Montereau (mail in the nick of time)

Making good use of idle time whilst going down in a lock

While Karen popped to the boulangerie on Tuesday morning I set about getting ready to leave for our day’s cruising.  The most important thing was to fill up with water especially as we had been rather liberal with it knowing we could fill up before we left Sens.  After getting the hose out I found it wasn’t long enough so was just about to move the boat to a temporary holding point that would be close enough when Karen returned and asked why I wasn’t using the water point right next to the boat.

I can’t believe I hadn’t even noticed it!  It needed an attachment we hadn’t used before but luckily, we had one; unfortunately, the pressure was really low.  We only had an hour before we had to leave to get to our first lock on time, so it taught us to always check the pressure when arriving at a mooring rather than when going to use it.

In the end we were about 20 minutes late leaving but going a bit faster than usual and using up our contingency time we arrived at the first lock only 10 minutes late.

Cruising out of Sens on Tuesday

The lock was all set for us, so I set about going straight in to get tied up to the floating pontoon.  No such luck, the éclusier came running down the lock side shouting for us not to go in.  I stopped as requested and he explained that a commercial was behind us and we would have to wait on the far side by the weir.  That was all fine as commercials take priority, but we couldn’t work out why he hadn’t warned us on the radio – maybe he had never got the message we were on our way.

In the end we waited about 45 minutes before we were through the lock and then it dawned on us that we wouldn’t get to our target by lunchtime.

Big boy stealing our lock

I say big boy because it was exactly five times longer than us but nowhere near as big as some we will encounter.  We finally got into the lock and arranged our re-arranged schedule for the rest of the day with the éclusier.

We left this lock nearly an hour later than we had planned

Karen found an advantage of the floating bollards: she could mop down the sides of the boat whilst we were descending.  Mike & Lesley kindly bought us the mop as they couldn’t cope with the sight of our old one!

It was nearly twelve when we arrived at the next lock, so we set about mooring up on a single bollard that was randomly placed near the lock.  A single bollard is great for short boats as they can tie both front and back lines to it and be quite secure.  We ended up with just the centre line which does tend to make the boat pivot and consequently make it difficult to get Buddy back on if the back has moved away.

Buddy and I got off and I noticed that a large boat was coming up the lock.  I assumed it wasn’t a private boat and the éclusier was working it up in his lunch hour for that reason.  We walked down to check and also to ask if we could moor at the lock head while we had lunch and waited for the opening time.  To my surprise he told me that we should come down the lock as soon as the other boat left.  He then explained another commercial was on its way so he would have to empty the lock anyway.  So, in effect, we were back on schedule.

As we were going down, I noticed the commercial heading towards the bottom of the lock so I started getting a bit nervous because my mind went through the scenario that he hadn’t been told that a ‘bateau saucissons’ would be coming out of the lock.  In the end all was fine as he held back and he gave us lots of waves and thumbs up as we passed each other.

A little further on we were going under the Vanne aqueduct.  This aqueduct was built in 1874 and carries water from near Troyes to one of the Paris reservoirs at Montsouris.  Apparently, the aqueduct has 162 arches to take it across the Yonne valley.

About to go under the Vanne aqueduct

The next town we passed was Pont-sur-Yonne where we pulled up for lunch.  The town has nice new pontoons and plenty of space to moor.

Approaching Pont-sur-Yonne

As you can see in the picture above it has a relatively modern bridge carrying a main road across the river. It replaced a stone bridge which was demolished in 1941.  The old stone bridge had had a chequered history including having one arch blown up by the townsfolk to stop Austrian troops advancing in 1814.  In 1860 towpaths were added and the resulting narrowing of the arches caused flood water to back up hence its replacement in 1941. 

All that remains of the old stone bridge

The town, Pont-sur-Yonne, was named after a wooden bridge that was built here 1200 years ago.  That bridge was rebuilt many times following floods and eventually replaced by the stone bridge in the late 1700s.

After lunch we set out for our last lock of the day, encountering yet another commercial boat on the way.  We thought this would be a good omen and that the lock would be set for us so radioed ahead to say we were on our way.  The éclusier told us we would have to wait as some works were going on.  I pulled up on the outside of the lock in front of the weir yet again only for the éclusier to get back on the radio telling us we could go in after all.  I made a bit of hash of reversing back out to the lock entrance this time and put it down to the wind.  In the end I did a complete 360 turn and hoped it looked like I meant to do that all along 😊

Blue and white flag on the lock gates

We had both forgotten some of the lesser used flags from our CEVNI course/exam but soon realised it meant divers were in operation.  They had finished working on one section of the lock earlier than planned hence we were allowed in.

As we were going down Karen made the remark that the three locks we had gone down during the day had felt more like 19.  It made us laugh but we certainly did feel nothing had gone particularly well (apart from the cleaning of the sides of the boat of course).

No health & safety in sight as ladder is left in the lock with us

We decided to press on and get a few more kilometres done to lessen the 28 we had planned for Wednesday.  Our target was revised to find a mooring on a cut called the Dérivation de Courlon where we hoped to find somewhere in the shade.  This is a short cut with a couple of locks taking out several kilometres of the windy Yonne.

Heading into the cut at Courlon

We eventually found somewhere to moor up and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside the boat.

