Thursday 2nd May 2013 Givet to Anhée. 28.6 kms. 6 locks

New floodgates at start of lock cut. Givet

Grey overcast start, but no wind, sun coming out later. Mike fetched some bread while I used the Internet on Bouygues for the last time and finished off the blog. Then I rang the customer services line of SFR to cancel the phone, which isn’t on a contract. Easy but the woman wanted to speak to Mike as it was his account so I had to take the phone out on the stern for him to answer security questions, as he was steering and we’d just passed the weir and entered the lock cut through some impressive new flood gates and after passing a Dutch cruiser heading upriver. We could hear commercials calling on Channel 10 VHF as we ran down through the port. There were heaps of scrap metal, coal and pig iron around the docks. 

Smart new lock cabin at Quatre Cheminees

One large boat was unloading in the middle arm of the three, the third one had cruisers moored and out on the hard on one side of the arm, the other side was used for loading and unloading boats. It’s good to see the port being used, never seen much in there before. A Dutch boat called Battello, 46m x 6.3m 378 tonnes, was waiting to be loaded at the silo as Renata, a 1000 tonne Dutch boat was completing its loading with grain. The skipper shouted “Nice narrowboat!” in English as we passed. Beyond the silo there were several more boats out on the hard including two catamarans, one was having its bottom anti-fouled. The noise of military jets taking off nearby was very loud. Lock 59, Quatres Cheminées, was our last lock in France, now with a new cabin for the staff. 

Belgium's weirs are modern. Hastiere. River Meuse

An empty 750 tonne commercial called Inattendu was coming up in the lock chamber (100m long x 11.40m wide to conform with the Belgian locks as far as Namur) with a cruiser tucked in behind it. I took our vignette down to the lock keeper. The young man in charge was very pleasant and surprised when he asked where we were going and I said Berlin. I’d forgotten the telecommand, but he said he’d collect it when we were in the lock. The commercial left, followed by a Belgian cruiser from Waulsort (the boat club below the next lock), then we went in. Gave the keeper the zapper and we said au’voir France. Mike held the “string” while I made a cuppa. 

A climber on the Roches de Freyr

The border was just a couple of hundred metres below the lock and our favoured place for collecting a tankful of red diesel (before they changed the law and Belgium, like the UK, lost its derogation) Monsieur Léonard’s shop and fuel supplier. The place looked quiet, no boats stopping to fill up now. Another Belgian cruiser went past heading for France as we arrived at our first Belgian lock, Hastière, and noted that the weir above the lock was a modern, automatically operated affair with three big radial gates. An empty péniche called Ares was moored above the lock and a German cruiser with navigation lights on was coming up in the chamber. The red light changed to green and we entered the big chamber, just us. The keeper came over with a piece of paper. No more quittances we said and he said no, not any more and I looked at the paperwork – he already had all our details and the route down to Lanaye! Belgian efficiency, wonderful. All done from just the boat name, which brings up our Belgian MET number (because we’re on the computer, having been there before). 

Roche a Bayard. Dinant

Yippee, no more getting bits of paper stamped and having to climb back down mucky lock ladders to get back on the boat as the lock was emptying because there were commercials waiting. It was just midday as we left the lock heading downriver. 4.9 ms to the next. Took photos of the château and church at Hastière-par-dèla about a kilometre below the lock. Some very smart houses lined the right bank while a busy road and a disused railway followed the left bank. The low forested hills started to close in again as we approached the lock at Waulsort. An invisible keeper this time, the lock was ready and we were in and down in no time. I made sandwiches for lunch on the long reach (7.2 kms) while Mike took pictures of the boats moored at Waulsort boat club and then climbers on the Freyr rocks. A couple of Army trucks and an inflatable boat were parked on the left, opposite the rocks and just before the Château Freyr with its beautifully laid out gardens. The sun came out and suddenly it was much warmer but a bit breezy. A canoeist caught us up as we finished eating lunch. He paddled alongside asking questions, in French, then realised we were English – he thought we were Flemish from our accents! A line of eleven cruisers were moored at the boat club in Anseremme. The lock at Anseremme was ready for us and the keeper leaned out of his window to wish us au’voir as we left. Below the lock was a long line of green and red marker buoys indicating the old wall between the end of the old lock and the island. 

