Peronne to Pont l'Eveque

47 km, 7 locks (3 going up, 4 going down) and 1 tunnel.
The weather forecast for today was not good: rain and wind.  But with Easter weekend closures tomorrow and having already lost so much time we decided to get moving as far as we could. 

We set off at 8.10 this morning (we could only collect the baguette we ordered yesterday from the capitainerie after 8.00) and just after entering the main canal we ran over a section of debris.  Never desirable but sometimes there is no other option.  1 km later, when manoeuvring to enter a lock, Ian said the controls felt strange, and that there was a vibration from the propeller – something had got wrapped around it when we went through the debris.

We found a place where we could stop, actually a really good place to stop overnight if necessary, emptied out the aft locker above the propeller/rudder and moved all heavy stuff from the aft lockers to the forepeak so we could raise the stern as much as possible.  Then Ian opened up the coffer above the prop examined it.  He discovered some plastic wrapped around it which he had to cut away.  

The offending plastic, tough shrink wrap used for around pallets, etc

After that – no more problems.
The Canal du Nord is really rather pleasant for a busy commercial waterway. 

Wide, lined with trees, and enough curves to keep it interesing

Ramps for animals to climb out.  Unfortunately there are not enough and we see many dead rabbits, hedgehogs,etc.

Getting in the wood for next winter - I am so envious! 

A family of grebes

Fields of rape plants

Waiting for the tunnel

Just over 1km long, you can see all the way through

The locks are all 91m long by 5.8m wide so you do not see the very big commercials here, but there are a lot of "double trouble" barges, each about 40m long. 

A barge called "Ski"

At 17.30 we had tied up at Pont L’ Eveque, where we spent a couple of days last year.  It is free marina, water and electricity are extra. In fact the weather was not that bad, just a sprinkle of rain from time to time and the wind only picked up late in the afternoon. 

So, here we are, an enforced lay-over! It is quite a charming little port and I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.