Tuesday 8th September 2009 Génelard. C. du Centre

Warm and sunny. A day off to do painting, plus we ordered some solar panels and a controller -
via the Internet – installation would be a Winter project.

Monday 7th September 2009 Blanzy to Génelard. C. du Centre.

Hot and sunny. Mike dried the engine room roof then he took a walk to find a bakery. He had to walk all the way up the hill past La Poste to find one that was open, two were on holiday and one had closed down completely. He put some blue paint on, the last of the diamonds. We untied at 10.35 a.m. A VNF man in a white car arrived to ask if we were leaving as we were untying. Lock 8, Mireaux was ready, its lock house lived in. Dropped down 2.4m. The gates were very slow to open, we thought that someone was going to have to climb a ladder! 1.8 kms to lock 9. Through the outskirts of Montceau-les-Mines, the road was lined with little semi-detached houses built on the side of a slope with first floor doors at road level and ground level below that. On past the Leclerc hypermarket which was having an extension built. The canal was close to the railway again and trains passing on our left were very loud. The VNF offices were on the lockside at 9, Montceau, and the lady keeper came out to ask if we were stopping. She worked the lock from the office. Down another 2.86m. I made a cuppa as we started a longish pound, 3.5 kms to the next lock. The port had short finger moorings and there were a few boats moored there, plenty of space. 

There were three lift bridges all of which had been renewed; the first was a vertical lift the next two were drawbridges worked by hydraulic arms under the deck. There was a man in a cabin by the middle one so we suspect he worked all three bridges. The road on the right bank through town was very busy. The layby and basin by the old, (now derelict, windows smashed) steelworks were empty. Just before we arrived at the next lock there was a pontoon with a caravan on it being used as a houseboat. 

A row of duvets hung from the upstairs windows of four houses above Chavannes lock 10. Nice to be back in proper rural France, all we need now are chickens in the street! The lock had been refurbished with concrete sides, new bollards and four poles for the automatic activation strings! Sublime to the ridiculous! A woman came out from the lock house where a yellow light was flashing on the VNF office at the end of the building and watched us work through the shallow (2.29m) lock. A large French flagged cruiser was waiting below the lock to go up. 400m to lock 11, Vernois, and down another 2.63m. The lock had four poles around it but the tops were missing. The lock house was empty. I made lunch at the start of the winding 4.3 kms pound. A lady keeper (minder) in a van was waiting for us at lock 12, Four, which also had four new posts - it was my turn to pull the cord. We descended 2.85m. On the 1.9 kms pound we had loads of little blue butterflies settling on the boat, we passed a field full of maize then back to meadows filled with white charollais cows. An old empty péniche with a centre cabin called Romulus was moored just before lock 13, Anzy. An old boatman lived in the lock cottage as there was a boat mast on the lockside. Our lady minder was there to see us through the lock, which had four new posts – Mike’s turn. 1.7 kms to lock 14, Ciry., through the village of Ciry-leNoble with banana palms and chickens in the gardens. Lock 14 was worked for us by an old man with a crane type controller. There were contractors (NOT VNF staff) doing the work of making the locks automatic, one was burning holes in metal plates by the bottom right hand gate. Down another 2.81m. 3.3 kms to the next. A pair of sandpipers flew off down the canal in front of the boat. An old wooden planked cruiser called Mami was moored by some houses 500m down from the lock. It would take a great deal of hard work to get it repaired. The old chap sped off down the road in a VNF car and was at lock 15, Civry, to work it for us, again using a crane controller. Down another 2.41m. 2.6 kms of winding canal, with the ever present road on the right bank, to the next lock (our last) 15, Génelard. There was a place advertising bouncy castles for hire at the start of the village, then the canal went through a deep cutting on an S bend with 45°stone walls that had dozens of flights of narrow stone steps from the narrow path at the base to the bank at the top of the wall. The old bloke worked the lock for us again. Told him we would be stopping a few days, maybe longer. Another, younger, VNF bloke appeared and said if we were staying a few days to moor on the right as there would be a fishing contest on Saturday on the left bank. OK. We dropped down 2.53m. As we would be going again well before Saturday we moored on the left.

