Wednesday 13th April 2011 Villegusien – Champigny. 19kms 10 locks

View down the canal from lock 4

1.4°C Frost on the cabin roof. Clear skies first thing, white clouds later. Sunny but chilly as we set off at 9.15 a.m. There was a group of fishermen on the far bank; they were there when we arrived the day before – had they been there all night? 9.30 a.m. we entered the bottom lock of the flight of eight leading to the summit, lock 8 was the only one named (Percey) the flight was called La Descent Versant la Saône. Each lock had a 5m rise, so just 40m to go to the top level. All the control rods were on the left hand side, the wrong side for our boat (prop in reverse pushes it away from left hand walls) so I had to hang on to the bar to keep the boat near enough to reach it, then I couldn’t lift the blue bar, Mike had to do it – me and my weak wrists!  

New control cabin lock 3

The lock house at 8 was lived in and had a beautiful set of semi-circular stone steps up to the front door where outside shoes were left in a row. VNF workmen were tree cutting opposite the house. Each lock was between 400 – 500m from the next, and all were linked. We were soon in 7 and up in it. The lockhouse at 7 had been empty a long time. Into 6, the view behind us getting better and better as we climbed the hill, on the ridge a few kilometres away we could see a long line of wind generators. A reed warbler was singing loudly, just back from Africa and glad to be here. The house at 6 no longer existed. Into lock 5, the house had been refurbished with new doors and windows, possibly lived in. Immediately below lock 4 there was a road bridge with a memorial plate and a date, after the lock filled Mike went to have a look. It was a memorial to four young men who died there on 2nd Feb 1973. The gates started to open then stopped, we heard the motor stop running so Mike went to the intercom and pressed the call button, no answer and I was about to phone the top lock when the gates started opening again. Lock 3’s house looked lived in, possibly, and the new lock cabin was waiting for a roof.

Leaving the top lock Heuilley Cotton

The lockside was a clutter of building materials, including a stack of roof tiles plus a bright yellow portacabin on wheels. Lock 2’s house had gone completely and there was a dead cat and duck floating in the chamber. Several workmen building a lock cabin stopped to chat with Mike as the lock filled, asking the usual questions. The top lock at last. The house was now part of the workshops and a large new cabin housed the control office. Madame came out to take the boat details and ask how many crew, the usual statistics that VNF collect. Asked her about the plaque by lock 4. She told us it was a car accident when four young men driving in thick fog missed the bend by the bridge went down the very steep embankment and into the canal. They couldn’t get out of the car quickly enough and all four drowned. 

New control cabin for tunnel access Heuilly Cotton

Mike asked if they were drunk and she replied, oh no, just missed the turn on to the bridge in the fog. Very sad. When we said we were surprised to see no boats she told us she had ten boats on their way from the Vitry end. All one after the other no doubt! Yes, she said and laughed. She knew Floan and I told her they’d been stuck because of the accident at Chalons but they were on their way now. She wished us bonne route and said the tunnel was OK, no traffic lights were on but the tunnel was lit throughout. We were now on to the summit level and pushed on through Heuilley Cotton village. Beyond a winding hole and a bridge there were several boats moored by a portacabin office with SER2E an electric company. Alongside it were two small boats also with SER2E on them and huge coils of cable on the bank.  Next to them were two sheeted up cruisers and beyond them, next to a house and new blue poles for a péniche mooring, was a shortened (about 30m, but unconverted) péniche called Peter Pan from Chaumont. 

Old radar (headlamp) detector at start of one way section.

At the start of the one-way section, where the canal narrowed to péniche width, there was a radar headlamp, which probably no longer worked, and a long length of green tubing ran all along the edge of the bank all the way to the tunnel. There, it went up and over the tunnel entrance to the left hand side where the towpath ran through the tunnel. Outside the tunnel was a sparkling new, and totally useless, information board, which gave the name of the tunnel and its length. The green tube had carried a telephone cable, which had been installed throughout the tunnel and every 500m there was a box for emergency use which said you could use your mobile phone to call the pompiers (French emergency services). Whatever next? The tunnel was illuminated with pairs of fluorescent lamps every 20m and by our estimation that was a whopping 10Kw of electricity – just for us, and we’ve got a headlight! 

Tunnel southern entrance

Hope they turned that off when we’d passed through the other end. I made us a cup of soup as it was very chilly. I put my windproof jacket on. Made a hot sandwich for lunch and we ate it going through the remarkably dry tunnel, that was until we got to the northern end then there were lots of drips. When we emerged into sunlight at 1.00 p.m. our Garmin GPS was totally lost and couldn’t find any satellites until Mike rebooted it. Then it thought it was in Nigeria and he had to manually reset it! A couple standing on the first bridge waved and said hello in English, then followed us on foot down the muddy towpath, overtaking us before we arrived at the lock. There were geese on the towpath by the lock. 

New sign at tunnel entrance.

Zapped lock 1 Batailles ((3.90m) and it filled, back to armchair boating, no need to lift the blue rod to activate the automatics. The lockhouse was beautiful as were its gardens and the most wonderful shed with ceramic figures plus gnomes and Snow White with the dwarfs, etc. It even had a post box for passing boaters to post letters. The walkers weren’t English, they spoke German and it wasn’t until they got into a car parked by the lock that we realised they were Austrian. 2.6kms to lock 2 Moulin-Chapeau (3.60m). A smiling fisherman was sat on the bank above the lock. Took photos of Langres up on its hill before we entered the lock. There were better views further back along the pound but too many trees for photos. 

What a shed! By the top lock 1 Batailles.

