Grey clouds with blue patches and sunshine between. An empty péniche had gone past heading uphill around 8.30 a.m. We winded and set off at 9.30 a.m. The couple in the house opposite were out in their garden and they waved as we left, as did the people in the corner house on the silo side. 2.5 kms to Jussy lock 26 (3.00m) There was work going on to repair the automatic lock, so a keeper worked us through the left hand chamber, pressing buttons in the “greenhouse” control cabin, while the VNF men sat around on the lockside of the right hand chamber. He said the work would take about two months and told us there was another boat on its way uphill. Mike went in to make a cuppa and had to refill Mum’s pill dispenser as it was empty. Lock 28 Voyaux (3.00m) was fenced off. The VNF were grass cutting, one man was strimming, while another drove a sit-on mower to cut the towpath grass as far as the lock sensors. Mum sat out again on the front deck seat. 3.5kms to the next lock. The family at the house before the bridge were waving as we went past. More signs of life as we approached Tergnier, a fisherman started setting up his gear by the railway sidings, then two winos started calling out in English as I steered the boat down to the group of three locks before the junction with the Sambre à l’Oise canal. Into lock 29 Fargniers no 1 (2.60m) I steered into the lock for the first time in ages as Mike was busy chatting on the front deck with his Mum. He lifted the rod to activate the lock. 300m to the next and as the three were linked it got itself ready for us. Down lock 30 Fargniers no 2 (2.90m) and a little tjalk called Lucky was coming uphill. Another one from Wachtebeke! 670m to lock 31 Farniers 3 (2.90m). A loaded boat had just gone past heading down the canal as we dropped down in lock 3. Mike kept lookout for traffic on the bows as I turned right at the junction. Loaded boat Zen was moored next to an empty with no name, which was permanently moored there and had a garden alongside it. The four remaining locks on the St Quentin canal are in pairs, both locks of each pair work and are automatic with sensors on the bank to detect approaching boats. We followed loaded péniche Ovni, who went down the right hand chamber of lock 32 Tergnier (1.4m) then we waited while the lock refilled for us. The right hand chamber was full. An empty péniche called Luxor was moored above lock 32 along with a couple of little VNF tugs. We could see down the next pound that there was another loaded boat in front of Ovni going downhill and an empty coming uphill. The left hand chamber emptied for the uphill boat and the right hand one refilled for us – what a waste of water! We went into our chamber as Dornia came into the other. 2.6kms to lock 33 Viry (2.4m), Ovni had just gone down the left hand chamber and it refilled for us. I made some sandwiches on the 2.3kms pound to lock 34 Senicourt (2.00m) Ovni seemed to be taking ages to get through the right hand chamber (maybe a bit of a tight fit) so we caught up with him. The lock refilled for us (again the left hand chamber was sitting there full) and as we went down and empty called Albatross with its wheelhouse down came into the left hand chamber, which had emptied for him. 1.4kms to the last lock of the day lock 35 Chauny (2.30m). The itinerant keeper in a van was at the lock. Ovni had gone down in the right hand chamber and empty Phil-Ange was just in process of coming up in the left hand chamber. The lockie waved to us to go down in the left hand chamber once the empty had cleared it. As we went down in the left chamber an empty called Tahiti went up in the right and another empty, called Aloha, also with wheelhouse down, was sitting against the wooden separator staging below the lock waiting to follow him up the lock. I noticed there were cables hanging from the back of Aloha, which would indicate that the two were a pusher pair and Aloha was the front end. Into Chauny and Luxemotor Anthonia was moored opposite the port together with a part ballasted empty called Bertha. There were several visiting cruisers at the port in Chauny, British and Belgian, and the crews waved and said hello as we went by. Pusher pair tankers Nicole and Namur were unloading at the oil berth. Noted that a cruiser that had set off from Chauny was following behind Ovni. Another empty (Aqua-Mundo) went past heading uphill. Nothing was moored by the Café de la Marine, where they also sold fuel and gas. The old retired péniche Mado was still moored in the corner by the junction with the Oise à l’Aisne canal. We could see sensors under the bridge, which meant the lock was now automatic and Mike looked at the large new sign on the end of the lock through binoculars and it read “get your telecomand with the cabin” (Uh?). Nothing else was moored on the far side of the junction as we tied up at 2.30 p.m. We’d just finished tying the last rope as a British replica DB called Tadham Castle went past heading towards Paris. It didn’t slow down, the skipper’s wife waved - but he didn’t – looking straight ahead concentrating on steering. Gave Mike a hand to unload the fizzer down the plank. Lots of traffic up and down the canal, mostly commercial. I got on with the chores and had just finished washing up when Mike returned with the car. We put it back on the roof as the wind picked up and loads of grey menacing clouds gathered. Later we watched the News and the first episode of Corrie was halfway through when a thunderstorm broke out and torrential rain arrived which put the satellite TV off so we switched the TV off.
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