Saturday 2nd April 2016 Soulanges to Contrisson. 36.4kms 17 locks

Lock house at lock 2 Lermite

7.4° C Grey skies, sun through briefly after lunch and temperature went up to 16.5° C outside. Mike was up early again set off at 7.22am to get to the first lock just after the 8am opening time. Into the outskirts of Vitry-le-François and up lock 3 Couvrot, just 1.2m lift. The old lockhouse was still standing but looked empty. 1.2kms to lock 2 Lermite an extra deep one at 3.9m (reckon they replaced two locks with this one and renumbered them all that’s why the ancient house plaque numbers are not the same as the new lock side boards). A nicely painted péniche called Alain was moored above the lock

Locked gates in fence surrounding lock 1 Vitry

by the house next to the old quarry. 1.4kms and we were at the last lock on the Latèral canal, lock 1 Vitry-le-François (still surrounded by a high green mesh fence and gates). Up another 2.6m and as we left the lock we crossed an aqueduct over the river Saulx, whose valley we were about to follow. Skirting round Vitry to the north on a high embankment. We passed some fishermen then noted there was a site for travellers with parking bay and toilet facilities by each one - but it was fenced off and

Burnt out ruins of the former fuel depot in Vitry

the travellers were all parked outside the fence, what was that all about? Amazed to see that the fuel place had burned down, the metal panelled walls were now all bent and twisted from the heat. Keeping left at the junction with the D’Heuilley canal (Marne à la Saône) we were now on the Marne-au-Rhin Ouest (West) and soon arrived at the first lock, 70 St Etienne. Automatic and activated by passing between sensors located 100m or so below (or above) each lock. The lock was full with water running over the bottom end gates, so we had a short wait while it emptied. Up 2.5m, no signs of any VNF staff. No one around at the refurbished lock house. 1.88kms to the next

One of several signs below lock 70 St Etienne.
First lock on the Marne-au-Rhin canal

lock. A sparrowhawk flew over from the trees on one side of the canal to those on the other side. The next lock, 69 Adecourt, was already empty so no waiting. Water was pouring over the top end gates. No house at all by the lock. I added an extra layer of clothing as I was getting cold as we went along the 2.8kms pound to the next lock. Made a cup of soup to warm us up. An elderly couple had stopped their car by the towpath and got out to say bonjour as we passed. Through the next set of sensors and round a tight left hand bend into lock 68 Brusson, which was also empty. Up another 2.8m. Another nicely refurbished

One of several signs below lock 70 St Etienne. 
First lock on the Marne-au-Rhin canal

lock house. Over another aqueduct, a tributary of the Saulx called the Bruxenelle. 2.1kms to the next lock, through open fields, both banks lined with plane trees, with the dead seed heads of last year’s teazels on top of the banks and tall reeds growing around the winding hole just before lock 67 Ponthiron. Another short wait while the lock emptied. A moorhen flew nervously across the canal and scuttled into the reeds. As we rose 2.6m in the lock Madame came out of the house (as her two big dogs were barking) and she wished us a good journey and better weather. Another smaller, yapping dog was running in circles around the garden behind the house. The bottom end gates behind us banged as they shifted

A very useful thing - a used oil disposal point

due to the water pressure as the lock was almost full, that made us jump. A long pound of 4.5kms on an embankment overlooking a huge long ploughed field took us to the next lock. Under a road bridge by the village of Bruisson, there were trees both sides and a small quay with a sign saying Plaisance. We’d stayed there last year next to a very old yacht, which we noted was no longer there, the whole quay now empty. In lock 66 Bignicourt we rose 3m watching the fast flowing river running right behind the lock house. 2kms to the next, so I made some lunch. Took photos

And marked graphically where to put what,
even for non-French speakers! 

of some very unusual black and white ducks that were not in any of my European bird books (later identified as a breed of domestic duck called a Magpie duck!). Beautiful birds. Mike saw a golden oriole, I missed it. At lock 65 Etrépy a VNF man-in-a-van arrived to give us a zapper to work the locks from number 55 onwards. A friendly chatty keeper with dark hair and glasses. We ate lunch on the 2.2 kms pound leading to Pargny. It got a bit warmer so the silly hats came off. Up 64 Pargny, there were two boats on the moorings in the short pound, a cruiser called Cobra and Zinnin, whose crew we met last September when they paused at Condé. We chatted with them as we waited for lock 63 Pargny’s 3m chamber to

A new one - Magpie ducks

empty. There was no house at 63 but a lovely hedge of winter jasmine all in flower along the weir. The sun came out but the wind picked up to make it feel cold again as we travelled along the 2.5kms pound to 62 L’Ajot, which had lost its lock house. A man appeared from nowhere to watch the boat as we locked through. 1.3kms to 61 La Chaine, again no house. Fishermen had parked their cars by the lock and were fishing further along the 1.5kms to 60 Sermaize-les-Bains. We saw several house martins and the fishermen by the lock raced 

Two of them and both hungrily shovelling the bank edges

to reel in the lines, yards and yards of it. The sensors didn’t work so I had to call Bar-le-Duc control centre, they set the lock working by remote control. The lock was already empty so we were soon through it. Being in the town its lock house was still lived in. Through the town past quiet factories closed for the weekend – or permanently shut? No way of telling. There was a large winding hole by the silo and a new industrial estate. 1.2kms to lock 59 Remennecourt, which had a nicely renovated lock house. Water pouring over the top end gates shoved the boat to the wrong side of the chamber so Mike had to back off and start

Boats moored on the quayat Pargny

again so I could reach the rod. An old lady came to the porch window of the lock house to wave as we left. 1.8kms with fields on the left and woods on the right. We saw the first coots for ages. Lock 58 Chevol had no house and the towpath was now widened for VNF vans. There were no lights on at 57 Contrisson. I phoned and a young man answered, he said he’d send the itinerant. The same man we’d seen earlier (dark hair and glasses) came to fix it. It was 4.30pm when we moored not far from the lock.