1.6 kms to the next lock but we stopped before it at Champigny-les-Langres on a long quay which had been refurbished with water and electric posts. A red-hulled cruiser with a Swiss flag was moored at the uphill end with a hosepipe connected to a tap but, disconcertingly, a generator out on the bank. We moored at the downstream end by the car parking. As we gathered, the water was on but no electric. That’s a blow. Mike needs to go and help Paul sort a few problems on Liberty at St Jean-de-Losne and I need electric, otherwise I shall be running the boat engine for power. Mike went to collect the thermostat from the post office and call at the Mairie in Champigny to see if he could get the electricity switched on. Failed on both counts, the post office was in the middle of the fortified hilltop city of Langres. 

Mooring at Champigny-les-Langres.
Not finished yet - so NO electric!

He parked by the main gate and walked in, calling at the tourist information office, which was right by the gates. The lady gave him a map to indicate where the post office was and he asked about electricity at the port. She rang someone. The port was undergoing refurbishment and the electricity would not be connected until it was finished, she didn’t know when. Great. Decided to move on down to Rolampont the following day after Mike had been to the post office again. Rats! 

Tuesday 12th April 2011 Cusey to Villegusien. 14kms 14 locks

Posh new moorings at Cusey

During WWII the former lock keeper at lock 22 Cusey
risked death by sheltering a member of the Resistance

Cool, overcast and breezy, turning colder with black clouds, showers of rain and sunny spells. The hornbeams were dropping catkins everywhere and the roof was covered in them, like masses of green furry caterpillars! We set off at 9.40 a.m. pausing to empty the rubbish at a posh new mooring just around the corner from where we’d tied up. The péniche that moored there overnight had carried on up the locks first thing. One of the VNF cement mixer cars went past. Radar activated the chain of locks from 22 to 14. Lock 22 Cusey (3,50m) was ready. As the locks were not accessed by zapper control I had to lift the blue rods on each one. 

Took a photo of Cusey lock house whose resident lock keeper during WWII gave shelter to a member of the Resistance*. Nowadays the VNF use it as an office to the workshop behind it where several VNF vans and small lorries were parked. Mike counted the number of LEDs in one light fitting on the bottom end gates 8 rows of 12 – 96! Just to let you know the gate is going to open or close. 700m to lock 21 Montreppelle (3,50m) lock house empty. 600m to lock 20 Badin (3,50m) house lived in. 700m to lock 19 Grande Côte (3,60m) lock house derelict with bricked up windows. I made tea and toast. 600m to lock 18 Dardenay (3,60m) lock house empty. A contract electrician was working fitting cables in a new lock cabin. 

A flashing LED lamp to tell you when
the gates will move

A VNF keeper with a van was also on the lockside. 1.22kms to lock 17 Foireuse (3,60m) house empty. 600m to lock 16 Choilley (3,90m) A lady on the lockside asked if we wanted any bread, at first I said no, then Mike spotted the bread van by the lock house so I went to get a loaf (1,10€) and chatted with the lady van driver and an old lady from the lock house. Well timed. 11.35 a.m. as we left the lock. 2,65kms to lock 15 Dommarien (3,40m) house lived in. 900m to lock 14 Croix Rouge (3,80m) The VNF man in a van lifted the blue rod. He collected up an empty beer bottle someone had left by the lock, Mike asked him if he ever found any full ones – no, never. Mike gave him a bottle of beer! I went in the cabin to make sandwiches for lunch. 1km to lock 13 Bise-l’Assaut (3,40m) Our VNF man had to work the lock as it wasn’t linked, then the top end gates wouldn’t open so he had to open the panel next to the gates to work them, then they wouldn’t close behind us! He drove off and left it with its top end gates open and lights off. We ate lunch on the 2.3kms pound. It was getting very cold and windy so I put my windproof jacket on and Mike found his hat with earflaps. 

Unusual paddle gear for run off weir

Past the radar post which started the next series of locks working. Lock 12 Prépape (3.10m) was ready for us. The electrician was on the lockside fitting a heater in the new cabin. (Got to get their priorities right, can’t have a VNF electrician working in a cold cabin installing the rest of the electrics and all the lock control gear) Beyond the lock there was a mooring place with bollards and bins. 400m to lock 11 Château (3,90m) the lock house was well kept and lived in. The electrician was working in the new lock cabin again. 500m to lock 10 Pré-Meunier (3,50m) the well-kept house was lived in. 500m to lock 9 Villegusien (3,40m) another well-kept lived in lock house. We left the top at 2.15 and tied up ten minutes later at an old silo quay just as the first spots of rain fell. Started setting up the TV and discovered the silo was in the way. Nothing else for it, we bow-hauled the boat to the other end of the quay and the satellite worked OK. 

*see links for WWII resistance fighter Michel Hollard - the man who saved London:-

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Michel_Hollard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Hollard

Monday 11th April 2011 Champagne – Cusey. 24kms 14 locks

From a bygone era, a tow rope pulley.

Clear blue sky, hazy high clouds later, warm and sunny with just a light breeze. Set off at 9.10 a.m. The VNF cement mixer car had gone past on the towpath around 8.30 a.m. This morning the warblers were very loud. It was only about 1km to lock 35 Beaumont (2.90m) The zapper worked and no need to lift the blue rod, back to armchair boating. A lovely cherry tree was in full bloom next to the (inhabited) lock house. 800m to lock 34 Dampierre (2.90m). The village of the same name was spread out along a ridge to left of the canal. The first house martins of the year appeared. Up the lock without a hitch. 2.6kms to the next. Above lock 34 the canal went through a short, shallow, stone-lined cutting. As we passed through the village, Licey-sur-Vingeanne, there were stacked timbers on both banks of the canal next to a sawmill. 

