Dull, damp overcast morning; sun out 2.30 p.m. after we tied up. Left Gannay at 10.20 a.m. after D had been to book our locking with the lock keeper. Into lock 12 Vanneaux (3.20m) following The Big Boat. A young dark-haired chap with glasses worked the lock for us and we were soon running down on to the 5.7 kms pound. The air was damp, not exactly drizzle but enough to make me put my windproof, waterproof jacket on. A boat was coming up in lock 13 L’Huilerie (3.5m). We passed a British cruiser with a smoky engine and an enthusiastic young man in a peaked cap worked the lock for us then drove off down the towpath. 2.7 kms to lock 14 La Mothe (3.45m) where there was a smart lock house - but no longer a resident lock keeper - I had asked our young keeper who had driven down from his lock to work this one for us. Dommage, (a pity) we both agreed. He asked what time we would be at the next lock. Mike looked at the time, 12.06 p.m. and said 1.05 p.m. (It was 5 kms so it would take us just an hour). Impeccable, came the reply. He drove back up the towpath in his VNF van and returned a few minutes later in his car (a vehicle as battered and ancient as ours) with his missus - off to have their lunch no doubt. I made some sandwiches and we ate lunch on the move. Cottage gardens adjoining the canal had neat vegetable plots and fenced areas with ducks, geese and goats. One had an amazing pumpkin patch with some enormous specimens almost ready for Hallow’een, a festival French kids have heartily taken to, mainly from watching American TV. Rural France at its best. After all that quizzing about what time we would be at the lock, lock 15 Saulx (2.5m) wasn’t ready when The Big Boat arrived. They were still stooging in the middle while a middle aged VNF man in VNF long shorts and cap refilled the lock. Another VNF van arrived to join the two already parked by the house and our keeper had an assistant to open and close the top end gates. He asked D where we were going and she told him they were stopping on the quay in Decize to shop at the Intermarché while we were carrying on down the two locks on to the river. He said à tout à l’heure (see you shortly) as we left, which made us wonder what they had done to the automatic locks which lead down on to the Loire. Just a short distance and we were at the junction. The Big Boat tied up by RQ on the quay. (D told me later that M had stuck one of his mooring pins down a hole he presumed someone else’s pin had made, only to find it was a wasps’ nest!) A large 15m LeBoat was sitting at the junction waiting for the lock, 16 bis St Maurice (2.52m), to fill after they’d pulled the rope. The irritating zut-zut of a bow thruster kept the boat exactly in line with the chamber while it filled, very slowly. No sign of our keeper. When the lock gates opened we followed the hire boat in. It was slow to fill and even slower to empty. The keeper from the last lock turned up just in time to watch us leave. The hireboat turned sharp left back to the base it belonged to, as did the one which had just come up off the river.
Lock 16 ter Decize was full but the gates had closed. I pulled the hanging rope and the gates reopened. Once in the chamber I heaved the rod to activate the automatic sequence. Our lock keeper had followed us down to the lock and arrived as it was almost empty. (Still no idea why he followed us, except that he’s programmed to keep an eagle eye on hire boats and can’t tell the difference!) We said au’voir and ran downstream on the Loire following the buoyed channel to the road bridge. There was one LeBoat moored on the quay by the road bridge. A very noisy mooring; we continued down to the junction with the old river Loire. The quay on the Loire was occupied by a group of fishermen who had numerous rods and lines set up. We turned the corner and went upstream on the old Loire, keeping close to the right hand bank as we could see clumps of reeds in the middle. Winded and moored next to a quay which used to have all facilities but now had only bollards to moor to and the remains of an electricity post. It was surprisingly 2m deep by the quay. I gave Mike a hand to get the bike off the roof which we did without using a plank as the quay came halfway up the cabin side.
Later in the afternoon a hireboat went the wrong way and was heading for the weir on the Loire but managed to extricate himself - we thought we might be calling for the pompiers (fire brigade)! The Big Boat tied up behind us and Mike went off to collect the car from Gannay
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