Tuesday 19th April 2011 Chaumont - Froncles. 25kms 11 locks

Bottom end gates lock 24 Relancourt.
No passarelles.

Chilly start, sunny all day and warmer later. We set off at 9.35 a.m. a few minutes late as Mike had discovered a small leak from a loose fitting on a fuel line. Into lock 24 Relancourt (3.50m) to find we had the same young lady lock keeper on a moped as the day before. We worked the same as the day before, in through one gate and I stepped off to close it behind us as she wound the bottom end paddles. No other traffic all day, so she just left the bottom gates half open. 24 was an unusual lock with no passerelles on the bottom end gates as there was a new low bridge to cross the lock. The girl wanted the boat details, but had already started the lock emptying so she ended up on her hands and knees shouting to be heard over the water noise! 3.4kms to lock 26 Condes (3.70m). 

Liftbridge from Condes tunnel

On this pound there was a short tunnel, also called Condes and a Llangollen-type liftbridge which was worked from lock 26. The tunnel lights came on as we went in - were they activated by sensors or did she switch them on from the lock? There was a VNF van on the lockside, but it had gone by the time we arrived. A white haired old lady came out of the lock house and said hello, then went back indoors. 800m of winding bends in front of steeply sloping wooded hills to lock 27 Brethenay (3.00m). Outbuildings belonging to the lock house spread out along the foot of the steep hill, and there were houses on the top of the hill above the lockhouse. Water was running over the gates and Madame had forgotten to lower the house-side top end paddle, so Mike gave her a hoot and she ran round and closed it. 

Ancient shelter for lock keeper, lock 26 Condes.

There was another liftbridge below the lock, this one was press button keeper-operated. 1.9kms to lock 29 Mouillerys (3.70m). On the 1.8kms pound I baked some bread buns for lunch en route to lock 29 Riaucourt (3.80m). The village of Riaucourt had a chapel on the hill with a large statue on top. A sandpiper flew in front of the boat for a while, the first one this year. I wound the far side paddle down after I’d closed the gate at lock 29. Work had started on lock 29 to install hydraulics for the top end gates, slots had been cut and tubes for electric cables cemented in. It was 11.50 a.m. As we left the chamber a VNF lorry pulled up and the driver went into the lockhouse. Lunchtime. 3.5kms to lock 30 Bologne (3.40m) so I made our lunch and we ate it going along the long pound into Bologne. 

Lock 27 & liftbridge Brethenay

More work in progress at lock 30, the cabin was almost finished and the slots for the hydraulics for the top end gates had been done. 900m to lock 31 Roôcourt (3.40m). We waited above the lock as our lockie struggled to open a top end gate as there was water flowing over them, again the lock had a new cabin and hydraulic slots ready for automation. We had gongoozlers on the lockside, a woman with a camera and two children; she was using the boat for a backdrop to take photos of the kids. I closed the gate and the far side paddle again and got back on down the ladder. A man in a van had arrived. The girl said she was having trouble starting the moped and had called for reinforcements. She bid us au’voir and the man in the van took over. 2kms to 32 Viéville (3.50m) and the man drove down the towpath in his van. I shut the top end gate as he went to wind the bottom ends. 

Modern liftbridge at Vieville

There was a digger and a van on the lockside, but no signs of work at 1.15 p.m. The house was open but used by the workmen, I think, rather than lived in.  2.7kms to lock 33 Granvaux (3.50m). The mooring at Viéville had free water and electric and the quay by the liftbridge was full. Four boats, the first was a medium DB called Lucia S from Rotterdam. Its Dutch skipper cheekily said  “I’ll have to blow up your tyres a bit so you can go a bit faster!” I said we like going this speed, he replied “Well, you’ve got to keep the Captain happy!” Next was Cathymi an ex-Connoisseur, then a small cruiser called Stromer (left for the winter) and a large DB with no name, blue and yellow bows, that looked lived in but no one home, probably at work. 

Moorings at Froncles

The keeper pressed the buttons to open a new, modern liftbridge, which had counterbalances that dipped into the water. Lock 33 had a new cabin but not yet finished, the lock wall on the house side had been concrete skimmed but it looked like they had added too much concrete and had to hack some of it off, it now looked a mess. Shame, because the house and garden were lovely. 1.9kms to 34 Vouécourt (3.50m) Three young lads were fishing from the towpath and two cyclists went past heading uphill as we went into Vouécourt village, which looked splendid. Lock 34 was all electric, all the automatics looked in place but the keeper had to work it from the panels by the top and bottom end gates. He asked where we were stopping so we told him Froncle as we were expecting post to be delivered there. 2.8kms to lock 35 Buxiéres (3.40m) The houses of Vouécourt had extended way beyond the mooring. I couldn’t see any taps or electric posts. 

First new ducklings of the year. Froncles.

No boats there, so the services must have been removed. Work was actively going on at 35 and the lock was empty so we waited above it. It filled and we went in. Then we could see there was a loaded péniche below waiting to come up. That’s unusual, normally they make us wait. Another guy had joined the keeper and they told Mike to press the bassinée button while they were slamming the blue rod. The gates were slow to react but did eventually close. I made a cuppa. The keeper gave us a number to phone to continue from Froncles, then they said from 36 onwards all the automatics were working, but we had to ring and be programmed. ? (Speaking to someone later there are a few liftbridges that haven’t been automated yet) The skipper on Louveteau from Marchiennes didn’t wave or reply when I shouted hello. I think he was annoyed at being kept waiting. Well, don’t blame us! We drank our tea on the way down to Froncles through some really beautiful countryside. The quay at Froncles looked full and we were just about to reverse to the piled area at the uphill end when the guy off a tjalk called Verwisseling came out and said they would move up a bit for us to get on the downhill end. That was very nice of them. As soon as we were tied up I gave Mike a hand to get the bike off the roof and he went off at 4.15 p.m to collect the car from Chaumont. The lady from the Capitainerie called for money 1,50€ for the mooring and the same again if we wanted electricity, we didn’t so I found her 1,50€. While Mike was away I cleared the front wardrobe and the side bunk to make space for our visitor. I started to set up the satellite dish then the bloke off the tjalk came to chat and then I couldn’t find Astra. He’d wintered his boat at Sillery and was on his way to Roanne (they go back to the UK for the winter) and I realised that Helen had mentioned them. Yes, he’d met Helen and George (the latter was off for a walk in Condé and didn’t stop to chat but Helen did). Don’t think he would bother too much with the price increase at Roanne as he told me he worked as a ship’s pilot in the Middle East for 25 years. Mike came back with the car and I helped get the moped out of the car, then we put the bike back on the roof and he went off to collect our visitor, Maeva, after ringing her Mum, Christelle, at 6.30 p.m. to say he was on his way. It was around 9.30 p.m. when they arrived after having a close call with deer.