An old lock cabin, lock 32 Fontenelle

The lock of the same name followed, lock 33 Licey (3.40m). The VNF lady with the cement mixer car was looking at a run off weir below lock 33, she got in her noisy car and went off back down the towpath, waving as she went past us. An old man with a long grey beard and wearing shorts, came on to the lockside as we went into the chamber of 33. We could see a boat moored above the lock and thought he was waiting to come down. No, he lived on the boat (and in the lockhouse, which was being renovated) he said, a small DB called La Bricole with a Belgian flag. 2.2kms to Fontenelle lock 32 (2.90m). This one had been automated a long time ago, so no sophisticated zapping (yet). I lifted the blue rod. The lock house was lived in and had the shell of a new lock cabin alongside it. 2.2kms to lock 31 Fontaine-Française (2.90m) which was linked to the previous lock so it was ready for us.

Former engine shed for diesel tractors used many years ago
 for towing dumb barges

 Up the lock no problems after I lifted the blue rod. The lock house was empty and, again, a shell of a new lock cabin stood next to the house. There was a strong smell of onions. A short pound of 900m lead to lock 30 Lalau (3.40m). There were a dozen or more large dead fish floating, wonder what killed so many fish? Past a double headlamp radar (one for up and one for down). There were dozens more little fish dead in the lock chamber. I lifted the pole. A short distance to lock 29 St Seine (3.40m) and we could see it had two red lights – en panne – out of order, with a LeBoat sitting in the full chamber, so I rang the top lock. A woman answered and said she would send someone. First boat we’d seen all day and the lock has broken down! We left lock 30 so that didn’t go en panne too and sat alongside the towpath to wait. 

Restaurant by lock 26 St Maurice

A van pulled up by the lock but it wasn’t VNF (electricians). Ten minutes later the lady with the cement mixer car arrived and sorted the hire boat’s lock. We lost about twenty minutes altogether. The hireboat was the LeBoat with a Swiss flag that we saw going uphill the day before. There were three men on it, one videoing as they passed us. Mike asked how long they had been waiting but got blank looks as they didn’t speak English. Our lady keeper worked the lock for us. As we were leaving I asked what the hirers did. Unbelievably, by mistake, they had lifted the red rod - the emergency stop! It was 12.15 p.m. We wished her bon appetit. The lockhouse was lived in and well used by a family. 2.7kms to lock 28 Pouilly (3.50m). I made lunch. The lock was zapper operated so we were back to armchair boating. The lockhouse at 28 was empty. On through another shallow cutting with a fragrant field of flowering colza on our left on the start of a 3.9kms pound leading to lock 27 Villeneuve (3.60m). Again the lockhouse looked empty, although there were still curtains at the upstairs windows. 1.2kms to lock 26 St Maurice (3.60m) again zapper operated. 

Welcome to Champagne-Ardennes

There was a little restaurant (Le p’tit fringale) in a long shed alongside the lockhouse with lots of chairs and tables under a shady awning. It was 1.55 p.m. so lunch must have been over as there was no one around. 1.4kms to lock 25 Romagne (3.40m) the zapper worked everything. Lockhouse lived in. 2.1kms to lock 24 Bec (3.0m) armchair boating. We passed two VNF workmen (one to work and one to watch) cutting a branch with a chainshaw as we started along a lovely section that had trees along both banks, reminiscent of the Midi. The lockhouse at Bec was a really nice modernised one with two cars outside. We left the top at 3.45 p.m. with 1km to go to our chosen mooring spot at Cusey. 

Welcome to Haute-Marne

Another big field of perfumed colza on our left. We moored next to a piled edge by the towpath/cycle path at 4.10 p.m. with a gap in the trees for the satellite. Mike lifted the solar panel to face the sun. I gave him a hand to unload the moped off the roof and, after setting the TV up, he went to move the car from Champagne to Langres. It was 4.55 p.m. He paused on the road opposite and said there was a new mooring on the apex of the bend with taps and electric posts. The water wasn’t turned on, so probably no electric either. I wasn’t going to move anyway! Empty péniche Wacho came past heading uphill with his wheelhouse down at 5.20 p.m. 

Sunday 10th April 2011 Champagne-sur-Vingeanne. Day off

Mooring at Champagne-sur-Vingeanne

Warm and sunny. Up bright and early. Mike set up to watch the F1 from Malaysia. He also set up his PC on the Internet to view the information put out on F1 website, we only had GPRS down to 53 kbps, it was slow but it worked. A large Belgian cruiser went past heading uphill around lunchtime. A little later a LeBoat hireboat went past also heading uphill, Swiss flag on the stern. At 5.25 p.m. péniche Neree went uphill empty (last seen on the Canal de Centre locking down from St Julien in front of us). 

Saturday 9th April 2011 Maxilly – Champagne-sur-Vingeanne. 16kms 6 locks

Mike scavenging for a suitable piece of wood.
Lock 40 Cheuge. 

Sunny and warm, but still a breezy north wind keeping it cooler. Set off at 9.20 a.m. after Mike had wiped the condensation off the solar panels. 3.3kms to the first lock. Passed a very pleasant, chatty fisherman by the first bridge. Lock 41 St Sauveur (2.90m) had a temporary high mesh fence around it and a portaloo on the lockside, sure signs there had been work done on it during the stoppages and there was new concrete around the lock and wood shavings in the grass. The house was inhabited. The only life we saw was a lone cyclist off down the cycle/towpath. I lifted the blue bar and the lock worked perfectly. 1.9kms to lock 40 Cheuge (3,10m). When we got there Mike zapped and the gates opened, when we were in the chamber he decided to try the “bassinée” button on the remote control and it worked! The lock gates closed behind us and the lock filled. 

A "headlamp" radar detector
nr Cheuge liftbridge.

