Peronne to Marquion

Yesterday was a taking care of chores day: laundry, grocery shopping, uhmmm not much else.  It poured with rain in the morning, a deluge, which cut the oppressive heat we have had for the last few days.  Thank goodness.

40 kms, 11 locks (5 up, 6 down) and 1 tunnel.  8.5 hours

This morning was quite grey and misty, not thick fog and high cloud cover, but bad visibility and it stayed like that throughout the day, not great for photographs. The upside:  it was delightfully cool all day.

We left the pontoon at Peronne at 7.45 and passed through the first 5 locks going upstream without encountering a barge going in our direction so we had the locks all to ourselves.

Exiting the port onto the Canal du Nord (except at this point it is part of the Somme River)

We saw lots of frisky bunnies

A lock all to ourselves.  These locks are all in the region of 6m

A couple of them are rather boisterous.  We discovered it was better to tie up to the side opposite the control tower.

How many fenders does one boat need?  This one had 17 down one side

As the entrance to the tunnel came in sight we saw a barge waiting to enter and another just exiting.  The light was already green for the barge ahead of us so we hurried to get closer just in case they light turned red, but we made it and only caught up to the barge ahead as he exited the tunnel. 

The Ruyaulcourt Tunnel, 4.36 km long

Most of the tunnel is only one barge wide but in the middle there is a 1 km long section that is double width where barges can pass each other, controlled by traffic lights

On the way out, Ottimista just ahead of us

So the first half of the journey went lickety split, but after that we were reduced to the pace of the barge,  Ottimista, ahead of us.  (Why is it that when barges are passing you when tied up at a quay, or going in the opposite direction on a waterway, they seem to be going so fast, but when you are travelling behind them they seem to go so slowly?)  Well, anyway, it was nice to be travelling with a barge, he did all the calling in to the locks and adjusted his speed to arrive at the lock just as it was ready for us, even when the lock was busy with a boat travelling in the opposite direction. 

Well after midday and still misty 

We shared 6 locks with Ottimista

A methane gas plant, which turns manure into methane gas. Last year when we passed here there was a very small barge unloading its cargo

Some of the locks had leaky upstream gates with spectacular waterfalls - you don't want to stop too close to the gates.

We arrived at the free pontoon in Marquion at 16.15, 8 hours 30 mins after leaving Peronne.  The day had warmed up to 23 degrees, nice and comfortable.  This is a free pontoon with water but no electricity.  It is great to see that is being well maintained.