Tuesday 30th August 2011 Sillery – Vaudemanges 22.5kms 4 locks

Lock house at 14 l'Esperance

Sunny with white clouds. Hot later. An uphill loaded péniche went past early. Condensation reformed on the steelwork after I’d dried it off, it was very chilly first thing. We set off at 9.35 a.m. Mike turned the pole, lock 13 Sillery (3.49m) emptied and we went up. The moorings at Sillery were nearly full. On the end was a large tjalk with masts whose English crew came out to ask if we were carrying on uphill. 2.2kms to the next lock 14 l’Esperance (2.63m). We waited while a loaded péniche in front of us cleared the lock, then it emptied for us and we went up. I made tea and toast on the 2.8kms pound. There was a nice overhanging walnut tree below the lock so we paused to gather a few nuts. 

Ironmongery on the lockside at 15 Beaumont

Mike stood on the roof but got the shock of his life when the branch he was pulling broke, causing him to step backwards catching his foot on the pigeon box and then he fell on his back on the roof. Luckily not hurt much, just a scratch on his ankle and a pain in his leg. We carried on up lock 15 Beaumont (2.76m) A teenage lad was fishing in the canal from the road bridge over the tail end of he lock. He had minders, an older teen-aged lad with him plus a little girl. Mike took photos of the lockside garden ornaments – old agricultural implements. I took photos of the two lock houses and the VNF workshop. 1.15kms to the top lock 16 Wez (2.47m) A young woman arrived in a car and went in the house. Her two little dogs, inside the front garden and restricted by a mesh fence, went mental barking at me as I took a bag of rubbish to the bin by the road bridge. 

More ironmongery at lock 15 Beaumont

We went beyond the trees and tied up with a fantastic view across the fields to La Montagne. It was 11.40 a.m. George and Helen were coming up from above the bottom lock at Berry and would be arriving we calculated about 5.00 p.m. Helen had told Mike they be stopping above the top of the locks. Mike went to collect the car from Berry and move it on to Condé. I got on with reconstituting my laptop, downloading service pack three, Google Chrome browser and Yahoo for emails. The Internet wasn’t fast enough to download AVG security. Mike returned at four with some bread, en route for Condé, except he saw Floan heading for the lock. Helen broke the bad news that we’d got our wires crossed and they were carrying on through the tunnel to the top of the flight down to Condé. 

VNF workshops above lock 15 Beaumont

She told me Mike was going to put the bike back on the boat, leave the car where it was and follow them through the tunnel. Mike asked at the house if he could leave our car there and, as he was talking to the lady of the house, her aggressive little Jack Russell leapt up and levered himself across the top of the mesh fence just enough to nip Mike’s arm! He pushed the moped back to the boat and we loaded it back on the roof. Meanwhile two cruisers came up the lock one after the other. We followed on to the tunnel, setting off at around 5.00 p.m. I made a cuppa. Mum was fast asleep. Fifty minutes later we arrived at the north end of Mont de Billy tunnel. We could see a boat in the tunnel and Mike looked through his binoculars to see a light and deduced that it was coming our way. It wasn’t! 

The lock and two lock houses at 15 Beaumont

At six the lights in the tunnel went out and we could see the boat was just leaving the tunnel – it was Floan. Helen sent a text to say there was nothing in the tunnel, no boats at the other end and we could do what they did and put our headlight on and go against the red light now it was out of hours. We did. Put the headlight on for the first time in years to go through an unlit tunnel. Not far inside there was a leak from the roof, pouring icy cold water all over us. Good grief that was cold. Clouds had gathered when we reached the other end. There were now three houseboats in the old layby at Vaudemanges. Both cruisers had overtaken Floan and the second one, an ex-hireboat cruiser, was now moored by the house. We tied up behind Floan, which was about 2m out from the bank sitting on the bottom just before the first lock, and George and Helen came on board for a natter, sitting out on the front deck until it became chilly and the owls started calling - then we went inside.

Lock house at 16 Wez

Made Mum a sandwich so she could take her tablets but George and Helen said they had dinner on their boat waiting for them and went home around 10.30 p.m. Mike begged a bit of their cargo - a bag of petrol-coke - to experiment with burning it in our Torgem. George said his mate Roger had tried it, but said it wouldn’t burn without a forced draught. Mike said the mixed coal we buy in France contains anthracite and large lumps of petrol-coke without which the anthracite won’t burn at all. Helen took a sack that Mike found for her and went to fill it for him. Mike braved their long narrow plank, wearing his slippers and having had a surfeit of red wine, he managed to navigate the plank carrying a sack of coke while I held our big spotlight so he could see where he was walking (the night was black as a bag but the stars were bright) and Helen cheered as he regained terra firma. We wished them goodnight and a good trip down to Viviers on the Rhône. They said they would most likely have to come back empty but would be coming up the canal du Centre, so we probably wouldn’t see them on their way back to Gent.