Tuesday 17th May 2016 Pont-de-Loup. On to the dry dock

I know this is out of order but FB picks the first picture I post!
The dock, empty.

9.6° C Sunshine and grey clouds. Mike went for a look around the yard. While he was out a young man came and knocked on the cabin roof, time to go on the dock. I told him Mike was somewhere by the dock. He was back not long after and we moved round to the dock. The péniche that was on the dock had refloated and moved out and another one had just gone in. Vage from Gent looked like it had been retired a long time and was well in need of a hose down and paint, its prop was still turning and they

Our neighbour peniche Vage tying up

were just tying up as we went in. There were metal stanchions around the wall with welded-on bits to put ropes on. The two guys who were doing the docking wanted our boat on the bostocks nearest the gate. OK. Mike had already told the Vankerkoven siblings that the boat was flat-bottomed but we needed to be careful with the stern end gear as we have a skeg (a narrow flat bar supporting the rudder. No problem, but the men kept

Metal bits to tie to.

asking to make sure that the bottom didn’t slope up at the bows. Nope, completely flat. The dock slopes slightly. Once we were settled they craned the gate back in – it was in two parts and slotted into the gap, then they put the metal bridge back in place over it. Interestingly they use the same method here of stopping gates from leaking that was used in the UK when we first went boating. Called racking in the UK, it simply consisted of pouring shovelfuls of ash or dirt into the water around the gates

First section of gate going back in

edges to stop up the gaps. I took some interesting photos, especially liked the slinger hitching a lift back from the gate on to dry land on the crane hook! The péniche grounded first, on at the bows. Water was pumped out of the dock as it is next to a river and can’t be drained out like the ones we were used to on canals. Took quite some time to empty the whole swimming pool! Nothing else to be done today.

Riding the crane hook back to dry land

Second section of gate going back in

The bridge over the dock gate being craned into place

Gates in and bridge back in place

Weed growing on the waterline 

Monday 16th May 2016 Auvelais to Pont-de-Loup. 12.8kms 1 lock

Dependant waiting above Auvelais lock

7.4° C. Grey skies, damp, sunny spells late afternoon. Boats started moving around opening time, 6am. We didn’t rush to get moving as we hadn’t got far to go. An 80m boat loaded with steel coils went down Auvelais as we were getting ready to move at 10am. Shortly after an empty called Dependant arrived, a square-fronted, square-sterned boat, it made a sweep into the lock waiting area skimming past us more closely than was necessary. I noted that the corners of its square

Willie wagtail

stern were battered and rusty from the times it had missed when skimming past close to things. It had to sit above the lock to wait as the previous boat had only just left. We set off at 10.30am, jackets on again as it was chilly and, although not actually raining, the air was damp. A long reach of 11.5kms to our one and only lock of the day. I got on with a few chores before making a cuppa. There were, as usual, loads of sandpipers and goldeneye ducks on the river. Amazing that there is so much wildlife on the Sambre when you consider that beyond the narrow belt of trees there are close packed towns and industrial estates. At Farciennes there was an offline loading basin with a low quay and the 4m high wall

Wash-eroded concrete

surrounding it had dozens of gulls, two herons and a cormorant using it as a lookout post. Under the railway bridge below Roselies lock and we could see there was a loaded 80m called Ave Maria moored by the lock, tied at the base of a 4m high wall. The lock gates opened and we had a green light so we went in after saying hello to the skipper of Ave Maria who was doing some work on his boat, lying flat on the gunwale by the cabin.

Czech boat Apollo passing Ave Maria (blue and white boat)

Started attaching my centre rope to a recessed bollard in the wall at the back end of the 112m long lock chamber when the keeper came out of his cabin high up above the lock and indicated that we should move forward. OK, we thought, he’s going to use the half lock. But when we got in the top end he wanted us to go right up by the sliding gate as he said there was a big boat coming. No way. Mike backed out and said the big boat can go in first and we’ll sit at the back. We went alongside the wall opposite Ave Maria. Five minutes later an old brown boat called Apollo from Decin in the Czech Republic arrived, 71.5m

Sharing Roselies lock with coal boat. Note keeper's cabin top left. 