Sunday 6th September 2009 Blanzy. C. du Centre.

Cold overnight but a cooler sunny day. Mike dried the cabin roof to add more white paint to the diamonds and took photos of the moorings. He took a photo of the boats from the bridge then gave the diamonds a second coat of white paint. Lunch. Two boats arrived. A very large British cruiser, which moored in front of us and a Swiss crewed boat flying a French flag moored behind The Big Boat. Mooring full! 

Saturday 5th September 2009 Montchanin to Blanzy. C. du Centre.

Cold overnight, foggy first thing, sun out about ten. Mike put a coat of white paint on the diamonds on the engine room roof before we set off at 10.30 a.m. The two German boats that had moored overnight behind us went without uttering one word to us (but they managed to get electric off the VNF). A VNF man on an electric scooter came down to lock 1 Océan and set it for us. The Big Boat went in first and D pulled the cord and we dropped down 2.53m. The lock house was empty, windows bricked up and going to ruin. The keeper waited while the lock emptied them followed us down to the next. 1.1 kms to lock 2 Brenots, 2.58m deep. For automatic locks they were very slow to empty. A house beside the lock looked occupied but wasn’t the lock house that had gone. 500m to lock 3 Favée, down 2.90m. The unoccupied lock house had recently had new shutters. No sign of the man on a scooter. 1.5 kms to the next so I made a cuppa. Lock 4, Parizenot, was shallow at only 2.09m. There was a smart lock house alongside and a lady keeper in a flatbed VNF van had appeared. I made some toast while Mike held the string as there was a longish pound of 2.4 kms to the next. Lock 5, Planche-Calard, was 2.51m deep and had a bricked up lock house. D said the woman had told her that we must both leave the lock within one minute or the gates will close. Mike said the gates don’t close behind us on these locks as they leave them all empty, set for uphill traffic! She’d told M and D that a boat had been caught in the gates last week and that was why they were accompanying boats. Load of rubbish! It’s more likely another VNF job creation scheme. An uphill small German cruiser passed us as we left lock 5. 500m to lock 6, Brûlard, 2.62m deep. The lock seemed to empty a bit quicker. 1 km to the next. No sign of the lady keeper in a van until we were in the last lock of the day, 7 La Roche. We dropped down 2.62m and she said au’voir and switched the lock off as we set off on the 2.7 kms pound. We stopped at 1.00 p.m. on the new quay at Blanzy, equipped with water and electricity. It even had a car park layby right next to the quay. However, all was not 100% rosy as the boat was on the bottom. The nice new concrete quay with timbered edging had been built on top of an old sloping stone quay. Mike put tyres down to sink under the bottom of the boat and then pulled the ropes up tight so we didn’t scrape on the stones. Had some lunch then Mike went back to Montchanin to get the car. A cruiser moored in front of us on the last available bollard, but didn’t stay long. I got a wasp sting on my arm while closing the front deck covers. That hurt! There was a firework display from a nearby park and we had an excellent view from the end of the quay next The Big Boat. 

Friday 4th September 2009 Montchanin. C. du Centre.

Rain in the morning, sunny afternoon. Spent most of the day catching up on correspondence, etc.

Thursday 3rd September 2009 Montchanin. C. du Centre.

Grey clouds with a few sunny spells. A small British yacht had moored overnight behind us. The VNF had been busy since 8.00 a.m. Mike decided to walk back down the towpath to fetch the car from St Julien as it was only 7 kms. I got on with the chores and made a quiche. I was getting lunch ready when he returned. After lunch Mike refilled the water tank from the tap in the VNF workshop. He asked the guy in the office if he knew which pounds would be emptied this winter, yes but not when, depends on the weather. He said Genelard would be OK as there was no work scheduled for that pound. Later we went in the car to take photos of the boat from the far side by Geoff’s and a walk along the path between the canal and the reservoir to take a photo of a strange plastic object hanging in one of the trees that Mike had seen on his walk back to the car. I had no idea what it was other than some sort of trap, a collecting device for something maybe seeds or bugs. The yacht went to be replaced by two cruisers.