Whoopee! No need to leave your helmsman’s seat! (Except most boats put ropes out). 2.97kms to the next. An old lady was walking the towpath with a big bunch of keys clenched in her left hand, she turned and walked back towards the village of Cheuge when she saw us approaching. In Cheuge there was an old Llangollen-type liftbridge which had been made automatic. We passed a radar “headlamp” and hoped it would work while looking to see if there were more modern sensors – there weren’t. However, it worked perfectly. It had new metal guides to stop boats crashing into the old stonework, new and newly painted bright cornflower blue (could smell the paint still) - like all the rest of the new “safety” fences and passerelles (walkways). The bridge keeper’s house, with blue VNF plates like the lock houses, looked lived in. We arrived at lock 39 Renève (3,40m) to find the lock lights were all off. Below the lock on the left was a set of new steps to access the water tap by a VNF house, so I got off (with the phone and two-way radio) to use the lockside intercom to call VNF to get the lock working. There was a new lock cabin but it hadn’t been finished yet and had no intercom. 

Automatic liftbridge at Cheuge

I phoned the top lock. Today a lady answered. She was very pleasant and, when I told her the lock lights were off, she said she would try to get the lock started from where she was but if not she would send someone. I got back on the boat and Mike tied the bows to the end of the steps and we waited. It was gone eleven a.m. After sitting on the steps for half an hour Mike went to investigate. There were two men with VNF badges by the house at the top of the steps so he asked them if they could get the lock working. Yes, no problem. (Where were they when I went up to the lock?) Shortly afterwards the lock lights came on and turned to green. I tried lifting the blue bar but nothing happened, then an older VNF man with a very dirty van came and worked the lock from a portacabin on the left of the lock opposite the house. 

Steps to access water tap at VNF yard
by lock 39 Reneve

The lock had lots of concrete patches in the walls and new passerelles. The guy was chatty and pleasant and wished us a bon weekend as we left. It was just midday so I made lunch as we went along the 3.9kms pound to lock 38 Oisilly (2.30m). Past a grand Château, only the left hand end looked lived in with shutters open, and into Oisilly village. The lock worked OK, zapped and it closed the gates and filled. The lockhouse had a sign on it that said Atelier des Artistes de Oisilly (Artists of Oisilly workshop). On to a 1.9kms pound. Under a long concrete railway viaduct, the meadows on our left were full of dandelions and ladysmock and three brown and white ponies were grazing. Zapped lock 37 Rochette (3,10m), gates opened and lights went to green, we went into chamber and zapped, nothing. I lifted blue rod, nothing. Mike backed out and sat between the sensors then came back in, zapped, nothing. 

Barn at Cheuges

I tried lifting the blue rod again, nothing! I phoned the top lock again. A young man answered and asked if I’d done all the usual things, yes, but the gates still won’t shut. He said he would send someone. Sat in the lock and waited. I made a cuppa. A young man in the same dirty van arrived and tried the blue pole, nothing. He went in the lock cabin and set it going from there. I asked what the problem was – a “cellule renverser” a photo-electric cell turned round. Hmm, we didn’t see one, they looked OK to us. OK. He carried on cleaning out the tree debris from the lock mouth as we went up the short pound to lock 36 Blagny (2,90m). Same thing happened again. Zapped, gates open, green light, went in, zapped, nothing. Lifted blue rod, nothing. I phoned again and told him his colleague was still down at lock 37.

Lock 39 Reneve

He arrived a few minutes later in his dirty van and went straight into the cabin to reset the lock. He was looking at a computer screen in the control panel on the back wall of the cabin as we left. I thought the lockhouse at 36 was empty – it had that look – but as we left an Espace drew up and a young woman got out, another joined her from the house and they started to unload bags of compost out of the car! It was after two and Mike had decided to get the car, so we gave up the attempt to reach St Seine and moored before the bridge between Beaumont and Champagne (both sur-Vingeanne as that is the name of the river valley we’re following). We were reversing to a section of piled bank when the young man in the dirty van arrived, driving along the towpath. Stopping? Yes, if we can get close to the bank (just) and we’ll stay until Monday morning. He drove away smiling. It was 2.45 p.m. Mike clipped the vegetation along the bank to keep ants off the boat and stood the solar panel up to face the sun, then I gave him a hand to get the moped off the roof down a plank and he went off to collect the car from St Jean-de-Losne.

Friday 8th April 2011 Lamarche – Maxilly. 11kms 3 locks.

Quay at Lamarche-sur-Saone
River Saone

Warm and sunny but a cold north wind again. It was noisy early with a loud tractor and trailer filling a water tank with river water from the quayside immediately behind the boat, plus the noisy fishermen again. We’re amazed that any of them actually catch any fish. French fish must be deaf! Mike went into the village to get a loaf (1,03€) before we set off again upriver at ten. I made tea as we ran up through Pontailler-sur-Saône. There was a newish looking toilet block at the top of the stepped quay (the latter had mooring rings) before the road bridge then there was an offline port-de-plaisance with a very posh Capitainerie. It was also a Canalous hire base. A small cruiser was suddenly in view going the same way as us, it must have just left the port. 

Heuilly lock cabin, not in use as lock now automatic.
River Saone

A few more long winding bends took us to lock 18, d’Heuilley (2.00m) our last river lock and we could see the lights flashing on the top of the post on the lockside, which meant the cruiser had just left the lock and the top end gates were closing. I twisted the hanging tube to activate the sequence for us. The lock emptied and we were up 2m in no time. I took photos of the control rods and the old lock office, which used to be a control point. The keeper was doing some gardening on the lockside. He picked up a clipboard and took the boat name and SSR number. I asked if the stoppages on the d’Heuilley canal had finished, he said yes. We turned left just above the lock on to the Marne à la Saône canal. I had to laugh at the two elderly fishermen on the corner as one said “I’m not fishing for fish, I’m fishing for a branch!” Okay, a new sport? The first bit of the canal ran dead straight for several hundred metres. 

