Wednesday 29th April 2015 Corbie to Amiens. 18.8kms 3 locks

Waiting bvove lock 16 Lamotte

5.2° C Hazy clouds with sunny spells and a very cold breeze. Mike and Graham moved vehicles first thing, leaving Graham’s parked in a side street in Amiens and coming back in ours. On their return I phoned the booking office and asked for a keeper for 10.15 am. OK, he said he would contact the team. Mike got the boat ready to move, I helped to untie the boat and we set off at ten, going upriver a bit to wind, then trundled slowly down to the lock, bidding Bente and Kurt bye for now. Peter Pan, a tjalk we had moored next to once in Strasburg yacht club a few years back, was moored

Lock house at Lamotte being transformed

down by the lock with crew on board, but no one that we knew. There were several other boats moored there which looked permanent. Our man in a van (Department of the Somme this time, a white van with red lettering) arrived at 10.20am and had problems with lock 14 Corbie. The panel on the lockside didn't seem to be working properly, so he opened one of the boxes by the tail end gates and opened a paddle and we descended slowly. I had no bollard on my side of the lock for my centre

Caulking the bottom of a traditional wooden boat

rope, so I stood on the stern as we descended ropeless (he did say we could put a rope around the lamp post but Mike declined) and we chatted with Jill who was steerer on MR for the first lock. Down 2.8m and the lock keeper wanted us to go out singly and keep over to the right. The weir flows across the canal right below the gates, but it didn't move us over by much - he's too used to light and flimsy hire boats! Just over 5kms to the next. Mike did some painting and I steered. The same keeper had the next lock, 15 Daours, ready for us. This one was operated from boxes by the gates and this time the lock worked OK, down 3.2m and we were soon on our way again. Just 4.6kms to our last

Coming into the city of Amiens

lock 16, Lamotte, so we motored on after saying au'voir to our keeper who had only the first two locks to do. On downstream following the twisting tortuous course of the river, past a large chemical works that our old cruising guide says is a féculerie (a factory extracting starch from potatoes) and found the lock full, but no one around. Tied to the waiting area and had some lunch. Mike had a chat with a couple on bicycles who had been taking photos as we moored up. After lunch we went out and sat on the concrete benches to natter with Jill and Graham while we waited for

The rowing club in Amiens opposite the mooring pontoon

our mobile lock keeper, but there were no signs of a keeper at 1.30pm. As I was about to go and phone the booking office, a young man in a Somme van turned up at 1.55pm and started talking with Graham in German. The lock was already full so he had to go and find the power supply in the lock house (which was being renovated and turned into a hire base for bikes and canoes like the one in Cappy) to turn on the panel (lectern style again) and he started talking to me in English until he couldn't think of a word and I said tell me in French (in French) and we had quite a long conversation, first about the fact that he thought our boats were Dutch (then he spotted the Union Jack on the Ensign) about mooring in Amiens, which he said would be OK – gets rowdy in summertime

Pub by the moorings in Amiens

when the youth are on school holidays plus there is a pub right by the quay (which only opens at weekends at this time of year). Dropped down 1.3m in the last lock the day and set off again on the river down into Amiens. Almost 10kms to the next lock in the city centre, but we’re not going quite that far today. As we got closer to the city there were little wooden cabins on the banks, some of them beautifully kept, others not so and were falling into disrepair, with gardens and little canals. First signs of city life were youths in rowing skiffs who hadn’t got a clue about passing or overtaking other

Moored at new pontoon on quai d'amont in Amiens

boats and were not being very observant either, so we had to toot on our hooter several times to make them look round and see that they were about to crash into our bows (one nearly hit our stern fender coming up behind us). There is very little moving traffic on the river so they think they have it all to themselves – not today lads! We moored on a new pontoon at the quai d’amont (the upper quay) and left room for a small one in front of us. More posts with water and electricity, 2€ in the slot AND a pump out complete with hose (there was one in Corbie but it had no hose) Mike took some photos and I was pleased to find we had a good 4G signal to do my blog, then Mike said sorry we have no satellite TV as there are trees in the way. 

