Our surprise stop at the port of Sillery for a couple of nights |
Friday started with a covering of clouds which didn’t begin
clearing until lunchtime but had practically disappeared by the evening. To make good use of time I set off soon after
Karen went for her morning run having arranged to meet her at the first lock a few kilometres away at Condé-sur-Marne. This gave her
time to run past the lock and retrace her steps to make sure she covered the
distance she wanted to do.
Cloud cover on Friday morning |
When I reached Condé-sur-Marne I had to turn left onto the
Canal l’Aisne à la Marne where I was due to pick Karen up. There is a small port just at the start of
the canal and as I came around the corner I could see Karen waiting with Buddy,
talking to a couple of guys that we knew; Mike, a Brit who lives at the port and,
Philippe, a Dutch liveaboard we have met a few times on our travels.
Coming around the corner at the junction |
We had eight locks to go up to reach the summit of this 57-kilometre-long
canal and they are linked into what is called a chain. Once you start you have to go through all the
locks, so no mooring is allowed between them.
They are automatic and the system recognises when you leave a lock so it
can start getting the next one ready for you.
We started off the ascent and when we reached the second lock,
we realised it was the one that had been closed for three weeks as work was
still continuing around it. The lights
weren’t working but as the gates were open, we went in only to find the lock
sides had been replaced and there were no bollards, ladders or controls for us
to use. New ones were obviously going to
be installed once the structural work was complete.
As we were pondering what to do an éclusier popped his head
over the edge and offered to take Karen’s line which he attached to a hidden
bollard and he got around the lack of a control rod hanging down the lockside
by going into his little hut and operating the lock remotely.
Still working on the lock but at least it’s now open |
As this is a commercial canal it remains open all year
around, albeit with shorter opening hours for the locks in the winter
months. We had to wait for a commercial
to leave the third lock and it was obviously unladen.
Waiting for a commercial before going into the lock |
If the boat had been fully laden it would have been so low
in the water that the bottoms of the anchors would be just under the water. We saw a few more commercials during the day,
and these were fully laden and thus travelling quite slowly. Having frequent locks must be so frustrating
as it probably takes a hundred metres or so before they are up to speed after
leaving a lock and then they have to start slowing for the next.
This canal has kilometre stones marking the distance to both
ends but, unusually, it has two stones at each kilometre point; each giving the
distance to a different end.
56 kilometres from the far end and one to the other |
Many of the stones are missing and some have been replaced
by more modern stones fashioned like the pk 1 stone in the picture above. There are very few places for pleasure craft
to moor on this canal and, with the volume of commercial traffic, it would be
unwise to consider using pins. One
boater may have got fed up trying to find a secure place to moor and tried to
use a kilometre stone as a bollard.
Suspect someone had tried mooring to this one |
When we arrived at the fourth lock it looked like it was
getting itself ready as indicated by having both the red and green lights on. Once the water had emptied the gates
didn’t open. We gave it a few minutes
and as the gates obviously weren’t opening I rang the control centre. The éclusier who was operating the newly
opened lock soon appeared in his van and got us going.
No lights were working at the next lock and the gates were
against us, so it was back on the phone again.
It was the same girl who answered the phone but a different éclusiere
turned up in her van to see us through.
We had the same problem at the last lock of the ascent and the girl in
the control centre couldn’t help laughing when she heard it was me again. I did confuse her by saying we were avalant
(going downstream) rather than montant, but soon realised my mistake when she
started questioning me. Yet another
éclusier turned up within 10 minutes to see us through.
Waiting at one of the ‘broken’ locks but at least the clouds were beginning to break up |
Soon after getting to the summit we were at the 2.3-kilometre-long
Billy tunnel. This is a one-way tunnel
and when we arrived the lights were on red.
We could see a boat far into the distance in the tunnel and decided to
have lunch while we waited for it to emerge. After we had
eaten, the boat still hadn’t come through, so I went down to the portal to have
a look. To my surprise there wasn’t a
boat in sight; we must have seen the back end of one travelling in the same
direction as us!