long and loaded with 1,000 tonnes of coal (we know where that’s going! Steelworks in Charleroi) and went into the chamber. (Haven’t seen one of them since the Mittellandkanal in Germany!) The deckhand put one rope from the bow on a bollard in the right hand wall and the stern went over against the left wall (no rope), we had the last bit of the right hand wall and used fore and aft ropes. Glad we used two ropes because the Czech skipper kept his engine running and (most of the time) his prop turning. Up

Heron on a mud boat

3.7m fairly slowly and without too much trouble. Waited until the commercial was almost out of the lock before we took the ropes off and followed him. There was a long unloading quay on the left above the lock, an empty 80m was moored there and three mud hoppers – a heron was perched on the gunwale of one of the mud boats. The river from here through to the far side of Charleroi is very industrial. The next quay was piled with aggregates and an 80m boat called Ecoutable was moored there, his hold full of grey granite chippings. On the far side of the quay were piles of cullet

Moored in the basin at Vankerkhoven's

(broken glass) glinting in the weak sunlight. The river was turning a dark chocolate brown where the coal boat had been churning the mud up from the bottom. Not far before we were at our destination and scratching our heads as to where to moor as the place is full of boats. We went into the basin where an old tug and a smartly painted commercial were along the outer wall, we turned left to moor by a high quay wall at the end of a long side slip. It was 1.45pm. Mike needed our ladders to get off

The side-slip trolleys

the boat up the overhanging concrete-topped steel piling. There was a man working on one of the boats that were on the bank by where we’d tied up, he said he was surprised to see a narrowboat. Mike went to check the car was OK and to have a look round. I made some lunch.

The empty dry dock. One peniche (on the right) sat on the bostocks.
Enough space for 3 peniches 40m long x 5.50m wide

Saturday 14th May 2016 Namur to Auvelais. 27kms 4 locks.

9.4° C Grey skies with a cold north wind, sunny patches later. Set off at nine, downriver, into the wind again.  The skipper of  the tjalk waved as we went past. Two more DBs were also on

Road cleaning with a vacuum

the mooring, both UK replicas. Five minutes later we turned left heading upriver on the Sambre, the first bit of the river is very enclosed, much narrower than the Meuse and very little current. They’d made a good job of renovating the riverside walk and properties along the bank. There were no longer any no mooring signs, except for one at the confluence that defined the no mooring limit from the junction as 150m, and we were surprised to see a lone Dutch flagged little Luxe moored by the flats opposite the citadel. Mike called the lock keeper at Salzinnes and got the OK for the lock. A

110m boat with a load of 3,462 tonnes of sand

loaded 80m boat called Samarkand came down and passed us on the bend before the lock, we could just see another loaded boat was setting off into the chamber. We waited next to quay below the lock next to a multi-storey block of flats. Nothing else coming down just us to go up. The chamber was 136m long by 12.5m wide (18m x 2.10m filled one small corner) and we slung our centre rope on a + stud recessed into the stone wall and rose 1.5m. On upriver with the

Empty 80m boat above Floriffoux lock

railway (no traffic today) on our right and factories both sides as we passed through the outskirts of Namur. Past the bus depot and a shooting range (we could hear the pop pop of gunfire) and a road on our left was busy with Saturday holiday traffic. Mike made a cuppa while I steered. Lots of birds about, mallard, sandpipers, house martins and the ever-present Canada geese even though the canalised lower Sambre flows through a sloping sided concrete sided trough. In places the anti-flood concrete walls are 2.5 to 3m higher than the water level. Because of all the concrete there were not too

Abbaye de Floreffe

many wild flowers. The first offline basin housed a boatyard. As we passed a man came out to ask where we were going, when we said Pont-de-Loup for bottom painting he asked how heavy the boat was, we said we’d call in to see him on the way back. If he has a crane big enough we might get future work done there. There were lots of wintered boats in the basin plus the river taxis (wondered where they were, maybe they only do weekends or summer season). Erone, a boat loaded with sand (110m x