Friday 24th April 2015 Cappy to Corbie. 11.4kms 1 lock

WWI monument. British soldier and his wounded horse. Chipilly

3.5° C Sunny and calm with no wind to start with, a gentle breeze later. There was a heavy dew overnight, so the outside of the boat was streaming with water. Mike and Graham did the car moving and I called the booking office to tell them we were moving on to Corbie and asked if we could have a lock keeper for 10.30am. No problems. Two waterways workmen in a large open punt, powered by a big outboard motor, went past us heading upriver to do some more bank trimming as we were getting

Lock 13 Sailly. Canal de la Somme

ready to move. We set off upriver a bit to wind, then continued down river at 10.00am. Round the first left hand bend and the village of Cerisy was spread out along the left bank with lots of shuttered holiday homes. A long straight section of canalised river lead to our one and only lock of the day, lock 13 Sailly. As promised, there was a man with an orange van there ready to operate the lock for us. This time there was a lectern-type control panel halfway down the lockside. A French couple with a

Inscription in lock wall at Sailly. Canal de la Somme

campervan had stopped to watch us come through the lock and they asked the usual questions; where were we from, how did we get the boat here, how long had we been here, etc, etc. The water emptied and dropped us down another 3.20m. A couple of bends, followed by another long straight section with a row of low hills in the far distance. A large cruiser was coming towards us, the crew waving. Graham said on VHF that they’d asked him how his back

Old wooden wagon - note wooden wheel. Near Vaire-sur-Somme.

was!! He went to see an osteopath in Cappy - it must be her uncle, she said he had a boat there! What a small world. Mike took photos of an unusual wooden fisherman’s cabin near Vaire, it must have been a road wagon at some time in its past as it still had wooden wheels. Just after that we passed a big farm with a farmhouse that must have once been a very grand affair, now it was surrounded with farm buildings and a smell hit us that Mike said must be a piggery, but it reminded me of a maggot factory in East Anglia. Phew,

Moored at Corbie. Canal de la Somme.

what a stink, we were very glad we weren’t having any lunch. Lots more sweeping bends through woodland, with bright green new leaves bursting forth everywhere. A lone sandpiper flew in front of us for a while. Coots hid in the bankside vegetation. Near a weir by the village of Hamelet, a coypu swam across until it saw us, then it continued crossing the canal underwater, out of sight except for several surfacings for air. We arrived at Corbie at 12.15 pm. We were heading down to the moorings by the lock, but the boat belonging to Jill’s friend from Facebook was moored by the campsite on the right so they stopped and we reversed back to join them. Not long after we’d tied up a hotel boat, called La Belle Epoche, went past heading for the moorings above the lock.

Wednesday 22nd April 201 Cappy to Chipilly. 12.3kms 3 locks

Riverside bungalow

5.3° C Sunny but with a cold wind blowing. Mike and Graham moved the cars. I made a start on the blog while they were away. Mike had put the antenna for the Internet on top of the mast so I got a better link, but not that good. When they returned at 9 am I was still uploading photos, very, very slowly. Gave up and got ready for moving. At 9.30 am a cruiser that had been moored down by the Locaboat base left heading downriver. I phoned the booking office and they said OK someone would be there for us at ten. Mike hauled the pole in (the water level had gone down a touch overnight, we were

Building a hire base at Froissy lock

on the bottom and listing slightly even with the pole out) and we went down to the former hire base, winded, then emptied our rubbish bin. Shame the rest of the facilities (water and electricity, were all switched off. There were several orange vans around and the keeper we had last time said good morning as we went through the new modern liftbridge in Cappy. A long line of vehicles on the D1 both sides of the bridge were kept waiting while we went through. Just around the bend was Cappy

All mod cons hunting hide

lock 10, which was ready for us. I asked if there was still a tap for drinking water at the next lock. No, nothing now until Corbie. Made a cuppa on the 2 kms pound to lock 11 Froissy. A large new modern museum with a long concrete quay had been built just before the lock. Must check to see if that will be open on our return. There was a new lock keeper to greet us at the next lock. I asked if the new building under construction on the lockside was to be a new lock house – no, it was to be a hire base for canoes, kayaks and bikes with a small restaurant plus showers and toilets. He said there would be water available too. Mike took a photo of the roof tilers at work and

