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| Lock keeper locking a manually operated liftbridge |
Raining when I opened the canvases at 8.30 a.m. The boulangerie by Lidl was closed all day so Mike couldn’t get any fresh white bread. We left at 9.15 a.m. Only a short distance to the first lock, 45 Rongeant (3.20m) and the family came out on to their doorstep to watch us through their lock. I tried lifting the bar, it didn’t work. Maeva to the rescue! I thought it had failed. A loaded Dutch péniche called Stephen Roos went past on the 1.9kms pound to lock 46 de Bussy (2.20m) zapped and went into the lock. There was a more substantial looking house than the usual lockhouse on the right with three bikes leaned against the wall; its front door had been blocked up, a small window was in its place. As we went along the 2.2kms pound, Mike had to go slowly under the railway bridge as the pound was so full the mast almost touched the girder work. Down lock 47 d’Autigny-le-Grand (2.80m) with no problems. 2.4kms to the next. A VNF van went flying past down the towpath shortly after we left the lock. A VNF tug and pan were moored above lock 48 de Curel (2.90m) and the liftbridge at the top end of the lock kept several cars waiting while we went into the chamber.
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| Lock over-full! Lock 52 Bayard |
The old guy from the house stood on his doorstep and watched us. A 1.9kms pound took us down to lock 49 de Breuil (2.90m) where there were three VNF vans on the lockside and they watched us through the lock (but did nothing). I was busy doing the log and Maeva was sitting on the roof doing her homework while Mike steered. 2.9kms to the next so I made a cuppa before we got to lock 50 de Chevillon (3.30m) at midday. On the 2.4kms pound two manually operated liftbridges were worked by our roving keeper and I made sandwiches for lunch. Lock 51 Fontaines (2.70m) was awash with water over the locksides as the pound was so full. Strangely the liftbridge about 150m above the lock was worked by the same zap as the lock. Down lock 52 Bayard (3.40m). 2.9kms to lock 53 Bienville (3.5m), both locks were awash as the pounds were overflowing.
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| Old US Army tank at Eurville |
Down 54 Eurville (3.50m) our VNF shadow was chatting with the elderly man from the lockhouse whose cat came to join them while his old black dog looked on from the doorstep. Mike took a photo of a US Army tank. 1.3kms to lock 55 Chamouilley (3.10m) There was a very large man sitting on the bench by the lock who got up and walked off down the towpath with the aid of a stick as we started dropping down in the chamber. He had reached the road bridge before us. A new private mooring stage had been built below the lock and a DB called Christina was tied to it. A little further on the quay by the bridge now had added bollards for people wanting to pause to buy bread from a very convenient boulangerie.
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| Mooring at Chamouilley |
Mike spotted a low wooden edging on an old quay wall in the corner of a wide section of canal and decided it looked like a good place to stop so he winded and we moored in Chamouilley. Never been there before but it looked OK despite the youths playing footie a couple of hundred metres away and the reasonably busy road. Hadn’t been there very long before the VNF shadow came to ask the usual questions. Gave Mike a hand to unload the moped down the plank and he went off to collect the car from Joinville. When Mike returned and we were putting the bike back on the roof a man came over to introduce himself as the owner of DB Christina and the builder of the wooden staging we were tied to. He said he hired it out as a day tripper and later came back with some leaflets.
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