Cruising with the Carters: 11 October Armentiers to Warmbrechies

18 km, 2 locks

A very chilly start to the day, almost 0 degrees outside and 7 degrees inside. It was crisp and clear, not a breath of wind and glorious sunshine. Out came the long-johns, caps, scarves and gloves. This morning a commercial barge called Mint came past, slowed right down and waved cheerily. How nice – and even more proof that the river is now open all the way.

Tomorrow we will be going into the Canal de Roubaix. This canal has 12 locks in total and all but the first is operated by a team who travel with you, but you have to book them at least 24 hours in advance, which I did at 8.30 this morning. The lovely lady on the phone spoke really clear French and told me we have to get a “telecommande” at Quesnoy lock.

We set off at 10.45, once again got friendly and efficient service from the lock keeper at Armentieres and slid ever so peacefully down the old Lys River

When in France....

...French pastries! These are called "escargot de raisain" - raisin snails.

Then we turned into the Deule River which is wide and well used by very big commercials as it is part of the “Grand Gabarit” route from the major ports in France to the major ports in Belgium, but really pleasant compared to the canal from Dunkirk to Douai (also part of the Grand Gabarit).

Deulemont Marina

Big barge, wide river

As we neared the lock at Quesnoy a big barge passed us, and there was another not far behind him. We heard them call in and the first was told he would be in the second “basin” and the other would be in the third “basin”. They were too big for us to fit in with either of them, and we had visions of waiting for well over an hour! When they stopped to wait we passed them to get to the dock where little pleasure boats like us have to wait and we saw that the barge waiting to go in the first “basin” was a peniche, only 38m long. I called the lock and we were told to go in with the peniche. What luck.

Waiting in line

Even so it was a half hour wait for the barge already in the lock to clear and the lock to be emptied and made ready for us. When the lock was full I jumped ashore when the lock was full and went up to the office to collect magic box. He too was extremely friendly and helpful. Why do the French have such bad reputation – they are wonderful!

Autumn leaves

We stopped in the rather delightful Port de Plaisance at Warmbrechies. It used to be an old lock so it is very attractive, lots of restaurants, bars, a carousel for kids and house boats. First of all we stopped right at the entrance, knowing it would be bouncy from the passing barges but too narrow to explore further by boat and had to do that on foot. Fortunately there was plenty of space further in so we moved, none too soon, as a huge barge came by and poor little Njord almost jumped out of the water onto the quay!