Dinant

A boater we met in Fumay when we were stuck there during the floods had sunk his boat by grounding on the submerged wall, he didn’t realise his boat was on a wall and thought he had stuff on his prop, removed the weed hatch and a passing commercial sank him by flooding the boat through its weed hatch, traumatic to say the least, but he’s still boating. Mike took loads of photos as we went through Dinant. The little blue electric hire boats were doing a good trade, as was the former Amsterdam tripper. The town was busy, as always, with tourists. The tariff boards told us we would pay 18€ per night to moor there, (that's £15.25 per night!!) so no thanks – the first lot of pontoons were empty. A lone retired péniche, called Remacum, was moored at the quay upstream of the trip boats. A brand new Ibis hotel and Casino had been built next to the main bridge since we were there last. On beyond the bridge there were two large Dutch cruisers moored on the pontoons. The lock at Dinant was full with a red light on. We waited above for Renata to arrive (he was the boat loading at the silo in Givet) as he went into the lock the skipper called us to follow him into the chamber and we went down together. 3.4 kms to the next - we had no hope of keeping up with him as he was doing twice our speed. 

The quay at Anhee

It was very noisy with the sounds of military jets again, but this time we could see them flying over. Below Dinant lock there were houses crammed into the limited space between the rocks and the river, then the space opened up and there was a campsite on the long right hand bend. We went to the left of the island as indicated on our guide book, but we think the commercial went down the right hand side – there were no notices any more to say which side to take. Renata was going down in Houx lock when we arrived so we tied up and waited for the keeper to refill the lock. A small dayboat with a large outboard arrived and came into the lock with us, it was a bateau ecole – a school boat – in other words someone was having a “driving” lesson. It sped off into the distance as we rounded the next bend and moored on the quay at Anhee at 4 pm.

Tuesday 30th April 2013 Abv Vanne-Alcors lk to Givet. 21.6 kms 6 locks 1 tunnel

Mooring we didn't stay at - Haybes

3.1°C Grey, cold and windy, with sunny spells later. Midges everywhere and noisy Canada geese. Set off at 9.30 a.m. in reverse to zap the post. A VNF man-in-a-van drove past and waved. Lock 53 Vanne-Alcorps was full already, the gates opened and we went down on to the 3.24 kms reach. Back past the mooring we didn’t stop at the day before at Haybes. A pénichette had joined the Dutchman and the boats for hire. Off the river and into the short lock cut leading to lock 54 Fépin. We were right the day before not to try mooring further down the short lock cut above lock 54 as there was nowhere to moor at all. 

Vireux-Wallerand - empty moorings

A red squirrel was performing acrobatics in the pine trees next to the lock house. I made tea and toast on the next reach (5.34 kms). Mike was having trouble with the wind making his eyes stream so he found his wrap-around sunglasses out and that helped a lot. No one about at lock 55 Montigny and a large new Danish cruiser was just leaving the lock chamber coming towards us. The grassy banks beside the towpath were full of ladysmock and cowslips. Down the lock while two Dutch cruisers waited below to come up. 3.96 kms to the next lock. No boats were moored at the extensive (pay) moorings at Vireux-Wallerand where they had now erected a new sign

VNF men-in-vans. lk 56 Mouyon 

saying that commercials were forbidden to moor. We passed another Dutch cruiser heading uphill. At lock 56 Mouyon there seemed to be a great gathering of VNF men in vans, six of them with three vans, chatting by the top end gates. They left as we started locking down. Below the lock they’d built a new overnight mooring place for péniches consisting of three dolphins with two passerelles to the bank. (Our VNF-man-in-a-van had said it had cost the VNF around 250k€ and he’d never seen a péniche moored there overnight). 4.76 kms of very windy river to the next lock. 

