Monday 2nd May 2016 Vanne-Alcorp to Château-Regnault. 36.5kms 7 locks

Building a new weir at 52 L'Uf

2.2° C Sunny but chilly start, much warmer later – no coats! Set off at 8.50am expecting there to be moored boats at Fumay to chase us upriver and were greatly surprised to find the whole mooring empty. The water flow increased to about 3.5kph as we neared the first weir at lock 52 L’Uf, where work was in progress on a new weir. There were VNF vans at the house as usual. All the locks today were full so we had to time it to get to each lock as the gates opened. On upriver to 51

Spot the spelling error. 50 Revin

St Joseph. Deserted, no one about. A long run up to the next, 6.1kms, 50 Revin. Cyclists were racing along the towpath and some paused to watch us come up very slowly in the lock. Mike spotted that on the sign alongside the lock where they’d translated to English, they’d not only put “Yachting” harbour instead of Yacht harbour, but they’d misspelt it as Yatching. Into the tunnel, dripping icy water on us. Two cyclists came through on the towpath, which is about the height of our roof

Needle weir in action. 49 Orzy

and Mike gave a little toot on our air-horns which must have made them jump. Naughty. Out into bright sunlight. Under a bridge on a slant across the river to lock 49 Orzy which still has its impressive long needle weir. Mike had to get very close to the post before the zapper activated it, then we had a wait below the lock while it emptied. 4.7kms to 48 Dames de Meuse. There were workmen on the lockside with lorries, who were working on tree lopping on the island between the canal and river just up above the lock. The chamber filled then nothing happened. To the amusement of the workmen, Mike went up to the top end of the lock, checked the lights (still on single red not double red) then proceeded on to the gates and gave the right one a heave whilst standing on the left one. Sensors! The gates opened. The lock cut above was beautiful to start off with, magnificent rocky hills covered with mostly pine trees, but the deciduous trees along the canal were now all coming into leaf and the sloping grassy bank up to the towpath was ablaze with spring flowers, red campion, ladysmock, violets, forget-me-nots, dandelions, wood anemones and wild garlic,

Allotment shed??? Anchamps

plus a flower that looked like grape hyacinth. Out on to the river. Another long needle weir and no signs of it being replaced yet. On past Anchamps, lots of the weekend houses along the towpath looked derelict and tumbling down. Other bits of land between the river and the steep hills beyond had been used as allotments and had some real hillbilly buildings, again mostly falling down. Round the bends through Laifour. A VNF van with ladders on the roof went past on the towpath, closely followed by a VNF car. I made a cuppa after we cleared 47 La Commune and Mike spotted a barragiste working on the needle weir, putting some of the wooden needles back we hoped

Was it once a greenhouse?? Anchamps

(it would slow the flow down a bit and save us some diesel). Up 46 Monthermé lock with more workmen on the lockside with lorries. They were working on a small overflow weir above the lock, next to the old hydroelectric plant. Into another lovely lock cut. Brimstone butterflies were making their appearance and there was loads of evidence of beaver, chewed bark and paths where they slide down the bank. Through Monthermé, always full of tourists, the mooring was empty but most of the electricity posts were in use by the seventeen campervans lined up along the bank. The crew of a cruiser waved as we went past, they were tied to the bank a bit further upstream of the town moorings. It was 5.30pm when we arrived at the old quay in Château-Regnault. Tired as it had been a long day, nearly nine hours travelling.