Wednesday 20th April 2016 Pont à-Bar to Lumes. 10.1kms 2 locks

Needle weir at Dom-le-Mesnil

2.2° C Sunny and milder, light breeze. Mooring pins out at 10.00am, winded on the bend below lock 6 (Pont à-Bar) and headed down the canal to lock 7 Dom-le-Mesnil (used to be called Meuse lock). Zapped, the lock filled and we went down 2m back on to the Meuse and set off downriver. A beautiful day, warmer than of late, so no woolly hats and warm jackets! Past the needle weir and into the lock cut leading to lock 40, also named Dom-le-Mesnil, passing the derelict house of the barragiste (weir-keeper) by the needle weir – a couple of men in a van now do the job of several weir keepers no doubt.

Lock chamber at Dom-le-Mesnil.
Note the height of lock walls - lock still usable in times of flood

There were high lock walls in lock 40 (so it could continue be used during times of flooding). The lock house was still lived in, with garden chairs out front and children’s toys. A VNF lorry arrived and started unloading stuff (no idea what) on to the lockside as we left, 1m lower, and sped off downriver aided by a flow of about 2.5kph. The tarmac towpath was well used by locals with quite a few dog walkers and cyclists, even a family out on bikes and roller blades. Following the road we took on Monday to go shopping in Charleville, through Flize and Elaire, then the river swept away from the road and skirted past lots of lakes which were

Long empty pontoon at Lumes

old gravel workings. Soon afterwards we winded and moored next to a floating pontoon at Lumes by the sports ground. It was 11.45am. A yacht and a cruiser went past heading up river and later a German yacht moored at the far end of the pontoon. The gangway to the bank was missing, so it was a long jump to the bank. Mike tried ringing the Mairie to get the water turned on, the secretary said it was nothing to do with them and gave Mike another number to ring. The Water Company who answered said they only did installations, so nothing to do with them. After lunch Mike took a walk up to the Mairie. The secretary said she would get in touch with someone else who would sort it out. No one arrived and the water tap remained waterless. Oh well, looks like we'll have to detour into Charleville tomorrow.