Bourg-et-Comin to Courcy

30 kms, 10 locks, 5.75 hours

Another stinking hot day.  I went for a walk early to say hello to the buck (who weren’t interested) and the donkey and pony (who were). 

When we left the pontoon at Bourg-et-Comin at 8.45 it was already 14 degrees.  We immediately turned off the Canal de l’Oise a l’Aisne onto the Canal Lateral de l’Aisne.  This is a wider canal with long straight sections joined by sharp curves, but not unattractive.  We saw very little other traffic, a couple of barges parked and waiting to load/unload, 1 barge exiting a lock, and one pleasure cruiser.  Is France still on strike?

Reflections - not a breath of wiind

Lovely, but wishy-washy colours in the heat haze

The VNF hard at work, definitely not on strike

Fortunately, the manned lock at Berry was indeed manned and we handed back our faithful telecommande which had brought us all the way from the far side of the Riqueval tunnel.

At Berry-au-Bac we turned south into the Canal de l’Aisne a la Marne. 

An old marine shop at the corner of the 2 canals

There are 9 locks in quick succession, all automatic but no telecommande necessary because these are activated by the twisty pole system.  A pole hangs over the canal and you have to give it a quarter turn anti-clockwise to activate the lock. 

The sign that warns you to get ready

The pole

This area is noted for the huge cereal fields.  In the background, on the slopes of the hills are vineyards - this beginning of the champagne area

Information boards at each lock, telling you where you can stop, how far it is and what services are available

Ahhhh

We considered stopping at Loivre where there is an old commercial quay, but by this time it was 29 degrees and the thought of tying up next to a concrete dock with not a blade of grass in site was not appealing, even though there was a strong 4G signal on our phone (which we use for streaming data).  We continued another 3 km to Courcy where we stopped last year under the trees.  It is a very pretty little dock with an old water pump, no electricity.

Parked under a large tree

Shade, but this is what happens - a deck full of pollen