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| Exiting our 300th French lock under grey skies |
The controls for operating the ground paddles were on the
opposite side of the lock to the bollards.
We only needed one gate open so naturally he opened the gate on the side
he was working. This meant that once we
were in the lock, we had to get over to the other side to get a rope around a
bollard. This wasn’t really a problem
because the locks are so long, but we had to keep remembering to do it.
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| Our man and his scooter |
Once he opened the bottom ground paddles to let the water out,
he would hop on his scooter, scoot down to the next lock, open the top ground
paddles to fill the lock and scoot back to us. He clearly knew how to time it
as whenever he returned our bottom gates were just about ready to open. It occurred to us that this was the first
time over here that we have been left alone in locks. It all worked well as we were down the 11
locks in under two hours.
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| Another difference was that many of the gates were opened by a windy wheel |
None of the lock cottages were empty or abandoned today and
most had lovingly, cared for gardens.
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| One of today’s pretty lockside gardens |
We moored up in the village of Marigny-le-Cahouët, had lunch
and then went for a walk.
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| Our mooring for Monday night |
While having lunch we noticed the water level dropping and,
as it was a very shallow mooring in a shortish pound, it was a quick dash to
loosen the lines and push the boat out.
We did it just in time as the boat was beginning to ground. We then realised that a widebeam was coming
up the locks, hence the sudden drop in water level and they moored up a little
way in front of us. We introduced
ourselves as we walked past, and it was Alex & Sue on The Busted Flush who
Paul & Sue on Flubs had talked about when we cruised with them for a few
days on the Canal du Nivernais.
Thinking about the Canal du Nivernais reminds me that I
haven’t included a route map for a while.
The royal blue line shows the journey we have been on since setting out
at the end of March, that’s 300 locks and 538 kilometres ago!
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During Monday we cruised six kilometres down11 locks.
Tuesday was another early start and as we were getting ready
to leave, Alex & Sue set off in the opposite direction. As we were heading for the first lock an
éclusier pulled up to tell us that there was a problem with low water in a
pound further up and that he would be with us about 15 minutes late. We moored back up and waited for him to
return which true to his word was only about 15 minutes.
We’re still cruising through the lovely rolling green fields
and hills of the Côte d’Or and we’re still amazed as to the extent of the
region, which neither of us have ever visited before.
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For the last couple of days I think I have spotted a hoopoe
flying across the cut in the distance and today I saw several closer by and
could see they were definitely hoopoes; their black and white tails make a
distinctive sight when in flight.
These poplars seem to have escaped the disease that have hit
so many around here:
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The ones the other side of this lock haven’t fared as well
though:
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We moored for lunch below our twelfth lock and we had an
extended lunch break as our éclusier had finished for the day and was handing
over to someone else who wasn’t available straight after lunch. When we went to set off, we realised we were
stuck; the pound had dropped, and we were stuck fast on the bottom. No amount of poling and rocking would free us
from whatever we had grounded on. We couldn’t
use the engine as the propeller and rudder were both immovable too.
In the end our new éclusier came to find out why we weren’t
at the lock on time. When we explained
the issue, he said we would open the paddles on the lock above us to raise the
water levels. This he did and once the
water was coming past us, we were soon free and on our way.
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| Our first lock after lunch |
You may just be able to make out a guy and two young girls
behind Karen in the picture above. They
were fascinated by the boat and we had a good chat as it transpired that he and
his partner and the girls have lived in a camper for a few years. They have covered much of southern and parts
of eastern Europe and are now working around France and hope to get up to Norway
by the end of summer.
As you may have gathered, we are going down a lot of locks
at the moment and they are relatively close together for a few days, so we have
to be careful where we moor overnight. We
moored in a nice wide pound between two locks that is a recognised mooring spot
with a few bollards. There were a few fisherman along the bank and, while we were coming down the last lock, our friendly éclusier went over and asked them to make room us!
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| Moored at Pouillenay with fishermen and campervan for company |
When we said goodbye to our éclusier he thanked me for my sourire (smile) which made us smile all the more. It wasn’t the first time we’ve been thanked for being friendly and happy either.
As it seemed the threat of rain had gone for the day, we
went for a bike ride further down the canal and then had a look around the
village. For once, there was a little
grocer shop, but typically for us, it was closed on Tuesdays ☹
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| Boat looking lonely in the far corner |
We were next to a water point where you turn a handle to get
the water, but the outlet is only suitable for filling buckets – no fixings to
attach a hose. As we were next to it, we
had a couple of trips to top up the water tank using our newly found plastic
water carriers which we easily filled using a funnel.
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| Karen had a handy bollard to sit on |
During Tuesday we cruised six kilometres down 19 locks.
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