23/9/2012
Today: 10
locks – phew, the number isn’t going to keep going up exponentially!
Our UK mooring fellows had plenty of
advice, and in return J drafted them a few letters to help with procedures for
registering their new moped, so we got away later than planned. Having walked
the bank in the direction of our departure there was a bridge air draft marker measuring
3m40 in our very near future (Yikes!) so our new friend helped take a current
and accurate measurement – confirming 3m35 with full fuel and water tanks. They
and another English couple also walked down in that direction with a view -
they said - to climbing onboard to help lower us if necessary. As it happens,
we passed the bridge with centimetres to spare, and they were nowhere to be
seen before the bridge, but cheered for us after successful passage – perhaps a
little disappointed it wasn’t a more spectacular outcome?!
We made good time today thanks to a keen
lock keeper who told us to rush to the next one and he’d let us through before
closing for lunch – in fact we locked out at 12.10 so we tipped him a beer for
his trouble. This also confirmed that although the speed limit is 6kph,
anything up to 10kph is tolerated as long as you don’t create a wash. That’s
just as well, because to keep to 6kph is about tick over for our engines!
We also did our first set of linked
automatic locks today – if you start the chain you commit to finishing it as
they all prepare for your arrival. There were 4 in the chain and the whole
procedure for all 4 was 50 minutes. We also did the highest locks so far – 5m10
feels colossal from the bottom, and the lock keepers pass down a hook on a line
to take your ropes for you. J put a coil on the first hook, which got in a
jumble so was dropped back down unceremoniously for a second attempt!
On our last lock of the day J noticed
movement in the cracks of the lock wall – a family of frogs waiting for the
water to rise again so they could swim off, and a cheeky fish hitched a ride up
with us, causing Roxy to stir from her now customary VIP position on a fly
bridge bench. Her laid back style causes much amusement to onlookers – she
simply responds by poking her tongue out at them, of course!!
We stopped nice and early at
Chatillon-Coligny in time to make a Sunday roast, another free-bee mooring with
electricity and water, although we didn’t find out til the next day that we’d
also have had internet if we’d asked for it!
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| Lookee-likey! |
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