Peniche mooring below Mouyon

The sun shone timidly for a while. A colony of Egyptian geese were grazing the meadow to our left where the steep hills had now become smaller and more distant from the river as we ran along the foot of steep forested hill along the right bank. The wind was blowing half a gale as we passed Aubrives on the left bank and its row of stark white modern sculptures. Under the liftbridge into the lock cut leading to the two locks and a tunnel, which cuts off a very long loop of the river. Although there was a box to zap, lock lights and control rods in the chamber walls, both locks were worked for us by a new VNF man-in-a-van. 

Liftbridge over lock cut at Ham

The van was already on the lockside at lock 57 Ham and our man was in the cabin working the lock for a Belgian cruiser. Once the cruiser had cleared the lock we went down. Noticed that the sensor to detect boats entering or leaving the chamber was suspended high above the bottom end gates (they’re usually in the ends of the lock walls). Through the 565m long tunnel at Ham, it didn’t have lighting, (unusual for French tunnels) and into lock 58 Trois Fontaines, which was ready for us as our man was in the cabin, waiting for us. Below the lock Mike’s case for his sunglasses went for a swim, whipped off the roof by the wind, so we did a demi-tour and managed to pick it up before it sank.

Power station at Chooz

 The cooling towers at the Chooz nuclear power plant were sending wisps of steam into the sky to join the other light fluffy white clouds. Past the slate quarry and the citadel and moored on the quay at Givet at 1.30 p.m. with DB Stella Maris moored a few metres further down the quay. Both banks of the river had been altered for flood defences and there was no sign of any pontoons on the far bank that formed the port-de-plaisance. 

The quay at Givet

Maybe they’ve moved it to the safer location of the old commercial docks in the lock cut leading down to the last lock in France at Quatre Cheminées.

Power watering the flowers. Givet

Monday 29th April 2013 Bogny to abv Vanne-Alcorps lk. 43.5 kms 8 locks 1 tunnel

Mist hanging over the river

2.5°C Foggy start, cold and windy, sun out later in the morning. Mike was woken at a quarter to seven by a solitary forge hammer warming up in the factory across the river opposite the moorings. It reminded him of the moorings, years ago, at Barker’s yard Tipton with the now long gone Buller’s forge across the canal. It was still misty when we set off at 9,15 a.m. Still no signs of life on the German yacht as we left. The sun was out, burning off the mist, but we still had a cold north wind in our faces much of the time. Surprised to see that work was in progress at Monthermé to build a new quay for mooring, with bollards and water and electric. 

Montherme

Let’s hope they remember to dredge it as only round bottomed cruisers could get anywhere near the rough, grassy bank to tie up before. The noise of forge hammers could be heard as we passed through the town, it was coming from some old industrial buildings. By the time we reached the next lock the sun was shining from a clear blue sky. The needle weir at Monthermé had been replaced by a new modern automatic device. Into the long lock cut leading to lock 46 Monthermé. A pair of ducks were flying off in front of us for around 20 metres then landing, waiting for us to get closer then flying off again. 

Female merganser

I took some photos from the front deck of the female merganser – the male had flown over the boat and gone behind us. A tractor with a special rotating sweeping brush went past us down the towpath/road/cycle path, with a van behind it that had yellow flashing warning lights. The sweeper was kicking up a lot of dust. Down the lock and on to the 4.2 kms reach. A VNF man-in-a-van drove past heading for the lock and waved. When we arrived he was in the lock cabin. We continued as normal and Mike lifted the rod. The VNF man-in-a-van drove off down the towpath. 