Our mooring at Courlon

Looking at our awful white fenders on the picture above reminds me that the hot weather is preventing us finding time to do many of our jobs.  We bought some new black fenders when back in the UK to start replacing the white ones as one had burst.  One of the jobs is to inflate these fenders and get them attached but even though we’re retired with nothing to do (according to the children) we still don’t’ find the time to do everything.

Unbelievably, another five commercials passed us during the afternoon/evening and not a single pleasure boat.  Thankfully our pins held up but to be fair the boats did slow down to pass us with welcome waves.

One of our passers by

During the evening I received an email from VNF saying our next lock was closing at 10 in the morning for repairs – that was our allotted time to go down.  Looks like we’ll have to set off earlier than planned to make sure we get down before it shuts.

In the end we travelled 22 kilometres down three locks on Tuesday.

Because the lock ahead of us was closing for maintenance at ten we set out at nine on Wednesday so we could get there by about quarter past.  When Karen went for her morning run, she took in the lock on her route for investigative purposes but could see no sign of any preparatory activity.

Just as we were about to set off, I spotted a commercial coming towards us so decided to wait until he passed before removing our pins.  The guy came to a practical standstill next to us and came out of his cabin to warn us about the lock closing at ten which was rather kind of him.  .Mind you I think he thought I didn't understand so finished by holding up all ten fingers then pretending to slit his throat 

When we arrived at the lock another commercial was coming up and as soon as he was out, we went in and it was just gone ten when we got through.  As we came out, yet another one was waiting to come in, so the lock clearly wasn’t closing at ten.

A wispy cloudy day on the Yonne

While we were waiting for the next lock to be made ready for us, I received another email from VNF.  It was telling us about a broken hydraulic pipe on our penultimate lock of the day and that the lock was now shut for repairs.  We decided to carry on anyway and hope to find somewhere to moor near the lock if it was still out of action.

We met our first French ‘little Hitler’, as Karen called her, at our next lock.  She was the first éclusier(e) we have come across wearing full VNF uniform including black Doc Marten type boots even in the heat.  She was also the first we have come across wearing a life jacket.

Initially, she was upset that Karen was standing on the gunwale while waiting to get off.  Her next issue was that we refused to put a turn of the line on the bollard even though we explained that it’s dangerous and gives a chance of the boat getting hung up as the lock emptied.  Then she spotted Karen’s sandals and said she should be wearing boots otherwise she may slip off the sides.  Karen showed her the stout soles and explained that they provided plenty of grip.  Well, Karen didn’t know the French for ‘grip’ but got her point across.  To be fair, she was polite and cheerful saying goodbye when we left.

Our last three locks had sloping sides without any floating pontoons.  Some people hook a rope from each end over a bollard and use boat poles to keep themselves off the sides.  We remember Aileen telling us how their boat got caught on some dislodged stones on one of these locks doing just that and they had to shout for the éclusier to start filling the lock again to sort things out.

We kept to the smooth side opposite the decaying stone one we assume Mike & Aileen got caught on

As we were the only boat in the lock, I told our éclusier that we would hover in the centre of the lock and he was happy as long as we stayed near the back.  I know we are on the left in the picture above, but the wind had taken us over, so we had boat poles ready at either end to fend us away from the side.

The next lock was the ‘broken’ one and we saw a good place to moor where we would be happy stopping for as many hours or days it took to be fixed.  Our thoughts were, that with so many commercials, the repairs would be effected pretty quickly.  While we were getting set to moor up permanently, the red and green lock lights came on suggesting the lock was being got ready.  Sure enough we could see a commercial rising up and when it came out the red light went out so in we went.  The repairs had obviously been made quickly.

Karen with her pole ready at the ‘broken’ lock

We moored for lunch just before the last lock of the day having used the radio to explain we were mooring rather than coming down the lock and arranging to go down at 1.30.  Talking about the radio we hear many boat/éclusier conversations, hardly any of which we understand.  We know when we are being spoken to as the word ‘plaisancier’ is used and as we seem to be the only non-commercial boat around on this end of the Yonne, we assume it’s we who are being addressed.

Moored for lunch at a place called Cannes-Écluse with some trees for shade

I know I have mentioned commercials a lot, but it has been very important for us to see so many, probably between six and twelve each day.  They give us the experience to pass them and let them pass us before we get onto the Seine.  Mind you, their wake has been relatively gentle compared with those speedy type boats going backwards and forwards through Sens.

We moored up near Grand Frais, using a tree and pins, when we arrived in Montereau-fault-Yonne and after a bit of rest walked down to where the Yonne meets the Seine.  On the way we saw a riverside lavoir across on the other bank.  Some of you may have spotted Karen’s comment on the last blog entry that I hadn’t mentioned lavoirs for a while 😉

Yonne-side lavoir

We walked past some more moorings just before the junction and thought we may move down there later as they looked pretty empty and we wouldn’t need to use pins.  We walked over a bridge across the Seine and looked down on the junction so we knew what we would be up against in the morning.

The Yonne is flowing in from the left (our third ever selfie!)

We then walked across the Yonne for the complementary view.

The Seine is flowing in from the right

When we got back we moved down to the moorings near the junction.

On our way into Montereau to find the moorings at the junction

We now have exactly 100 kilometres to travel on the Seine to get to our reserved mooring in Paris and plan to do that over the next five days.

On Wednesday we cruised 20 kilometres down five locks.

Our mooring at Montereau on Wednesday night