Thursday 14th April 2016 Alma to Remilly. 18kms 2 locks.

Old lock house at Alma

6.8° C Sunny start which turned overcast and cold before we set off. Hats and coats on again. Set off at 9.35am, zapped and then went down lock 34 Alma, a 2.6m drop. The house alongside the lock was a large and solid one, empty, and birds were nesting inside, entering through a broken window. On to the river again. Took photos of the bare patch on the hill where hang gliders take off from and a windsock by the lock. Steep wooded hills to our

Take off point for hang gliders below Alma lock

left. White flowers of buckthorn trees everywhere. Made a cuppa as we started the run down the 8.2kms to Mouzon. The hills on the left became further away from the river with widening cattle pastures sloping up to the trees. The hilltop trees disappeared as the village of Villemontry came into view, nestling just below the crest of the hill, out of the predominant westerly winds. Wide fields on the right were backed with steep forested hills. At KP125

Villemontry through the trees

there was a pair of modern bridge abutments with embankments leading to them but no road deck, we wondered if this was once going to be a bypass for Mouzon that was never finished. The river did some interesting bends heading into the little town. Past a big unguarded weir with several dead trees jammed on the edge and the ruins of an old factory. The boat picked up speed as the water flowed fast through the town and over the next weir, then we were on a canal section leading to lock 35 Mouzon. The moorings in the old mill stream were

Weir and old mill at Mouzon

empty but there was one campervan parked there. As we went into the lock a VNF van arrived. I lifted the rod and the itinerant came over to ask if we’d seen a yacht. Nope. Nothing since the hireboat last Saturday. I took some photos of the two old lock houses, they’d built a newer one next to the first and not knocked the old one down. The lockie went into the lock cabin. After dropping down another 2.95m we sped off downriver again. Passed the “yacht” just

Two old lock houses at Mouzon

after the first bend, a Dutch steel cruiser with no flag, the crew waved from their wheelhouse. No flag, so no idea what nationality. 9.7kms to the next lock, starting with 4kms on the river. Took photos of a WWII concrete bunker on our left and Mike took a photo of nesting storks on the opposite bank. Took photos of the church at Villiers-devant-Mouzon and two unusual white horses with black ears and tails. Three more Canada geese went swimming past, honking noisily. Took photos of the long needle weir and a short unguarded one just before we went into the canal through a pair of flood gates. More eco bank protection had been done with hessian sacking and large dumped piles of very big rocks. At the little town of Remilly-Allicourt there were metal fishing platforms along the bank but I doubt anyone uses them as the bank had been lined with more of the large rocks. A new tarmac cycle piste lead down to the lock and

WWII bunker

beyond. We winded before lock 36 Remilly and moored on the offside bank next to

Stork nest KP121

metal piling. It was 12.35pm. The sun came out so Mike put the solar panels up.

Moored at Remilly

Unusual markings on black and white horses nr Villiers-Devant-Mouzon