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| Notice giving details of repairs to tunnel - 300,000€ to replace the guide rails |
3.3°
C Sunny spells but mostly cloudy, chilly wind, but dry. We set off again at
8.55am. Lock 1 Tomois was ready for us. Just after I lifted the rod to operate
the lock a VNF man in a van arrived and, when the lock was full he took note of
our details; name, SSR number, etc, plus where we were going. The valley behind
us was thick with river mist. Two empty péniches, My Way and Paraguay, were
moored right next to the lock. On to the summit level, noting that the VNF man
turned off the lock behind us. At 9.35am
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| Eastern entrance to Mauvages tunnel |
we arrived at Mauvages tunnel, 4875m
long and lit throughout. Our man in a van swopped the van for a bike and rode
through the tunnel on the towpath in front of us. Every ten metres there was a
sign with distances to either end of the tunnel, lit by white LEDs. Between
these were the older distance plates, lit with green lights, so effectively
there were distance markers every five metres. Lights were every 30m,
fluorescents at first then orange sodium strip lights. Every
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| Anther of the new signs at Mauvages |
240m there were
emergency phones (old and new systems) plus a motion sensor and a folding
aluminium gangplank. Oh and there were cameras throughout. It was damp at the
far end of the tunnel with water pouring through a pipe in the roof, we moved
over to the right wall to avoid getting wet. Out into daylight fifty minutes
later. It was 10° C inside the tunnel and nearly half a degree colder outside
in the cutting. We said au’voir to our man on a bike as he was moving a barrier
across the tunnel mouth before riding
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| Western entrance of Mauvages tunnel |
back through the tunnel to his van at the
far end. Nearly half an hour later we were at the top of the flight of twelve
locks leading down to the junction with the canal de l’Est. We passed a radar
detector and wondered if it still worked or whether the top lock was being set
for us by our controller at Bar-le-Duc, the latter we presumed. All the locks
in the flight were 2.8/2.9m descents. Lock 1 Mauvages still had a lock house,
although it had been boarded up it had been broken into. The canal followed the
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Old lock house by lock 1 Mauvages
top lock of flight of 12 "chained" (linked) locks |
valley of a tiny stream called the Meholle, which today was full to the top of
its banks, flowing very fast and spreading into the meadows in places as it passes
through the Fôret de Vaucouleurs. The D10 road was also alongside the canal all
the way down the flight. 535m to 2 Villeroy, where a few new industrial units
lined the road. 775m to 3 Chalède, 600m to 4 Grand Charme, 830m to 5 St Esprit,
800m to 6 La Corvée which had an inhabited house. Five workmen left their JCB
by the house and climbed into a van, no doubt off to get some lunch as it was
midday. 610m to 7 Sauvoy, with another lived in house and a mooring below the lock
with bollards, a bin and picnic tables. 670m to 8 Varonnes, another house, this
one had a very yappy sausage dog on guard duty. I made some lunch as we did the
665m to 9 Biquiottes – lots of buzzards soaring over the trees. 890m to 10 Haut
Bois, which had a house and farmhouses either side of the canal. 830m to 11
Vacon, with a lived-in house – a man in a VNF flatbed van carrying gravel
arrived by the lock and asked which way we were going then went into his cab
and came back with a
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Engine shed once used to house the tractors
which pulled peniches up and down the flight |
zapper for us to operate all the mechanised locks on the canal de
l’Est all the way to Givet. Cowslips along the banks on the 780m to the little
town of Void. There was an empty lock house by lock 12, its doors and windows
bricked up. Next to it was a VNF van and three cars. The lock cabin was another
large one with a tall radio antenna on its roof. 8.5kms to the junction. The
lock gates closed behind us on the bottom lock and the lights turned to red, we
went through a new set of sensors and immediately the lights changed to green and
the
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| The river Meuse from Troussey aqueduct |
bottom end gates re-opened. An uphill boat coming? Nope, something awry
with the new sensors. Sheep were grazing in the soggy meadow as we passed
through Void on our left. On our right were large silos, then the VNF offices
opposite a church on the left. Push tug Nasium was moored by the VNF workshops.
Under a footbridge, then under the D10 road bridge and out on an embankment
overlooking the meadows and the busy N4 dual carriageway. Passing lorries
honked. The road climbed up the hill and was alongside the canal for a while
then we turned left underneath the N4 and
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Another new sign.
At the junction with the canal de l'Est |
away from it across the flood plain
of the river Meuse. Over the river on a large aqueduct at Troussey, pausing
while Mike took photos of the weir below to compare with the ones he took last
August. At 3.10pm we zapped the post to activate the first of the Sorcy flight
of four locks, off to our left at the start of the canal de l’Est branch Nord.
A couple of bemused fishermen watched us do a sharp left turn into the
lock 1 Troussey. All the locks in this flight were 3m+ they all had new control
rods that were very easy to lift and none had lock houses, just unmanned
keeper’s cabins. 531m to 2 Jaindompré, right next to a cement works that was
blinding white, everything covered in cement dust. A few grape hyacinths were
bravely growing in front of the cabin. 841m to 3 Frâsnes. Mike took a photo of
the white railway engine in the cement works. 587m to 4 Sorcy. Under the three
bridges two high road bridges and a low railway bridge, on to the 4kms pound
leading to Euville. We arrived at the quay at 4.45pm and moored between the
cruiser and Dutch barge which were there last August. Mike went in the car to
get some fuel from the local supermarket in cans
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| Cement works shunting engine - matches the rest of the factory |
for the boat.
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| Road and rail bridges below Sorcy locks |
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| Moored at Euville - brolly still drying out after yesterday's rain. |
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