Mornimont lock

10.56m 3,462T) from Landelies, was moored at a quay opposite a recycling yard, its crane was in the air so the crew must be off in their car, probably shopping. Mike called Floriffoux lock and got a reply, OK. The lock was ready for us. Up another 3.3m. Two new lock houses had been built in recent years and the lock cabin was high over the lock at the end of the machinery for lifting the weir. A little tug called Zwever was moored in the lower weirstream opposite the HEP plant and a big tug called Turquoise was moored in the upper weirstream. Just after we left the lock an empty 80m called Raypa went past heading for the lock we’d just left, his wash was almost watering the grass at the top of the concrete and our boat did a little bouncing for a while. A converted

Moored above Auvelais lock

péniche called Carpe Diem was moored at Floreffe, a banner along its side gave a website www.bateau-carpediem.be - must check that out later. Mike took photos of the abbey high up on the hill overlooking the river. We tested the depth in the next offline basin (which had a sign at the entrance saying it was a winding hole (turning round place) and found it was pretty deep, 4m in the middle. Mornimont lock was a deep one at 4.9m, no problems as the keepers (who came to the window and waved) filled it steadily for us. Two loaded Belgian boats were moored above the lock on its waiting quay, Exaudi from Marchiennes (55m x 6.6m 665T) and Almi from Chatelet (55m x 7.23m 699T). Lunch on the move. Passed a Dutch cruiser heading downriver by the Glaciers de Moustier, followed by a Belgian cruiser, then loaded Belgian boat Insomnia from Moerbeke (79.92m x 9.0m 1332T) which went past with hardly a ripple. An empty 80m boat called Marcari from Antwerpen was moored opposite the Solvay chemical works and, as we passed the moored boat, another loaded Belgian boat called Conjono from Gent (55m x 7.20m) went past heading downstream. A group of eight youths on trials bikes went zooming past on the towpath. Mike called Auvelais, our last lock of the day, on VHF radio and got a mind block when he couldn’t think of the word in French for a pleasure boat, so I added plaisancier and started laughing. The keeper heard and was also laughing when he said Mon Dieu, l’ecluse est prête! It was, gates open, and we rose another 2.7m. A small Dutch yacht was waiting above to go down. It was 3.10pm when we tied up at the far end of the waiting quay. It was a fairly sheltered spot, so not so windy, and not long after we moored the sun started showing itself between white clouds.

Friday 13th May 2016 Anhée to Namur. 21.1kms 4 locks.

Illuminated rocks at Houx (night before!)

10.1° C Sunny after a wet night, warm but with a chilly (but not cold) north wind. Away downriver a bit later than usual at 10.20am as we hadn’t got far to go. A Dutch cruiser went upriver before we set off and we met a Swiss one under the first railway bridge. The valley widened out where the town of Anhée had been built on the left bank with low wooded hills beyond it and cliffs on the right. 5kms to our first lock. Just before we arrived at the lock a car stopped on the road

Sharing Riviere lock with 80m loaded boat Hellboy

alongside the river and its occupants got out to wave and shout “nice to see a red duster here!” That was nice of them. Into lock 6 Hun after a little Luxemotor and a converted péniche cleared the lock. There was a climber on the cliff face to our right as we entered the lock. The keeper emptied it slowly. There was quite a queue waiting below, three cruisers milling around in the weirstream and another DB. An 80m boat called Hellboy from Namur was at the first quay

Ship-shaped swimming pool, undergoing renovation,
above Taifer lock

downriver. His hold was almost filled with piles of soil which had been loaded down a chute from tipper lorries. 4.8kms to the next lock. Passing through Rouillon there were some really beautifully designed houses along the banks. I particularly like one that looked like a Swiss chalet and another that resembled a castle with round towers and conical roofs. Mike took pictures of the TV antenna on the hill at Le Bois Laiterie. He called the keeper as we arrived at lock 7 Rivière, because the lock was full but had a red light on. The keeper

Elevated road near Taifer

didn’t reply on the radio, but came down out of his cabin to talk to us. He said there was a commercial coming. OK, we said we’d wait and tied to the quay. When Hellboy arrived, now fully loaded, the skipper said follow me – we asked if the lock was long enough and he said he was only 80m! Don’t know how long the Meuse locks are down here, maybe 110m. It wasn’t, there was only just enough room behind the big boat. Looked in the book later – it was 98m, we thought it was a

