Tuesday at Billy-le-Grand |
If the weather forecast is correct, we are in for some very strong
winds for a few days from Friday. On the
back of this knowledge we decided to move on Tuesday even though it was looking
quite grey. That way we had a good
chance of reaching Châlons-en-Champagne before the winds arrive.
Grey skies at Sillery on Tuesday morning |
Looking back at the port with the promise of blue skies on the way |
Just outside Sillery we passed a factory that rather
reminded us of the fume-belching Tata, chemical factories near Northwich up on the Trent & Mersey canal where our boat was fitted out. Not sure
what they were doing at the Sillery plant but it looked like small lumps of limestone were being
cleaned.
Reminiscent of Northwich |
We only had three locks to go up on our way to
Billy-le-Grand where we planned on stopping for lunch. Today we had no problems and they all worked
smoothly; just as well as there was a
commercial a couple of kilometres behind us.
After the last lock we were at the summit and could see the
first vineyards along the hills heading down to the Marne valley. They had lost their green colour over the
last couple of weeks and were well on their way to their distinctive golden
colour of autumn.
Vineyards turning golden in the distance |
We were soon approaching Billy tunnel, where we had planned to
have lunch before going through. As we got
closer, we had obviously been spotted by the guy at the other end of the tunnel
as the lights turned green. He sits up
in a tower with a closed-circuit TV overlooking the portal at the blind end
where we were approaching from. As he
had changed the lights we decided to go through anyway, hoping we could moor on
the far side.
Passing through the well-lit 2.3-kilometre-long Billy tunnel |
Work on digging the tunnel was started in 1841 and it didn’t
open until 1856. I think I mentioned
before that most of this canal was rebuilt after WWI because it was so badly
bombarded. What I hadn’t mentioned was
that the tunnel was used as a place of storage during the war; artillery being kept on boats in the tunnel.
Moored for lunch after emerging from the tunnel |
It had turned into such a lovely day that we decided to stay
put and go for a walk in the afternoon instead of continuing. There was no clear towpath either side, but
the grass had been mown so it was easy to walk along. We found a few trees that had come down in
the past and had been roughly logged. As
the logs had clearly been laying there a long time and hadn’t been collected,
we made a couple of piles that we would pick up on our way through on
Wednesday.
The black spots in the distance are two of our log piles |
It had turned out to be really warm and we regretted
bringing our coats as we had to carry them the whole way. This sort of walk is ideal for Buddy as, with
no houses around nor any walkers or cyclists he could be off the lead.
More autumnal colours |
On Tuesday we cruised 15 kilometres up three locks.
We all set off at the same time in the morning, Karen &
Buddy for their run and me heading for the locks. On the way we stopped to pick up the logs we
had piled up on the side of the cut yesterday.
As we were going downhill it’s quite easy to single hand the locks. I still haven’t worked out how to single hand going uphill in a French lock though. Saying that it’s easy, the locks on the flight down to Condé-sur-Marne were a bit tricky as they had railings really close to the edge making it hard to walk along with a line in one hand. The larger boats have walkways along either side, so crew don’t have to get off to throw a line over a bollard or operate the controls but it’s not so easy on a narrowboat.
As we were going downhill it’s quite easy to single hand the locks. I still haven’t worked out how to single hand going uphill in a French lock though. Saying that it’s easy, the locks on the flight down to Condé-sur-Marne were a bit tricky as they had railings really close to the edge making it hard to walk along with a line in one hand. The larger boats have walkways along either side, so crew don’t have to get off to throw a line over a bollard or operate the controls but it’s not so easy on a narrowboat.
I passed one commercial and a hotel boat on their way up and
then met up with Karen at the fourth lock down.
The commercial was one we have seen several times before and the couple
on board always seem pleased to recognise us.
The hotel boat was on its last cruise of the season and on its way to
Sillery where it moors for winter. It
took us little over two hours to cover nine kilometres and drop down the eight
locks and as there was a bollard and a convenient lamppost at the bottom at Condé-sur-Marne
we moored up for an early lunch.
There is a small port at Condé with a couple of dozen boats moored up
for winter including a narrowboat called Temujin. Mike &
June live on the narrowboat but they appeared to be out, so we didn’t stop. They have been cruising in mainland Europe
for 19 years so have a wealth of knowledge and experience.
We then turned left onto the Canal latéral à la Marne which
is the canal that will take us up to Châlons-en-Champagne. Having got down the eight locks in the
morning without any issues we had a little difficulty at the first lock of the
afternoon. The operating pole thingy wasn’t
long enough for us to reach and neither of us could turn it properly so the
lock lights stayed on red. Another issue
is that we have got complacent and only slow down a bit expecting it to be easy to twist
the pole. Of course, as we hadn’t slowed down, we were soon way past the pole and so had to reverse back and try again.
I made a right pig’s ear of getting back and ended up nearly
turning the boat around in a semi-circle.
I decided that it didn’t matter as it would be a simple matter to spin
around again. Anyway, Karen stood up on
the back locker and just managed to twist the pole before I had spun right
around.
Strange angle to be going forwards |
We moored up just after the second lock near a place called Juvigny
and stayed in for the rest of the day.
Wednesday night mooring by the lock at Juvigny |
Just leaving the lock where we are moored |
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