Lock 43 Chemin de Fer and zapper dispenser.
Canal de la Marne a la Saone

The bottom lock was empty and the gates open but the lock lights were off. It was 12.15 p.m. so it must be lunchtime. We attempted to moor on the right by an old unloading gantry and came to a stop in the mud, so Mike backed off and went on the left, still having trouble with shallow bits but managed to get alongside some piling and pushed a stake in to tie the centre rope to. I made lunch while Mike took a walk up to the lock. There was a dispenser on the lockside for zappers and a number to call. Mike took note of the number and came back to the boat. At 1.00 p.m. when there was no sign of the lock lights coming back on, I telephoned the number. Couldn’t understand everthing the guy was saying and he said he would send someone. I got on with the chores while we waited. Not long after the lock lights came on and we had a green light on lock 43, Chemin de Fer (3.10m). Set off into the chamber and I lifted the blue rod. 

New electric posts (token op) at Maxilly
Canal de la Marne a la Saone

A VNF lady keeper in a very smart uniform came to take the boat name etc. She said there had been a stoppage so the water levels were lowered and asked our draught. When I told her 60-70cms she said OK, it was about 1,40m but stick in the middle. I asked where the stoppage was and she said lock 40, there had been an accident and the lock was damaged. She called the office (by the top lock at Heuilley Cotton) and they activated the dispenser for us to get a zapper. She was on the phone as we left. A short pound lead to lock 42, Maxilly (3.10m) which worked perfectly. Noted that both lockhouses were now derelict. (A young lady used to live in the top lockhouse and cycled back and forth to work the locks when they were manually operated, in fact most of the locks on this canal used to have lady lock keepers riding mopeds along the towpath to work three or four locks.) Above the lock on the right was a mooring quay at Maxilly that we’d used before. We decided as it was well after 2.00 p.m. that we would stop. Brand new water and electric posts had been installed but they were token operated. We elevated the solar panel to maximise the charge rate. A large steel cruiser went past, heading uphill and the lady keeper returned in her 500cc diesel car that sounded like a cement mixer. She wanted to know the usual stuff, when we were going and where. Mike was vague about our next stop as he said we would stop to watch the F1 in the afternoon and would stay put on Sunday. OK. She went off to trail the cruiser.

Thursday 7th April 2010 St Jean – Lamarche-sur-Saône. 28kms 2 locks

Dawn at St Jean-de-Losne.
Great photo by Terry and Jan

Sunny and getting hot. Up bright and early. Chatted with Jan and Terry (who were delivering a hireboat to St Jean) before we set off upriver at 9.45a.m. 13kms to first lock. Still got a 1kms flow on the river. There was a lot of floating rotting weed, the sort that rises to the surface when it gets warmer and stinks. The entrance lock to the Doubs had sprouted a new construction partially over the tail end of the lock, a sort of covered observation gantry bristling with cameras and it looked like the lock was now automatic. We noted that the stone sand quay at Mailly-le-Port was now disused and there was a new sign board by the 20m long piled edge saying it was The Maillys mooring. We had a calm and peaceful trip upriver. No signs of life except the birds, fishes and us. 

Below Auxonne lock. River Saone

Under the new A39 motorway bridge at Tillenay and turned right into the lock approach at lock 20, Auxonne, (1.83m)  I twisted the hanging piece of plastic tube to activate the automatic lock. It emptied very slowly and the gates opened slowly. Put a rope around the rungs of the ladder and tested Peter’s prototype bar lifter. I couldn’t do it, but Mike did it no problem. The water came in via gate paddles and tried to sweep us across to the left. When the lock was full Mike took the rubbish as there were two bins among the debris and tools on the lockside left over from lock refurbishment. The lock house was set back from the lock, inhabited, but no one around. Set off along the canal section at 12.40 p.m. and I went in the cabin to make lunch. 

Gantry over first lock on Rhone au Rhin canal (Doubs)

As we approached the busy town of Auxonne there were people jogging on the towpath and sitting in the grass by the bridge over the end of the canal. Back on to the river and through the town. A péniche houseboat was moored by the ramparts and the pontoons were empty of boats - but full of waving, shouting sunbathing youth. We ate lunch as we motored past. Beyond the battlements H2O had dug out a new basin, which was being managed by Carol and Roy off the Pedro, and had rows of (presently) empty pontoon finger moorings. Some DBs and a few cruisers were moored at the one end plus a tiny red narrowboat. There was no sign of The Pedro. 

Sunbathing youth! Auxonne
River Saone

Nobody about on the river, which made a change as this place has been a nightmare to moor at due to passing water skiers and jetskis (better now with an offline basin!). Under a new TGV bridge just before lock 19 Poncey (1.52m). Again I turned the pole and the lock performed well, but slowly, and we rose ropeless. The incoming water changed pattern as the lock filled and took the boat from side to side twice. A VNF van went across the bridge over the lock but didn’t stop. A couple out walking stopped on the bridge to watch us lock through. Nobody about at the lock house. It was 2.40 p.m. as we left the lock on the short lock cut leading back to the river. Just before Lamarche there was a lovely little wooden chalet on concrete legs to keep it out of any floodwater. It was probably the summer residence of some city dweller. On past the houses straggling along the river bank, under the road bridge and past a yacht moored bows to the bank. The old concrete quay was ours, we tied up just as a small white cruiser went past heading downstream and a person on a quadbike came to the area beyond the mooring which had been set up for campervans, he turned and went back into the village. All quiet again.