Derelict lock house at Mericourt

told them that his brother-in-law was a roof tiler too, but in England. Froissy was a deep lock 3.30m down. Below Froissy there was 6kms of winding river-fed channel to the next lock; the river joined the canal from our right and we noted that there was a sign now indicating that there was a Port at Bray back up the river. But our old chart marks the river channel as having no access. Must have a look at that by road. The wind was blowing harder and cold as we went past the little town of Etinhem, visible through the trees on the far side of another large lake on our right. The river

Moored at Chipilly

thundered over a large weir on a left hand bend just before lock 12 Méricourt. The same keeper was there and this lock had no new cabin so he had to open a control panel at the top end to close the gates and paddles and another at the tail end to open the lower end paddles and gates. There was a fairly modern lock house to the right of the lock chamber, but it was derelict with all its doors and windows boarded up. A couple more kilometres of canal wound through open farmland with the village of Méricourt on our left with golden yellow fields of colza, glistening in the sunshine on the low hills beyond. Our waterways crew had moved the workboat that had been on the quay in Chipilly this morning when Mike and Graham left a car there – we’d been planning to breast up and move it ourselves – that saves us having to move it and move it back again. That was nice of them. It was 12.45 pm when we tied up. Lunch, then the men went to retrieve the car.

Monday 20th April 2015 St Christ-Briost to Cappy. 24.1kms 4 locks

Above Peronne lock 13 C du Nord

4.0° C Sunny with a chilly breeze. Mike and Graham set off at 8.00 am to move cars, five minutes later a boat went past making lots of wash, causing stuff to fall off cupboards on our boat, the same on MR plus breaking a fender attachment. When the skippers returned we set off at 9.30 am, passing a loaded pusher pair with the wonderful names, Why Not and Why Me! At the concrete works an empty called Isis was moored while Amon’s cargo of aggregates was being unloaded. I phoned the lock booking service for the Somme and a pleasant young man said there would be an agent

Notice board at the start of the canal de la Somme

de service at the first lock when we arrived at 11.30 am. The next boat past was a loaded péniche called Bona Fide. Shortly afterwards a VNF survey boat went by, closely following the towpath, presumably checking the depth. We slowed down while lock 13 Pérronne filled, then we dropped down 3.60m in our last lock (for now, we’ll have to return either north or south on this canal later) on the canal du Nord. That was well timed as the next pushtow, Arizona and Gilbea, were not too far from

First sighting of a brood of ducklings

the lock. The port-de-plaisance moorings in the arm at Pérronne were full, a line of cruisers on both sides of the pontoon – all “dead” boats, ie left there permanently. A row of red painted metal bars sunk into the canal bed were placed around the entrance to the arm, indicating that it was shallow. Some more of the same bars had been planted by the entrance to the canal de la Somme so we continued to the end of them before turning left into the entrance of the canal. It was 11.25 am. The depth of water immediately halved from 4m to 2m. A kingfisher darted along the bank in front of us, then we saw the first ducklings of the year, a big brood of about a dozen little balls of

Liftbridge at Feuillieres

floating fluff. There was a big etang on our right out of sight beyond some trees and a smaller one on our left, close by the canal and bordered by small wooden holiday chalets. The banks closed in and become higher, sheltering us from the wind and it was much warmer. As the bare earth canal bank on our left became higher and higher we came to a section where there had been a bank slip. Around the next bend there were farm buildings close to the canal where a man and a boy stopped playing outdoor table tennis to wave as we went past. A cheery lock keeper with a bright

Noisy neighbours in Cappy

orange van (the Somme is not a VNF waterway) was there at the first lock, 7 Sormont (back to smaller Freycinet sized locks of 38.5m x 5.10m) with the lock full and gates open. He pressed the buttons in the lock cabin and we dropped down 1.10m while chatting. He seemed very pleased to have two boats to work the locks for on his canal. He said he would open the next liftbridge for us then he would have his lunch, returning to operate the next lock for us at 1.30 pm. We passed under the busy A1 autoroute and the TGV railway bridges and the liftbridge at Feuillères opened, we passed through and wished our roving lock keeper bon appetite. We motored on to the next lock, 8 Frise, and tied to an old square pan (higher than our roof and listing

