers and a man from a camper fishing at the far end. It was 12.30pm. Lunch then I started on downloading Microsoft Office as we had a very good Internet connection, full house 4G. Amazed it only took half a gigabyte. Mike went for a nap and I pressed on with catching up on the log. It was 6.20pm when I finally

Lockhouse 9 Rolampont

caught up. A French flagged cruiser moored right in front of us and caused me to close our front doors as its engine was filling our cabin with fumes. Later a German cruiser arrived and tied to the bank behind us as there was no space left on the quay.

Moored on the quay at Rolampont

Saturday 10th June 2017 Villegusien to Champigny-les-Langres 17.5kms 10 locks 1 tunnel

View from lock 6 Descente en Saône

9.8°C Sunny, hot. A loaded boat went past heading uphill at 7.30am. The Windows 10 download had finished, just hope a new installation will put my laptop right (it didn’t). We were in the shade of the silo first thing so it was cool when we set off at 9am. I did two loads of washing as there should be water available where we’re stopping. A Swedish yacht went past heading downhill. The eight locks to the summit were linked and each one was 5m deep.

View down the flight from lock 1 Descente en Saône

Cattle country, smelly. The first lock 8, Percey was the only one with a name the rest were just called Descente en Saône. Lock 7’s house had been empty for a long time. A friendly lady jogger went past us, running downhill as we went up lock 6 (which had no house now) I took a photo looking back across the Plateau de Langres to the wind farm on a ridge of low hills. Our friendly lady jogger went past running uphill now, waving and wishing us bonne route. Lock 5 had a lived

Lock 1 and the checkpoint at Heuilly-Coton

in house and 4 had no house, but it had bins – at last we can dump our accumulation of rubbish. Lock 3’s house was lived in, lock 2 had no house and the top lock had a house used by VNF and workshops. There was a modern building for the controller alongside the lock and the dark-haired young man came out to tell us the current situation in Balesmes tunnel. One boat was coming through, then the péniche in front of us would go first and we must wait for a green light before following him through the 4,820m long tunnel. On to the 10kms long summit level, altitude 340m. A Dutch cruiser came out of the tunnel and the boat in front of us, Athena, a loaded péniche from Nieuwe Amsterdam, (the boat that went past us this morning at 7.30am – we should have realised just how slow this trip was going to be!) untied and went off to the tunnel through the long narrow entrance section, slowly. We waited ages for our green light and a light display said OK for No. 242 to go (the number of our zapper box). There were dozens of yellow floating buoys marking the channel into the narrows, (Mike took a photo of a Willy-wagtail on

Control centre by lock 1

one) then a barrier and height restriction gauge. It was 12.05pm as we set off into the narrows before the tunnel and 12.30pm as we passed a string of hazard signs and went into the tunnel. There were traffic lights in the centre of the roof, a narrow towpath with lights and emergency communications posts on our left and twin ventilator fans in the roof with a flashing yellow light. The traffic lights made sure we kept between 800m and 1200m behind the boat in front – and it was going very, very slowly. We had to keep stopping as the automatic system kept three red lights on between us and the péniche. It was the slowest we had ever been through a tunnel and that includes the tug tow through Riqueval. We had some lunch – at least it was cool in the tunnel. The last few hundred kilometres were wet, water dripping down the walls and off the roof leaving calcite deposits and spraying through the thin cotton of our battered old sunshade. It was 2.20pm when we finally emerged into the sunshine again. 1 hour 50 minutes. A record. Into the long narrow section through a cutting, where there were lengths of cut timber leaning against the cutting wall for péniches to use to hang over their hulls as fendering when passing through the tunnel. Through

VNF depot by lock 1 and two very old boats

the barrier and height restriction gauge and into the wider canal again. There were six new péniche moorings for waiting for the tunnel going south. A couple were fishing by the feed from the infant river Marne near a long-derelict house for the VNF man who looked after the feed. 71 locks downhill to Vitry - in the Paris basin now - and the loaded péniche hadn’t got to the first lock yet. Eventually it went through and we zapped and lock 1 Batailles (3.90m) filled and we

