Saturday 18th June 2016 Iwuy to Masniéres. 20.3kms 10 locks.

Previous evening's storm clouds - glad it missed us!

12° C. Cold wind, grey overcast morning. First spots of rain at 10.20am, then heavy showers until late afternoon. Pulled the mooring pins and set off at 9.30am. Took photos of the orange Hawkbit growing among the grass before we left. A goldeneye duck was paddling along with four little balls of fluff trailing behind her. 2kms to our first lock, 4 Thun-St-Martin. Had to get very close before the telecommand would work. The lock emptied and nine geese came out! In the chamber there were four

Orange Hawkbit

floating dead goslings. Explain that. No blue rods in these locks, a function on the modified zapper says “bassinée” and one press starts the automatic sequence off. They’d left the red rods, which can be used to stop the lock working in an emergency. Up 2.5m and the gates opened, 4.2kms to the next. There were two swans with four cygnets above the lock, plus coots and moorhens. Several runners went past on the towpath. Lock 3 Erre lifted

Below lock 3 Erre on the canalised river Escaut

the boat another 2.4m. There was a litterbin on the towpath so I dumped all the packaging from yesterday’s grocery shopping while I had the chance. 2.7kms of lovely green scenery to lock 2 Selles. I went to the fore end as the zapper wouldn’t work until we were within a boat length of the lock. Getting closer to the town of Cambrai, there were fishermen on the towpath and three retired péniches moored below the lock. Up 1.6m and just 750m to the last lock on the Escaut, 1 Cantimpré, up another 1.8m. Someone told us

Below lock 3 Noyelles St Quentin canal

that the port at Cambrai was thinking about limiting the boat length to 15m for mooring in the basin. There were just three boats bigger than that now, the rest of the basin was filled with cruisers. Now on the canal de St Quentin the locks are numbered starting with 1 again. 1.9kms to Proville with heavy rain falling to soak the towpath runners. Water was cascading over the gates of the locks as water is weired through them. Again we had to get very close before the lock would work, then had to back off while it emptied. Up 2.4m and on the next pound, 1.6kms to Cantigneul, the rain continued to pour. I left the fenders out as the locks were now close together and we both stayed under the

Old towpath traction engine sheds at Noyelles

brolly to try and keep dry. It was great that Mike could zap to work each lock rather than me have to lift a rod, that way I stayed relatively dry. The rain went on pause at lock 3 Noyelles (2.4m) and we had a long pound of 2.9kms, so I made some sandwiches for lunch which we ate on the move. The sun came out for a while. Lock 4 Talma (2.3m) emptied and we went up. Ducks were sleeping under the central guard between the two lock chambers, but they woke up and all dropped into the water to swim away until we’d gone. Just 500m to lock 5 Marcoing. There were fishermen all around the edges of an off-line basin (that would make a good mooring – there are several more on this canal). Amazed the zapper worked lock 5 from about 100m away and the boat

Above lock 3 Noyelles, St Quentin canal

had soon risen another 2.5m. A fisherman on the bend above the lock looked very miserable. Past an old silo with a banana palm growing among the trees next to it. 1.6kms to the next. At last, life! A loaded péniche had just come down lock 6 Bracheux (2.4m) the first boat we’d seen all day. VD was well loaded, pulling a big hole in the water at its bows and churning up the mud behind it. Nice to see another vessel moving. We thought our last lock of the day was not going to play nicely when it took an age to activate and re-open its gates, we were getting ready to call control when the lights finally came on and the chamber emptied. Above the lock a motor yacht had moored next to an old silo quay. It had just started to pour with rain again. An empty péniche, Lore from Nancy, was moored by a sand quay, waiting to load on Monday perhaps. Into Masniéres, under the bridge and we moored at an old quay with rings 40m apart for péniches to tie to. There was a fisherman at the uphill end, so we stayed at the downhill end of the quay to use the ring at that end and Mike knocked mooring pins in for our bow ropes. The fisherman sheltered in his car as it bucketed down. I stood in the hatch and handed all our stuff off the roof down to Mike to try and keep the camera, phone, binos, etc, dry in the engine room. I was soaked as the wind blew the torrential rain sideways. Waited for it to ease off a bit then took the gear indoors to dry out. It was 3.10pm when we finished. Made a cuppa and Mike waited to see if it would dry up a bit. It did. Two loaded péniches went past heading downhill, the second one was Maringo that we’d locked with on the Escaut. Gave Mike a hand to get the bike off the roof down a gangplank and he went to recover the car from Iwuy. Glad to see we had 4G Internet at Masniéres. Mike managed to get to the car without getting wet. Left the bike in the car so he can move the car on to Lesdins next day.