Polar bears (why?) on the weir at La Plante

tight squeeze. The keeper emptied the lock very slowly and we dropped down 2m and then the big boat left slowly too. Hung on to our ropes until he had practically cleared the chamber before we followed him out.  He was soon out of sight around the island at Lustin. Another cruiser went past heading upriver. Two cruisers had stopped by wooden stagings at Petite Hulle where a restaurant was doing a good trade, lots of people sitting outside in the sunshine eating. Two converted houseboat péniches were moored on the bend at Boreuville. Passing the big quarry on the

Moored by the Casino (gambling not supermarket). Namur

right at Lustin we could see in the far distance that Hellboy was already descending in lock 8 Taifer. Took a photo of the garden swimming pool shaped like a ship which was now surrounded with scaffolding (must be having a makeover) and two new blocks of flats were under construction behind it. A cruiser was coming up in Taifer so we threw a rope around a bollard on the quay to wait. We had some lunch. The cruiser was one from Senneffe Boat Club and Mike recognised the Capitain from the club just too late to shout greetings. Just us to go down, 2.2m drop. 6.3kms to the next lock, passing two large islands, Ile de Dave and Ile Vas-t’y-Frotte. Into lock 9 La Plante, (there was a burnt-out boat almost submerged tied to the bank above the lock), down another 1.5m and then we moored by the Casino. Numea, an empty péniche from Landelies was tied up there, plus another houseboat péniche and a UK-flagged tjalk. It was 3.25pm. The skipper off the tjalk came to chat, he was off into the Netherlands after passing a couple of winters at Toul. He said they charge for mooring on the quay, about 10 or 12€, plus tokens for water and electricity. Nobody came to collect any fees.

Thursday 12th May 2016 Givet to Anhée (Belgium). 27.9kms 5 locks

Boat unloading in the port of Givet

12.6° C. Drizzle, which lasted all morning. Afternoon brighter grey clouds and dry. A loaded Dutch péniche called Viridis Quo went past heading downriver around 9am. Mike and I went a walk to the shops and bought a few groceries to last us through to when we get to Pont-de-Loup from a Carrefour City. City prices too. Paying for convenience. Set off just after ten, leaving one Dutch boat (an old Bounty!) on the quay behind us. There was just one (Dutch) boat in the port of

House with wisteria above Hastiere

Givet, Solutio (W’Dam), being unloaded by crane. A Dutch DB replica went past and Mike gave the keeper at lock 59 Quatre Cheminées a shout on VHF. He replied and said the lock was ready. It was very noisy with lots of loud military aircraft in the vicinity, must be an airbase nearby. Once in the lock, Mike got off to take the telecommand into the office, but the young lock keeper hung out of the window and addressed Mike by name – just enter the boat name and the VNF computer

Barnacle geese - NOT Canadas

gave him all our details! 2.7m drop and we were soon on our way downriver again. Mike changed flags as we crossed the border into Belgium. Not much left of the fuel depot we used to visit to get red diesel back in the day when that was legal. Canada geese everywhere, plus a few swans and greylags. Very smart houses along the left bank and forested hills on the right. A kestrel was sitting on

Wanna buy a hotel? 990,900€. Anybody?

the telephone wires watching for rodents in someone’s garden. A Dutch cruiser went past heading uphill just before lock 1 at Hastière. Mike called the lock, no reply, but we had a green light and the lock was ready for us. The drizzle paused. I thought the lock was remote operated judging by all the cameras, but Mike said he saw the keeper in his cabin, way up high above the lock. Water was piddling out of the lock walls, washing the gunwales and I made sure it didn’t get my jeans wet as we dropped down

Swiss cheese rocks

2.9m. Before the first bridge we passed a boat that we both thought was a police boat, dark blue with red and white diagonal bands, but it turned out to be a Dutch cruiser as it had a huge Dutch flag on its stern! Sandpipers went yodelling across the river, then I took photo of a pair of barnacle geese to show Mike the difference between them and Canadas. More beautiful houses on the right hand side and forested hills on the left at Hastière-par-delà. There was a

