40km, 13 locks, 6 hours 45 mins
When we left St Quentin this morning
we had no idea how far we would get today.
The idea of 40km and 17 locks seemed impossible. To make matters worse there was thick fog this
morning. I went to a bakery at 9.00 as
the fog seemed to be lifting but when I came out it was even worse. But by 10.15, as the sun rose higher, it was
definitely a lot thinner so off we set.
This is such a quiet canal, there is nothing
really notable, except that the water is a lovely colour. It is not as beautiful
as the section further north, but very pleasant none the less. There were a couple of places we could have
stopped but they were too close to St Quentain:
Halte de plaisance de Serrault le Grande (just 7 km from St Q), the off-shoot to the old Somme river at St
Simon (16 km), and the village of Jussy (22 km). However along the lower reaches of the St
Quentin canal the banks are well maintained, lined mostly with metal pilings, there
are bollards (far apart) all the way along and ground that looks suitable for
hammering in stakes. It had turned into
a beautiful sunny day – even broke out the sun-block!
Our day in pictures:
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| How to deter unwanted visitors - lift your drawbridge! |
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| The only barge we saw today, loading grain |
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| Elevenses - Chausse de Pomme and coffee |
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| We've still got the remote - lock preparing as we approach |
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| Clumps of mistletoe in the trees |
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| Blossoms appearing everywhere |
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| More mistletoe |
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| The water is so clear - but beware the ledge just below the surface when looking for a place to moor. |
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| Ducklings! |
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| A pretty little village |
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| Lifting the push rod that activates the lock |
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| That's another lock in the distance, just 50m away |
We arrived at Chauny at 17.00. There is a small marina here with water, electricity
and showers, none of which we need so we don’t see the reason to pay to stay
there. We have tied up at the public
quay right opposite.
We took a walk to the town centre: lots
of bakeries, doggy parlours, hairdressers, clothes shops, but didn’t see any grocery
type stores.
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