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.