Tuesday 26th May 2015 Marquion to Iwuy (Escaut). 25.8kms 2 locks

Leaving Palleul lock

8.5° C Sunny start with a cold breeze, grey clouds gathering so only brief glimpses of the sun. There was a game of boating musical chairs going on as we got ready to move. A loaded péniche (called Priscilla) left the silo quay in front of us and an empty pusher pair (with the lovely name of Sweetness) moved into his place, while another loaded boat was reversing up the canal towards us to go on the quay opposite us where Sweetness had just set off from. We followed Priscilla from Douai to the lock. A loaded Dutch péniche called Jolise, followed by a Dutch cruiser called Waterman, went past heading for Marquion lock. The crew on the cruiser ignored us (invisible again) but waved to

A few of the boats moored below Palleul lock at Arleux

Graham! Priscilla slowed off and came to a standstill on the bend before the last lock on the Canal du Nord, lock 1 Palleul, so we hovered behind it. An empty pusher pair called Imari came up the lock, then the boat in front of Priscilla went into the lock and down, so we went around the loaded boat and tied up on the quay above the lock to wait. Mike tried asking the keeper on VHF radio if we could go in with Priscilla but got no reply, so Graham went back down the towpath on foot

He can only just about lift it!

to talk to the skipper – he called the lock keeper who said one of us could go in with Priscilla, the other would have to wait, then Graham told him we could go side by side as we were narrow boats! OK! Another loaded péniche was catching up and we wondered if they would stop us going in. Then we spotted yet another loaded péniche behind that, so that would make another lock full and we’d be OK. Loaded péniche Sebastien came up, then we went down 7.1m with Priscilla. We followed the loaded péniche through the rows of moored péniches down towards Arleux and he stopped in a gap between the moored boats. As we turned right at the junction with the canal de la Sensée Graham called on the radio to say there was a fishermen on the apex of the bend who’d caught a big fish and so we both went wide on the bend and slowed down to watch him play it and land it – it was enormous. We’d not seen anyone catch such a big fish for ages. The canal de la Sensée is wide and deep and there are trees on both banks with a scattering of wooden chalets and caravans and small houses. The village of Fressies had an unusual tower (Mike took a photo of it) which was more like a town

Note the size of that tail - it's as big as the fisherman's leg!

hall clock tower than a church tower. Nothing moving. Lunch on the move. We passed a moored péniche called Cum Deo tied up at a quay waiting to load. Shortly afterwards a loaded Dutch péniche called Westropa went past, its young deckhand was busily painting the rust spots on its coamings. The Dutchman was being followed by a neat little Dutch barge conversion which was French-flagged. MR led the way into the old canal which leads to le Bassin Rond. A sign at the entrance warned that the depth was only 0.9m so Mike watched the echo sounder and noted that the entrance shallowed to about 0.8m below the bottom of the boat, making it about 1.5m deep, then the depth increased. A pretty little canal, much narrower with overhanging trees and lots of flowers along the towpath, which opened out into the wider “large” (basin) where some youths were having instructions on

Church tower at Fressies

windsurfing. Graham spotted a DB for sale and went to have a look. They wanted 150,000€ for it. Bit expensive. A guy on the trip boat moored on the far side asked if we were looking for somewhere to moor, thanks but no, we were just passing through, pausing to look at the barge for sale. We skirted around the windsurfers, most of whom were laughing, yelling and falling off (it wasn’t very windy). Turned right, no boats on the pontoon, past the retired péniches La Louve and Serenad, then turned right on

Le Bassin Rond

the Escaut towards Cambrai. A couple of kilometres to the first lock, Iwuy number 5, where the left hand chamber of the pair was activated by sensors, it emptied and we went in, then Jill lifted the blue rod and the lock filled, lifting us up 2.7m. A VNF man in a van arrived. He was shepherding a downhill loaded péniche called Baltes, which went into the right hand chamber. Graham had a go at improving his French and asked the VNF man if we could have a zapper (we’d need one to go back down the lock, which

Moored on the Escaut at Iwuy

isn’t manned - normally you have to call on the intercom and whoever you speak to presses a button to let you have a zapper which then slides down a chute). On our return we have to remember to post the zapper back into the box next to the lock cabin. A little further upriver we arrived at the silo quay which is no longer used. As I got off in the long grass with the centre rope, a man with a tractor towing a grass cutter asked if it was our car parked on the adjacent patch of grass that he was about to cut. (It was Graham’s) No, it’s our friend’s but we’ll ask him to move it. In the meantime Mike asked if he’d cut the grass along the quay first – he said he was only there to cut the square of grass where the car was parked, but OK he’d cut it for us. We shoved the boat out from the quay and stood off while he cut the grass. I handed Mike four bottles of 33s beer for him – he would only accept one. It was 3.30pm as we knocked pegs in and attached to a nicely mown quay. Mike and Graham went to retrieve our car from Moislains.

