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| Coypu trying to overtake! Canal du Centre |
Sunny, cold start after a very cold night, but warmer later. Mike walked to the boulangerie just down the road from the first road bridge to get a loaf. We set off at 9.40 a.m. to be at the first lock, 23 L’Hyron (2.73m) at ten. It was ready, empty with a green light and no sign of a lock keeper. I waited by the post 1 min 20 sec before it would activate the automatic sequence. The lock keeper appeared as the lock was almost full. He was on the phone all the time he was on the lockside. On to the 5.2kms pound with a very noisy main road on our right hand side until the canal did a sharp left bend, we went under a road bridge and then had a minor road (D974) on our left instead. Roads follow this canal most of the way to Chalon. By the road bridge there was a large car park for cyclist’s cars.
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| Old pottery kiln at Palinges. Canal du Centre |
Beyond the bridge two small coypu were sitting on the grassy edge of the road enjoying the sunshine until the spotted us. Both dived in but one tried to swim faster than the boat before he turned and dived. We noted four parallel contrails in the sky, we guessed they were French jet fighters heading to sort Gadaffi out. Lock 22 Volesvres (2.53m) was ready, deserted and the house derelict. Several herons flew past and three buzzards started soaring on thermals alongside the canal. Our VNF man arrived by car, went in the lock cabin by the house then went away again. 1.6kms to lock 21 Haillers (2.58m) the keeper, a pleasant chatty bloke (once he knew we could converse in French), was on the lockside and pulled the cord for us. This lock has an old device for passing haulage ropes under the bridge, a rusting contraption with three pulleys. Two farm labourers stood on the lockside to watch our strange boat lock through. As we left they went across the road back to their tractors and trailers. 2.7kms to lock 20 La Gravoine, we were in and up in no time. I went in the cabin to make sandwiches for lunch, which we ate on the move. The keeper had told Mike that the Canalous hire boat, that was coming up behind us, had set out from Digoin
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| Lock 16 Genelard. Canal du Centre |
it was going to Montceau-les-Mines tonight on its way to Castelnaudary on the Canal du Midi. We ate our lunch and it overtook us just before the next lock, 19 Digoine (2.84m). The large Recla cruiser went into the lock first and bounced slowly along the walls to the front of the chamber. Two men were on board, probably Canalous staff. There were two VNF cars on the lockside and a new keeper pulled the cord for us to activate the automatics. No sign of the first keeper, he must have gone in the house. The hireboat bounced its way out of the chamber when the lock was full and set off up the 1.5kms pound at full throttle. Mike increased revs to keep up, but even doing over 8kph instead our usual 6kph they soon left us behind. Into lock 18 Thiellay (2.51m) behind them.
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| Mooring in the basin below lock 16 Genelard. C. du Centre |
By the time they’d bounced along the walls to the top end of the chamber we were in behind them. One of the men got off with ropes and came to pull the cord next to us. I said (they were French) if they didn’t want to wait for us at the next lock, which was 4kms away, then not to wait for us as we were only doing 6kph not 10kph like them. He spluttered a little and said he wasn’t going that fast (he was doing at least 9kph) and said they weren’t in a hurry and would wait. There was no sign of the new keeper and the lock house was derelict. 4.1kms to lock 17 Montet (2.50m). Mike took photos of what we thought was an ancient and unusual pottery kiln in Palinges.
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| Basin at Genelard, Canal du Centre |
Through the trees we saw the hireboat had just left the next lock and we had a red light. They had decided not to wait after all! The keeper was on the lockside and the chamber was emptying. Glad he pulled the cord for us (it wouldn’t work so he went in the cabin to restart it) as now the lock had been filled and emptied, down by the boat the cord was all wet, black and gungy. The keeper asked us the usual questions then sped off in his car to watch the hireboat through the next lock. It was 2.20 p.m. as we left the lock on the 1km pound. Round the corner, past the VNF atelier (workshop) and winded to moor in the basin below lock 16 Génelard, where two fishermen were set up on the mooring quay. The one nearest us left shortly afterwards. The water was turned off and the electricity likewise.
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