Wednesday 22nd June 2016 Jussy to Abbécourt. 21.2kms 10 locks

17.2° C. Grey, overcast, but dry for a while at last. Set off at 8am. The cutting was full of

Lock 26 Jussy - so why is the life ring beyond the fence?

horseflies as we ran down to lock 26 Jussy. There was only one lock house and that looked empty, both locks were fenced off and, strangely there was a life ring outside the fence! 2.6kms to the next, lock 27 Mennessis. Under the very busy D1 road and into lock 27. There was a usefully placed bin for our rubbish on the lockside. Both lock houses were lived in, both locks were fenced in and water cascaded over the top end gates as we dropped down 3.3m. Locks 27 and 28 were  and  and chained – linked together – so as we left 27, lock 28 Voyaux prepared itself. Just one lock house on the left, but it looked

Lock house at 30 Fargniers

empty. Locks still surrounded by fencing. 3.6kms to the three close together at Fargniers. A dragonfly landed on the bike cover. It started to rain at 10am as we entered lock 29 Fargniers. Both lock houses were lived in and the locks were fenced. The lock was full as we arrived so we dropped down 2.6m, noting that there was a large black tjalk in the pound below that had just set off from the quay on the right into lock 30 Fargniers. Locks 29 and 30 are linked, ermm, has he just pinched our lock? We left lock  29 and sat under the bridge below it. The tjalk went down the lock and then we got a red and green light – it had

Below lock 34 Senicourt

prepared itself, so maybe the tjalk didn’t pinch our lock after all, maybe we just caught up with him? Dropped down 2.9m in lock 30, but now the tjalk was sitting waiting for lock 31 Fargniers to work, and nothing was happening. Mike phoned the VNF for assistance. OK. Then he called the tjalk on channel 10 VHF. Yes he was listening, so Mike told him he’d called VNF. Admired the new houses they were building next to the canal while we waited. Our VNF man in a van arrived and reset the lock (eventually). The tjalk went down lock 31 and, after he left, it reset for us, by which time the man in a van

Disused arm and lock on to the Oise to access quays

had headed back up the towpath with no chance for us to thank him. Into the last lock at 11.05am after over an hour’s wait. Turned right at the junction with the Oise à Sambre canal (still closed) still on the St Quentin canal as far as Chauny.  Four more locks, paired like all the others, automatic, but only one of each pair works and they’d all had new lock cabins built on their central islands. Lock 32 Tergnier worked OK and dropped us down another 1.4m. The ladies at the lock house waved and said hello. The tjalk was going into lock 33, 2.6kms away in a straight line, as we were leaving 32. Lock 33 Viry refilled for us after Mike zapped. Down another 2.4m. Empty péniche Santa Maria (last seen at Fresnes) was at the quay by a house in Viry. Workmen

Moored at Abbecourt. Grass growing well this year with all the rain

were removing a pipe from the road bridge. (An 8” pipe stuffed with polystyrene around a 1” pipe) they all waved and shouted hello. A rare sight, we saw a dead eel floating in the canal. Down 34 Senicourt another 2m drop, then 1.5kms to the last lock. A large factory on the right, then a derelict silo on the outskirts of Chauny. An old arm off to the left had a disused lock down to wharves on the river Oise. Down lock 35 Chauny (2.2m) and through the town on a pound 8.9kms long. The black tjalk had squeezed into the end of the mooring at the port-de-plaisance in Chauny. Empty Baltes was moored

The boat moored behind us looked abandoned.

on the left by the pub. A bit further on empty Banco was moored on the left, looked like it hadn’t been loaded in a long while. Melinda from Chenove, also empty was moored next to it, (we’d locked with that boat on the Escaut). An empty called Comeback was coming towards us, followed half an hour later by Atlantis from Bethune. There was an empty moored at the end of the quay at Abbécourt, which was waist high in grass. It turned out to be an abandoned boat called Mado. It was 1.45pm. Attached to pins and one bollard at our stern. Trimmed the grass back and sprayed the ropes and concrete edge with ant spray as there were some huge ones wanting to explore the boat. Lunch, then Mike went to move the car from Lesdins to Berry-au-Bac and return on the moped. At 8.15pm I gave him a hand to get the bike back on the roof and cover it, sweltering as the temperature had soared up to 30° C.