Friday 21st August 2015 Contrisson to Pargny-sur-Saulx. 9.72kms 7 locks

Anti-tamper sleeve over feed-paddle spindle

11.1° C Clear blue skies, fluffy white clouds later, sunny and getting warmer again (max 27°C). Untied and Mike walked back to the sensors with one of our seat boards to hold in front of them to activate the lock, it worked and the lock gates opened as the lock was already full. Reversed into the chamber of lock 57 Contrisson, passing all the dahlias again and dropping down backwards in the chamber to wind in the big winding hole below the lock. A VNF man in a van went past on

Waiting for the man in a van above lk 58 Chevol

the towpath on our right. Maize fields on the left and a shorn wheat field on the right. 1.8kms to the next, the pounds were starting to get longer at this end of the canal. The sensors didn’t activate lock 58 Chevol, so Mike reversed back past them and went through them again, it still didn't work. I phoned Bar-le-Duc. A charming young VNF man answered and said he would send someone. It was 10.10am when we stopped above the lock, it was empty, there was

Lock house at 59 Rememecourt

nothing to tie to so Mike wrapped a stern rope around a big clump of grass. At 10.45am he took a walk down to the lock and called on the intercom. He told the person who answered that the capteurs hadn’t worked for lock 58 and then he got cut off. 11.05am the VNF man in a van arrived and set the lock for us. There was a DB coming up the pound below towards the lock. The VNF guy said that Bar-le-Duc had phoned him and that he’d had the call via the intercom, but didn’t know what the problem was with the

Health & Safety notice -
what to do if someone falls in the lock

lock. We had a long chat, he said there were two loaded boats coming up and an empty. I told him that the low water levels on the VNF website had put people off coming over the Marne-au-Rhin. He said the maximum draught across the summit level at present was 1.6m, which was OK for most boats, but when it gets lower than 1.6m he said it starts to drop quickly. Let’s hope for some rain soon. The next pound was 1.6kms and dead straight. We passed the American crewed Hotel boat Maria (a very shapely Luxemotor) and said hello in passing. They were on the quay at Pargny when Mike put the car there the day before, so there should now be a space for us. There was a plantation of young white poplars on our left just above lock 59 Rememecourt. The sensors worked! A man and his little boy were fishing, seated right next to the sensors. We had a short wait while 59 filled then we went down. The canal did a fantastic wiggle through Sermaize-les-Bains, huge sweep right, under the railway bridge, then back left again. There was an old stone quay with mooring rings by a

Young buzzard in flight

derelict factory (No good for us as there would be no TV and also it was inside the sensor range of the next lock, so you’d have to call VNF to moor there). Down 60 Sermaize, which had a lock house but it didn’t look lived in. 1.5kms to the next between an empty wheat field on the right and a field of maize on the left. A short wait while 61 La Chaîne filled. It had no house and someone had pinched the disc off the new lock cabin that said 61 and the lock name. Maize both sides below the lock. A shorter pound to lock 62 l’Ajot. A Dutch cruiser called Flaneur (French word for gongoozler)

Searching for lunch

came up, just timed right for us to go in as they left. No house at the lock and an enormous field of maize on the right below the lock stretching away to the edge of a forest. 2.54kms to the next and final lock of the day. There was a long stone quay beyond the next road bridge, then trees both sides making it cool and shady. Mike took multiple shots of a bird of prey that kept perching atop the posts supporting a cable all along the canal, it flew from one post to the next, searching the ground below for anything moving. Down lock 63 Pargny and we tied to the quay in the short pound between locks 63 and 64. Made sure we could get satellite TV as there was a row of trees in the way. Got a signal over the shortest tree by backing up to the uphill end of the quay. There was a large cruiser moored at the

What wings!

other end. It was 1.30pm. Spotted that lock 63 had failed to close behind us and had two red lights on. Not long afterwards the VNF man in a van arrived to reset it. Had some lunch then started on the log and photos. A loaded péniche called Lore (not fully loaded Mike noted) went past heading uphill about 3pm. Around 4.15pm a cruiser came down the lock and moored in the gap between us and the cruiser at the far end, the moorings were now full. A group of fishermen with loads of gear and tents parked by the barriers and spread themselves out around the picnic table by our stern. A man knocked for money for

Capteurs - sensors to activate the lock (another set directly opposite -
the boats break the infrared beam between them)

mooring, 5€ including water and electricity.

Moored on the quay at Pargny