Wednesday 2nd September 2009 St Julien-s-D. to Montchanin. C. du Centre.

Grey clouds all day, much colder but no rain. Sun out again late evening. All the other boats left before we did at 10.30 a.m. There were no lock lights on at lock 8, Abbaye, so we hovered in the middle. Within a few minutes the VNF man in a car returned (Mike had already confirmed with him that we would set off at 10.30 a.m.) and switched the automatics on. Into the chamber up to the front to pull the blue cord then backed off to the tail end and the lock filled. 5.13m. All the locks to the top had no houses, just old concrete lock cabins alongside the chambers. A short twisty pound took us to lock 7, Rocher, a shallow one at 2.5m. Mike went in too close to the lock wall and the censor (in the middle on a beam across the chamber just before the tail end gates) didn’t “see” the boat. Backed out and came in again, this time it worked. I made a cuppa on our way to lock 6, Motte. Another 5.19m rise. 

Took photos of the museum and the boulangerie that isn’t, plus the boats on dry land and a building with a beautiful arched gateway. The VNF man returned to ask if we were continuing (there was a quay above the lock); yes, all the way to Montchanin. The old houses along the road on our right had colourful Burgundy tiled roofs.  Lock 5, Forge, played up and refused to work. I climbed the ladder and used the intercom. Typical, an elderly couple had stopped their car alongside the lock to watch. The VNF man turned up, asked if I’d tugged the string (of course) but he tried it anyway – it didn’t work - so he went in the cabin and restarted it for us. He had another phone call and sped off downhill in his car. The road alongside the canal at lock 4, Ravin, was very noisy. It was midday. The flow pushed us hard to the left although our notes said it filled on the left, it didn’t. A very short pound lead to lock 3, Fourneau. Up another 5.18m and the water pinned the boat to the left hand wall. Another short pound to lock 2, Charmois where the boat rose 5.18m glued to the right hand wall. 

We could see a boat (a pénichette) had just entered the top lock, a shallow one (2.31m) called Méditerranée. The boat rose gently in the lock as it had no gate paddles, only grounds. Mike paused above the top lock to take photos of the paintings on the lock cabin before we set off on the 4kms long summit pound. It was 12.45 p.m. The TGV line crossed the canal immediately above the top lock. Back to a “proper” canal as we entered the summit cutting, no road alongside just a two tiered towpath, no tarmac all green and grassy, without the bikes, cars and skaters. Peaceful for at least the first 2 kms. Under an old rusty girder bridge that looked like an old railway bridge, then the ultra busy N80 trunk road and the top tier of towpath came down to join the one just above water level as the cutting finished then the road reappeared on the right hand side. Peace over. Lorries and campervans passing by honked their horns and the drivers waved. We waved back. There were no boats moored now along the non towpath side by the reservoir where we had once moored under the trees. Through the next bridge we could see the stern end of our friend’s boat moored on the quay by the VNF workshops. M and D came out to welcome us and invite us over for lunch as we tied up. It was 1.30 p.m. We finished tying up, put all the gear away and joined them on their stern deck for lunch and a beer. We talked about moorings. Decided not to give up 100% on mooring on the Nivernais, but to check out the moorings between Montchanin and there. 

Tuesday 1st September 2009 St Julien-sur-Dheune. KP42 C. du Centre.

Thunderstorms all day with rain, often torrential, which stopped mid-evening. Glad we decided not to move. The painting got put on hold too. We went by car to Chalon Sud, again, did some shopping at Carrefour and Castorama. Set up the laptop in the car while Mike was in Casto to access 3G and edit my draft blogs, post them and add a few photos. Back home for a very late lunch. I put the groceries away and Mike went up to La Poste in the car. The post office was closed until Thursday and only opens mornings. During the afternoon the moorings filled up. Getting very busy again all of a sudden. A VNF man in a car called to ask when we were leaving. Maybe tomorrow, after we’ve done some more painting, if it’s not raining. If it’s raining we’ll not move.