Still cool overnight. Sunny very hot, not much breeze. Mike went for bread before we set off. The electricity had gone off early. A man in a van was there fixing it when Mike returned, so someone must have phoned (he said the Canadians on Pax 1 did last time). Boats went off downhill from opening time. Pax 1 (the large cruiser with two Canadians on board) left before us heading uphill. We followed Charley at 9.45 a.m. 2.7 kms to the first lock, Chaintreauville 11 (3.02m) a deep one. There was downhill traffic, three boats – a Norwegian yacht, a Swedish yacht and a large Dutch cruiser. Once they’d cleared we went up. Diana went up a ladder front right, we went on the left as there was another ladder and I went up it with our centre rope, gingerly as I’d just broken a strap on my sandal. The lock keeper, an older bloke, worked the lock with a ‘phone glued to his ear for the first five minutes. I put a stern rope on for Mike and was about to wind the gate shut when the keeper indicated OK he would do it. He filled the lock slowly. Mike and Diana opened gates so he went back in his cabin to ‘phone ahead. Shouted au’voir, merci, to him as we left and he came out smiling to wish us bonne voyage and tell us there was more downhill traffic.
We passed another lockful on the short pound (1.5kms) to lock 10 Bagneaux (2.20m) – two Danish yachts and another Dutch cruiser. A middle aged guy worked the lock. Like the previous lock there was no lock house, just a cabin on the lockside for the keeper whose car was parked alongside. There was unusual paddle gear on one of the tail gates, Mike took a photo of it. It had two racks each connected to an end of a horizontal bar, the centre of which was connected to the paddle rod. Wind either paddle rack and it opened halfway, lift the other and you get a full paddle. Weird! Past an eerily quiet factory, modern and it looked in use. Maybe it’s holiday shutdown time. The IGN map said glassworks. It had a long row of bollards for péniches to load/unload. Must ask Helen. It was 11.15 a.m. and we had a 4.4 kms pound to the last lock, 9 Beaumoulin ((2.10m). I made a cuppa. It was starting to get very hot again. It was 11.50 a.m. when we arrived at the lock and a jolly lady keeper (in her thirties) with a small son aged about nine worked it for us. It was into her lunchtime 12.05 p.m. when we left so we said thank you very much and wished her bon appetit.
Nick said they were carrying on after lunch to Château Landon and I’d just said we were staying at Souppes so she’d given me the ‘phone number for Egreville. An old Dawncraft cruiser (heavily modified stern end) was moored above the lock, crew having lunch and waving. Tied up on the quay at Souppes between the permanent residents, a masted Dutch Barge and a couple of cruisers. Canadian cruiser Pax 1 was moored at the end, with a load of washing on the foredeck, no signs of anyone on board. Plugged in and did some washing, refilled the water tank (strange end to the tap, but Mike had a fitting for it) and decided to move on as there was a new sign which said it was 7,70€ per night for boats over 12m length.
A board also said parking for campervans was free and electric and water was available for them at 2,20€ per night. Why do they charge boats 5.50€ extra for just tying up? We left at 2.00 p.m. following Charley up to lock 8, Egreville (0.60m) where a young man worked the lock for us. I have a book about the Canals du Loing, Orléans and Briare, which says the lock used to be a flood gate. Then they had the “catastrophe” of 1910 when serious floods washed mine workings from the cliffs and spread all but one of the houses from the hamlet of Lorroy out flat, it destroyed 200m of the canal, a péniche went into a field, it flooded the lockhouse at Néronville and the lock gates were ripped off. Seven people were found dead. They had to build a railway to bring in a big steam crane to repair the canal. to see more (in French) click the link.
No signs of that nowadays. Just over a kilometre to lock 7, Néronville (2.90m) and our young man got in his car and drove up to work that one for us too. Another young man was sheltering from the sun under the bridge and he helped work the lock and gave us a map of Château Landon when we said we were staying at the halte nautique. Dutch hotel boat Fleur with British passengers had moored just above the lock, just after we tied up they started jumping in the canal like kids to cool down. We moored at the downhill end of the quay so we could get satellite TV, Charley moored at the uphill end to get the shade from the trees. Gave Mike a hand to get the moped off a very hot roof (even the white paint was hot) and he went to retrieve the car from the car park at Nemours. The Internet was 5 bars on EDGE but dropped out, so not really usable. When Mike returned he was still having problems with the moped not wanting to go above 40 kph. He’d already tried changing the spark plug, which hadn’t made any difference so now he stripped the carburettor down cleaned it and went out to try it. Still no change. Drastic action. The same thing happened before some years ago in the Netherlands when the exhaust sooted up, no other choice than to do stage 1 tuning and ram the poker up the exhaust pipe, aided by the lump hammer. That should fix it! After dinner we put the bike back on the roof. A large Irish cruiser had slotted between us and Charley, no signs of the crew, must be hiding from the sun.
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