Pouring rain at Brusson |
13.9°
C. Rain, then a bright sunny spell before the wind picked up to gale force. Set
off in the rain at 9.45am. A lone cyclist, who was taking photos, paused to chat
with Mike in English as we passed. There was a nicely painted, extended lock
house at 68 Brusson. A man came out of the house as a woman and child arrived,
he mimed “what about this weather?” It poured with rain as we went along the
2.8kms pound to lock 69 Adecourt. We had a short wait while it filled and then the
rain stopped. There was no house by the lock and the new lock cabin had been
vandalised, no plaque and no life ring, plus they’d tried to break the window
and failed (must be toughened glass). 1.8kms to lock 70 (the last on this
canal) St Etienne. The sun came out as we waited for it to fill. There was a
smart lived in house with a campervan outside, a new lock cabin and, something
we’ve not seen in a long, long while, a disposal point for used oil, filters
and oily rags. Just 2kms left of the Marne-au-Rhin canal as we headed into the
town of Vitry-le-François. It felt like we were suddenly on a different planet
in a timewarp. We’d come from a canal surrounded by agriculture and small
villages
where time seems to have stood still (except for the tractors) since
the Middle Ages and now we were in a modern, industrialised age going into a
town that had been built in the 16th c because its previous incarnation
(the nearby village now called Vitry-en-Perthois) had been flattened by invaders
three times since the 10th c and François 1st had the new
fortified town of Vitry-le-François built on a new site. This new town had also
been flattened twice during WWII except for its 17th c church. I
took photos of its huge silos as we turned right on to the start of the canal lateral
à la Marne (left was the start of the canal de la Marne à la Saône, called the
d’Heuilley, pronounced dhoy’ay, by the mariniers) and renamed now by VNF as “Canal
entre Champagne et Bourgogne” for the tourists. A low, wide beamed cruiser
flying a red ensign went past just before we came to the now stanked-off arm on
the left which was once the main canal through the centre of town and
used to
be useful for moorings, lots of péniches were tied up there. We turned right
and turned the hanging pole and activated the first lock, called Vitry in our
book, but the lock sign said Pont du canal. We went over the last aqueduct over
the river Ornain almost at its junction with the Marne as we went into the
lock. The lock had opened, but the lights remained on red and green. I checked
both gates, nothing stuck behind them so I called on the intercom. The lady in
charge said her control board wasn’t showing a problem, try it. I lifted the
rod and it worked OK. Stupid lights. No house and the lock was surrounded by
green mesh fencing, stopping any access from the towpath, plus it had a set of
tubular railings along the side where the lock cabin and control rods were. Mike
shouted to me to come down the ladder. The one my side was by the tail end
gates, so I crossed the lock to the ladder on the side of the chamber with no
railings and Mike shoved the boat over so I could get back on board. There is
no access above and below the locks, the VNF don’t expect anyone
to set foot
ashore! A loaded French péniche called Lauriane from Moret-sur-Loing was
waiting below to go up as we left. 1.3kms to the next. Back into the Middle
Ages with the ruins of old lime kilns on the right. Lock 2 Lermite was a deep
one nearly 4m deep. It was ready, only had to reopen its gates as the péniche
had just come up it. Only 1.2kms to the next. Below the lock was an old arm and
a lock on to the river, no longer usable as its top end gates were now missing
and the other end looked as if it didn’t open anymore either. There was a
limestone quarry on the right,
still in use, with a beautifully restored house
in front of it facing the canal. There were new factory buildings just before
lock 3 Cuvrot and houses along the same bank on the right. There was an old
engine shed for the towpath traction engines on the left of the lock and a VNF
workshops that looked closed down on the right. We had a short wait while the
shallow lock (1.5m) refilled. There was a water tap (for batellerie, working
boats, the old sign on it said) on the
lockside and the old lock house was
shuttered and empty. 4.5kms to the next lock, but we would be stopping above
that at the halte nautique. As we passed the moorings for the cement works of
Ciment Calcia at KP6 the next loaded boat went past, Vincila, a Dutch boat from
Terneuzen. It had a big playpen on top of the hold covers. A large chalky hill
on the right was covered in trees and vehicles on the road that ran at its foot
were hidden by trees from the canal. On our left were more trees between us and
the winding river Marne. A lone jogger overtook us, running up the towpath. Not
long
afterwards a car followed him. The wind started picking up and by the time
we arrived at Soulanges it was blowing a gale. We winded and moored on the old
quay with bollards at 1.45pm. Had some lunch then I gave Mike a hand to get the
moped off the roof. A large cruiser was coming up the lock. I said I bet that
will want to moor here with the wind now gusting very hard. It did. And it
wanted the end of the quay behind us and was in danger of ripping our stern
gear off with the anchor hanging beneath its shiny bows. We pulled forward and
knocked a mooring pin in for the bows. The guy said he needed to be on the quay
so his dog could get on and off. (The usual reason is because most of them don’t
have any mooring pins!) Another cruiser came up the lock, a small German
cruiser. It carried on up the canal - sideways. Battened everything down, then
Mike went back to Pargny to get the car. The hotel boat called Marianne that we’d
seen on the Marne-au-Rhin the day before went past heading downhill around 4pm.
Not long after that a Dutch steel cruiser arrived and moored in front of us on the
piling. No Internet here so the blog will have to wait a day or two.
Vandalised lock cabinat lk 69 Adecourt |
Below lock 79 St Etienne. Marne-au-Rhin |
Silos at Vitry |
Old arm into the centre of Vitry |
Ruins of lime kilns |
Old lock on to the Marne below lock 2 Lermite |
Moored on the quay at Soulanges |
No comments:
Post a Comment