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| Bottom end gates on shaft lock 7 Bourg-le-Comte. |
4.5°C getting colder again. Rain overnight, cold – still only 5°C and overcast but no rain when we set off at 9.30 a.m. 3 kms to the first lock. A British registered Recla, painted maroon and grey, was moored by the first bridge below lock 7, Bourg-le-Comte (7.13m). No signs of life at the lock so Mike gave a couple of hoots and a young (20-something) lady lock keeper appeared and opened both gates on the shaft lock. I put a short rope from the side dolly on the front deck around a rung in the ladder and Mike had a series of hooks in a recessed groove to put the stern rope on, neither of which were absolutely necessary as the keeper lifted the right hand ground paddle first which kept the boat glued to the right hand wall. Our keeper had never seen a narrowboat before and she was amazed when we said we were OK to leave the chamber through one lock gate. 3.8 kms to a flight of three locks. I made a cuppa to try and keep out the chill. The camera started playing up, wouldn’t switch on, then when it did it wanted the date and time setting, which it normally only does when the battery has been changed.
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| In the 7.13m deep chamber of Bourg-le-Comte |
No boats were moored at Bourg-le-Comte village, but a man leaned out of a house window and asked Mike in English how he was! By the third bridge below the next lock we spied DEFRA tape around a hole where a stream ran under the canal in a culvert – please don’t let that collapse while we’re moored in Roanne! (There had been several bank collapses over the past few years that had caused boats to be marooned there.) Another young lady in her twenties worked the next lock, 6 Chambilly (2.46m), which had both gates open. She put a rope on a bollard for me then opened the wrong paddle first, it was not fast filling so we could cope and Mike kept the boat alongside the lock wall with a little burst of forward gear now and again.
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| Gate opening/closing gear Bourg-le-Comte |
She drove the 500m up the towpath to lock 5 Montgrailloux (3.20m) in her car. This time there were no ground paddles, only gates, and she wound halves, starting with the right (correct for us) side. She only did the two locks, she told us her colleague would work the deep one. Another 500m and we were at lock 4 Artaix (6m) where a young man, also in his early twenties, worked it for us. Again we put ropes fore and aft on the ladder by the bows and hooks at the stern. The boat rose slowly without any problems, glued to the right hand wall by the flow from the ground paddles. It was 11.55 a.m. when we left the lock; again, the lad was amazed that we could get out through one gate. Just timed right and he was off to his lunch, so we wished him merci et bon appetit.
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| Redundant lock house - they replaced two locks with one deep one. Bourg-le-Comte |
On to the long pound 18.2 kms to the next lock but we weren’t going all the way today. It was 1.15 p.m. when we tied up on an empty quay at Melay. Mike went off on the moped to collect the car from Avrilly. I made myself some lunch and had only just eaten it when he returned. We put the bike on the front deck and he had his lunch. DB-nb Sulaskar went past heading downhill just after lunch. Put some more fibreglass on the parabola to make it solid as one inside panel was still free of the others. The Internet was still on GPRS low speed. John P had sent an email to say there was a Port Party on Thursday so he would tell Pascal that we would be there unless he heard to the contrary. Looks like we’ll be going to a party!
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