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.
