Marquion to Peronne

A long day - 9 hours, 40 kms, 11 locks, 1 tunnel.
It's late and I'm tired so not too many words today!  This will be a story in pictures.
We left the pontoon at 8.45 and travelled through the next 6 locks, all going up stream, with the peniche, Luxor.  

Ducklings!

Getting prettier and prettier - rape fields

OK, not so pretty, big tractor spraying big fields

Even less pretty and a whole lot more smelly - a barge delivering a load of steaming manure to a methane factory

Much better, the Canal du Nord is a very busy waterway but rather lovely

But in the 6 km stretch to the tunnel, Ruyaulcourt, we left him behind us.

Northern entry to the Ruyaulcourt Tunnel

Long and dark - and cold

Two barges passing in the middle of the tunnel, best my camera could do in low light, and these barges got sucked together with an almighty crashing and scraping

There were another 5 locks taking us down hill to the Somme Valley, which we traversed in the company of another peniche, Veronica.  

One empty barge going lickety-spit and overtaking another laden barge

Most of the locks had a 6 metre or more rise/fall, and the last one was 8m

Wonderful early 20th Century engineering

At 17.45 we tied up in the marina at Peronne. When we stopped here last year it was free, but now it is a pay marina, for our 9m boat it cost us €11.80, including water and free showers, but electricty is an extra €2.50.
Another long day tomorrow - 47 kms, 7 locks and 1 tunnel.  We are in a rush to find a good place to spend a couple of days with inclement weather coming up.