Monday 25th May 2015 Moislain to Marquion. 28.6kms 6 locks

Green everywhere, steep sloping edges

13.4° C Overcast and grey, colder (fleeces on all day) a few brief sunny spells. We set off at 9.05 am following MR with pins in, Markon drive engaged and washing machine on. A loaded boat came up Moislains lock and stopped on the quay; an empty péniche and a loaded 60m boat were heading for the lock. As we headed for the tunnel an empty péniche called Alain went past heading towards Moislains. The washing finished a couple of kilometres before the tunnel so we paused and drifted while Mike took the drive pins out. I took a photo to show how green the water was in this canal

Southern end of Ruyaulcourt tunnel

and how steep the sloping sides are. Amazed that we had a green light for the tunnel at Ruyaulcourt, straight in, no waiting. A cruiser came in from the opposite end and we passed in the wide section in the middle, which was designed for queues of barges to pass one another, all controlled by traffic lights. There were fluorescent lights all the way through the tunnel and emergency phones at regular intervals along the elevated towpath. As we exited we waved to the keeper in his cabin high above the towpath at

Tunnel keepers cabin at Ruyaulcourt 

the Northern end of the tunnel. A converted péniche called Blizzard was moored by the tunnel keeper’s cabin, with VNF emblazoned on its stern it is no doubt now used just for tunnel maintenance. The tunnel cutting was bordered by low banks covered with trees and the canal wound on to the first lock down off the summit level at lock 7 Graincourt-les-Havrincourt. A loaded pusher pair, Kim-Ank and Ja-Dy, overtook us just before the lock, so Mike called the lock keeper and told him we’d wait for the

Overtaking pusher pair

second locking as there was a pusher pair coming. The pusher overtook us and went down lock 7. We waited a short time, deposited rubbish in convenient bins, and before long a lone loaded Dutch péniche called Albemar arrived and went into the lock just after an uphill boat cleared. We followed it in, keeping fingers crossed that we would be able to keep up with it all the way down the six locks to Marquion. The skipper of the Dutch boat told Mike that his boat was loaded with grain to make beer

Lock house at Graincourt lock

in the Netherlands. Dropped down 5.6m and followed the loaded boat down the 1.75 kms pound to lock 6 Graincourt-les-Havrincourt. An empty péniche called Connemara came up, then we dropped down another 6.4m, holding our noses as the wind was blowing straight up the cut and wafting a very obnoxious smell from a factory below the lock. As we passed the factory all was revealed, it was named Artois Methanisation – they were rotting organic stuff to make methane, no wonder is smelled so bad. A boat was moored by the factory with Artois Compost on its bows, it was loaded

Top end gates and cill lk 5 Moeuvres. 6.4m deep

with stuff that looked like trees that had been stewed. 1.75kms to the next lock, 5 Mœuvres, something coming up in the lock so the Dutchman sat in the middle, which meant we had to do the same as we couldn’t get near the waiting quay. A Dutch cruiser came out of the lock then we went down, a drop of another 6.4m. Another pound of 1.75kms brought us to lock 4 Sains-les-Marquion and another wait. This time Albemar went on the quay, still nowhere for us to wait except in the middle being blown sideways by the wind. The bottom end guillotine gate was up for ages and the Dutchman must have spoken to the lock keeper on VHF (we couldn’t hear him as the channel is duplex – only the lock keeper can hear him) as the keeper said yes, there was definitely an uphill boat coming. Eventually a loaded 60m boat called Alriema came up, by which time a loaded péniche called Marie-Lou was catching up. Surprised that the keeper didn’t give us a red light and let the loaded boat join the Dutchman in the lock, but we went in and down 6.6m. After the gate lifted we could see that there was another loaded boat on its way up the short 1.5kms pound. As the Dutchman set off, the wave caused by the lock emptying had reached the next lock (no 3) and come back all the way to lock 4 and shoved the loaded boat back up the lock chamber, lifting it about a metre as it did so. We’d already untied so we just

