Wednesday 29th June 2016 Vaudemanges to Condé-sur-Marne. 7.0kms 8 locks

Top lock of the flight. 17 Vaudemanges

11.8° C. Sunny with white fluffy clouds. The DB behind us set off down the locks just after opening time at 7.15am. We backed up to the turn pole an hour later. Mike twisted it, but the lock lights are not visible from there, so we motored on to the top lock hoping the lock was setting for us. Yes, it was almost ready when we arrived. No problems with any of the eight locks (which are chained – ie leaving one lock sets the next) until the very last one. We passed our friendly fisherman

Rain battered grain field

Serge on the Isse pound, he said welcome back, smiling and laughing. We met only one uphill boat, a loaded Dutchman called Jenny, which had just come up the bottom lock 24 Condé – we passed it halfway down the pound from 23 Coupé. When we arrived at lock 24 there was only a red light showing – it was waiting for an uphill boat. Threw a rope around a bollard and Mike went to see if there was actually a boat below the lock. There wasn’t. He called for VNF

Lock 21 Fosse Rode. Smart lock house.

assistance on the lock cabin intercom. Fifteen minutes later a man in a van drove down the towpath, looking none too pleased, and reset the lock. He left as we entered the chamber. Nice friendly staff here now? As we left the lock a scooter drove up – it was our old friend Gérard! “There’s no space on the pontoon!!” he said. Our usual mooring was free - he was joking, we tied up and had a chat with him. He said he would be moving off his mooring in a couple of days as

Loaded peniche above lock 24 Conde

all resident boats are supposed to leave the port for one month at least, either in July or August, he was just going up the canal a short way towards the lock. We had to leave the pontoon free for the passing boats too, so we winded at the junction and went back up the canal to moor by the piled bank just outside the port. It was 11.30am. Meanwhile the Australians on the cruiser we’d last seen in Reims arrived and moored on the pontoon over lunchtime. Then two Dutch cruisers moored in front of us

Moored just outside the port at Conde-sur-Marne
looking towards the junction with Lateral a la Marne

and another two arrived mid-afternoon. Hmm, no one wants to stay on the pontoon, wonder why?  Lunch. A hotel boat went past heading uphill towards Reims. I tried ringing the man in charge of the moorings at Condé and at Châlons and got his answering service, so I sent a text to say we’d arrived. Gérard came round to our boat in his van to pick Mike up and they went to Berry so Mike could recover our car. Had a phone call from someone at Châlons who said he would be

Moored at Conde, looking towards the lock flight

at Condé at 5.30pm. Mike was back when he arrived (he found no one actually in the port to collect any money from) and gave us keys for box 4 so we could have water and electricity. Nice to be back (almost) on our home mooring!