Thursday 24th March 2010 Génelard to Blanzy. 21kms 9 locks

Canal side house near Civry. Canal du Centre

Cold night, sunny all day and warmer. Got the boat ready and moved off (earlier than we’d said to the VNF) at 9.45 a.m. I stepped off to drop the rubbish in the bin by the sanitary station on the left below the lock. Lock 16 Génelard (2.53m) was empty with a green light. There were two VNF men by the post at the top end of the chamber so one of them pulled the cord to activate the automatics for us. Up and out again in minutes. Into the winding sloping sided stone faced cutting about 8m deep. Patches of bright purple violets were flowering along the top edge on the sunny side. I made a cuppa on the 2.6kms pound to lock 15 Civry (2.41m). A VNF man in a car was there to pull the string. He held it down for about a minute and gave up so I pulled the one by the boat and it worked! 3.3kms to the next. 

VNF wood cutters paddling their boat with a shovel.
Near Civry. Canal du Centre

Mike took photos of a brightly painted house, two VNF men (who’d been cutting trees on the off side) paddling a small boat with a shovel across the canal back to their van and then an old wooden cruiser called Mami moored opposite a house, the boat was now in a very sorry delapidated state. Into lock 14 Ciry (2.81m) and the VNF man started the lock for us. It had gate paddles at the top end (none at the bottom end - that had grounds) and two opened on the right hand side which gave us a rougher ride than any lock so far – but nothing Mike couldn’t handle, a touch forward to put the bow back against the wall and reverse to keep it at the rear of the chamber. 1.7kms to lock 13 Azy (2.59m). Our VNF tail sped past in his car just after we’d gone through the village of Ciry-le-Noble. There was no sign of him at the lock, though his car was on the lockside with the wood cutters’ van, so I pulled the string myself (only two posts in this lock, one either side at the rear end). Another one with just top end gate paddles. 

Derelict coal washing/loading depot.
Montceau-les-Mines. Canal du Centre 

The lock house was inhabited and had boat masts and flags from when the resident lock keeper was ex-batellerie. The three VNF men came out and the wood cutters got in the van to head back towards Génelard. 1.9kms to lock 12 Four (2.55m) four control posts around the lock, keeper not around so I pulled the cord, the green light wasn’t working and a cloud of wasps flew out of the bottom of the box! The keeper arrived in his car and started shovelling dead leaves out of the lock mouth. As we left the lock, I told the keeper and he said yes, he knew the bulb had expired but he didn’t know about the wasp’s nest. It was 12.20 p.m. as we set off on the 4.3kms pound. We ate lunch while on the move as we ran into the suburbs of Montceau-les-Mines. As we passed a family dining al fresco there was a very strong smell of perfume coming from the direction of their little house we thought that maybe they had some anti mosquito candles burning. Our man in a car went past as we approached the next lock, 11, Vernois (2.63m). 

First liftbridge. Montceau-les-Mines.
Canal du Centre

There was only one post and it was right at the top end of the chamber so the keeper pulled the string. 400m to lock 10 Chavannes (2.29m). The lock light wasn’t working and when the keeper pulled the string on one of the four posts it flashed but nothing else happened, so he resorted to operating the lock with a crane-type controller on a cable from the lock office. It was starting to get very warm with the sun on our backs so off came our fleeces. The restaurant by the lock was apparently a good one, judging by the row of cars and vans outside despite the 11€ menu board. On into town and Mike did a sharp left into the old coal loading basin opposite the Port de Lucie, both now empty, to take photos of the long derelict coal washing plant with nine loading chutes. New high green mesh fences surrounded the basin to keep people out. In the sky above us we saw seven contrails of military aircraft heading south. 

Second liftbridge and keeper's cabin. Montceau-les-Mines.
Canal du Centre

Now we had noisy roads on both sides and a narrow park in front of the coal fired power station. The latter was closed, no steam from the cooling tower, perhaps mothballed for possible future use. Three bridges had to be lifted for the boat to pass through the town centre, the first was a flat road deck, the second a traditional lift bridge with the controller who worked all three bridges in a cabin alongside it (we waved and said thanks) then a vertical lift pedestrian footbridge. Beyond this there was a car park built on the infilled part of the old canal basin. Among the boats in the truncated basin was a narrowboat called Kells, whose owner we met at Gannay last year, covered and left for winter like the majority of boats in the basin. 

Fourth liftbridge (vertical footbridge)
Montceau-les-Mines. Canal du Centre

The concrete walls on both canal banks as far as the next lock was covered in vegetation, mostly trailing ivy, and a team of workmen were busy trimming the trees and bushes along the right bank. On the left bank beyond the road there were rows of large shops. We had a green light so we passed under the road bridge and into lock 9 Montceau (2.86m) and I pulled the string. There was a woman up on the lockside waving her arms about gates closing(?) – perhaps she thought we were too close, we weren’t! We’d forgotten that she normally works the lock from the office at the front of the VNF office block on the lockside. When the lock filled and she came out again I apologized and said we’d forgotten she worked the lock. No problem, she said, the automatics work well now, and then she asked where we were going. 

Port de Plaisance moorings.
Montceau-les-Mines. Canal du Centre

Blanzy, and we booked to continue up to Montchanin starting at ten the next day. Set off on the 1.8kms pound past the hypermarket Leclerc, still extending the store at the back alongside the canal like they were when we last came past in September 2009, and into lock 8, Mireau (2.40m) which was empty ready for us, still in the suburbs surrounded with houses. Only one post, right at the front end of the chamber, and it had two filthy dirty strings down the right hand side of the ladder so there was no way to tell which was blue or red, so no alternative but to go up the ladder a few rungs (at least they were dry) and yank the cord at the bottom of the post. It worked. Mike reversed to the rear of the chamber. It was 3.00 p.m. when we left the last lock of the day. 

Mooring at Blanzy, sloping underwater wall,
tyres under the chine. Canal du Centre

Just before we reached our destination we passed the only boat we’d seen going in the opposite direction to us, a widebeam narrowboat called Rennaisance whose crew were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. At 3.15 p.m. we tied up on the sloping quay at Blanzy after lowering tyres to keep the boat off the underwater wall. Gave Mike a hand to unload the moped down the plank and he went to move the car from Génelard to Montchanin.