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Published: July 31st 2017
The week of June 5
th through the 9
thwas mainly about moving a little farther each day toward our goal. There were no major towns that we were stopping in to explore, only small villages that had docks to stop at for the evening after a day of traveling through the numerous locks we went through.
When we asked people while in Paris about cruising the canals and specifically about the locks, we were told “every lock is unique”. We found how true that statement was! The pilot books that we use for the canals include lots of details, one of them being which side of the lock chamber the controls are located. This is important information as you need to be near these controls to be able to “pull up the blue bar” to close the gate once you are inside the lock chamber. The ladder that Janice needs to climb up to put the line around the bollard may be near the back of the lock on the left or it could be near the front on the right or any other permeation.
It seems that at least there is “usually” a particular layout
of the lock with the bollards, ladders and controls in the same place for a series of locks, but as soon as you get used to that, it changes. It definitely keeps you on your toes. With our going “up” in the locks we want to keep the boat as far back as possible in the lock due to the turbulence near the front. With this being the case, if the ladder that Janice needs to use to climb up is in the back where we want the boat, but on the left side and the controls are on the right, the exercise program is for Janice to climb up the ladder (which may or may have lots of plant material growing all over it), Bob pushes the boat over from the left side to the right side of the lock (thankfully the locks are narrow to accomplish this), he then throws the lines up, Janice takes the lines around the bollards, throws the other end of the line back to Bob to hold and Janice stays up on top keeping control of the bow line. Once the boat is up to the top, Janice can “hop” on. It may
sound a little complex, but after a few of these it became quite routine.
On Monday, June 5
th we were coming out of the lock and we got quite close to the edge of the gate opening and it “popped” one of our fenders and also pulled another fender completely off. Fortunately for us someone was standing right there at the open gate, caught the fender and we were able to get close enough to the side once we were out of the lock to get the fender back – a great save. Unfortunately that was not the end of the problems today as we were coming out of the last lock of the day; we heard a “crack” which is definitely not a good sound to hear when you have a fiberglass boat. We saw that at the exit to the lock there was a piece of concrete sticking out and it decided to tangle with the side of our boat. Needless to say, the concrete won.
We were planning on stopping after this lock which was at the village of Pagny-sur-Saulx. Fortunately there was a picnic table there so it made the
perfect work table for Bob to do his measuring and mixing for his work on repairing the damage to the fiberglass. It was definitely more than a scratch, but fortunately for us Caliber builds a very sturdy boat with a very thick hull so definitely no structural damage. The damage was high enough that Bob was able to perform the repair job while laying on the quay where we were tied up to. This Monday was definitely not our best, but we have to also be thankful that it could have been a lot worse – it is the looking at things as a half full glass vs. the half empty glass philosophy that we subscribe to that helps in these situations. After Bob made his repairs which he said are strong, but not pretty, we took a walk into the village, but found everything closed except one bakery but they didn’t even have any bread left. Will have to check back in the morning.
Tuesday – June 6 – They predicted rain in the night last night and they weren’t wrong as it came down quite hard. We really can’t complain as the canals need water
in them as the depths are not as good as usual as it was a dry winter with very little run off. After it cleared up, took a walk again to get bread and then found that there was a grocery store, but much further out of town. It was one of those types of walks where you aren’t sure where it is and everyone you ask gives directions of “it is very close by” but after walking for quite a long time, you ask someone else just to be sure. Found the store so could pick up a few things we need. We are glad we didn’t move today as the winds have been strong most of the day. It also gave more time for the fiberglass to cure as well as us to relax before tackling the next set of locks.
It rained last night as predicted. Clearing this AM but plenty of wind so staying put today as have 11 locks to go before the next stop. Walked up to get bread and found there is a store, but further out of the village so went there to pick up a few things. Glad
No, This Isn't a Repeat Photo - another day,
another very straight canal - this one lined with treeswe are staying put as wind picking up again. A good day for the fiberglass to cure as well as our bodies to rest before the next set of locks.
Wednesday, June 7 – We had thought we might move on, but in the night there was another thunderstorm and we woke up to heavy winds and they were predicted to continue all day. We took a vote and decided that we had time so we would wait another day before pushing on. The prediction is for warmer weather and less wind. Today when we woke up it was 49 degrees so it was cold enough to make a pot of soup. The sun finally came out in mid-afternoon and we are hoping the wind will cut down as predicted. We planned on either doing 9 or 12 locks the next day so would rather do them with less wind. With the canals narrow and the locks so frequent, we find that there are very few places that we can stop so have to plan our stops ahead.
Thursday – June 8 – We woke up to beautiful weather and were almost ready to
push off about 8:50AM as the locks here open up at 9AM for pleasure boats. Just then a commercial barge came by so we kept the lines tied to the dock to wait for it to go through the lock as we couldn’t fit in the lock with him. Our AIS showed that there was a 2
nd commercial barge just ahead of him so we decided to wait a little longer before pushing off. We wanted to have some space between us as the locks are so close together we didn’t want to have to sit and wait for 2 commercial boats locking through as they would have to do it separately. We finally got off about 9:45AM which is late for us, but it made the decision for us as to how far we would go today. We pulled up to a dock in Revign-sur-Ormain (well, we got as close as we could to it as we went aground) about 3PM. We would have gone longer, but the locks close at 6PM and we would have had to go through 9 more locks before we came to another stopping point.
We only traveled 13 kilometers (8
These Sensors We Pass Work to Open the Lock
for some of them - there are numerous methods used miles) and went through 12 locks today which takes up our time. As you can tell they are close together in this area. It is definitely a slow way to the Med, but the views are beautiful. Tonight is a free night - just a dock with no services. With the engine running all day and the solar panels, that isn't a problem for power tonight.
The dock at Revigny was quite beat up and we weren’t planning on going anywhere for the evening as there wasn’t anything around. When we pulled in we were behind the people that were in the narrow barge that we had seen the other day. They asked if we’d like to come over and play some games so had a very enjoyable evening learning 2 new games. Fortunately the dock was strong enough to hold us and we were able to “hop” over to the dock.
We found out that the name of their boat is “The Puzzler” as they made wooden jigsaw puzzles for a living before retiring. We got a chance to see their wonderful puzzles as well as get a tour of their barge. On
a narrow barge there has to be a place for everything and that they do have. What a wonderful evening we had thanks to Andy and Sally.
Friday - June 9 - This morning we woke up to rain and predictions of thunderstorms for a good part of the day. We had wanted to start when the locks open at 9AM, but decided to hold off to see what happens. By about 10AM the sky was grey but we didn't see any thunder clouds so decided to move. We didn't meet any other boats on the water today until we got to the place where we wanted to stop. It was packed so had to raft up to another boat. We have gotten used to doing that since being in Europe and this is quite the norm.
We made it through 13 locks today with everything going smoothly. We had 2 lift bridges that had to be raised manually which did not operate between 12-12:30. Fortunately we got to the first one at 11:55AM and the 2nd bridge about 1PM so timed it well. We only had a few sprinkles all day today - glad the
Always Need to Check The Lights
Red & Green together tell us it will open soon forecast was wrong about the storms. We are now in Bar-le-Duc. Took some time to walk around the town tonight - looks interesting. Will stay here until Sunday as there will be enough to keep us busy all day Saturday.
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