Moored at Cappy

towards the bank) by the quay above the lock, leaving the low quay for MR so that Jill could easily get the dogs off for their walk. Mike was quite disappointed to be reminded that there was no lunch today. Our man in his orange van returned as promised at 1.30pm and we dropped down 4.20m then after a short distance another 1.7m in lock 9 also called Frise. Mike hopped off to give the keeper a couple of bottles of Kronenberg beer to say thanks. He worked the next liftbridge for us in the village of Eclusier-Vaux and we said we’d ring when we needed to book our passage after a few days in Cappy. 3kms to the moorings in Cappy. The low hills receded a little and we had open views across some fields on our left as we approached the town, famous for its P’tit Train, now restored as a tourist train, it was built to haul supplies and munitions to the front line during WW1. We winded so our side doors were on the wet side and moored next to the wooden piling before the Locaboat hirebase (we later found out that it had closed in October last year, a great blow to the local economy). The boat was grounding amidships so Mike set a quant pole out at the stern end to keep the boat off the bottom, then he and Graham went to collect our car from St Christ-Briost. I put the laptop on to do the log and discovered we had a lousy Internet connexion, just EDGE so practically unworkable.

Thursday 16th April 2015 Ercheu to St Christ-Briost. 19.4kms 2 locks

Boats at silo quay above Languevoisin lock

5.7 C Sunny and damp after a heavy dew. Set off at 9.35 am, winding to follow MR to first lock of the day. As we set off I noticed my wild strawberry plants in a pot on the roof had started to flower, such tiny flowers. The first hotel boat we'd seen this year went past heading towards Paris, it was called Anna-Maria II from Amsterdam and it had loads of bikes on the roof but no passengers yet. He was followed by an empty péniche called Doma. A loaded pair of push-towed péniches went past just before we arrived at lock 15 Languevoisin. A big boat (61.5m) went into the lock and went down. Above the lock there was a silo quay where péniche Univers was loading and

Church at Rouy-le-Petit

Octopus and Export were waiting to load. The lock refilled for us and we dropped down about 5m, by which time there were two more empty péniches, Homer and Razorback, waiting to come up. They were into the chamber as soon as we'd cleared it. There were more silos below the lock, but no boats. It was about 10kms to the next lock, so I starting typing up my notes on my tablet. Mike took photos of an impressive church at Rouy-le-Petit and a grebe with a fish. An empty called Baltic went past, crew taking photos of us as we passed. Not long afterwards a loaded boat called Pen-Duic went past, it was so well loaded at the fore end that water was curling over its gunwales. As we passed the junction Mike took photos of the now abandoned Somme link canal. The navigation was now wider and more like the river. At the village of Villecourt there was a Gendarmerie van doing a tour of inspection on the quay, so we gave him a toot on our hooter and a wave and he replied with a short blast on his blues and two's as he drove back up the ramp on to the bridge. Hazy clouds started to obscure the sun, making it a bit cooler. Low hills appeared on the left bank and a few nice houses and gardens bordered the canal as we approached the village of Pargny. Lots of coots were dashing back and forth across the canal as we neared our last lock, 14 Epernancourt. Loaded Dutchman Tessa (about 60m)

Grebe with a fish

was just leaving the lock, heading towards Paris, so we went straight in. This lock chamber has steel piled sides and, as it was only 4.1m deep, there were clapper gates instead of a guillotine at the bottom end. At the next silo quay there was an uncoupled push-tow pair, Stella was already loaded and the hold covers were back in place, but the fore-end péniche, called Sevenzo, was still loading grain - but the loader had gone off to lunch. A couple more kilometers and we arrived at our chosen mooring spot in St Christ-Briost. A pleasant mooring next to the river Somme, where we tied to bollards in a long layby. The depth of the water in the layby was OK for us but not for the commercials

Closed link canal to Ham & St Quentin canal

nowadays as it had silted up quite a bit. Mike and Graham went in Graham’s car to collect our car from Pont l'Eveque. We all agreed it was an ideal spot to spend the weekend, so more BBQs if the weather holds.

