Friday 8th May 2015 Abbèville to Longpré-les-Corps-Saints KP123. 18kms 2 locks

Waiting below Pont Remy for a downhill cruiser to clear the lock

8.1° C Overcast start, calm no wind; later sunny spells and a light breeze. There was a fisherman right behind us on the moorings and no one about on the DB Aslaug, as we set off at 9.30 am, following MR out of the lock cut back on to the river, but now heading upstream against the flow which was about 3.5 - 4kph. Engine revvs on for 8kph and doing about 4kph. The current slowed down as we went further upriver and we were doing on average 5 to 6kph. I phoned the waterways office and today a lady

Replica chaland at Pont Remy

answered, I told her where we had started from and where we were going plus our arrival time at lock 23 Pont-Remy, about 11.30am. OK. What a difference a few days makes at this time of year, the hawthorne and elder were all in flower and all the buds on the trees had become tender new green leaves. Graham said on VHF that there was a cruiser coming downriver. We moved to the correct side of the river for navigation (our right) as we’d been chasing the calmer water where there was the least flow. The boat was a speedboat style small

Replica Gallo-Roman boat builders hut

cruiser, French flagged, called Four Winds. The crew waved as they skidded round the bends at speed with the flow and they were gone. With the flow they would be adding another 4kph on top of what they normally cruise at which is usually 10 to 12 kph for a light craft with big engines like that, so they would have zipped past at 14 to 16kph so no wonder they were past in a flash. As we went past the village of Epagnette there were horses and geese in the meadows to our left and a sandpiper went past in the opposite direction, yodelling loudly as he went. We arrived at Pont Remy lock at

Pont Remy celebrating VE Day

11.30am as a cruiser was just coming down. As the cruiser, called Chat Lune, went by its skipper told us in English that there was a very strong flow coming from his left as he came out of the lock. Yes there are two weirs on this lock, one on either side, both flowing well. A young man with an orange van was working the lock. His control panel was on our left and he took a rope for Jill. Mike flicked a rope around a bollard at the stern but I had no hope of getting a fore end line around a bollard as it was at least 2m further on up

The Chateau de Long

the chamber. Never mind it’s only about a 1.5m rise. Mike put a centre line on as the lock filled and I held that as he’d detached the stern line. The young man advised us to ring again to book the next lock. We paused briefly at the mooring a bit further on in Pont Remy, next to the replica Gallo-Roman huts, built where an archaeological dig had found evidence of boat building. My phone had no signal so Graham lent me his and I called the lady again to tell her we’d be at Long at 1.30pm. To our great surprise we could hear the distant sounds of a marching band and saw them appear on the bridge behind us, Pont Remy was celebrating VE Day. Pushed on again at

Bluebells, and pink ones, at Long

12.20pm to get to the next lock for just after their lunch break finished. The same young man was there to work lock 22 Long for us. This time the control panel was on the right so he put my centre rope on a bollard for me and also crossed the lock to take Jill’s rope too. We rose another 1.5m. Gave the lad a couple of bottles of 33s to say thanks and have a good weekend. Above the lock there was a cruiser called Marie-Celeste moored, we apologised as we went past as the young keeper had asked them to move up expecting us to stay there but we weren’t stopping. On upriver past the lovely Château de Long, taking photos of its turrets and statues and as we were

Moored at Longpre-les-Corps-Saints

passing its back doors, a lavoir (wash house) where the castle’s washer women would have washed all the laundry in the river, and all the greenhouses built to supply the nobility with fruits and vegetables out of season. There was a cruiser moored in the shallow muddy arm where we’d stopped on the way downriver and then about 1km before our intended mooring another cruiser went past heading downstream. Getting busy for the long weekend. Graham and Jill moored next to the pontoon at KP123, it was shorter than we thought, only half the boat was attached to it. Once they were moored we tied alongside. It was about 2pm and there were lots of people walking the towpath. Within minutes of being let out Daisy cat had caught her first mouse of the day and ate it.