Douai to Marquion

24 kms,  4 locks

On the move again, but there is rain forecast for the next few days, so we just have to grin and bear it, put on another layer of waterproofs, and get on with it.  When we left at 10.15 it was 8.5^o and raining and when we arrived 4 and half hours later it was 11^o and raining.  So not much change during the day. 

A coot building its nest

Leaving Douai....

....the rain came down, dry under the bridge though!

What a shame 

It did not rain continuously but the viz was never more than 1km, and of course, Murphy made sure it was always raining when we were in the locks.

Looking like the Goodyear Blimp!

All we saw all day long 

The first three had floating bollards and we shared them with a “peniche” (the traditional 38m long barges) called Norway.  He travelled in front of us, entered the locks first, then we tied up next to him, but we left first and pulled over to let him pass us because he travelled faster than we do.  But it also takes a barge a lot longer to slow down, manoeuvre and speed up than we do, hence exiting the lock before he could.

Norway zooming past us between locks.

At Arleux, the Garlic Capital of the World (I kid you not), we turned off the Grand Gabarit onto the Canal du Nord – no more floating bollards.  By this time Norway was way ahead of us and shared the lock with another commercial barge so we had to wait 20 minutes or so while another barge came down before we could go up.  

Waiting at Palluel lock, 6m lift, no floating bollards

By the time the lock was ready for us another commercial had arrived to share it with us.  

We were right at the front of the lock with just one purchase point at a ladder, thank goodness for a strong hook.  But the lock was very gentle and there were no hassles.

We have stopped an a floating pontoon just downstream of the lock at Marquion, where we have stopped a few times before.  There is free water here and we have not topped up the tank since we left Kortrijke about 12 days ago.  We both luxuriated in long showers, then Ian filled the tanks from the funny old fashioned water outlet (cannot connect a hose).