Moored in the layby at St Christ-Briost

Wednesday 15th April 2015 Pont l’Evêque to Ercheu. 19.1kms 4 locks

Below lock 19 Pont l'Eveque

5.8° C Sunny and hot. We left at 9.15am, winded at the end of the arm and set off to the junction with the Latèral à l’Oise. Mike called the keeper at lock 19 Pont l'Eveque to tell him we'd be about ten minutes. OK, the lock would be ready for us. Turned right on to Lateral à l'Oise, then right again on to the canal du Nord. Loaded boat Loma went past, he'd just come down the lock which was now ready for us, guillotine gate up and a green light. All the locks on the canal du Nord are operated by lock keepers. We

Coming up in lock 18 Noyon

entered the chamber and went on the right hand wall while MR took the left. Fore and aft ropes wouldn’t work as the bollards inset in the walls were too close together. Centre rope on the second set and the guillotine closed behind us. The lock filled with the aid of side pounds and we rose 5.8m effortlessly, lifting the rope up on to five bollards as we went. Waved to the keeper in his high lock cabin at the tail end of the lock as we left. A short pound 

Leaving lock 18 Noyon

took us to lock 18 Noyon and a repeat of the previous lock, except the force of the water coming in through the bottom of the chamber forced us off the wall and over alongside MR where we continued to rise, ropeless, while chatting with Jill and Graham. Left the top another 5.8m higher. 5.8kms to the next lock. There were a few boats at the grain silos in Noyon. Veridis Quo and Antinea were waiting to load, L’Atlantide was loading and Star had finished loading and its skipper was washing his hold covers down. I’d been

Below lock 17 Seraize-Haudival

doing my notes on my tablet but its battery went flat so I had to revert to writing! Once clear of Noyon the countryside opened out into wide fields and copses with scattered villages in the distance. The banks were covered in cowslips, warblers were staking their territories by singing loudly and today was a brown butterfly day.  A VNF man paused from strimming the grass around lock 17 Seraize-Haudival to take photos using his mobile phone as we went into the lock and rose another 5.8m. Again the boat

Panneterie tunnel

was blown off the wall and we ended up alongside MR. Another pound of 5.8kms to the next lock. A loaded boat called Voye Do Cir went past heading downhill churning up the muddy bottom. As we were getting close to the next lock another loaded boat, El Paso, was catching us up so Mike called the keeper. He said the commercial would go up first and we could lock though after. We tied to the waiting quay below lock 16 Campagne. El Paso went in and up and the lock was soon turned around and we went up. A 5.6m rise (and we didn’t get blown off the wall this time) and we were

Loaded peniche Pamy

soon on our way again. On to the 16.4kms long summit level at 12.45 pm. After about 1km we arrived at the 1km long Panneterie tunnel. El Paso was still in the tunnel and we had a red light, so we attached to the quay to wait. Loaded boat Murene came out of the tunnel followed by a large German cruiser, then we had a green light and it was our turn. I made lunch and we ate it going through the tunnel which had towpaths each side (although the one on our right was mostly under water) and was lit throughout with fluorescent lamps (some of which were broken). Out into the sunshine

Moored in the layby at Ercheu

again at 1.40pm. The tunnel traffic light behind us changed to green and not long afterwards another loaded boat went past, this one was called Pamy. The first bridge after the tunnel marked the Department boundary between the Oise and the Somme. A couple more kilometres to go to our mooring and we met another loaded boat called Baltes, followed by an empty called Geo-Dem, just before we tied up in a piled layby near the village of Ercheu. It was 2.30pm. Set the chairs and table out on the bank and Mike lit our BBQ using Graham’s fast-lighting device (must get one or make one). Jill cooked on board but they joined us to eat al fresco. Lots of boats went past while we sat out in the sunshine, including at least half a dozen push-towed péniches and several cruisers all heading towards Paris. Two loaded péniches arrived after lock closing time and moored side-by-side in our layby overnight.