As I walked back to the boat I looked up at the lights and
they suddenly went green. I cannot
understand what caused that to happen, but we were soon on our way again. As we emerged from the other end of the
tunnel one of the heavily laden commercials came around the corner and we
wondered how long it would take him to get through. Being as wide as the tunnel and with a deep
draught he would be really slowed down by the water trying to get away.
Locks that operate as individual units, rather than in
chains like the eight at the start of the day, have a pole on a gallows that overhangs
the cut 100 metres or so before you reach the lock. A ¼ twist of the pole sets the lock operation
in motion and a flashing orange light appears to confirm it has received your request. If the lock is already ready and the gates
are open for you then a green light will come on. Usually, the lock is not ready so a red light
comes on instead. As soon as the
operation to get it ready starts then a green light comes on as well as the
red. So, if the red light stays without
a green one then it means that another boat is in the lock or there is one coming
the other way and they have twisted their pole before you have.
Anyway, all this waffle is about setting the scene for the
last lock of the day. When we arrived,
the gallows had been knocked over so there was no way to start the lock
operation. So, I was back on the phone
again for the fourth time to ask for help.
This time no one appeared as the control centre must have had a way of
setting the lock going remotely as the gates soon opened and we were back on our way again.
The valley up to Reims is very wide so the hills are a long
way away from the cut. The sides of the hills are
lined with vineyards with woods along the hilltops and the plain is covered in
arable farmland, mainly cob corn fields. The
A26 autoroute and a railway line run along the plain too.
The vineyards are beyond the lorries on the A26 and are still relatively green |
It was five o’clock when we arrived at the port in Sillery
making the cruise the longest we had had for ages. Most of the boats in the port looked like
they were left for the winter, but some had people on board. We found a spot on the quayside next to a
Norwegian couple who were on their way to Holland. Also by us were a group of six French boaters drinking and eating out on the back deck of one of their boats. It was really nice to see people back in shorts and tee shirts after the last few grey days we have had.
Friday evening at the port in Sillery |
I had one of those typical conversations with the French boaters that we have with French people. Our side of the conversation is conducted in slow French and French people wanting to practice their English speak in English. It's really quite funny but at least that way everyone is eager to help with new words and pronunciation etc.
On Friday we cruised 27 kilometres through 11 locks (eight up, three down) and one tunnel.
On Friday we cruised 27 kilometres through 11 locks (eight up, three down) and one tunnel.
With a lovely warm day forecast for Saturday we decided to
stay put in Sillery and get the first coat of undercoat on the paint chips on
the port side of the boat that we have treated over the last few days. That reason was coupled with the fact
that we found out that water and electricity were free for passing moorers at
the port during the winter season. This
meant we could get a few loads of washing done too.
At the port was an exhibition about the rebuilding of
Sillery after it was badly damaged in WWI.
The exhibition consisted of a series of weatherproof posters showing old
postcards and other photographs taken of the destruction before
rebuilding. We have noticed that many
villages have some form of an exhibit of postcards from WWI showing the
artillery damage to the buildings.
Some of the posters |
There was also a further series of posters explaining about the
re-planning, architecture and rebuilding of the village. A French couple were on hand to explain
things to interested passers-by. I
became aware of the couple mainly when they went to lunch as we were moored
alongside the posters and I lost count of the number of people asking if I was
running the exhibition. All I could
really muster in response was a polite no but they would find it very interesting to read
the accounts on the posters.
During one of our coffee breaks it clouded over and we had a
few spots of rain, but it soon cleared and we were able to finish off the
painting and keep the washing outside.
Later on in the afternoon we went for a walk towards Reims
and were pleased to find so many butterflies on the wing still. At one point we had four clouded yellows in
one vista and must have seen a couple of dozen along one 100 metre stretch of riverbank.
We had many conversations with boaters at the port during
the day and thought it would be a very sociable place to stay for the winter. The only drawback would be the fact that there’s
not much to Sillery itself.
Saturday evening at the port of Sillery |
3 comments:
On account of the awful weather and heavy rain forecast this morning, Mike & Lesley will be doing a Neil-&-Karen-type cruise today by not setting off until after lunch and only need to do a few hours to get into the centre of Oxford.
Have fun and don't get too wet!
We regard a Neil & Karen type cruise as something to aspire to and emulate. It’s good to see Mike & Lesley trying to chill out at last.
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