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| Moorings at Gannay |
Grey and overcast, light showers in the morning and heavy ones in the afternoon. Mike took a walk down to the lock and told the keeper we were setting off. We left at 9.30 a.m. and spoke to the lady on Kells as we left. The work on her 220v wiring had been started and she said she hoped to set off for Montceau next week. We said we’d probably meet again. Spotted some mushrooms growing on the non-towpath side, pity we’d just bought some – no room in the ‘fridge! Twenty minutes after setting off (about halfway to the first lock) the timeshare boat Bon Viveur II, a Burgundy cruiser, was fast catching us up. Mike had spoken to the crew earlier and they were asking how long he thought it would take then to get to Digoin, Chalon and Maçon. They overtook us and we followed them to lock 11 Gailloux (3.50m). One of the two women on the boat had stepped off below the lock and offered to take our rope in the deep lock.
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| Bank protection work near Garnat |
We tied on the left hand side of the chamber because the cruiser had tied that side, but the keeper, a young man in his twenties, wound the paddles up on the right hand side. Fortunately only part paddles so the lock filled slowly and we stayed on the left hand side. Mike chatted with the crew, they told him they had to be in Maçon by Friday. We calculated that it would take us 83 hours cruising and lock keepers’ hours allow only nine hours per day, therefore they will have to go beyond the official speed limit of 8kph and keep going, possibly making up time once they get on the river. One of the women said they’d done thirty locks in one day the week before – Mike said that’s OK if they’re close together! Told them not to wait for us at the next, that’s if the keeper doesn’t insist they wait. 4kms to the next.
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| Unusual gate winding gear. Clos du May. lock 9 |
The cruiser soon disappeared out of sight. An old Dawncraft-looking cruiser was moored by the lengthsman’s cottage and a cut down péniche called Angola was moored by the road bridge. The boat we’d locked with was just leaving the top of lock 10 Rosière (2.40m) when we arrived but the top end gates remained open. We passed a moored DB called La Blanche Hermite (with an untidy looking stovepipe sticking out of one of the back cabin windows) moored on the lock stumps. Threw a rope around a tree and Mike walked up to the lock to find out what was going on. The keeper was another young man in his twenties. He said there was a boat coming down, be about five minutes. Mike could see at least a kilometre up the canal and there was no sign of a boat so he said more like twenty minutes! Yes, twenty minutes, he agreed. Mike came back on the boat. It had started to rain. Half an hour later a Locaboat arrived and came down the lock. Left on our own we could have turned the lock around, refilled it and have been well clear before the Locaboat arrived. I walked up with the rope to drop down to Mike in the lock. The wind had started to blow and was whipping leaves off the trees, making it feel very chilly. I wound a top end gate open for the keeper as there was another downhill boat about to arrive. As we left I told him we’d be at the next lock at one o’clock. It was 11.45 a.m. and it was 5.7 kms to the next lock. We passed a Belgian cruiser on the first bend above the lock. Slowly up the pound to arrive as the keeper finished his lunch break. In Garnat there were two boats moored, a small cruiser on the pontoon and a tiny yacht opposite the Lighthouse, both looked permanent “dead” boats and the house looked shuttered and not permanently lived in now.
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| Lock 9 Clos du May, ready to leave. |
No sign of life at lock 9, Clos du May (2.50m), at 1.10 p.m. so we slung a rope around a bollard and Mike took a walk up to the lock. A girl aged about 16 and a lad of ten were sitting in a car on the lockside and got out when Mike turned up. He asked if the girl was the lock keeper, yes, so he asked if we could come up the lock - hadn’t the last keeper ‘phoned ahead? She looked perplexed. They went to open the paddles at the bottom end until Mike pointed out that the top end paddles were still open. Mike came back to the boat and I walked up with the rope again. The girl asked if we were going up the next lock. No staying at Beaulon. The lad was very shy. I asked the girl if he was her brother, she said yes and I said I thought he was very shy, he blushed. Another Brit-flagged Burgundy boat, called Vital, went past heading downhill. We arrived at Beaulon at 1.45 p.m. and the crews of two British boats, a tjalk and a Burgundy boat called Chocolat, came out to lend a hand with ropes. We were on the bottom. Gave Mike a hand to put quant poles out as it started to rain again. There were three campervans (two Dutch and one British) also plugged into the electricity supply. We plugged in too and set up the TV. Mike watched snooker then the qualis for the Singapore F1 night race. I hoped the Internet might be a bit better than at Gannay. It was, but still only EDGE (2G) on 236kbps. At least it was a solid signal and didn’t keep dropping out. Glad Mike lit the coal fire as the temperature dipped down again.
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