Sunday 3rd April 2016 Contrisson to Longeville. 23.4kms 23 locks

Three little goats at La Haie Herlin lock

10.1° C Heavy rain overnight, grey skies with short breaks of sunshine, rain showers late afternoon. Pointless getting up early as they told us the day before that the locks don’t open until 9am. Set off at 8.50am and arrived at lock 56 Braux at 8.55am, lock worked OK. Modernised lock house alongside was lived in. Most of today’s locks were 2.6 to 2.7m lift. On past Arcelor-Mittal steelworks where empty péniche Recta was moored, waiting to be loaded on Monday no doubt. 870m to the next

Old lock cabin and liftbridge at lock 46 Mussey

lock, the first of the zapper operated locks was 55 La Haie Herlin, which worked perfectly and we were watched closely by a little troop of three timid small goats who were living on the non-towpath side of the lock opposite the old and well-lived in lock house. 540m to the next, 54 Damzelle, empty, no house. A great fat orange slug was feeding on the algae on the lock wall, it couldn’t swim and (oh dear!) nobody volunteered to rescue it. Survival of the fittest in action. 585m to 53 Notre Dame de Grace, also empty. A man went past walking a huge Great Dane pup who wanted to stay and watch the

Lock and liftbridge 42 Fains

boat. 620m to 52 Revigny. Zapped but when we got to the lock around the bend there were no lights on. Get the phone and call the controller at Bar-le-Duc. He said he’d send someone. I went in to make a cuppa.  About ten minutes later the same guy from the day before (dark hair and glasses) came to sort it – some debris caught in one of the paddles caused the system to close down, he soon put it right and Mike chatted with him while the lock was filling. We were soon on our way again, passing the VNF atelier at Revigny, with a bunch of parked vans and one workboat. Nice mooring beyond the

New moorings by the Bricomarche at Fains

yard but no good for us as there would be trees blocking satellite access, so no UK TV. On past a big electricity sub-station on our left then into the woods. 1050m to Bois d’Ecuyer. The old lock house was lived in. On through the woods, then a gap in the trees and a cold biting wind blew from our right across the open fields on our left. 965m to 50 Petit Fraicol, also empty. A heron flew over and a cormorant, fishing must be good here. Cyclists went past on the towpath as we travelled 840m to 49 Grand Fraicol. A pair of black kites circled overhead. The lock took ages to fill. Our VNF man-in-a-van went past us down the towpath to sort out the lock, maybe more stuff trapped in a paddle. 945m

Boat reflection in new lock cabin 40 Pont Canal de Chantereines

to 48 Neuville. As the lock filled the water was an unusually muddy brown, not the usual deep blue green of this limestone area. We passed a couple walking the towpath on the 1175m to lock 47 La Doeuil. We found a hank of new-looking navy blue rope in the lock and rescued it, nice lightweight stuff, a bit scuffed but usable. 1700m to the next, with fields on our left and houses atop the steeply sloping bank on our right. Church bells were pealing at midday as our keeper operated the lift bridge at 46 Mussey for us. A man and a boy on bikes had stopped by the lock to watch the boat.

Little river Ornain from the aqueduct at lock 40

750m to 45 Chacolée. There was no lock house and the lock was right next to the railway line. 1080m to 44 Varney. The old lock house looked empty, a very big pine tree was growing on the non-towpath side of the lock. 880m to 43 Rembercourt where the lock house was lived in although the railway passed

Jasmine hedge by weir lock 40

right behind the house. A long pound! 2.140kms, so I made a cuppa on our way to 42 Fains, which had a liftbridge at the tail end and a man-in-a-van operated it from a tall lock cabin with a good view down the canal. Four cruisers that had been left for the the Winter filled the mooring at Fains. It was a new keeper so he came out to say hello, an older bloke, he was also very pleasant and chatty. Not enough money in the kitty to do all the repairs that this beautiful canal needs, he said. Yes, we can appreciate that. Told him we were going as far as Longeville today. OK. The sun came out briefly as we headed into Bar-le-Duc, with a railway one side and a road on the other on the 1230m pound to lock 40 Pont Canal Chantereines. Above the lock the canal crossed the fast flowing river

Chateau in Bar-le-Duc

Ornain on an aqueduct. Two VTT cyclists were dipping their bikes in the canal to clean the mud off. A very nicely modernised lock house was fenced off from the lock, which to us would indicate that it was no longer a VNF house. It started spitting with rain, 1355m to 39 Bar-le-Duc. No old man in a wheelchair playing a trumpet by the canal today, hope he’s tucked up somewhere warm. He played us some fine tunes last year as we went through the lock. A cruiser had been left on the town moorings and there was just one campervan on the car park by the moorings. 1545m to 38 Marbot, shallower at 2.4m rise. Our keeper operated the double liftbridge for us. Cameras around the lock and big notices to say the lock was under surveillance to keep vandals away. Heading out of town there was a huge cemetery filled with grey headstones and beyond it the straight rows of white crosses of a military cemetery from WW1. 770m to 37 Popey only 2m rise. The old lock house was still lived in. Rain started to pour as we went along the 1245m pound to 36 Savonnières. Wondered if the old lock house was still inhabited as there was graffiti on the walls facing the lock. An old dog came hobbling down the towpath on three legs the fourth looked mangled, probably broken. Didn’t seem to bother it much as it pee’d

Double liftbridge in Bar-le-Duc

up the lamppost. 590m to 35 Longeville, scenery improving with open fields backed by low wooded hills. Another posh, fenced-off non-VNF house and another aqueduct over the Ornain. Swallows were flying over the river, they’re a bit early! 1245m to 34 Grande Chalaide. Another old lock house that was well-lived in. The bottom end lock gates had a horizontal crack wide enough for a small fish to get trapped in the gap. Yes, they do need repairs doing. Wooded hills both sides. We looked for a gap

Cracked lock gate 34 Grande Chalaide

in the trees for the satellite and moored before a road bridge on a bend in Longeville, putting pins in behind the piling to tie to. It was 4pm. An hour later I gave Mike a hand to set up the TV then get the bike off the roof to go and move the car from Pargny on to Naix-au-Forges.