Saturday 12th September 2009 Molinet to Coulanges. C. Latéral à La Loire.

Warm with lots of clouds and sunny spells. Two empty péniches went past heading downhill, Raaf at 7.30 a.m. and Mazel from Rotterdam at 9.45 a.m. We left at ten, following The Big Boat down the rest of the 8.5 kms pound. The new tarmac layer finished about 200m beyond the layby but was still a reasonable tarmac surface for the cyclists and roller bladers. By the first aqueduct we spotted a set of wooden stop planks housed in the usual open fronted shed with a corrugated tin roof. That was unusual as the VNF now seem to favour metal tanks which can be placed in the stop plank slots and filled with water to sink. I made some tea and toast en route to the only lock of the day, 2 Thalenne. We’d all forgotten it was the start of the manually operated locks. D closed a top end gate for the young man who was in charge of the lock. A group of people were on the lockside chatting with him and watching the boats lock through. He asked D if she’d told the last keeper that we were staying above his lock for the weekend, she said no, which was true - it was Mike! An old dog, mostly yellow Labrador, wandered round the lock checking each crew member for biscuits. Too late pooch we’d eaten all the toast. We dropped down another 2.51m. The lock house and garden were very well kept and there were banana palms either side the bridge below the lock. A short wooden staging had been placed by the towpath for crews to get on and off. We noted that the keeper left the gates open and also lifted a feed paddle. A Danish yacht making rolling waves passed us heading uphill just before we tied up on the battered old quay (half the wooden fendering was missing and loads of bolts were sticking out of the concrete wall) at Coulanges. 

It was 11.30 a.m. Again the electricity supply had gone, but there were the ends of orange plastic tubes sticking up either side of the tarmac path which would indicate that they intend to add new water and electric posts sometime in the future. Mike banged a mooring pin through the back of a section of old wooden fendering and disturbed a nest of the tiniest ants we’d ever seen. M and D went for a walk round the village. We had some lunch then Mike watched the F1 qualis from Monza in Italy.