Friday 15th October 2010 Molinet – Avrilly. 18.2 kms 3 locks

Lock 10 Bretons. Canal de Roanne a Digoin

Foggy, visibility not too bad when we set off at 9.30 a.m. but cold and damp. Turned right at the junction on to the Roanne à Digoin canal and arrived at the first lock 10, Bretons (2.85m) at ten. The lock light was on green and a VNF man with a VNF car was there. Noted that there were weirs on this canal (unusual for French canals where they either weir surplus water over the lock gates or leave feed paddles at both ends open) These take surplus water from the pound above and empty it just below the lock on the right hand side -  a sign said beware – remous (whirpools, ie swirly water). We went in the chamber slightly sideways and I yanked the blue cord, the gates started to close and the keeper appeared. He offered to take a rope but didn’t insist when I said we were OK at the back of the chamber without one, thanks. The lock filled, very, very slowly.

VNF van with worse bodywork than our ZX!

I took a photo of a VNF tipper van which had holes in its cills parked by the workshop. It took fifteen minutes to work the lock. Once the gates started to open our keeper was on his way in his car up to the next. The lock lights remained on red and green for quite a time and we wondered if there was downhill traffic due, but then they went to red and the gates closed behind us just as we turned the bend and the lock went out of sight. 1.3 kms to lock 9 Beugnet (3.00m). This time the keeper was waiting by the controls and pulled the blue cord for us as soon as we were in the lock. I asked if all the locks were now automatic and he said no, only the first three, then it’s back to windlasses! On the road near the tail end of the lock there was a van with a tar heater on a trailer. The flames died out on the heater and a great puff of white vapour enveloped the trailer, then with a great loud BOOM! that made us jump the thing relit itself. The lock gates opened and we set off, 1.1 kms to lock 8, Chassenard (6.0m) the first of the deep chambers. 

Lock 8 Chassenard - first of the deep ( 6m) chambers.

A couple in a car held up a small child to see the boat as we went into the chamber. Slowly the boat rose in the chamber so I went inside and made a cuppa. Waved bye-bye to the child as we motored out of the lock on to the 15.7 kms pound. Mike had told the keeper we would stop somewhere on the pound and not move on Saturday as rain was forecast but would be at the next lock on Sunday morning as long as it wasn’t still raining. The long pound was quiet – a sign by the junction had said “Roanne canal – the tranquil canal” and they weren’t wrong. We saw no traffic (none the previous two days at Molinet either) and only a couple of fishermen. Probably the weather was putting people off, it was very chilly. Out came my gloves and fur hat, my boots (and Mike’s) were still in summer storage under the bed - I’ll find then out later. 

Inside the deep chamber of Chassenard

We shut the stern doors and the pigeon box and then opened the inner engine room doors so we’d at least get the heat round our feet and legs as we sat on the stern. I made us a cup of soup. A coypu swam across the canal in front of the boat and wandered slowly up the bank and along the path, totally unconcerned about the boat. Later we saw a pair of buzzards, loads of cormorants and jays and a beautiful pair of kingfishers. Near Bonnand we passed the site of one of the breaches that occurred a few years back where the canal was on an embankment close by the Loire. The side opposite the river had been steel piled for a couple of hundred metres (on our right) where the bank had collapsed. After the embankment the canal went along the base of a low hill on the right bank with occasional views through the trees on the left across the wide flood plain of the Loire. 

Mooring at Avrilly. Derelict mill beyond trees.

We didn’t remember the mooring at Avrilly next to an old abandoned mill, which was not surprising as we hadn’t been on the canal since 1996 and never stayed there. It was just after 2.00 p.m. when we tied up. After lunch I gave Mike a hand to unload the moped down the big plank and he went to collect the car from Molinet. I checked the Internet – only GPRS, 56 kbps – slow. Mike was back around 5.30 p.m. with a loaf he’d picked up in Molinet’s depot de pain as he’d seen no boulangerie at all. He put the bike on the front deck rather than on the roof. Mike cleaned the Reflek’s filter (not much in it) and then cleaned out the burning pan. It wouldn’t burn properly so he turned it off and said he would have a good fiddle with it next day. (The central heating is always stubborn after its summer rest!)