Forge at Deville

When we left the lock Mike noticed that the gates didn’t close behind us. Took photos of a working forge just below the lock in Deville. A little further down river Mike took a photo of the tall house that used to be an hotel, now sadly dilapidated, just past the island in the river at KP 52.5. Two more Dutch cruisers went past heading upriver as we entered the lock cut leading to 47 La Commune. No lock house at this one and the grass around the lock was a carpet of mauve ladysmock flowers. 4.59 kms to the next. Another uphill boat, a Dutch barge called Ysselstein with a British flag. They shouted “We’ve got one of those at home!” and were gone before we could reply “So have we”

Lock 47 La Commune

As we entered the lock cut, the wooded hills to our left were named the famous Rochers des Dames de Meuse, they represent the unfaithful wives of three knights, that were turned to stone. The trees between us and them didn’t allow any good photos. Another large cruiser was coming up in lock 48 Des Dames de Meuse, when it cleared we went down. On the next reach, 4.73 kms long, I made us a cup of soup as we were getting chilled to the bone with the constant, and at time ferocious, North wind in our faces. Mike put his coat on and muffled up against the wind. 

Lock 48 Des Dames de Meuse

Strangely, we had to wait while lock 49 Orzy filled. A backpacker walking the towpath passed us as we locked down. We passed him again as we went down the short (1.6 kms) reach to Revin. The short tunnel (224m) leads to lock 50 Revin, which always used to be keeper controlled, but now is automatic like the vast majority of the rest of the locks on the river. This link cuts off another of the Meuse’s crazy circular loops. A long pound followed (6.1 kms) which gave me time to make some sandwiches for lunch. There were two VNF men-in-a-vans at lock 51 St Joseph and a Nicholls hireboat from Pont-à-Bar in the lock. 

Needle weir at lk 49 Orzy

The two vans drove off as we approached the lock. Zapped and got a red and green light, followed minutes later by double reds – en panne! Nowhere to get off and so Mike put the bow fender on the end of the lock wall and I climbed off over our bows and through a metal barred fence. As I glanced into the lock I saw the hireboat was still there as the bottom gates hadn’t fully opened. I pressed the button on the intercom on the wall of the old lockhouse. One VNF man-in-a-van returned (no one answered the intercom) and he said “C’est le bois!” 

Marsh marigolds abv lk 51 St Joseph

It’s the wood. He took a grappling hook on a long length of rope out of the back of his van and I followed him down to the bottom end gates to see if he needed any help. He seemed well used to moving logs out from behind fouled gates. We chatted as he worked. I said it was sad to see the lock house empty as I remembered the lock keeper who lived there when all the river locks had keepers and they were worked manually. He said that the house had been renovated for a retired VNF man to live in but then they had a tempest, which blew the roof off, so he left. The roof had been replaced but not the tenants, he said they would find a new tenant soon.  

Hire boats below lk 51 St Joseph

We were talking about the VNF wasting money and he said yes they spend it drip by drip and told me that they’d spent a fortune (about 250k€) to build a stopping place for péniches a bit further downriver, but he’d never seen anyone use it. Told him we were going to Berlin then Poland, which sparked an interest. We carried on chatting when the hireboat left and he refilled the lock for us. We carried on downriver, 2.75 kms, to lock 52 L’Ulf. The automatics worked OK until the gates partially opened, and stopped! The yellow lights flashed to say they were opening and stopped again. There was enough of a gap for us to get through so we left it, flashing and stopping - the VNF will get back to it. 

Backs of houses at Fumay

Round the loop of the river that virtually encircles Fumay (4.75 kms) passing the port-de-plaisance, where we once spent a very fraught month when returning to Champagne (after a summer spent exploring some of the Dutch canals) while the river was in a serious state of flood - we were very late that year mooring up for winter. One Danish cruiser was moored at the port plus the Nicholls hireboat that had been stuck in St Joseph lock. Another cruiser went past heading uphill as we passed the wood yard and we had to wait for lock 53 Vanne-Alcorps to fill with another boat in it -  then a little Belgian yacht from Gent went past, crew waving, and we went into the lock and down. 

Swallows taking a rest on lock gates at 52 L'Ulf

Clouds were gathering, great grey ones, but no rain had been forecast. One kilometre downstream of the lock we winded and came in to moor against the new quay wall at Haybes. A smart Dutch cruiser was moored there and the lady from it came to offer a hand with the rope, which was nice of her but not needed (over the years I have learned not to trust anyone with my ropes, no matter how well intentioned they are they ALWAYS have to pull on it or tie it to something – and we don’t moor like that – Mike brings the boat gently alongside, parallel to the bank (unless there’s a strong flow) and after a touch of reverse we both step off with ropes. 