Tuesday 14th April 2015 Abbécourt to Pont l’Evêque. 15.5kms 2 locks

Below lock 1 St Hubert, Canal Lateral a l'Oise

3.6° C Sunny with a clear blue sky, light wind but warm enough to shed our fleeces. Change of plan! After Mike phoned the boatyard in Belgium the day before and found we would have to wait about a month as the boat that is currently on the trolley had been found to be  a leaky colander that needed a complete replating job we decided to have a quiet cruise on the Somme. Mike and Graham went early to move cars, they left Graham’s at Pont l'Evêque and came back in ours. Set off at 10.00am just after Jill had set off on the towpath walking Muttley the 5.9kms to the first lock. She arrived at lock 1, St Hubert, just before we did. Two empties came up, Edi-Fra and Edi-Fra II, and then we went down in the left hand chamber, handing in our zappers to the smiling lock keeper as Jill and the dog

Old engine shed below St Hubert lock. Canal Lateral a l'Oise

got back on board MR. Down 2.5m and on to the 9kms pound, following MR and chatting on VHF. As we went along, Graham cut some of the dog’s fur off with scissors as he’d also picked up some burdock burrs. Passed a big dead eel floating, we'd already seen a dead cat and a deer! There have been loads of dead animals in this canal. There were several old hulks before the town of Semigny, one of them had once been a very nice small Dutch Barge,

Wooden fence to stop cyclists plunging into the cut

but it had had a fire on board and was now derelict. An empty called J-P-P-H that had just come up lock 2 Sempigny went past us as we were passing the boatyard above the twinned locks where there were many moored empty péniches and houseboats. We dropped down about 1.5m in the right hand chamber of the pair, then Graham backed into the arm on the right immediately below the lock and we followed. A first for us, we’d never been in the old arm and moored beyond MR

Muttley being de-burred

almost at the end. There was a working boatyard opposite which was busy, undertaking lots of work on several péniches. Mike and Graham went to move the cars again, leaving one at St Christ Briost where we aim to be in a couple

Moored in the old port at Pont l'Eveque

of days’ time.

Interior of warehouse in old port at Pont l'Eveque

I give up I can't get rid of the formatting that I didn't do!

Friday 10th April 2015 Pinon to Abbècourt. 25.4kms 5 locks

Lock 4 Leuilly, different style of lock house (others were red brick)

0.8° C Sunny and warmer, breezy later. Mike and Graham went to move vehicles early, they left our car at Abbècourt and came back in Graham’s. We set off at 10.15 am in glorious warm sunshine. Almost 4kms through woodland turning to jungle, dead and live trees overhanging the canal. There was another dead pig floating in the water, but many birds in the trees and butterflies in the grassy towpath. Still signs of the towpath haulage system they used to use on this canal with the occasional concrete pole that supported the electricity cables to power the little electric mules that towed the

Into the locks side by side. Leuilly

barges. Down lock 5 Vauxaillon and another 5kms of woodland. Woodpeckers in the distance and pied flycatchers chasing flies across the canal (first ones this year). Lock 4 Leuilly followed by a shorter pound to lock 3 Crécy (with De Nogent on the lock house plaque) A loaded boat called Prodest from Dunkerque went past heading uphill by the silos at Pont-St-Mard on the short section to Guny lock 2. We delayed lifting the blue bar while we topped up our water tanks from the convenient lockside hose,

Moored at Abbecourt

housed in a hole with a metal lid. On to the long pound, just over 11.5kms, still in thick woods. As we approached the last lock the canal was on an embankment to cross the tiny river Ailette, whose valley the canal had followed from the summit. Then over the Oise on a grander aqueduct and into the last lock. Abbècourt lock 1 is a deep lock, just over 4m deep and is now surrounded with high fences of green plastic coated wire to keep people off the locksides now there is no lockhouse or resident keeper.  Followed MR round to the left on the Latèral à l’Oise and we both moored on the old quay. It

Not long before the rodent population decreased by one
thanks to our neighbours' mouser par excellence Daisy cat.

was 4.15pm. Mike and Graham went off to get Graham’s car. I put the satellite dish up and started on the log. Hooray we have 4G, a good fast signal. BBQs out when they returned.

Click here to look at lots of interesting info on (mostly) long extinct canal haulage systems in France

And this one (all in French but loads of pictures) of towpath mules of all kinds used in France. An excellent site, explains a lot!

