Warm and sunny. We finished wiping the boat down - it was running with condensation - then set off just as a downhill cruiser cleared the canal. It was very noisy along the first stretch of canal through St Léger-des-Vignes as there were roadworks and a loud jackhammer digging up the tarmac. Took a photo of the old tug, Ampére, which was out on the bank. The first lock, 35 Loire (1.51m), was ready for us and a young man worked the manual lock for us – even taking ropes! (We used fore and aft ropes on these keeper manually operated locks) Above the lock on the left bank Aster (a restored wooden boat of the type used on the canal) was moored by the dry dock and there were six DBs moored (mostly dead boats) and a couple of cruisers. The same young man worked lock 34 Vauxelle (2.4m) for us. A perfect locking, I told him as we left. I asked if there had been many narrowboats this year and he said yes, mainly in September. He’d been opening just one gate for us but as we left he opened two as there was downhill traffic. Along a factory fence there were a dozen large plane trees whose branches, in full healthy green leaf, were being pollarded already. It suddenly dawned on me that they were having all the branches taken off complete with leaves to save the mess of sweeping up the Autumn leaves! Crafty! We passed two downhill boats, one French cruiser and one hire boat, by the first road bridge. Just beyond the basin, called Port de La Copine (the Girlfriend’s Port), a new metalled path appeared on the left - now there were cycle paths on both sides. The only traffic we saw was one lady power walker and, later, a couple of elderly cyclists. A few minutes later and we were out of Decize and houses gave way to rolling fields, low distant hills and grazing Charollais cattle as the Nivernais canal followed the valley of the tiny river l’Aron. Lock 33, Champvert (2.27m) was empty with both gates open. Then a man in a red car on the towpath stopped to tell us he was off to lunch and he’d see us at one o’clock. The lock keeper! Mike asked if we could wait in the lock, yes no problem. We’d just passed a mooring quay with bollards. We threw ropes around bollards on the lockside and had lunch. A Locaboat had moored at the quay. When our keeper returned he said the Locaboat would be coming up in about an hour and we could wait for them at the next lock and he would work the two of us through together as we were both going to Cercy. Another wait. OK. It was 3.3 kms to the next so up went the sunshade as it was starting to get hot. Fly swatters came out too as there were many stable flies about (they look like houseflies but they bite) due to the number of horses and cattle in the adjacent fields. Halfway to the lock the red car flew past us heading for the lock. The keeper must have changed his mind. Seen any sign of the hire boat? he asked as we went into lock 32 Roche (3.07m). Nope and the last straight was a long one, we could see as far back as the stone remains of a former swing bridge.
Mike said they must be enjoying the wine, he said no - the cheese! He worked the lock for us. I asked if there were many boats at Cercy, he said he would ring his colleague, the lady who is keeper for the next three locks. He seemed surprised that we spoke French. Only one boat on the pontoon. Great. He asked when we would continue. Wednesday at ten, provided it’s not raining. He told us the TV had said cold at night but warm sunny days all this week. Good. 7.7 kms to the next lock and we weren’t going through that until Wednesday. The tarmac on our right became a grassy path, then there were sheep grazing and a fence across the path! The canal banks were higher and the edges sloping stone as we got nearer to the river section. Mallow and scabious flowered in the grass. Through the flood lock and on to the Aron; round a left bend and we tied on the end of a long pontoon. There was one hireboat moored about 20m in front of us and a gap of about the same upstream of it.
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