Thursday 21st April 2016 Lumes to Château Regnault. 26.9kms 5 locks

Multi storey flats in Chareville-Mezieres

4.6° C Light grey clouds, hazy sunshine first thing, sunny later. Light breeze but warmer. Winded and set off downstream again at 8.50am. The German yacht that arrived the evening before was still moored at the top end of the pontoon when we left. Past the Citröen foundry, under the railway and motorway bridges, then the river dived over a weir as we kept to the right into a 2kms lock cut leading to lock 41 Romery. Zapped, the gates opened but nothing happened when I lifted the blue rod. Mike went to the lock cabin and used the intercom. Someone answered and said OK they’d send someone. Twenty minutes later two men in a van arrived and went in the lock cabin and we

A herd of domesticated deer nr Nouvzonville

were on our way down 2.1m and back on the river again just before 10am. A little less than 3kms to the next lock. Under the railway again, where the river starts the first of its mighty loops and we turned right into the lock cut leading into Mézières lock 42, its old weir had been replaced by a modern hydraulic one after a catastrophic flood. Down 3.4m – our men in a van were in the lock cabin high up above us - but I lifted the rod anyway and the lock worked OK. Into the city on the beginning of the second huge loop of the river and tied on the end of the pontoon by the campsite (lots of parked campervans) and Mike refilled our water tank while I went to find the office to pay 2€ for

Lockside flood level markers at Joigny lock

our 300 litre top up. Mike was rolling the hose away when I got back. Made a cuppa as we slogged back upriver, creeping against the current at 3kph – we came down it at 9kph assisted by the 3kph flow – makes a big difference going uphill. Soon back at the junction and on to the next short lock cut which leads into lock 43 Montcy. No one around and the lock worked perfectly, dropped down 1.8m and rejoined the river on a 9kms reach to the next lock. We were soon out of the city and at the start of the scenic bit – the hills became higher and steeper, covered in trees and closer to the river on both sides now. There is a small island close to the left bank and we had to cross to the far left as the navigable channel passed the island on that side. A pair of Canada geese

Moored on an old quay at Chateau-Regnault

were sunbathing, sitting on the edge of the tarmac cycle path. Road and railway follow the valley now and a brightly decorated diesel three car unit went past to prove the line was still in use. In the narrow meadow on the left between the river and the forest were a collection of old donkeys and then a bit further on a herd of deer beside a beautiful old château almost hidden in the trees. Through Nouzonville with its blocks of flats and factories, then down lock 44 at Joigny a mere 1.7m. 6.3kms to our last lock of the day, passing a modern industrial estate at Braux then down 2.4m in lock 45 Levrézy. Winded and ran against the flow to moor next to an old quay in Château Regnault, where we’d never stopped before. They started charging to moor on the pontoon a bit further downriver so we thought we’d grab a free mooring while we could - and it's quieter away from the noise of the factories in Bogny. It was 1.45pm.