Boats moored at the Port-de-Plaisance at Fumay

If I let someone have the bow rope before I’m within range of stepping on to the bank and they yank hard on it – it pulls the bow in which means the stern goes out, then we have the performance of either tying it down at the bow or loosing it back out so he can power the stern back in – it’s MUCH easier if I do it myself, especially if I don’t speak the same language as the person offering to take the rope!) We tied to the bollards and went to look to see how much they were charging for mooring now the old fallen down quay wall had been replaced. Ominously, the Dutch hadn’t connected to the electricity and I noted that there were padlocks on all the water taps. 

Hydro-electric generating station abv lk 53 Vanne-Alcorps

Mike walked up to the new Capitainerie at a house just off the square. It would be either 6,50 or 8,50€ per night, he couldn’t tell in which band they would class us, probably the most expensive. We decided we didn’t need water or electric or a fancy quay (they had a wooden shed at the end of the quay, where a very bored looking lady had several electric dayboats for hire). Two young men on Segways went past. That looks like fun. As we went on downriver we saw their van – Arden’Gyropodes – training and machines to hire. When we arrived at the next lock cut, having seen nowhere to moor except for dead trees along the meadow (our famous Polish moorings were bows to dead trees and

Moored abv lk 53 Vanne-alcorps

anchors out the back, hey-ho more of that to come next year!) we winded and crawled back upriver (revs on for 7kph and doing 5 kph) past the Segways and the mooring. Zapped and went back up lock 53 Vanne-Alcorps and winded above the weir at the end of the lock cut, returned to the lock and moored next to the piled bank on the non-towpath side about 100m from the lock. It was 5.30 p.m. We were shattered after battling into the wind all day. The lock lights went off at 6 pm but the lock was full and the top end gates were open. Shortly afterwards a converted péniche with hull and cabin painted bright red and lots of people on board came past and went down the lock. Must be some sort of hotel boat or tripper.

Saturday 27th April 2013 Pont-à-Bar to Bogny-sur-Meuse. 34.5 kms 7 locks

Preparing to leave Pont-a-Bar

5.5°C overnight minimum Cold night, grey skies with brief glimpses of sun. Very cold NNE wind blowing in our faces while we were cruising. A péniche went past slowly and quietly before we were up. Got ready to set off at 9.20 a.m. just as a Rive de France hireboat came down lock 6. Untied and followed it into lock 7 Meuse. The young French men on the hireboat said they’d never been boating before so it was all new to them. Ten minutes after we set off we were turning left on the Meuse heading downstream towards Charleville, while the cruiser headed upstream towards Sedan. 

Lock 7 Meuse. C. des Ardennes.
No walkways on the top end gates!

Mike didn’t steer for long without his coat on. 1.5 kms to the first river lock 40 Dom-le-Mesnil. Although the lockhouse had new shutters it looked unlived in. I saw a bird land on one of its chimney pots then hopped inside, must have a nest down in the chimney. 10.5 kms to the next lock. A musk rat was swimming leisurely along the right hand bank against the flow, which Mike had just commented was running at about 2 kph; we had revs on to do 6 kph but were doing 8 kph according to the GPS. On some of the bends the echo sounder recorded depths of over six metres. Mike remarked that the boat was doing sudden sideways jaunts at some of these deep spots and he reckoned they were deep holes in the riverbed caused by many years of floods. 

Lock 41 Romery. R. Meuse

We passed a fisherman in a small dinghy powered by a little electric outboard; he was banging the surface of the river with a thing like an upturned cup with a long handle. We’d seen fishermen doing this before, apparently the sound it makes attracts the fish. The river poured over a weir to our left and we went on into the lock cut leading to lock 41 Romery. Again the lockhouse looked locked up and left, uninhabited, and I can’t say as I would blame them as across the road behind the house there was a large, noisy stone quarry, still hard at work on a Saturday. 