Moored on the pontoon at Marquion

went back up the chamber with the flow. Scary. The péniche was lucky the wave didn’t catch him as he was going under the guillotine, as it could have damaged his wheelhouse - a similar occurrence on the canal des Ardennes completely demolished the wheelhouse on a large Dutch Barge belonging to friends of ours a few years ago. In French, the wave action like that is called a rebondissement and they are quite common, especially on short pounds. Lock 3 Sains-les-Marquion was not ready, another boat was coming uphill and Albemar went on to the quay again. We twiddled around in the middle being buffeted by gusts of wind as we waited. A loaded 60m boat called Baitulos (833 tonnes) from Arleux cleared the lock, then we descended a further 6.4m with the Dutch péniche in front. On to the last pound, 2.7kms to lock 2 Marquion. We passed loaded péniches Chrismi from Brugge and Mon Desir as we followed Albemar slowly into the lock. Down another 6.5m on to the long pound (6.65kms) leading to the last lock on the canal du Nord. The pontoon below Marquion lock was vacant so MR tied alongside it and, as it wasn’t long enough for us both end to end, we moored alongside MR. Mike and Graham went to move vehicles, driving back to Corbie, then taking one car on to Iwuy on the Escaut, our intended destination for the following day.

Sunday 24th May 2015 Cappy to Moislains. 20.9kms 8 locks

Wooden chalet alongside the Somme at Ecluse Vaux

8.4° C Sunny and warmer. Set off at 9 am following MR up the canal (the Somme is just a feeder now). I phoned to book a keeper to meet us at the liftbridge at Ecluse Vaux at 9.40 am. A cruiser went past heading downriver and the same keeper from the day before (with boxer dog) was at the liftbridge to open it for us. Twenty minutes later we were at lock 9 Frise, a shallow one at 1.70m, and we had a new keeper. A French cruiser called Blackbird came down lock 8 Frise and we went up, a deep

He had priority at lock 12 Clery, we had to wait

one at 3.20m. A pied flycatcher was flitting between the trees on either side of the canal as we left the lock. Black-headed gulls flew in front, a musk rat crossed the canal and a coot had abandoned her floating nest full of eggs, no doubt she’d be back as soon as we’d gone. Our keeper opened the liftbridge at Feuillères and was there to work the last lock, 7 Sormont, for us. On towards Peronne, then we turned left on to the Canal du Nord where we had a wait below the first lock, 12 Clèry-sur-Somme, as there

Waiting below Clery lock

was a queue. A single péniche went into the lock chamber and the gates came down behind him. Lunchtime. Another single péniche, called Kiev, moored on the left below the lock and we tied to the quay on the right to wait for the end of the keeper’s lunch break (they only close for lunch on Sundays) A pair of empty pushers, Paris and Paris2 moored a way behind us and a little later a loaded pair, both called Jules Verne, arrived and moored directly behind us. Over the next 6kms we had five deep uphill locks and loads of

Clery lock 12

downhill traffic. At 1.30 pm the lady keeper came back on duty and we followed Kiev into the empty chamber, strapped alongside MR and G put a stern rope on, no bollards for the bows so we sat behind the péniche (who rose ropeless) and gently rose 7.8m. Loaded boats Adeline and Emeraude came down as we went up the pound to lock 11 Feuillaucourt, up another 6.2m and on to lock 10 Allaines, passing two more loaded boats, Louveteau and Mober (the latter a beautiful Belgian boat, the cabin covered

Following MR and peniche Kiev up the canal du nord

in flowers). Up 6.4m. More loaded downhill boats, Vincita, a loaded Dutchman with a huge playpen atop the hold covers and Taifun from Saarbrucken. Up to lock 9 Moislains, where the one in front of the one we were following (Elisabeth from Terneuzen) was still waiting for a downhill pair to clear, Baise and Baise2 (an empty pusher pair) came down then he went up. We sat on the quay behind Kiev and waited for the next downhill boat to clear. Up 6.7m and on up to lock 8 Moislains, passing two more loaded boats,

Moored at Moislains

a pan and tug – Coelacanthe 65m long (966 tonnes) pushed by tug Linguenda and péniche Daevanos. Up 6.5m and arrived on the summit at 4.45pm. Above the lock was a long queue of loaded boats waiting to go down. 55m Cecinkel, péniche Euro, Ch’ti and VD a pusher pair, plus a couple of empty pushers were heading down the canal towards the lock. We hovered waiting to see who was going where, then we tied to the very end of the quay by the bridge. MR moored behind us. It was 5 pm. A loaded boat called Wallis arrived and moored under the bridge in front of us, Mike and Graham went to help the single-handed skipper moor. He moved on down the quay when there was space.

