Itinerary

  • Mon 28 April Christchurch to Le Havre.
  • Tue 29 April arrived in Le Havre
  • Tue 6 May Mast Down. To Risle via Tancarville Canal.
  • Wed 7 May Set off for Paris
  • Sun 12 May Arrive Paris Arsenal
  • Thu 16 May Paris to St Mammés
  • Mon 20 May Leave St Mammés on the River Yonne heading for Auxerre
  • Mon 27 May Leave Auxerre on the Canal du Nivernais heading for Dezise
  • Mon 16 June Leave Dezise on the Canal latéral à la Loire heading for Digoin
  • Wed 18 June Leave Digoin on the Canal du Centre headining for Chalon-sur Saône
  • Sun 22 June Leave Chalon-sur Saône heading South on the River Saône
  • Tue 23June Leave Givors on the Rhone heading for Port Napoleon and the Med
  • Wed 2 July Port Napolean, scrub off, mount mast, set up for sea etc.
  • Thursday 10 July Sail for Toulon

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Up the Canal du Centre

The canal du Centre runs straight into the Lateral without even a board marking the spot. Even the PK0 milestone is missing. Despite this it is significantly different.
The locks are a different pattern again. The early ones are all automatic. They magically show you a green light when the doors are open and in you go. Then the fun starts!
To operate the lock, you have to pull a blue rope attached to a pole mounted on the side. Unfortunately for us, there appears to be no consistency about how close to the gates this pole is sited. On many of them, we found it to be much to close to the gate for our encumbered and rounded stern. We tried to pull the cord from the boat but it involved so much toing and froing that we gave up and now I always drop L at the ladder (usually but not always beside the pole). She climbs up, puts the ropes on the bollards taking care to ignore any that are too close to the gate) and then pulls the cord for a few seconds (until the little orange lamp on the hut starts flashing)
From then on it is all very smooth. The gate behind shuts and then the paddles open. The flow is powerful but surprisingly free of turbulence. It pulls you hard backwards and then hard forwards. Finally the upstream gates open and you’re off.
The mystery is how the gates no you have arrived. There are no sensors. Talking to a keeper, it appears that the ‘center’ knows where you are on a big board – based just on reports of lock keeper. Then there is a keeper checking for trouble (and presumably for surprise travellers who have been moored) who drives between several locks.
The next surprise was when we rolled up at a lock at 6.30 expecting to have another ½ hour to find it shut and dead with nobody anywhere to be seen. We did a wild mooring with our trusty Ronde anchors and asked in the morning what had happened. Oh says the keeper – you’re on a new canal now. The hours are 8.30 to 6.30 with no hour for lunch. Nice of them to let us know!
The third difference we noted is the towpath. On the Nivernais and Lateral, this is reserved for users, the VNF service and bikes. On the central, it is a road. This means that you lose the feeling of rural isolation. It does have the advantage however that services, such as small shops, restaurants and fuel stations are all frequent as they pick up custom from both the canal and the road. That said, the canal edges are distinctly challenging for a fragile boat like Rosa. They are mostly made of corrugated steel plates or sloping concrete. Elsewhere they are very shallow and often have underwater chunks of concrete or stakes.
We went on to Montceau les Mines – which is a real surprise. It’s a pretty heavy industrial city complete with a huge factory and cooling tower as you approach. But they’ve made a huge effort to make it attractive. The bridges are all brightly painted and the Port au Plaisance is superb with large high-quality pontoons and VERY modes fees. The town has everything you could want except a chandlery including a launderette. I have to say it is a thoroughly recommended stop. We missed it, but were told that it has a really excellent market on Tuesdays and Saturdays right by the quay side.

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