Monday 6th April 2015 Bourg-et-Comin to Pinon. 19.8kms 8 locks

Renovated lock house at Moussy-Soupir lk12

-0.5° C. Sunny with mainly white clouds, chilly. We got ready to move and after chatting with our neighbours on the pontoon, Jeremy and Elaine with their cruiser Becky Abby and some young French people who had recently bought a Dutch cruiser. We said au’voir and left at 11.15 am, us heading up the Oise à l’Aisne and them off to Berry-au-Bac on the Latèral. Four locks uphill to the summit, each one about a 3.5m lift; zapped the first one, lock 13

Loaded boat coming down, below lk11

Verneuil, it was empty so the gates opened and Mike lifted the blue rod (two sets, one at either end of the chamber) and we rose slowly. Up 12 Moussy-Soupir, 11 Metz and 10 Moulin Brûlé, all in relatively close succession, passing one loaded péniche (Jaël NL) coming down below lock 11. All the lock houses were empty except the top lock, but lock 12’s house had been recently renovated with new windows, doors and shutters. No water was coming into the canal from the feeder,

Summit feeder and old engine shed

beyond the sluices there was an old engine shed for the long gone towpath traction engines. Sections of the rails are visible in the undergrowth in lots of places along the towpath side of this canal. Behind us the top lock remained open with a green light and we met a loaded boat called Ballantine as the canal became narrower, with trees overhanging the canal, just before Braye tunnel. The tunnel lights were on red, but the tunnel keeper saw us and the light changed to green. Only the first few lights were

South end of Braye tunnel

illuminated, orange sodium ones, so we used our headlight for the first time in many years as we went through the 2,365m long, dark, dripping tunnel. I made lunch which we ate before we emerged again into the sunshine. Fishermen with a large green tent and a bright yellow van were camped on the bank of the Monampteuil lake as a new road had been constructed around the canal reservoir, which is fed from the bigger lake at Aillettes (the site of a large Centre Parcs leisure complex now, we noted when

North end of Braye tunnel - covered in graffiti as no keeper at this end

we drove past it on Sunday). The sunshine had brought out lots of cyclists and walkers to do the circuit around the lake. One sheeted over cruiser was moored on the pontoon at Pargny-Filain and a converted péniche houseboat called Harmonie was moored close to the first lock downhill, lock 9 Pargny-Filain. We zapped and it filled. Again the top lock had a very well kept house that was lived in. We met the next boat, an empty called Maringo, on the short pound to lock 8

Some of the remains of towpath traction engine  tracks
A picture of towpath mules in action 
left of picture next to a chain driven tunnel tug

Chavignon. Mike had trouble getting the blue rod to work. Looked around and couldn’t see an intercom or a VHF channel number to call on the lock cabin, so Mike checked the sensors, noted that the “navigation alarm” light was flashing and within a few minutes the lock started to close and empty. When we arrived at the next lock, 7 Chaillevois, there was a young man in a VNF van who was just coming out of the lock cabin. He was checking that all was working OK, he’d seen that lock

Moored behind Matilda Rose on the quay at Pinon

8 had failed (an entrance sensor hadn’t worked, he told us) and Mike asked him what the sensor was for on the control rod post at about head height. He said it detects empty boats. We weren’t quite sure what the relevance of this was to the working of the lock and came to the conclusion that it must be for more VNF statistic gathering – in the days of  lock keepers at each lock they used to keep log books, but now it must be done electronically. When we asked what VHF channels to call him on he replied that all communication on this canal is now by mobile phone and we checked that we had the correct number in our old guide book, yes, and he told us the number for the next section.  Into the forest of Pinon and saw a floating dead wild pig. A great white egret flew off

In Pinon lock 6 as train crosses tail end bridge

in front of the boat and a rough legged buzzard flew over shortly after. Spotted a sounder (had to look up that collective noun, Mike said it should have been a grunt!) of sanglier (wild pig) in a small clearing, but they melted away into the forest before Mike could get a photo. A long plantation of white poplars had netting around the bases of their trunks, which set us wondering if that was protection from attacks by pigs or deer or maybe they have beaver here now too, we’d seen no signs of any? Into lock 6 Pinon (another fine lock house) and a short distance beyond the lock we came in to moor on the quay at the back of Carrefour Market behind Matilda Rose. We tied up, packed up and went to see Jill.