Wednesday 6th April 2010 St Jean-de-Losne

Pontoon by campsite at St Jean-de-Losne.
River Saone

Sunny and warm. Mike for bread (excellent and only 80c) and to La Poste (still no fridge thermostat) so he phoned the UK. They hadn’t sent it, a query over the size as to whether it would fit. Why didn’t they ring? Mike gave the guy all the details again including the payment details and told him we would have to sort out a new postal address. Mike phoned him back with details for Langres. After lunch I gave Mike a hand first to move the boat to the upstream end of the pontoon as the canoe kids were a screaming nuisance and then to get the bike off the roof using two tyres to put the front wheel on as it came down off the roof and avoiding the clouds of wasps. At the back of the pontoon there was a huge amount of debris that had lodged there which had been added to by floods, etc, and was a stinking swampy mess with plants growing on it. Mike went to collect the car from Fragnes. When he returned I gave a hand to put the bike on the roof then we went a walk to look at what they’d done to the once nice and shady mooring a bit further upstream – ruined it! No more overhanging trees and they’d edged the bank with clods of earth covered with hessian matting through which plants and grass were now growing. A steep slope to the water and no shade meant it was no longer a pleasant alternative mooring. Mike went to park the car in town and I made a cuppa. 

Tuesday 5th April 2010 Chazelles – St Jean-de-Losne. 23kms 2 locks

Empty quays and pontoons at Seurre.
River Saone

Hazy clouds first thing, chilly start with a cold north wind blowing in our faces. A boat went past, uphill, around 7.30 a.m. it hardly moved the boat. The river level had come up about 2”overnight and it was flowing a bit faster than the day before. Mike fetched all the ropes and pins in and we set off at 9.35 a.m. Very peaceful and quiet on the river. The sun soon began to burn through the misty clouds. A night heron was almost invisible in the trees before the sloping quay at Chazelle village. We saw our first grebe of the year by the entrance to the old lock canal of the old Seurre lock, it flew off upriver on short stubby wings. Took photos of the old quays and the new pontoon at Seurre, all empty. 

Coaster on the Seurre derivation canal.
River Saone

There were three large cruisers moored on the pontoon outside H20’s basin before the lock. A couple sitting out on the stern of the first one waved as we went past. Mike called on VHF and the keeper emptied the lock for us. Mike remembered in the nick of time that we hadn’t got our lifejackets on and we donned them as we slowed down in the lock entrance just before 11.00 a.m. Waved to keeper then I slung a rope on a slimy bollard in the wall. The lock filled through a series of holes in the middle of the floor of the chamber starting from the front, when it reached us the rolling incoming water kept us against the chamber wall. I moved the rope up on to the next bollard in the wall, then on to the big bollard on the lockside. The huge lock 185m x 12m with a rise of 4.27m filled in around ten minutes. We gave the fenders a good splashing in the water to get the slime off them before bringing them back on board. 

Desire, loaded, just about to leave the port on
the Seurre derivation canal, River Saone

Ten kilometres of canal, the derivation de Seurre, followed. They’d put up new VNF signs with kilometrage just for the canal as it cuts off a whopping 10kms of loops of the river and three old locks. At KP4 some men were doing work underneath a road bridge. Just before the A36 motorway bridge, a very large loaded low-profile coaster called Elif-D, from Willemstad in the Netherlands, came down the canal slowly, pulling hardly a ripple. As we approached the new port we saw a loaded boat called Désiré, waiting for us to pass before setting off towards Seurre. The boat was 105m long by 9.5m wide carrying 2,261 tonnes. I made some soup in mugs to warm us up as the wind was getting chilly. A DB with no name and no wheelhouse came past us at KP9 heading full steam for Seurre and a cruiser was fast catching us up. All go after such a nice quiet morning! 

Magnum loading grain at silo, St Jean-de-Losne.
River Saone

The cruiser, called Triple 4, overtook us, crew waving. They had been on H2O’s pontoon below Seurre lock. Typically, they were going to the same place as us! The H2O moorings in the old lock cut before St Jean looked pretty full, with DBs moored abreast and beyond that cruisers moored bows or sterns to the bank. I took a photo of a very unusual, very modern round house on the “island” between the river and the canal. Magum from Douai (let’s see them try to get it there!), 110m x 11m 3,172 tonnes, was loading grain at the silo quay before the railway bridge. Hotel péniche Napoleon was moored on the stepped quay on the Losne side of the road bridge then two old péniches. Above the bridge eight more péniche houseboats were moored on the same side, our right. On our left was the entrance to the canal de Bourgogne and the new (short) fuel pontoon was on the corner where the old fuel barge used to be. 

Two Luxemotors on the slip at C.B.V. St Jean-de-Losne.
River Saone

The skipper of the Swiss cruiser moved his bow rope so that we could get just our bows attached to the pontoon. He said they had telephoned to get someone to come and sell them some diesel. He said that they only opened Fridays, but said someone would be there at 2.00 p.m. and sure enough a young lady arrived by car and we were both soon filling up. He took on 700 litres of white diesel at 1,45€/litre while we topped up our central heating tank with red at 98c/litre, 206 litres came to over 200€ so we were glad we could pay by credit card and not eat into our cash reserves. The Swiss crew moored at Seurre and were not happy that they couldn’t get their tank refilled there and had to come up to St Jean to get fuel. She said they had used a lot for central heating (ouch! white road diesel for heating!) and were having problems as their English Setter dog had to go to the vets, as the stupid puppy (a year old) had gashed her leg. We wished them well for their trip back to Seurre and likewise they wished us a good trip to Belgium as we set off upriver. The two trip boats were occupying a big section of the stepped quay plus two DBs, tjalk Ella and small Luxe Topaz. Doubt the gap between them was long enough for us. Two DBs were on the slip at CBV, little Etna and full sized Luxe Avanti II – a working boat, self loading/unloading with its own crane. Lots of pans were moored downstream of the boatyard and upstream the kids were out in canoes. They all went to the bank as we went past, heading for the campsite pontoon. Dodging round a string of floating empty plastic bottles (marking a fishing net, we noted as we passed it) to moor at the end of the pontoon. Two people were fishing from the top end and a young couple were lying on the end we’d tied to, snogging! It didn’t phase them as we tied up next to them, or even when Mike got the spanners out to slide one of the mooring cleats to the right position for our bow rope. It was 2.50 p.m. Mike went a walk to La Poste to see if our spare part for the fridge had arrived (it hadn’t) while I made lunch. 