Monday 20th April 2015 St Christ-Briost to Cappy. 24.1kms 4 locks

Above Peronne lock 13 C du Nord

4.0° C Sunny with a chilly breeze. Mike and Graham set off at 8.00 am to move cars, five minutes later a boat went past making lots of wash, causing stuff to fall off cupboards on our boat, the same on MR plus breaking a fender attachment. When the skippers returned we set off at 9.30 am, passing a loaded pusher pair with the wonderful names, Why Not and Why Me! At the concrete works an empty called Isis was moored while Amon’s cargo of aggregates was being unloaded. I phoned the lock booking service for the Somme and a pleasant young man said there would be an agent

Notice board at the start of the canal de la Somme

de service at the first lock when we arrived at 11.30 am. The next boat past was a loaded péniche called Bona Fide. Shortly afterwards a VNF survey boat went by, closely following the towpath, presumably checking the depth. We slowed down while lock 13 Pérronne filled, then we dropped down 3.60m in our last lock (for now, we’ll have to return either north or south on this canal later) on the canal du Nord. That was well timed as the next pushtow, Arizona and Gilbea, were not too far from

First sighting of a brood of ducklings

the lock. The port-de-plaisance moorings in the arm at Pérronne were full, a line of cruisers on both sides of the pontoon – all “dead” boats, ie left there permanently. A row of red painted metal bars sunk into the canal bed were placed around the entrance to the arm, indicating that it was shallow. Some more of the same bars had been planted by the entrance to the canal de la Somme so we continued to the end of them before turning left into the entrance of the canal. It was 11.25 am. The depth of water immediately halved from 4m to 2m. A kingfisher darted along the bank in front of us, then we saw the first ducklings of the year, a big brood of about a dozen little balls of

Liftbridge at Feuillieres

floating fluff. There was a big etang on our right out of sight beyond some trees and a smaller one on our left, close by the canal and bordered by small wooden holiday chalets. The banks closed in and become higher, sheltering us from the wind and it was much warmer. As the bare earth canal bank on our left became higher and higher we came to a section where there had been a bank slip. Around the next bend there were farm buildings close to the canal where a man and a boy stopped playing outdoor table tennis to wave as we went past. A cheery lock keeper with a bright

Noisy neighbours in Cappy

orange van (the Somme is not a VNF waterway) was there at the first lock, 7 Sormont (back to smaller Freycinet sized locks of 38.5m x 5.10m) with the lock full and gates open. He pressed the buttons in the lock cabin and we dropped down 1.10m while chatting. He seemed very pleased to have two boats to work the locks for on his canal. He said he would open the next liftbridge for us then he would have his lunch, returning to operate the next lock for us at 1.30 pm. We passed under the busy A1 autoroute and the TGV railway bridges and the liftbridge at Feuillères opened, we passed through and wished our roving lock keeper bon appetite. We motored on to the next lock, 8 Frise, and tied to an old square pan (higher than our roof and listing

Moored at Cappy

towards the bank) by the quay above the lock, leaving the low quay for MR so that Jill could easily get the dogs off for their walk. Mike was quite disappointed to be reminded that there was no lunch today. Our man in his orange van returned as promised at 1.30pm and we dropped down 4.20m then after a short distance another 1.7m in lock 9 also called Frise. Mike hopped off to give the keeper a couple of bottles of Kronenberg beer to say thanks. He worked the next liftbridge for us in the village of Eclusier-Vaux and we said we’d ring when we needed to book our passage after a few days in Cappy. 3kms to the moorings in Cappy. The low hills receded a little and we had open views across some fields on our left as we approached the town, famous for its P’tit Train, now restored as a tourist train, it was built to haul supplies and munitions to the front line during WW1. We winded so our side doors were on the wet side and moored next to the wooden piling before the Locaboat hirebase (we later found out that it had closed in October last year, a great blow to the local economy). The boat was grounding amidships so Mike set a quant pole out at the stern end to keep the boat off the bottom, then he and Graham went to collect our car from St Christ-Briost. I put the laptop on to do the log and discovered we had a lousy Internet connexion, just EDGE so practically unworkable.