Lock 42 Mezieres with old lockhouse to the left
overshadowed by blocks of city flats

A jogger jogged past as I was taking photos, first signs of terrestrial life. 2.97 kms into Mézières. Under the railway bridge and the river ran over a weir to our left again and we turned sharp right into a short lock cut leading to the deep (3.4m) lock 42 Mézières. Mike zapped but nothing happened, in fact he tried it several times and the lock light remained on single red. We could see a car on the lockside and suspected that there may be a lock keeper on duty, so Mike gave a long hoot to attract his attention as we’d seen no signs with VHF channels to call him on. Nothing. 

Deep river lock at Mezieres

Mike reversed towards the zapper post to have another go when the lights changed to red and green and the gates opened. Hmm, asleep was he? – or just got to a good bit in his book? No sign of him (or her, maybe) up in the lofty cabin way above us. Mike tucked the centre rope through the ladder and I lifted the blue rod (waste of time as the keeper had control) and eventually the gates closed behind us and the lock emptied slowly. Immediately we were out of the lock we did a sharp right again with the river coming in from our left (the canal section leading to the lock chopped off a big meandering loop) then about a kilometre downstream we went under another railway bridge, the river went off on another big meandering loop (with the Port-de-Plaisance and campsite situated about half a kilometre down the loop) and we turned sharp right again into another short lock cut between very high banks, that had recently been underpinned and re-enforced with concrete and tie bars plus a mound of very large rocks at waterlevel. 

Lock cabin with unseen keeper at Mezieres

Zapped and this time lock 43 Montcy worked on automatic. Floods back in about 1998 (I think it was at the time that we were stuck for a month in Fumay) swept great chunks of the bank away to the right of the lock, making a new course for the river, which the VNF later made into a new weir. There was a VNF van on the lockside and the VNF man with a mower had just gone into the (uninhabited) lockhouse for his lunch. Dropped down about 1.75m to rejoin the river again below the lock. There were sounds of shotguns firing in the woods to our right as we left the lock on the 9 kms reach. 

Leaving Mezieres lock,
weir on right not flowing today.

I made some hot sandwiches for lunch, as we were cold, still battling into the wind. Through Nouzonville, keeping left to avoid the submerged island and left past another island and the weir (noted that nesting Canada geese had spread this far now up the river, we’d seen them in Belgium before but not this far south into France) before taking the canal to lock 44 Joigny. A house that was lived in, with decorated lock cabins, old and new, plus a sign showing flood levels in the 90s. Past another island on our right, round a bend and under a bridge, then on the right just downstream of the bridge was a new pontoon (looked like it had water and electricity too) and a hireboat from Pont-à-Bar was moored there, its crew were having lunch and fishing. A winding 6 kms reach with factories at Braux on the left bank lead us to lock 45 Levrézy. I took a photo with the four peaks of rock on the hill beyond the lock, the Rocher des Quatre Fils Aymon. The sign saying “zap here” was missing but the blue box and yellow flashing light were there. Mike was concerned that there were no lights showing at the lock. The bulb must be broken, I said. 

Flood water levels from the 1990s,
 at Joigny lk 44

He zapped, the yellow flasher flashed and the green light came on down by the lock – see, the red bulb wasn’t working! The lock worked OK. Just another kilometre and we arrived at Bogny, winded to moor bows pointing upstream next to a newly refurbished pontoon. It was 3 pm. New electricity posts and water had been installed, we couldn’t use the water as we had no push in connector that would fit it. It’s made by Staubli, and going to be the new standard Mike was told at the marina at Pont a Bar, but no-one has any connectors for them. It’s the type of thing BWB would do, remember the new sized tapers on the paddle spindles than no-one had a windlass to fit? The bank had been completely done over, trees all gone and new concrete steps at the downstream end and a slope connecting to a steep passerelle at the upstream end (where we’d tied). Set the TV up, connected to the electric and unloaded the moped. Mike went to collect the car from Pont-à-Bar.

Rocks called Quatre Fils Aymon with Chateau Regnault town below

Thursday 25th April 2013 Malmy to Pont-à-Bar 11.4 kms 3 lks 1 tunnel.

