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| Moorings at Rethel |
7.9°C Sunny start then hazy
clouds but mild. No jackets on, just fleeces. Set off at ten just as today’s
boozing crowd of locals arrived at the picnic tables. 2.5 kms to the first lock
9 Biermes. A little terrier dog from the lock house came to look at us, wee’d
up one of the bollards and left! Down the left hand side of the lock there were
four large boat props and an anchor and outside the lock house there were
various small agricultural machines. Madame and young daughter came out of the
house and got in the car. She chatted with Mike about the weather. A fisherman
had arrived and parked his car alongside the lock while it was filling and he’d
headed off along the towpath carrying a load of fishing gear. We passed him
half way along the 2.75 kms pound to the next lock, 8 Thugny.
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| Chateau de Thugny-Trugny |
He didn’t speak
as we passed as he was busy, head down searching for worms. Today we were having fun
removing all the stray ants that had been marooned on the boat, we kept finding
them on the roof and gunwales (they came trooping on to the back deck
yesterday). Mike took photos of a lovely chateau at Thugny-Trugny hidden by the trees. (Later investigation found that it had been destroyed in WWI and subsquently rebuilt) Lock 8
was full as the top end gates were leaky. Below the lock there was another
fisherman, but in contrast to the last one this one was very chatty. In the
chamber there was a strong stink of rotting vegetation.
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| Lock 8 Thugny |
There were three cars
on the lockside, but no one around. 2.7 kms to lock 7 Seuil. About 500m from
the lock there was a moored boat, a small blue and white Nicholls, alongside a
small caravan park. Several people were sitting outside at tables, but none of
them saw or heard us passing by. The lock was full, it emptied and we went in.
Mike had to lift the blue rod as I couldn’t – it was bent. The rods were so
close to the edge of the chamber that they were easily hit by big boats. The
lock seemed to fill very slowly. Left the top just after midday and set off on
the long pound, 7.85 kms to lock 6 Givry. Paused at the quay before the silos
at Ambly-Fleury to see if the electricity post worked, it didn’t and it didn’t
last time we passed by in 2006 - so they haven't got round to fixing it yet then. No signs of a tap either.
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| Bent blue rod at lk 6 Seuil |
Two little boys were
fishing on the opposite bank. They waved. I made sandwiches for lunch and we just
managed to eat them before we arrived at Givry. The village of the same name
came first, stretched out along the canal but higher on a long low hill. Lock 6
was empty, so the gates opened immediately after we turned the pole. No lock
house, not even any signs that there had ever been one. A DB came round the
bend above the lock as it was almost full. It was a lovely British flagged
Luxemotor called Aurigny. They went into the lock with the lights on red/green,
hope it worked OK as this sometimes causes automatic locks to go “en panne” and
the VNF have to be called out to reset it. On into Attigny. Paused at the lower
end of the quay and refilled the water tank (first tap since Berry-au-Bac and
we didn’t bother to fill up there) then Mike bow-hauled up to the top end of
the quay so we could get satellite TV later. It was 2.40 pm. We hadn’t finished
putting stuff away when a large DB (a blue and white tjalk) arrived and came in
to moor by the water tap. I went to give a hand as there are no bollards along
the quay just bent steel hoops which are difficult for barges as normally the
“foredeck hand” usually just drops a loop around a bollard.
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| A Dutch barge waiting for the lock. |
No, they were OK –
all in French – so I went back to putting stuff away and getting Mike’s biking
gear ready while he set the Markon up so I could do some washing. We unloaded
the moped and Mike went off to get the car from Attigny at 3.35 pm. Put the
laptop on and did the log then tried to check e-mails but the signal was weak,
EDGE or GPRS so I gave up, no blogging today. Mike was back with the car within
the hour.
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