Anseremme lock and weir

green light at the entrance to the lock cut leading to lock 2 Waulsort. More very noisy aircraft. The lock was ready, soon down another 2.2m. Below the lock there was a very large ornate old building for sale which was once The Grand Hotel. Even though part of its roof was missing the price tag was 99,900€. The long moorings of Hastière Yacht Club had only a dozen boats on its pontoons, one of them was a DB – the crew waved. Took photos of the old chateau. Just a few rock climbers on Freyr rocks opposite the ancient chateau of the same name. A Belgian flagged DB went past as we rounded the bend to lock 3 Anseremme. The old railway went through a tunnel into the rock

Roche Bayard and high viaduct in Dinant

on the left and above it the wind had eroded the rock, reminding us of the tunnel on the Canal du Midi. A long row of cruisers belonging to Anseremme boat club stretched down to the weirstream. Into the lock cut. A trip boat from Dinant had just come into the lock (another went up the weir stream and winded to head back into Dinant) so I threw a rope around a bollard and we waited while the lock filled. Le Sax exited the lock chamber, the lock light stayed on red so Mike gave the lock a call on

Slides for the pontoons (not there)
 at Dinant and CCTV.
Temporary moorings further downriver

VHF and the lady keeper said “entrez!” then we dropped down another 2.2m. Below the lock the underwater training wall linking the lock to an island was now marked with red and green cans (many years ago a friend of ours grounded his boat there while waiting for the lock and almost sank). On downriver into Dinant taking photos of the rocks and the viaduct. A large hotel ship, Azolla from Maasbracht, was moored below the bridge on the left bank as its superstructure was too high to pass under it. The quays along the right bank were undergoing fundamental re-development. Several cruisers were moored just downriver of the big ship. We’d already spotted that the pontoons for pleasure boats (a bit further back upriver) had been removed and there were surveillance cameras all along that bank. Lock 4 Dinant was ready with a green light so we went in and waited. Eventually the gates closed behind us and we dropped down 1.8m. It rained again briefly as we carried on downstream. Noticed that there were two ancient abandoned trip boats moored in the old arm and beyond that there was a large new vineyard. Yet another Dutch cruiser went past, heading upriver.

Digging up the waterfront at Dinant

Lock 5 Houx had closed gates and a red light, so Mike called the keeper on the radio. He said he would reopen the gates when we were a bit closer, which he did, and then we dropped down another 2m. Less than a kilometre downstream we stopped at the old quay in Anhée. There is a low quay which was almost on river water level and Mike decided to give the sides of the boat hull a good scrub, starboard side first (empty 80m

Biggest boat we've ever seen in Dinant. Hotel ship Azolla

Dune went past heading upriver and his wash snapped an old short rope that we had temporarily tethered the boat with) Mike knotted it back together. We winded and did the other side before bow-hauling the boat on downriver a bit and tying to the higher quay (a bit higher than our roof). It was just after 5pm when we finished. Solutio, now empty after unloading in Givet, went past heading downriver at 6.45pm.

Moored at an old quay in Anhee

Tuesday 10th May 2016 Vanne-Alcorps to Givet. 21.4kms 6 locks

Wispy clouds below Fepin

13.6° C Rain, drizzle and more rain, stopping well after we moored, then a pleasant evening. A duck was paddling about by the lock surrounded by newly-hatched ducklings. Mike was ready to move long before the lights came on at nine, zapped from where we were moored and it worked! Down 53 Vann-Alcorps and noted that they had constructed two new concrete piers in the weir stream. Brolly up as the drizzle got worse. Misty clouds were hanging in the valley. No

Peniches moored below Trois Fontaines

boats moored at Haybes, but there were seven campervans. Aircraft noise (military) rumbled down the valley all morning. Down 54 Fépin, work progressing on the new weir. Made a cuppa as we headed downriver. A long river reach then a long lock cut to the next lock. Weir undergoing modernisation. Mike said is that a lupin growing in the grass on the sloping bank up to the towpath, nope, it’s an orchid. There were lots of bits of bare tree branches (beaver

Unloading pontoon boxes for weir construction use.