Moored at Malmy

4.6°C Sunny and much warmer all day. The previous evening I’d helped Mike get the bike off the roof and stow it in the car ready for today. First he went to the village of Vendresse for a loaf, which he brought back to the boat (11 kms round trip) then over to Pont-á-Bar, parked the car by lock N°6 and returned on the moped. We set off at 11.20 a.m. I walked halfway back to the zapper post before it would work, then I walked back and got on the boat as the lock was filling. Some farm tractors were arriving around one every ten minutes, bringing loads of soil or compost in tipping trailers, 

Minor surgery on the car

which they were dumping beyond the quay. A fisherman had set up his rods right by the lock. Down lock 3 Malmy and on to the 5.9 kms pound. I made a cuppa and Mike put the sunshade up. On our left, meadows stretching up the slopes of the low hill to the woods were occupied by cows and calves, while on our right the canal was bordered with wide arable fields. The low hill, called Mont Joly curved round to the right and the river Bar wove a meandering path around it while the canal took the quick route via a tunnel called St Aignan (197m long). The entrance was around a blind left hand bend and there was a zapper post and a new set of traffic lights as it and the locks were one way working. 

The quay at Malmy

The lights turned from red to red green after Mike zapped, which meant that no one was coming through the tunnel and therefore the two locks, 4 & 5 St Aignan, at the far end of the tunnel were filling. Green light and we went through the tunnel and straight into the lock. The lock house on the left had smart blue shutters and a young lady at the house on the right was grooming a horse in the garden. The pound between the locks is very short, but wide, to allow big boats to swing out and turn sharp left into the lower lock.

Zapper post and lights at St Aignan

 There was a new picnic table on the far side of the pound and a family was using it to have their lunch. Into lock 5 and a little boy in the garden of the lock house waved before he was grabbed by a parent and taken inside. 5.1 kms to Pont-à-Bar. I made some sandwiches for lunch as we cruised along. Mike saw a couple of herons having a fight over a disputed length of bank while I was in the cabin. Heard the first cuckoo of the year while we were having lunch. The banks were covered in ladysmock and cowslips, but here and there were bright patches of wood anemones and celandines. A buzzard landed in the corner of a field and watched us watching it as we passed by. 

St Aignan tunnel, note new railings for pedestrian safety

As we went through the village of Hannogne-St-Martin I spotted a radio amateur antenna farm with more aerials than we’d ever seen before at one house. Very impressive. A row of cruisers were moored on the right by the boatyard of the Chantier Maubacq. Loads of boats were out on the hard and an old British campervan stood next to a small Dutch barge called Jenny B, which was undergoing a major refit judging by the amount of new wood standing outside it. Into the lock as the VNF crew were leaving the yard after lunch in one large and one small van. 

Out of the tunnel and into lock 4 St Aignan

They waved. We passed the hire base on the left where a long row of pénichettes were waiting for this seasons hirers to take them out. Into the lock, 6 Pont-à-Bar, which emptied OK, but the bottom end gates refused to open. Mike shinned up the ladder and gave the gates a shove from the middle and wobbled the sensor on the mitre post, THEN the hydraulic power pack started up and gates opened. We trundled past more moored boats, noted that the restaurant boat had gone and been replaced by several houseboats. We moored at 2.10 pm beyond the last of a line of cruisers, on the right next to piling at the foot of a high grassy bank. 

Below lock 5 St Aignan

A DB was coming up in lock 7 and seemed to be taking ages. A woman walked up the towpath (the opposite bank to where we’d moored) and asked if the next lock was working. She said the top gates on lock 7 wouldn’t fully open, so they couldn’t get out of the lock. They’d called the VNF but she said they would take a long time, maybe two hours. Mike looked through binos and saw that one gate looked as if it hadn’t fully opened, probably had tree debris behind it. The power pack had sensed an overload and had shut down. The light triangle displayed two, vertical red lights, “en panne” out of order. 

