Mike went to the boulangerie by the bridge to get a loaf before we set off at nine, heading uphill. Nick and Diana were also getting ready as they would be following us fifteen minutes later. A small Eau Claire ex hireboat moored in front of Claude’s boat was getting ready too but he was setting off heading downhill. Said au ‘voirs to the crew off Carol and a cruiser called Rajas and I walked up to lock 14, Chatillon, which was empty with both gates open. I closed the left hand gate and crossed the top end, noting that the top end paddles were padlocked, and took the ropes from Mike then closed the right hand gate. Our keeper, (a cheery middle aged man), arrived in a van at 9.10 a.m. unlocked the paddles and worked the lock for us. Charlie was waiting below as we left on the 3 kms long pound to lock 13 Mingot. A VNF digger was grass cutting along the bank. Shortly afterwards the van went flying up the towpath. When we arrived two vans were there and an older man had joined our keeper to work the lock, a deeper one at 3.49m. They opened both gates at both ends even though I’d previously told the first keeper that we could get through one gate. A short pound took us to Orgue, lock 12, a shallow one 1.65m. The older man worked the lock for us. I made a cuppa on the 1.5 kms pound to lock 11 Orgue. Both keepers were there to work the lock. Charlie arrived as we were leaving the top. Nick came on VHF to say he’d seen a deer watching us from the towpath. 983m to Monte et Marré a two-rise staircase, 10 & 9. I got off on the bank and walked up to the lock. A Locaboat had just come into the top chamber so I helped the old man work the lock while the crew of the hireboat (a middle aged French couple) sat smiling holding ropes. The other keeper arrived and worked us through. Charlie arrived at the bottom lock as they were filling the top. We started on the 2.3 kms pound to the two staircases at 11.15 a.m. Nowhere to get off again so I went up the ladder with the fore end rope in Chavance (8 & 7) bottom chamber. The old man worked the lock. Mike asked if we could stay in the top chamber for lunch and he said yes, no problem. He emptied the bottom chamber and Charlie sat in the lower chamber, then he went in the little restaurant in the lock house alongside.
Two hire boats came down Chavance three-rise (6, 5 & 4) and moored in the short pound for lunch. I made sandwiches and we sat in the cabin out of the rain. Set off again at one. I walked up the towpath/road to the three-rise. When Charlie cleared the two-rise then the two hireboats went down. A resident keeper came out and pressed buttons (electric!!) to work the three-rise which was cascaded like the staircases on the Canal du Midi. The gate paddles on the middle gates hadn’t been mechanised so when Charlie came up he worked it like a normal staircase. 3.5kms to the next locks, two at Bazolles (3 & 2), which were worked for us by a stern faced older bloke. There was no step off below the last three locks and no ladders in Bazolles so we had to ask the keeper to attach our ropes to the bollards for us. At the top lock, Baye no 1, I got off below the lock as there was a road bridge and went up the steps with a rope to drop down to Mike as it at 3.13m deep it was a metre deeper than the previous two. I closed a gate then hung on to the bow rope while the lock filled. Mike told the keeper we would be staying on the quay by the reservoir (la digue) until the following day then through the tunnels at 1.00 p.m. ready to drop down Sardy’s flight of 16 on Wednesday and the others behind us would be doing the same as we’d already spoken to them on VHF. There were a few “dead” boats moored along the wall, a couple of cruisers and a narrowboat called Pastures Bleu (which had been left for a couple of years at least by the moss growth). We tied up behind a French cruiser called Lara whose crew had gone walkabout. Charlie arrived just after we finished packing up and cutting a small beech tree down that was growing out of the wall. A lone fisherman was fishing from the quay into the reservoir. I made a cuppa and sat down to rest my aching legs. Mike set the dish up and terrestrial TV (digital too for a change, but not TF1 our favourite French channel for the weather forecast) and I had already spotted we had no SFR on the ‘phone but some network called France 13. Had the central heating on in the evening but turned it off at bedtime. No Internet again.
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