snacks) by lock 55 Montigny. A sandy haired VNF man in a van arrived by the lock and was followed by a little Jack Russell as he scooped tree debris from the lock mouth. A large Dutch cruiser was circling below the lock waiting for us to leave the chamber. Five minutes later a pénichette from Pont-à-Bar went past heading upriver, just upriver from Villers-Wallerand. A large navy blue cruiser was moored by the electric boats, it had no flag or name visible, but had Liege on its stern. New weir in progress at the start of the lock cut to 56 Mouyon. The woodyard on the corner was giving out a strong odour of newly

Peniche Paraguay moored at upstream end of quay at Givet

cut wood. Rain started to pour down again as we went into lock 56. VNF vans and few cars were parked outside the office, but no signs of life. The gate paddles still squealed loudly as they closed. The rain eased as we passed the statues at Aubrives. The weir by the start of the lock cut was being rebuilt. Under the liftbridge over the flood gates and into the lock cut leading to lock 57 Ham. A German cruiser went past, crew waving cheerily. The usual young lady lock keeper was in the cabin and worked the lock for us then set off down to lock 58 in her VNF car as we trundled off to Ham tunnel.

Moored at the downstream end of the quay in Givet. Quieter here. 

I made a cup of soup to warm us up as we’re back to winter again. Having the brolly up because it was raining was useful to keep the drips off us in the tunnel. A large German cruiser was coming up in lock 58 Trois Fontaines. Down the lock and the young lady keeper came out of the cabin to tell Mike to beware of the area below where the red cans were as it was very shallow. Hmm…. she has to tell everyone. Two empty péniches were moored on the new quay, My Way and Pirate, and a low loader with two black metal boxes (floating boxes to make work pontoons for weir construction) was by the quay and a JCB getting ready to offload them. On downriver. The rain stopped. Paraguay, another empty péniche, was moored at the upstream end of the long quay in Givet, where we usually moor. Mike had already said he was going to moor at the far end of the quay this time. Another German cruiser had been up to the top end of the moorings, winded and gone back to the designated area for pleasure boats by the main road bridge and cafés, a noisy mooring. The downstream end of the second quay (marked for commercials) was empty. We tied a side rope to the last ladder and dropped fore and aft ropes around the wooden fendering. It was 1.15pm Mike went to retrieve the car from the car park at the other end of the quay. On his return loaded the bike in the car and went to drop the car at Pont-de-Loup again. It rained very heavily and he was soaked when he returned on the moped. 

Monday 9th May 2016 Château Regnault to Vanne-Alcorps. 36.7kms 7 locks

Statue on the rock above Bogny

10.6° C Hazy sunshine, getting hotter. One cruiser went past just before nine heading for Levrézy for opening time. We set off just after nine, winding and heading downstream with the flow, 9kms to the first lock. Five campervans were on the quay at Bogny, no boats on the pontoon. Mike took a photo of the statue on top of the hill at Bogny. The banks along the river were full of buttercups, jack-by-the-hedge, white campion and comfrey flowers. We passed a youth who’d been camping out on the towpath, all his gear spread out on a bench. A forge started up just before Monthermé, hammering

Passing a bucket of concrete across Montherme lock

echoing down the valley. Seventeen campervans on the quay at Monthermé, two Dutch ones - one a Winnebago, the other an old jeep towing a small but modern trailer tent (looked like it was practising for the Daakar Rally. Under the roadbridge and round the bend, then we noticed that the cruiser we’d seen here last time, Aristrid, was now moored next to some sloping steps by the houses and looked locked up and left. I steered while Mike mopped the boat and solar panels to get rid of the t

400m high hills at Anchamps

hick layer of pollen we’d collected. When he finished he made a cuppa. Into the lock cut. A crow circled round over the boat and dropped down on to a tree floating in the canal after a dead fish, but then it was scared off by the boat passing, he’ll be back. A kingfisher flew across the canal as we arrived at lock 46 Monthermé. A Dutch boat called ZK31 from Hunze (a fishing boat?) had just come up the lock so it was full. There was a concrete mixer on the lockside, its driver watched us lock through, a JCB on the far bank had just taken a bucketful off concrete from him and was trundling down to the new

