Thursday 30th July 2015 Abv Alma lk to above Mouzay lock. 20.9kms 4 locks

Needle weir at Alma lock 34 R Meuse

4.7° C Sunny and warm, but lots of clouds and a cold Westerly wind. Rain later. Mike turned the boat using ropes and the flow of the river, then we set off again upriver at 8.45am. The Dutchman said they would be home in Brabant in four to five days, Mike said make it longer, he replied that he had to go to work. 4.2kms to the next lock. Sandpipers flew off in front as we went along the river section, a huge field of maize to our left and Freisian cows in the meadow below it. Buzzards were soaring and we saw the

Grebe and one of three youngsters - the others hid underwater.

first grebe for ages, it had three almost fully grown young ones. Lock 33 Pouilly-sur-Meuse was full, it emptied and we went up 1.6m. The lock house was still lived in. Mike took photos of the old set of rollers under the tail end bridge which many years ago were used to pass tow ropes under the bridge. A notice on the lockside informed pleasure boaters that there was “free boating” (they meant you didn't have to book) on the Meuse from 1^st May to the 31^st September and outside those

Rollers for passing tow ropes under the bridge

dates there was a number to ring for the booking office in Verdun. Also locks 27 to 11 were manually operated by keepers (we’d thought they would all have been made automatic by now). At the end of the lock island, in the weirstream they had added a new 10m long floating pontoon and a picnic table. Back on the river again. A sign to say keep right of the island in the river was completely obscured by trees and going upriver it looked as if the channel was to the left as it was much wider, it was

Above Pouilly lock 33

probably deep enough but we didn't chance it. At the other end of the island the arrow was just about visible for downstream traffic. As we went into the lock cut for the next lock there were three people fishing from an old moored fishing boat on the tree covered bank opposite the weir. They all waved and shouted bonjour as we passed. Lock 32 Inor was a deep one at 3m. We met up with the start of the exodus from Stenay when two Belgian cruisers came out of the lock. Two men were standing on the

Distances painted on Stenay lock wall

bridge over the tail end of the lock, gongoozling, watching us as we locked through. Noted there were no bollards set into the wall and only one slimy ladder to get to the bollards on the locksides. As usual we rose ropeless. The lock house was lived in and had a well-kept garden too. A small Dutch sailing botter (number three from Stenay) was waiting above to come down as we left the lock. 6.7kms to the next lock and 6kms of that was canal.  Our French friends (number four) with the hireboat from Pont-à-Bar went past and Mike asked if they were having a good holiday, they were all smiles and said yes. They were followed by number five, a Belgian cruiser. Shortly afterwards

Massing crows - remaking The Birds???

two German cruisers went past followed by a large white Dutch cruiser making bank to bank rolling wash. That makes eight. I made a cuppa. The road followed the canal into Stenay, it went between the fields up on the hill on our left. Ten minutes later the ninth boat went past, a French cruiser (that makes a change) with a very smoky engine (that doesn't). As we got nearer to Stenay there was a wind farm on the hill. Before the town there was the little village of Cervisy on our left and the canal banks were edged with purple spikes of loosestrife and bull rushes (the latter is a fairly rare sight). Through a flood lock with all its gates open and on to the river again for

Moored above Mouzay lock 30

a very short reach into Stenay. Lock 31 Stenay was 1.8m deep. Again the lock house was lived in and had a beautiful garden. Mike took photos of the distances to various canal places painted on the wall by the lock house. 3.3kms to the next lock. As we went through Stenay there were weirs and run off channels everywhere. There was an open weir with no guards opposite a derelict factory on our left which had a high loading/unloading quay (also derelict), under a bridge then the channel widened out and along the right bank there was a hydro-electric plant built across a weir and two more unguarded weirs – the last one with a lowered section where water was pouring through to the river below. On the left there was the remains of a water feed into the derelict factory, then we were out of the town and on a river fed canal section. About a kilometre from Mouzay lock 30, the river entered via a wide channel to the right and the keep left arrow again was completely obscured by trees. The canal was lined with alder trees and was very weedy. Up another 2.6m. Mouzay’s lock house looked renovated but empty. Two men were fishing by the lock, their car was parked in front of the lock house’s garden and a woman was sitting at a table under the trees. We winded and moored above the lock. While we were tying up the fishermen and their lady packed up and left. It was 1.30pm. A lovely view from the embankment across the river valley and the fields to the low rolling Argonnais hills. Mike decided not to go and get the car as the parking space was limited, he was sure the house was lived in when we last came through here in August 2006 with Bill and Fanny. Not long after we’d tied up a German cruiser went past heading uphill and about an hour later a Belgian cruiser did likewise.