Monday 14th September 2009 Coulanges to Pierrefitte. C. Latéral à La Loire.

Grey clouds, lots of them, brief sunny spells and a chilly wind. Set off at 10.30 a.m. following The Big Boat to the lock. A Canalous hire boat, which had moored overnight behind us, set off as we did and overtook us. Grim determination on the face of the elderly French bloke who was steering; he stared straight ahead and didn’t speak. An uphill yacht went past, so the lock should be set. Mike called The Big Boat on VHF and M said he would let the hire boat in the lock first and carry on down with it. No room for us so we hovered by the bridge above the lock. I got off and walked down to give the keeper (and D) a hand with the manually operated lock, 3 Oddes. They told Mike on VHF that the hireboat had got in a terrible state getting into the lock, missed the bollards and nearly did a 360° turn. Gave D a hand to open the bottom end gate; she got on below the lock and I helped the resident keeper (a young man with a scar on his top lip) turn the lock round; he worked the towpath side, I worked the left hand side. I’d just said we could get in through one gate when we spotted a small steel cruiser that had caught us up, with a South African flag on the stern and an older couple on board. The skipper got off and lent a hand with the bottom end gate. The boat descended 2.4m and I crossed over to get on down the steps on the towpath side before the gates opened as the wind was blowing the boat across to that side. 3.9 kms to the next lock but we weren’t going that far. As we entered the strung out village of Pierrefitte there was an old Luxemotor moored by KP18 which looked permanent. M said the bollards were no good now as they were beyond the tarmac cycle path. We said there’s a new mooring in the layby a bit further on, so The Big Boat cast off again. An uphill LeBoat (an old Connoisseur cruiser) was almost up the bank as we went past it and the steerer was struggling and oversteering. 

RQ was still moored in the layby. The Big Boat moored in front of him and we moored in front of The Big Boat. I made some lunch. A large blue Burgundy Cruisers steel boat moored at the far end of the layby, but only paused for lunch. M and D went into the village for bread but there was no boulangerie and the Proxi market had none. After lunch Mike took a stroll 4kms back to Coulanges to get the car.

Sunday 13th September 2009 Coulanges. C. Latéral à La Loire.

Warm and sunny. A day off. Mike painted black lines on the diamonds and scumbling on the engine room roof. Passing French cyclists (who’d paused to use the loo) came to watch and comment, the lines went wobbly. 

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.