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!