Wednesday 5th August 2015 Vacherauville to Haudainville. 15kms 3 locks

Verdun railway bridge

7.9° C Sunny and hot again with lots of white clouds and a strong breeze. Mike moved the car and we set off just after nine. The first Dutchman of the day went past as we were about halfway to the first lock, which was only ten minutes away. Lock 20 Bras (3.0m) was worked for us by a very pleasant VNF man in a van. We’d decided to use fore and aft ropes on these deep locks, mainly because the keepers don’t open the paddles in any set order and usually manage to blow the boat off the wall when

The old commercial port in Verdun

we use one rope from the middle, which doesn’t happen with two ropes. 8.1kms to the next lock which is by the ramparts in Verdun. The first length of canal was very narrow due to overgrown trees and there was an appalling smell (like a maggot factory) downwind of the tall silos. Can’t be the silos, but there was some factory building alongside it that we could see as we emerged from the trees out into open country. More baked

Old gateway in Verdun

yellow fields full of rolls of straw. The heat was building up again. Another Dutch cruiser went past heading home. Into the town. There were two Australian flagged ex-Connoiseur hireboats moored in the old port. One untied and did a few circuits under the bridges and went back. The washing machine finished just in time for us to land on the end of the pontoon and refill the water tank. The pontoon was practically full and the far side wall too, but that was full of restaurant boats, a tripper and houseboats (converted DBs).

Moorings in Verdun

Through the historic town and attached to the pontoon below lock 19 Verdun (3.0m). Mike walked up to the lock cabin but the keeper was out before he reached the door. He apologised and said he hadn’t seen us and our boat was very quiet. He emptied the lock and let us in through one gate. To my surprise he had a pole long enough to reach my rope, so now swapping between hooks. I noticed some very pretty pink flowers on the lock side and I asked Mike to take a photo, which he did. Then the keeper

Below Verdun lock and weir

came to tell me they were plastic. I had already guessed that they were, as they looked like wisteria and it has purple flowers. I said my flowers in the rooftop boxes were shrivelling now due to the heat. He said they needed a little parasol. Again we had a lock keeper who was very keen on narrowboats, he said there were two that came through his lock every year but he hadn’t seen them for quite a while. We left through one gate with a beaming lock keeper watching. Into the little tunnel under the

Plastic wisteria. Verdun lock

town’s ancient ramparts and within a few minutes we were back in open countryside again. More yellow fields and rolls of straw, lots of fishermen (all good-natured and smiling as we passed) 3kms to the next lock. We could see there was a big Dutch cruiser in lock 18 Belleray (3.5m) waiting to come down. Mike looked through binoculars and could see the top end gates were open, paddles up at the bottom end and there was a lorry with a grab arm lifting weed out of the lock. We waited, they kept lifting weed out. We backed up and tied fore and aft lines to the ends of branches and waited. I made some lunch. We ate it. They were still shifting weed. Another cruiser arrived and went in the lock behind the Dutchman. Around 2pm, after two hours waiting, the two cruisers came out of the lock (the second one was a smaller Belgian cruiser) and we went up. Two VNF men were working the lock while a third was using the grab arm to pick up the last of a big pile of weed off the lock side. His lorry was full of the stuff. We left the lock at 2.30pm. As we left we spotted the two Australian boats below the lock waiting to come up. Above the lock the canal was full of the weed in great clumps.

Tunnel under the ramparts in Verdun

For the next kilometre Mike had to do a reverse every few minutes to fling the stuff off the prop. The water was very clear and we could see loads of fish, including some big ones. We stopped by the farm bridge in Haudainville at 3pm. An old man walking his dog looked on, intrigued, as we tied up. On the far side right next to the bridge there was an old van and several large tents where a bunch of kids were playing. Within minutes they were in little plastic inflatables and

Hummingbird hawk moth on my flowers

paddling around in the canal. Although they were loud they were polite. The two Australian ex-hireboats went past. Set up the dish and panels and retreated out of the blazing sunshine. Over 38°C again. Whoopee we got workable Internet. Get the blog up to date while we can!

Moored at Haudainville opposite campers

Moored at Haudainville