Allotment buildings at Anchamps

overflow weir. Below the lock we passed an uphill Dutch cruiser - with a VNF van on the towpath following it. We did some checks on the boat electrics as the echo sounder was going wild. Mike came come the conclusion that the problem was being caused was a bad connection in the plug on the inverter, the echo sounder’s amplifier is very sensitive to spurious emmisions. A three decked British cruiser went past heading uphill. A short lock cut to lock 47 La Commune. The impressive 400m high forested hills curved round the big bend at Laifour. Into the long lock cut, trying

Rock bolted mesh on the cliff and a catch fence below the road

to identify the tall old pines which had new bright red cones growing at the ends of fronds. Gave up, without seeing them close up and taking samples of the branches and cones it was impossible. Another VNF van went past heading upriver. Down lock 48 Dames de Meuse. Below there were big banks of wild garlic perfuming the air and a large swathe of blue turned out to be forget-me-nots. The river wound around the village of Anchamps with a high hill marked on the map as Mont Malgré Tout at 419m. We thought lock 49 Orzy was playing up when the red/green light stayed on for ages. We let the

Preparing to build a new weir at l'Uf

wind blow the boat against the stone quay by the long needle weir and Mike went to have a look to see what was happening. There was an uphill Belgian cruiser in the chamber. It cleared the lock then we went down. A widebeam narrowboat was waiting below the lock. It had no name or flag, but the crew spoke English, one with an Australian accent who asked if they should go into the locks before the green lights came on! The lights went to red and the gates closed. Mike asked if they had zapped, they said yes, but we reckoned that they hadn’t succeeded. We said we’d do it for them. You have to get very close to the post for it to register. The lock lights changed to green. They waved. As we

A basking terrapin near Fumay

headed for the tunnel at Revin, there was a pénichette hireboat from Pont-à-Bar coming up the weirstream from the moorings at Revin. It followed us so we slowed down to enter the chamber and it came in with us. We thought they were French but they didn’t seem to understand when we said that the lock, 50 Revin, was a deep one, 4m. I made some lunch. The hireboat was long gone when I sat out to eat. The road alongside the river was busy with lunchtime traffic. 6kms to lock 51 St Joseph. There were still two big cranes working at building what looked like boxes for a floating work pontoon to build a new weir from. Presumably they would have to build a weir well above St Joseph due to the bridges right over the chamber and the current needle weir. We passed another big UK cruise, that was heading upstream by the old quarry. A Canada goose by the old hydroelectric plant was fighting to untangle itself from some fishing line, nothing we could do to help it as we couldn’t get near it. Another cruiser was coming up in St Joseph. Two VNF men were cutting grass by the lock, then a third left the lock cabin and went back to his strimmer, as a large Dutch cruiser emerged from the lock – it went past and none of the crew even looked in our direction! We went in and dropped down, a train crossing the bridge was very loud, fingers in ears – it didn’t stop the swallows nesting under both the railway and cycle path bridges. Below the lock we could see the houses at Fumay in the distance. Ox-eye daisies were coming into bloom along the towpath. Yet more uphill traffic at lock 52 L’Uf. Two cruisers, a German one and a Dutch one with no flag (Dordrecht on its stern). Although the lock had been fenced off the gate had been left open and there were cyclists on the lockside gongoozling. Mike took photos of the work going on by the lock to make a road for the heavy plant to cross the weirstream to make a new weir. The water below the lock had turned brown from all the work in the weirstream. Passed the houseboat Selamat by the chalets and on around Fumay. There were three campervans on the bend and two boats on the quay – one was the hireboat we’d locked with earlier. The wood factory, built on top of a wall made of scrap slate from the old slate works on the opposite bank, was very aromatic with some sort of wood preservative like creosote. Yet another cruiser came up in lock 53 Vanne-Alcorps, an Australian, and so we hovered until it went past us then we tied up in our usual spot by the lumpy bank above the lock. It was 4pm. Black clouds were gathering and it was hot, we expected thunderstorms but nothing arrived. I got stuck into the chores, Mike clipped the edge to keep the ants off the boat.