The girl trainee arrived (in her own VNF car) to ask if we were moving; yes; going that way (pointing uphill) yes. The towpath was already very busy with cyclists as we set off at 9.20 a.m. The first lock, no 31, was ready when we arrived with gates open and green light on. I pulled twice on the slimy cord thinking nothing was happening, found it was just slow for the gates to close. I found the very loud creaking of the gates as the lock filled very un-nerving on the shallow (2.5m) lock (bottom end lock gates have been known to "blow" when they don't have proper maintenance, in other words reverse direction and let all the water out plus anything else in the lock like boats!). The lock house was empty and there were new wooden posts around the lockside waiting to have chains added to keep the cyclists off the locksides. Lock 30 was full! With a LeBoat hireboat in it, slowly getting ropes in, etc. The lock emptied and we went up. Found the lock working was very slow for automatic locks. No house at 30 and more new wooden posts. As the shallow lock (2.64m) finished filling the girl in the car returned and asked if we’d share the next lock with the hire boat in front of us. OK. The next lock, 29 (2.39m the shallowest of the flight) was having a new hydraulic cylinder fitted to the bottom left hand gate. The fitter called us in through the one open gate and we asked the hire boat to move up a bit so we could get behind it on the right hand side of the chamber. The gate was fixed, so the repair man worked the lock using a yellow crane-style controller device. Two boats were waiting above the lock to come down, a narrowboat and a British cruiser. Lock 28 was the first of the deep (5.20m) ones and the hireboat crew went slowly up to it and started to wave us past. No way! Lighter boat at the front always. There was panic in the air as the crew (who turned out to be a British couple) tried to fathom out what to do with their ropes. Mike went up front to tell them what to do, fore and aft ropes around the single floater to keep the boat centred around the bollard as it rises. Told them that the water comes in via the floor of the lock chamber, so it would glue the boat to the wall anyway. Deaf ears, still in panic. They went very slowly up to lock 27 and were still having fights with the ropes again when a new lock keeper arrived to take charge. Lock 26 was a shallow one (2.56m). There was graffiti on the lock cabin wall which translated as “commercial boats decline, VNF have no worries”. Yes, we see the point. Two more boats were waiting above, a British cruiser and a Belgian steel cruiser. Lock 25 (5.20m) shoved us over to the left again. I just let the rope out and let it push the boat against the left wall. No lock house. The keeper returned to ask if we were stopping at Chagny. The hireboat was and I told him we’d stay on the long pond. One more to do, lock 24 another 5.20m deep one. Two more boats were waiting above, another Brit flagged steel cruiser and an ex-hire Connoisseur, French registered. We left the top at 12.05 p.m. The hireboat stopped on the new mooring right hand side at the beginning of the long straight cutting into Chagny. At the far end there was a small French cruiser moored, a small Luxe in need of some tlc and a converted péniche. Two permanent moorers on the right bank of the basin, an ex-Rive-de-France and a catamaran. A small tug was moored on the left by the new resto and a Dutch yacht was moored at the left end of the VNF quay. We moored in front of them, bow into the corner. Mike asked how much they charged for the mooring. The Dutch couple replied it was free with water but no electricity. It was 12.30 p.m. We had somelunch then Mike went for a walk up to the post office. Our post hadn't arrived yet. We set off again at 1.50 p.m. pausing on the aqueduct over the railway while Mike took a photo. The hireboat we'd locked with had just gone past. Round the bend, missing a fisherman’s two lines and we passed the hireboat at the Snailly base taking on water. Told them we weren’t staying in Chagny as it was too hot and there was no shade. There were five ex-hire Locaboats moored there and a converted péniche. Found no shade and only a couple of places to tie up, so at 3.10 we winded at the last mooring near Corchanut and went back to moor, still facing downhill, opposite the village of Santenay, which was on the far bank of the river Dheune. It was excessively hot. Once we’d tied up we retreated inside and crashed out for an hour before unloading the bike off the roof using the big plank. Mike went to get the car from Fontaines and I started preparing a salad for dinner.
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