Peniche mooring, lights and sign board for Balesmes tunnel

went down. There was a man on the lockside by a lived in house who was taking photos. 2.6kms to the next. A German couple were sat out on the stern of their cruiser from Hamburg, moored next to a concrete quay by a bridge which carried a track over the canal. We waited, the boat in front wasn’t in the lock yet. Lock 2 Moulin Chapeau (3.60m) had an inhabited lock house. A short distance after the lock we tied up at the long quay in Champigny-les-Langres behind a

Willy-wagtail on a channel marker buoy

UK catamaran. It was 4.45pm. In front of a new-build DB beyond the sailing boat, the péniche was reversing into a gap on the quay. It got a line from its stern to the bank and remained there with its bows in the middle, a gangplank to the bank, and stayed there overnight. A group of young people (students?) were sitting on the grass under a tree by our stern and having a picnic, they stayed there until after dark. I tried doing all the repairs suggested on my laptop and

Balesmes tunnel green light to enter south end. The next three lights are red.
The fourth is green for the peniche. The lights are 400m apart.

nothing worked. I know from previous experience that it will take ages to get my laptop working again as it will have to go back to factory settings, then I’ll have to re-download all my programmes. Mike took the hard drive out of my HP and I transferred all my files to his Acer laptop to a file for safe-keeping on its desktop, which took hours.

Peniche moored at Champigny

 

One of the many emergency intercoms in the tunnel

Leaving north end of tunnel

Moored at Champigny

Thursday 8th June 2017 Cusey to Villegusien 14kms 14 locks.

Although it is brown, this is a female common blue butterfly

5.7°C A warm sunny day with a nice breeze. The Dutch couple with wooden cruiser left at 9am going downhill – silently, their boat was electric! We set off at 9.15am. Short distance to lock 22 Cusey (3.40m) (this lockhouse was where the keeper, a M. Vrignon lived, who was in a Resistance group called Reseau AGIR in WWII and sheltered agent Michel Hollard on his trips to Switzerland to pass on vital information to the British about the development of the German V1 rocket sites in

Precariously balanced stone crusher

occupied Northern France) now the house is used by the VNF, they have a depot there. This is the first of five chained locks (linked) 22 to 18 and they are all about 600m apart. Water level in the pound above was down by about 6” taking into account we’d just taken a lock-full out. Lock 21 Montrepelle (3.50m) had an empty lockhouse and we went over an aqueduct over a small tributary of the river Vingeanne, whose valley the canal follows. Lock 20 Badin (3.50m) had a nice lockhouse alongside. Heard a golden oriole in the woods (rare to see the bright yellow and black secretive birds though). Lock 19 Grande Côte (3.60m) we had problems and luckily for us there was a VNF man

Crushed rock and a digger

cutting the grass – he lifted the rod and nothing happened, so he operated the lock from the shed (serving as a lock cabin). He said he would follow us up to the next lock as that probably wouldn’t work as they were chained. He called the checkpoint on the intercom to report the lock as faulty. Lock 18 Dardenay (3.60m) – he was right the lock hadn’t activated, so our chatty man in a van worked the lock again for us. The house at Dardenay was lived in, there were several cars and a van there. On the 1.2kms pound to the next lock a crow flew over carrying a frog in its beak, legs all a-dangling. Lock 17 Foireuse (3.60m), was OK, it worked perfectly for us. A young lady in a van had driven down to lock 17, turned round and come back up to lock 16 as we approached lock 16 Choilley (3.90m) more problems, the

Spot the bunny

telecommand  wouldn’t activate the lock. The young lady worked the lock for us and the elderly lady, who lives in the smart lockhouse surrounded by pots of flowers, came out to chat with Mike who was doing rope duty as the lock filled. Her Yorkshire terrier was determined he wanted someone to throw a ball for him but we were all too busy chatting. A long pound – 2.7kms and time for a cuppa. The sky was Mediterranean blue with wispy bits of white cloud and a nicely cooling light breeze was blowing. More bank support using layers of old tyres. Below the next lock was a cantilevered apron of concrete about 3m long that we had moored on years ago, a difficult mooring as we had to put a quant pole out from the stern to tie to the bank. Lock 15 Domarien had about half a metre of water in it. Soon emptied and we went up, 1km to the next. Lock 14 Croix