Wednesday 15th April 2015 Pont l’Evêque to Ercheu. 19.1kms 4 locks

Below lock 19 Pont l'Eveque

5.8° C Sunny and hot. We left at 9.15am, winded at the end of the arm and set off to the junction with the Latèral à l’Oise. Mike called the keeper at lock 19 Pont l'Eveque to tell him we'd be about ten minutes. OK, the lock would be ready for us. Turned right on to Lateral à l'Oise, then right again on to the canal du Nord. Loaded boat Loma went past, he'd just come down the lock which was now ready for us, guillotine gate up and a green light. All the locks on the canal du Nord are operated by lock keepers. We

Coming up in lock 18 Noyon

entered the chamber and went on the right hand wall while MR took the left. Fore and aft ropes wouldn’t work as the bollards inset in the walls were too close together. Centre rope on the second set and the guillotine closed behind us. The lock filled with the aid of side pounds and we rose 5.8m effortlessly, lifting the rope up on to five bollards as we went. Waved to the keeper in his high lock cabin at the tail end of the lock as we left. A short pound 

Leaving lock 18 Noyon

took us to lock 18 Noyon and a repeat of the previous lock, except the force of the water coming in through the bottom of the chamber forced us off the wall and over alongside MR where we continued to rise, ropeless, while chatting with Jill and Graham. Left the top another 5.8m higher. 5.8kms to the next lock. There were a few boats at the grain silos in Noyon. Veridis Quo and Antinea were waiting to load, L’Atlantide was loading and Star had finished loading and its skipper was washing his hold covers down. I’d been

Below lock 17 Seraize-Haudival

doing my notes on my tablet but its battery went flat so I had to revert to writing! Once clear of Noyon the countryside opened out into wide fields and copses with scattered villages in the distance. The banks were covered in cowslips, warblers were staking their territories by singing loudly and today was a brown butterfly day.  A VNF man paused from strimming the grass around lock 17 Seraize-Haudival to take photos using his mobile phone as we went into the lock and rose another 5.8m. Again the boat

Panneterie tunnel

was blown off the wall and we ended up alongside MR. Another pound of 5.8kms to the next lock. A loaded boat called Voye Do Cir went past heading downhill churning up the muddy bottom. As we were getting close to the next lock another loaded boat, El Paso, was catching us up so Mike called the keeper. He said the commercial would go up first and we could lock though after. We tied to the waiting quay below lock 16 Campagne. El Paso went in and up and the lock was soon turned around and we went up. A 5.6m rise (and we didn’t get blown off the wall this time) and we were

Loaded peniche Pamy

soon on our way again. On to the 16.4kms long summit level at 12.45 pm. After about 1km we arrived at the 1km long Panneterie tunnel. El Paso was still in the tunnel and we had a red light, so we attached to the quay to wait. Loaded boat Murene came out of the tunnel followed by a large German cruiser, then we had a green light and it was our turn. I made lunch and we ate it going through the tunnel which had towpaths each side (although the one on our right was mostly under water) and was lit throughout with fluorescent lamps (some of which were broken). Out into the sunshine

Moored in the layby at Ercheu

again at 1.40pm. The tunnel traffic light behind us changed to green and not long afterwards another loaded boat went past, this one was called Pamy. The first bridge after the tunnel marked the Department boundary between the Oise and the Somme. A couple more kilometres to go to our mooring and we met another loaded boat called Baltes, followed by an empty called Geo-Dem, just before we tied up in a piled layby near the village of Ercheu. It was 2.30pm. Set the chairs and table out on the bank and Mike lit our BBQ using Graham’s fast-lighting device (must get one or make one). Jill cooked on board but they joined us to eat al fresco. Lots of boats went past while we sat out in the sunshine, including at least half a dozen push-towed péniches and several cruisers all heading towards Paris. Two loaded péniches arrived after lock closing time and moored side-by-side in our layby overnight.