 |
| Peniche Wacho at St Julien Canal du Centre. |
Grey misty start, sunny and warmer by late afternoon. Loaded péniche Wacho went past heading downhill at 9.30 a.m. and the VNF keeper (the one wearing the red hat from the day before) called round in his car to tell us there was another péniche coming down and we could follow that one down. Neree (loaded) went past at ten so we gave it ten minutes and winded, setting off downhill at 10.15 a.m. 950m to lock 9 Moulin St Julien (5.13m) by which time the boat in front was part way down the short pound to lock 10. All the lights went off on lock 9 so we had to wait again. Mike started getting annoyed, but a few minutes later at 10.30 a.m. the VNF man in a car returned and reset the lock for us, then drove off again down the road to look after the commercials. As we dropped down 10 Chez-Le-Roi (5.13m), an old man came out from the house beyond the lock to sell us some eggs,
 |
| Peniche Neree at St Julien. Canal du Centre. |
six for 2,50€, or some salad - I had salad so I said I’d have the eggs. I hadn’t got any change so he said he had some and would meet us at the tail end of the chamber as by this time the lock was more than half empty. He gave me change from 10€ and we had a short chat about the boat before we had to push on. Down to lock 11 Villeneuve (2.69m) and red hat was at the lock with two more VNF men who were building a new lock cabin. The lock gates had also been renewed and parts of the lock walls. He indicated that he would work the lock from the cabin. The gates closed and it emptied very slowly. He asked how old the boat was and he was surprised as he thought it was an original working boat – and Dutch, soon put him right on that one. I asked if he was a scaphandrier (professional diver) as he was wearing the red bonnet.
 |
| Remains of old lockhouse near lock 10 Chez-le-Roi, Canal du Centre. |
No, but he was a plongeur (diver) just as his own hobby, fishing and diving for shellfish. He said au’voir as it was his last lock as we left the bottom at 11.15 a.m. and he set off back uphill in his VNF car. 1.5kms to lock 12 (none of the rest of the locks all the way down to Chalon have any names for some strange reason) and we hoped the locks would be switched on throughout lunchtime so we could keep going. A night heron landed in a tree beside us but not long enough to get a digital camera working. Then a black kite did likewise to eat something it had caught. The keeper was on the bridge at lock 12 which had an inhabited lockhouse and an old black dog by the gate. The keeper asked us not to pull the cord yet as the boat below wasn’t through the next lock. We waited. He came and explained that locks 12 to 23 had no weirs and all excess water flowed over the lock gates which could make life awkward, attempting to refill the lock below as it was emptying with a péniche in it.
 |
| Control panel in lock cabin at lock 12. Canal du Centre. |
After about ten minutes he pulled the cord and we carried on chatting while we dropped down 2.50m. Off down the 600m pound to lock 13 (2.62m) and the new keeper sped off down the road in his VNF car. We sat in lock 13 and waited ten minutes as we’d seen Neree going down the pound below. I picked a bunch of cowslips from the field behind the lock cabin. I was going to throw out the squills I’d picked earlier but they were producing seed pods so I kept them. 900m to lock 14 (2.40m) and we were surprised to see the lock ready for us as it was past midday. The lockhouse was inhabited but no one at home. Water poured over the top end gates from the water rebounding up and down the pound above. 1.4kms to lock 15 (2.60m) which was ready. I went inside to make lunch. The keeper was there, he told Mike the péniche was in the next lock and then he pulled the string without waiting!
 |
| Lock 16 - additional lock filling equipment? Canal du Centre. |
Lock 16 (2.69m) had a new sign which called it St Bérain. The lockhouse was inhabited but again no one home. There were wind chimes hanging from the lockside trees and a CB antenna on the shed. I made a cuppa en route for lock 17 (2.59m). Houses appeared on the right as we entered the town of St Bérain, a new bar restaurant called Chez Chantal had opened on the left and below the lock the café du Sport had long closed down, its windows smashed. A new VNF keeper (white hair and beard) turned up on the lockside to ask the usual questions. 1.1kms to lock 18 (2.69m) and our new keeper was on the lockside to ask us to delay pulling the string to allow Neree (we could see the boat slogging along the next pound) to get into the lock first. We left it ten minutes then Mike pulled the string, the gates closed but then nothing happened.
 |
| Moored below lock 19 at St Leger-sur-Dheune Canal du Centre. |
Mike went to call on the lock intercom but it didn’t work, so I rang the emergency number we had written in our chart from last time. He answered and said he’d be with us in ten minutes. He reopened the gates from the cabin controls and then took the slides off the top of the left hand ground paddles and fiddled with something – it started emptying – he went to the cabin and then fiddled some more with the paddles. A little problem, he said, as we dropped down in the chamber. He closed the gates behind us and carried on fiddling while we set off on the 1.8kms pound to our last lock of the day. He went past us in his car five minutes later. Lock 19 (2.53m) had an inhabited lockhouse and vehicle access via a track through a field below the lock. A car and van were parked outside but there were no signs of life. Water flowed over the top end gates again as the lock emptied. At 3.10 p.m. we moored 200m below the lock next to the field before the town. A family was fishing 50m further on with a car and a van parked behind them with three dogs wandering around.
No comments:
Post a Comment