Monday 3rd August 2015 Vilosnes to Vacherauville. 23kms 5 locks

The weir at Vilosnes

8.6° C Hot and sunny. Peaked at 41.5° C in the afternoon. We set off at 9.05 am heading up to Planchette lock 25 (2.5m lift) only five minutes up the little river section. The lock was set for downhill traffic, Mike gave a short hoot and the young man turned the lock around for us. I shouted to stop him opening the second gate but he went round anyway, saying there was lots of floating weed in the chamber. He was right, some of it floated out. He took my centre line and we were up the lock in no time. No lock house

Attached to pontoon in Consenvoye lock

any more just an old cabin for him to shelter from the sun (or rain) in.  On to the 4kms long canal section. There was a small boat moored by a campsite which looked like a permanent resident. A new pontoon (about 8m long) had been added to the corner of the silted up layby at Sivry. Through flood gates and past a long needle weir and we were on the next river reach up to Consenvoye lk 24 (1.3m). The lock was ready for us and two VNF keepers, a lady with long black shiny hair and a man (both thirty somethings and

Swallows clinging to lock house wall

wearing shorts and boots) came out to work the sloping sided lock as we tied alongside a pontoon that slid up rails as the lock filled. The lady asked where we were going, Mike said up another three locks. 3kms of river (the last until Verdun) and we were at lock 23 Brabant (3.10m) where a young man came to work the lock. The lock house was well looked after and seemed lived in. Canal now for the rest of the day. Another 3kms to Samogneux lock 22 (2.20m), where we passed the first boat of the day – a large Dutch cruiser on its way North. A young lad and an older man worked the lock. The house

Kingfisher on a post

looked empty and the swallows were using one wall to cling to for a rest before swooping after the ever-present flies. Keep up the good work! On the next 3kms length of canal we saw lots of big dragonflies and butterflies. As we headed for the bridge in Champneuville, we passed another downhill boat, a Belgian yacht. The lady of the boat was having an ecstatic moment, flapping her hands and going ooh, oooh! Narrowboats have this effect on some people. When we arrived below Champneuville lock 21

Muskrat crossing the canal

(3.76m) there was another boat in it ready to descend, so we hovered for a short while. This time it was a French flagged Dutch steel cruiser – called Yvonne – with name boards on the sides so we didn’t get chance of a photo (sorry Yvonne, next time!) A young man came and took our centre rope. The bollard was a bit too far forward and the one further back towards the tail end gates was too far back. Ended up taking two turns around the centre roof dolly and Mike kept the engine in reverse while we rose 3.76m, not helped by having the wrong paddles opened first. We coped, just eased off the wall a bit but all under

Moored at Vacherauville

control (we’d have done it better with no ropes on at all but the lad would not have been happy with that as practically no one else does it like that). On to a lovely bendy shady pound, 7.5kms to the next lock. There were loads of hazelnuts ripening along the non-towpath side and walnuts too, plus masses of cherry trees (fruit gone, probably birds had them) no nuts ripe yet. To our left through the trees we could see tractors in the fields on the low sloping hillsides, harrowing the now empty wheat fields. The canal ran on an embankment above the little river Meuse which curled and twisted through more empty fields. A VNF van went past heading down the canal on a track down by the river. As we went into Vacherauville the van went past again heading uphill. Looking for us?? Maybe not. Another new pontoon had been added in the village so we decided we’d had enough and stopped. This time the pontoon was longer than the boat at about 25m. It was 2.15pm and two very cheery fishermen were installed across the canal from the pontoon. They waved and said hello as we tied up. Had some lunch then Mike went to look to see if there was somewhere to park the Xsara, yes. Gave him a hand to get the bike off the roof and he went back to Vilosnes to get the car. I did the photos first then did the log before checking to see if the antenna on top of the mast could find any Internet as the dongle certainly didn’t. It didn’t improve matters, gave up. Gave Mike a hand to put the bike back on the roof still with an audience of fishermen on the opposite bank. Sweltering again.