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| Mauvages tunnel note the new safety boat - orange thing propped up against wall |
3.3ºC Cold misty and wet. Mike started the engine at
8.30am to make sure it would start - and
supply electricity for breakfast (kettle, microwave and toaster) Set off at
9.20am as the lock lights were already green and the last lock 1 Tombois was
ready for us, last of the filthy dirty ladders for Mike to climb. Filled the
water tank and left the top lock at 9.50am. Short distance to Mauvages tunnel,
5kms long and lit like a Christmas tree plus we had a VNF man on a bike riding the
very narrow towpath to keep
an eye on us (in times past the cyclist used to
switch sections of lighting on and off for boats passing through, but as the
new lighting is on all the time all the way through the tunnel we assumed his
job was now on health & safety grounds only. Depth of water 3.2m. Out at
10.55am – took us just an hour and five minutes. Said Au’voir to our cyclist as
he started to take off all his safety gear and load it and his bike into his VNF
van. Photo of eastern end of the tunnel. Several photos of an old towpath
traction engine by the first road bridge. There was a man with a van waiting for us at the
top of the flight of 12 automatic locks down the
valley to Void. Nice to be
going downhill again. I lifted the rods to activate most of the locks. Lock 4’s
bottom end gates stayed open after we left. Lock 5 was keeper-worked from the
cabin. Lock 6 worked without the keeper. Lock 7’s gates stayed open after we
left. Left lock 12 at 2.25pm. As we passed the sensors below the last lock the
lights changed from red to green – we saw no boats wanting to go uphill?? A tractor and trailer went down the road alongside the canal with two round bales of hay on the trailer, one on
top of the other, rocking about quite well – wonder if he’ll get to where he’s
going without them falling off? Passed a loaded péniche called Nobis heading
uphill at about KP105 just after the town of Void (our man in a van had told us
there was a péniche that we would pass) Arrived at Pagny at 4.30pm and moored next to the long pontoon. Two Brit boats moored at the other end. Crew off one of them told Mike
that the canal to the north had been closed for the day as a car had fallen in the canal. Mike went off
in the car to get a new starter battery (76Ah - the old one was 90) from Cora in Toul
(79€) and a container of diesel at 1.443€/litre
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| Old towpath traction engine |
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| Passing loaded boat Nobis |
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