Monday 4th April 2010 Fragnes – Chazelles. 40kms 2 locks

Sunken old boats below lock 34bis on the Canal de Centre

Thick grey clouds and chilly after overnight rain. We left at 8.20 a.m. and had a very pleasant run down to the lock. There was mist on the canal, two fishermen just before the St Gobain arm were the only human life we saw. As we went past the Philips factory we noticed a thick layer of black oil on the water and an aroma we hadn’t smelled since leaving the BCN behind. There were two VNF men in green overalls leaning on the fence at the end of lock 34bis so we mentioned the oil slick and they said yes, they knew about it. No one was putting absorbent stuff out to gather it up though. The sun came out as we went into the chamber. The lock keeper, an older man than the two in overalls, took the boat name, etc. 

It's going to be a very large houseboat!
River Saone nr junction with Canal de Centre

I asked if all the stoppages were now finished on the river, he said yes but there was still one ongoing on the d’Heuilley (Marne à la Saône canal). Ow! Must find out about that. We dropped down 10.76m in rapid time and left the bottom at 9.15 a.m. At the end of the arm we could see a loaded big boat (1,500 tonnes plus) going past heading uphill on the river. Took photos of the two old boats semi-sunk by the oil refinery. Twenty minutes later we turned left and headed upriver on the Saône. At the chantier on the corner there was a large commercial that had been there a number of years since the boatyard who were repairing it went bust. It was now being converted into a very large houseboat! The first cuckoo of Spring announced its presence. 

Tug Belier pushing two pans of sand.
River Saone

A little tug called Belier (the ram) went past at KP150 pushing two loaded pans (called La Cygoniere) of sand. Swans were nesting among the island on our right just above Alleriot village. Carol, a large UK steel cruiser went past very slowly at KP153. An egret was fishing in the shallows at the back of islands on our left. A loaded thousand tonner called Macarena went past heading downriver at KP164.5 near Chauvort. We had lunch before we reached Verdun-sur-Doubs. Narrowboat Oxford Blue went past heading downriver while I was in the cabin doing a few chores. I made a cuppa just before we got to Ecuelles 185m x 12m (3,20m). The keeper was hiding in his tower with all the blinds drawn. 

Wild mooring at Chazelles.
River Saone

Up with the centre rope to a bollard recessed in the lock wall which Mike helped swap over until we started yo-yoing (the lock fills at the front and the water rebounds back and forth up and down the long chamber, aided by the keeper, who I’m sure lifts the paddles syncronously with the swell) then he went back to control it using the engine. It was 3.45 p.m. when we left the lock. Just a few more bends of the river to our wild mooring across a fishing hole. To our dismay there was a fisherman there with four lines out, but fortunately he wasn’t in our usual spot, he was in the next one downstream of it, so we tippy-toed past very gently and Mike got off with ropes. It was 4.30 p.m. Several small trees were stuck across the bank and into the river where our stern needed to be so Mike dragged them further up the bank and we tied the stern to a tree. Sent the long green line out off the fore end across the shoal, where more of the bank had fallen in, and sank a tyre under the chine to pull on to in the mud. The fisherman carried on fishing and didn’t say anything – probably thought “all the river to moor in and they have to come and moor next to me!” Well, it’s not that simple - we spent a long time in years gone by finding somewhere that was deep enough here where we could get on and off – and that was it, nothing else for miles and miles. Chazelles’ village quay was sloping stone and too shallow, as were most of the quays on the river.  Tired, must be all that fresh air.

Sunday 3rd April 2010 Fragnes.

Grey clouds and sunny spells. Mike asked me to help move stuff out of the engine room so he could do engine checks for oil leaks, etc. The towpath was like Picadilly Circus with whole families taking a walk past the boat to and from the boulangerie (expensive at 1,50€). I put some clothes in the washing machine and did three loads during the day.

Saturday 2nd April 2010 Fontaines to Fragnes. 5kms 3 locks

The first (or last) deep lock (over 5m), No 32,
on the Canal de Centre

Sunny and very warm after a chilly night. We set off at 9.30 a.m. with a couple of quiet kilometres to go before the first lock. There were misty clouds and the fields and trees were still damp with overnight condensation. Our VNF shadow for the day passed us about five minutes after we set off, driving down the towpath/cycle piste in his VNF car. He was collecting debris that had collected in the lock mouth when we arrived at lock 32 (5.12m) which had a sign board proclaiming it to be Fontaines. None of the locks from the summit down to the Saône were originally named, so this is a recent adoption by the village. Before the lock there was another old lockhouse, still inhabited, but no old plate on the wall. There were two VNF men on the lockside when we arrived. One came to chat as Mike pulled the cord. I asked him what time the deep lock, 34bis, opens in a morning. 9.00 a.m. OK we’ll be there Monday at nine. I took a photo of the last (or first, depending on which way you are going) deep lock on this canal as we set off on 1.8kms pound to lock 33 (3.17m). Down lock 34 and our keeper pulled the cord for us as there was a post on either side of the chamber. The lockhouse bore a new plate saying it was No 34, but over the door the old plate said it was 46 and indicated the next was 47. Lock 47 has long gone, (along with the other three), buried under a “new” road scheme in the centre of Chalon-sur- Saône, while the new deep lock (34bis) was built on a new route to the river avoiding the town. We carried on to moor at Fragnes behind two DBs moored there for the winter. No one in at the tourist info office but the sign said it was 6,20€ per night. Petrol for the gennie for eight hours running would now cost us 6,40€ so it was more economical to pay at the port. It was 11.00 a.m. Mike connected the electric while I got ready to go shopping. We went to Carrefour hypermarket at Chalons Sud on the far side of the river as we had a list of things to get.

