Sunday 24th May 2015 Cappy to Moislains. 20.9kms 8 locks

Wooden chalet alongside the Somme at Ecluse Vaux

8.4° C Sunny and warmer. Set off at 9 am following MR up the canal (the Somme is just a feeder now). I phoned to book a keeper to meet us at the liftbridge at Ecluse Vaux at 9.40 am. A cruiser went past heading downriver and the same keeper from the day before (with boxer dog) was at the liftbridge to open it for us. Twenty minutes later we were at lock 9 Frise, a shallow one at 1.70m, and we had a new keeper. A French cruiser called Blackbird came down lock 8 Frise and we went up, a deep

He had priority at lock 12 Clery, we had to wait

one at 3.20m. A pied flycatcher was flitting between the trees on either side of the canal as we left the lock. Black-headed gulls flew in front, a musk rat crossed the canal and a coot had abandoned her floating nest full of eggs, no doubt she’d be back as soon as we’d gone. Our keeper opened the liftbridge at Feuillères and was there to work the last lock, 7 Sormont, for us. On towards Peronne, then we turned left on to the Canal du Nord where we had a wait below the first lock, 12 Clèry-sur-Somme, as there

Waiting below Clery lock

was a queue. A single péniche went into the lock chamber and the gates came down behind him. Lunchtime. Another single péniche, called Kiev, moored on the left below the lock and we tied to the quay on the right to wait for the end of the keeper’s lunch break (they only close for lunch on Sundays) A pair of empty pushers, Paris and Paris2 moored a way behind us and a little later a loaded pair, both called Jules Verne, arrived and moored directly behind us. Over the next 6kms we had five deep uphill locks and loads of

Clery lock 12

downhill traffic. At 1.30 pm the lady keeper came back on duty and we followed Kiev into the empty chamber, strapped alongside MR and G put a stern rope on, no bollards for the bows so we sat behind the péniche (who rose ropeless) and gently rose 7.8m. Loaded boats Adeline and Emeraude came down as we went up the pound to lock 11 Feuillaucourt, up another 6.2m and on to lock 10 Allaines, passing two more loaded boats, Louveteau and Mober (the latter a beautiful Belgian boat, the cabin covered

Following MR and peniche Kiev up the canal du nord

in flowers). Up 6.4m. More loaded downhill boats, Vincita, a loaded Dutchman with a huge playpen atop the hold covers and Taifun from Saarbrucken. Up to lock 9 Moislains, where the one in front of the one we were following (Elisabeth from Terneuzen) was still waiting for a downhill pair to clear, Baise and Baise2 (an empty pusher pair) came down then he went up. We sat on the quay behind Kiev and waited for the next downhill boat to clear. Up 6.7m and on up to lock 8 Moislains, passing two more loaded boats,

Moored at Moislains

a pan and tug – Coelacanthe 65m long (966 tonnes) pushed by tug Linguenda and péniche Daevanos. Up 6.5m and arrived on the summit at 4.45pm. Above the lock was a long queue of loaded boats waiting to go down. 55m Cecinkel, péniche Euro, Ch’ti and VD a pusher pair, plus a couple of empty pushers were heading down the canal towards the lock. We hovered waiting to see who was going where, then we tied to the very end of the quay by the bridge. MR moored behind us. It was 5 pm. A loaded boat called Wallis arrived and moored under the bridge in front of us, Mike and Graham went to help the single-handed skipper moor. He moved on down the quay when there was space.