Moored at an old silo quay in Villegusien

Rouge (3.80m) again had a small amount of water in the chamber. The house was occupied but no one around as it was lunchtime. 1km to the next. A busy day for insects, lots of damselflies, dragonflies and butterflies. A female common blue landed on the roof of the boat and stayed long enough to have her photo taken. Lock 13 Bise l’Assaut (3.40m). Wheat fields and mustard beyond the shady hornbeams along the grassy towpath – a distinct absence of bicycles here. Another longish pound 2.4kms to lock, over an aqueduct over the Vingeanne, then on an embankment looking down on cows in a meadow. A bit of industry, though quiet today, a stone crusher looked precarious on a crumbled cliff edge in a quarry with piles of crushed rock – sadly no boats about to transport it! A coypu swam across the canal just before lock 12 Piépappe (3.10m) The gates opened then stopped, oh no not another one en panne – but as we were just deciding to call VNF several minutes later the gates opened fully and the lock worked OK! Noted that the cycle piste had returned to the towpath –although there were no signs of any bikes today. There was a nice shady mooring above the lock next to a piled edge with bollards, no good for us – no satellite access. Lock 11 Chateau (3.90m) – a boat coming down! A Belgian cruiser with sunshade up - and leaving clouds of smoke behind him (they wouldn’t be happy to drive it if their car did that! It wouldn't pass an MOT.) Chickens in a fenced area at the lock house. Just 500m between the last couple of locks. 10 Pré-Meunier (3.50m) had a beautifully kept house with lots of flowers. Lock 9 – last lock – Villegusien (3.40m) another lived in house.  We moored at the old silo quay above the lock. It was 2pm and getting hotter. The silo was all shut up, sheep were grazing in a field beyond it and a rabbit was nibbling the herbage by an old bucket off a digger. Set up the TV and found we had Internet but only 3G so a bit slow. Métèo for Langres area said thunderstorms tomorrow so we’ll stay here until Saturday. The eight locks to the summit are linked, so no stopping until the far side of the Balesmes tunnel in Langres. First commercial traffic! A loaded Dutch péniche from Maasbract went past at 5.20pm, ropes still OK after he’d gone – we are attached to two old rings on the quay and were bouncing around quite well. Later my PC crashed….  It took me over a week to get it back to normal!

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.

Tuesday 6th June 2017 St Sauveur to Champagne-sur-Vingeanne 13.1kms 6 locks

Automatic liftbridge at Cheuge

8.1°C Heavy rain overnight and still raining until 11am, then the clouds disappeared like magic and we had a blue sky and white clouds. Plus a chilly west wind to go with it. Decided to set off again at 11.30am. Up lock 41 St Sauveur (2.9m) with a very nice house alongside the lock. 1.9kms to lock 40 Cheuge (3.10m). There was a VNF van at the lock and a young lady in a dayglow jacket was being instructed by an older man, must be a trainee. Nearly 3kms to the next lock. A UK DB was

Old towrope pulley on lockside at Cheuge

moored at a picnic stop by the bridge in Cheuge. The silo below lock 39 Renève (3.40m) had gone completely, but the concrete quay with bollards next to a winding hole was still there. There were several VNF vans by the house and outbuildings, must be a VNF depot. A couple stopped by the lock with their car and came over to take photos as we locked through. There were bins on the lockside so Mike took our rubbish. 3.9kms to the next. Noticed that the old radar detector post was still there above the lock, redundant and minus its “headlight”. There was downhill traffic, a British cruiser with a

Railway viaduct at Oisilly

defaced blue Ensign, followed ten minutes later by a newbuild Dutch steel barge. Up lock 38 Oisilly (2.30m) after a cruiser coming down had left. Under a magnificent stone railway viaduct (railway now sadly defunct and sprouting trees). I made sandwiches for lunch on the 1.9kms pound to lock 37 Rochette (3.10m) then a short pound of 700m to lock 36 Blagny (2.90m). We moored at Champagne-sur-Vingeanne at 2.45pm next to pilings by a péniche mooring (unscarred blue paint on the bollards

Moored at Champagne-sur-Vingeanne

indicated it had probably never been used) carefully putting pins in the bank after I’d spotted a very large hornet disappearing into the grass by our bows. Well timed as another heavy downpour started about half an hour after we’d moored. A cruiser went past at speed to test our ropes, we listed slightly but didn’t bump on the bottom.

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.