Friday 25th March 2010 Blanzy to Montchanin. 9kms 7 locks

Lock 5 Planche-Calarde. Canal du Centre 

Getting warmer! Sunny and warm all day. Got the boat ready and left at 9.45 a.m. We were almost at the first lock when a VNF man in a car came past us, turned his car around and went back up to the lock. He’d been to look for us, but we weren’t late! Lock 7 La Roche was ready for us with green lights. I got off up the ladder and pulled the cord on the single post by the top end gates just as the keeper returned. I went to pick a couple of blue flowers which were growing in abundance below the lock. (Identified as Spring Squill, they were a bit like English bluebells but smaller with flowers that opened out into pale blue star shapes). 

Got back to the boat just as the lock was full. The keeper told us there was a loaded péniche coming down and we should cross in the next pound. No problem. Just around the bend we met “Select” and a blonde lady came out of the wheelhouse to say hello as her two dogs started to bark at us. 1km to lock 6 Brûlard (2.62m) which we did ourselves as the keeper was looking after the péniche. I made a cuppa en route to lock 5 Planche-Calarde (2.51m) on the 600m pound. The lock house was empty with the doors and windows bricked up. The keeper returned as the lock filled to ask if we were OK on our own. Yes, perfectly! He went back to look after the commercial. 

Top lock No 1 Ocean. Canal du Centre

I noticed earlier that he was carrying a couple of windlasses with him so he must be winding the gate paddles up too to speed the locking a bit for the péniche.  He went up to the next lock and passed us heading back downhill ten minutes later. 2.4kms to lock 4 Parizenot (2.09m). A man with a bucket and a catapult was propelling stuff that looked like barley into the canal on the far side from the road. Must be baiting ready for fishing at the weekend. Lock 4’s post was right up front; I pulled the string and Mike backed the boat off down the chamber before the paddles opened. Three VNF men were on the steps to a “new” lock house. One was the leader of the wood cutters from the day before plus a new bloke and the other must be off duty as he went back in the house, with his cat following. The two got in the flatbed van and sped off downhill. 

Summit level. Boatyard of Jeff Renel, engineer extraordinaire.
 Canal du Centre

On the 1.5kms pound to lock 3 Favée (2.90m), there was a lake on our left between the road and the N70, which had three fishermen on its banks. Our keeper arrived as we entered lock three and he asked if we wanted a rope round a bollard. No thanks, not necessary as the automatic locks fill very gently. (He was the first to ask!) I asked if he knew anything about the old canal and tunnel which lead to Le Creusot via Torcy. He said yes, but it was for small boats and he could show us the old lock and tunnel if we liked to walk. 500m to lock 2 Brenots (2.58m) and we chatted with the keeper. Told him we would moor by the VNF atelier and we had to go shopping when we get there, so he told us there was an Intermarché five minutes walk away and he showed us on the map where the old canal went. Great we’ll look at that later. 1.1kms to lock 1 Océan (2.53m) No blonde lady keeper living at the top lock nowadays (like there was when we first went through the lock), the windows and doors were all bricked up. The keeper came to catch mooring ropes for us but we said we were OK having done it ourselves for a few years now. The sloping bank was squidgy! As you trod on the grass the mouse (or rat!) tunnels just below the surface gave way and it felt like you were sinking at each step! Tied up and had some lunch then we went to La Poste at the far end of Montchanin in the car. The post had arrived (no fee asked for) and then we went to get a few groceries from the Intermarché. While I was packing the stuff away Mike went back into town to get some diesel, he topped up the car’s tank and bought a container full for the boat at 1,37.6€/litre. The price of diesel goes up by few centimes more per litre each time we go shopping. The circus Zapatta was in town over the weekend and a van with loudspeaker was circling, advertising the fact veryloudly.