Friday 1st April 2010 Cheilly-les-Maranges to Fontaines. 13kms 11 locks

Basin at Chagny - no boats - circus/fairground caravans!
Canal de Centre

Grey low clouds first thing, sun breaking through mid-morning. Warmer. Untied at 9.15 a.m. and ran down the last of the long (11kms) pound. The sun was out by the time we reached Remilly where the canal was halfway up the side of the hill so we could look down on the rooftops. Noted that a few had sprouted solar panels. Life was stirring at the Snaily hire base, boats were being cleaned ready for this year’s season. Across the aqueduct over the railway and into Chagny. There were circus or fairground vehicles parked on the old infilled basin before the road bridge. We were extremely surprised to find no boats at all in the basin, which was surrounded by more caravans and lorries. We tied to the quay then Mike went off on foot to get some bread as we were completely out. I sat out on the stern to keep an eye on the gear (camera, binos, GPS, etc) rather than put it all away. Two men were doing something to an articulated lorry’s engine with its cab tilted forward. A young man was sat outside a small old caravan fishing in the basin while two old German Shepherd dogs were wandering around. Further on towards the road there was a line of newer caravans, the sort with extending side pods, where two women were nattering. Along the wall of the brick works there were old photos of the canal, but most were either ripped by vandals or weather worn. On his return with the bread, Mike called into the VNF office right next to the boat and asked the man in the office to inform the lock keeper that we were going down the locks towards Chalon. He said OK he would do that. It was 11.00 a.m. as we set off again. Mike had been all the way down the hill to a little Casino superette as there was no longer a boulangerie by the port. In the narrows leading away from the basin there was still a row of moored houseboats, DBs Shanti and Cornelia ((very narrow), then an old dead yacht and a converted péniche called Epatant. A little further on a once smart pénichette, called Le Saphir with blue kiwis on it, was moored. We locked through the deep lock on to the Saône with them in 2009, looked like it had been left untouched at Chagny since then. I made a cuppa before we arrived at lock 24 (5.20m). 

Narrow section leaving Chagny basin. Canal de Centre

The lock was switched off! I went to use the intercom on the lockside. No reply. Back on the boat I phoned the roving keeper’s number. He said he’d sort it. A couple of minutes later the lock light went to red then the bottom end gates closed and it filled. Magic! Opposite the boat was an old former lock house and in its garden there were dog pens. When the dogs heard us talking they all started barking. A few minutes later a man drove up in a car, parked by the lock, then went to the dogs shouting at them, throwing stones at them and waving a large stick! He’d gone again by the time the lock was ready and the dogs were silent. Looking back from the lock we could see they were beagle-type hunting dogs, looking very bored and subdued after the shouting and probable beating. Our black kite was back, following us down the canal. Same one, or are there lots of them? We seem to see one every day and I liked to think it was the same one, following us in the hope of us stirring up an easy dead fishy meal for him. 

Lockhouse 31, originally lock 42.
Canal de Centre 

The water from the deep lock ran up and down the short pound like a miniature tsunami - in marinier’s terms - “rebondissiments”! Down lock 25 (5.20m). For lunch I put some paté on some of the new crusty bread as we ran down to lock 26 (2.56m). At 26 there was a lockhouse with 35 on its old plate above the door. A VNF man came out to ask Mike the usual questions, so he booked our journey for tomorrow too. We ate lunch on the move. Nothing moored at Rully. A quiet spot except for the cycle path. Into lock 27 (5.20m), still eating lunch. A short pound lead to lock 28 (5.20m), below which there was half an old lock chamber and the ruins of a lockhouse. Into lock 29 (2.39m) surrounded by fields of colza which was just starting to come into bloom. Round the corner into lock 30 (2.64m) and it didn’t work! Mike was just backing out to try again when the VNF man from Rully came past in his VNF car. He stopped and re-started the lock from the cabin and re-checked where we were going. Mike asked him about the radio antennas on each lock cabin, where was the transmitter? Up on the hills, he said, at Chatel-Moron and added that it doesn’t always work especially if it’s raining! He left us to it and drove off down the towpath/cycle piste. Round a few more bends and into lock 31 (2.50m), which still had an intact, but uninhabited, lockhouse. Below the modern plate saying “31” was the plate that said it was originally lock 42. The noisy N6 was getting closer beyond a belt of trees and we could see the hotel restaurant below the lock was doing a good lunchtime trade as there were lots of people dining al fresco on their patio in the warm sunshine. On to the long pound, 2.4kms! We stopped by the road bridge to Fontaines in the first layby. The boat was catching on the sloping quay wall, so we went through the bridge and tied next to the (very busy) towpath/cycle path. It was 1.45 p.m. Stood the solar panel up for it to get maximum charge then unloaded the moped off the roof using a long plank and keeping a lookout for fast cycles and roller-bladers. Mike went to move the car from St Julien to Fragnes.