Hireboats waiting for this season's hirers above lock 6 Pont-a-Bar

We got on with our routine and set up the TV, etc. Mike moved the car, which he’d left parked on the road by the lock this morning, and brought it down the path so it was next to the boat. I gave him a hand to get the empty gas bottle out of the front locker and he went to get a refill and get some petrol for the genie. Just before he left at 4 pm the DB Rosa went past heading uphill – it HAD taken the VNF almost three hours! Nice boat with a lovely sounding slow-running diesel engine. 

Friday 19th April 2013 Tannay to Malmy. 11.9 kms 2 locks

Moored nr Tannay on summit of C des Ardennes

3.6°C (Glad we lit the coal fire overnight!) Grey clouds with sunny spells. Cold wind. Shell boat L’Heritage went past at 9.45 a.m. heading the same way as us. We said we’d follow them today. I asked if they’d had a pleasant stay in Le Chesne and she said they’d had a meal out. We set off at 10.10 a.m. It was about 3.5 kms to the first lock. Beyond the derelict house there was a row of green buoys along the right side of the canal and we could see that a whole length of piling had collapsed. Not really surprising as they don’t add bracing bars when they do their piling here in France. A buzzard sitting in a tree remained there long enough for Mike to switch the camera on and he just got the tail and flight feathers of it as it took off. 

Bank erosion caused by excessive wash. Below lk 1 Sauville

We could hear another buzzard close by in some dead trees and guessed there might be a nest. As we went round the last bend before lock 1 Sauville we could see the blue cabin of L’Heritage leaving the lock. The telecommand now came into use and we zapped the post where there was a lightning pyramid on top, the yellow light on it flashed to say it had received a signal and the lock lights went from just red to red and green. We crossed a little aqueduct over a stream that runs into La Bar, a tributary of the Meuse, whose valley the canal follows down to the river. 

Lock 2 La Cassine

The lock filled and we went down. Each of these seven locks were equipped sometime during the 1920s or 1930s with pumping stations that back pump water from the river up to the summit in times of water shortage. 3.65 kms to the next. The wind was chilly as the countryside changed from pastureland to woodland. A jay flew over, squawking loudly. The sloping grassy banks supporting the towpath had been eroded by the excessive wash of passing boats; the VNF had made a vain attempt to stop this by adding a few large plastic sacks full of earth along the edge. Beyond the towpath there was a long open grassy field with the woodland still beyond it. 

Back-pumping station at La Cassine.
Each of the seven locks down to the Meuse has one.

To our great surprise there was a coypu sitting on the bank beyond the grassy towpath, watching us watching him. He ambled off before I could take a photo. A few minutes later exactly the same thing happened again, another coypu stared at us for a few minutes before diving into the canal and the safety of its den. Zapped lock 2 La Cassine. Mike took photos of the sun shining on the mellow stone ruins of the château beyond the lock house as we went into the lock. An old black dog from the lock house woofed at us while wagging his tail. Their garden was full of gnomes and stone animals. Below the lock there is a useful quiet mooring, today the grass between the picnic tables was being eco-mowed by a large brown un-tethered goat. 

Chateau ruins at La Cassine

As we chugged on along the last few kilometres of canal for today I made a cuppa to warm us up. More buzzards, a group of four, were soaring high up far off to our right and being attacked by a solitary crow. Flocks of fast flying darting birds took off from the towpath, too swift to see accurately what they were, I guessed they might be finches. The road alongside the canal became busy with lunchtime traffic, one vehicle every five minutes! There were low tree-covered hills beyond arable fields as the canal started to wind around to the next lock, 3 Malmy. We didn’t zap the post, as we wanted to moor on the quay just before the lock. It was 12.40 pm when we tied up. Again the Internet was useless so no blogging today. The quay here is suitable for Mike to do the job on the car he’s been waiting to do for some time. As soon as the bitter cold Northerly wind stops he’s going to renew the camshaft timing and auxiliary drive belts. He doesn’t know the service history so it’s safer to change the belts rather than risk them breaking. If the camshaft timing belt breaks the repair could be very, very expensive.