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| Posh new moorings at Cusey |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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:-
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