Soissons to Alger Lock on the Aisne a la Marne Canal.

53 kms, 9 locks, 9.5 hours

It was a looooong day today.   Another frosty start but by 8.30 it was warming up and I did a bakery run: a lardon baguette for breakfast and just a plain baguette “tradition” for lunch.

We set off at 9.00 and soon left the Aisne River and entered the Canal Lateral d l’Aisne; the river becomes unnavigable so a canal runs more or less alongside the river but it is a lot less attractive, villages are few and far between and it is just a series of straight lines, no curvaceous meanders.

We had decided to do a long day and go as far as Courcy on the Aisne – Marne Canal because we have travelled this route a good few times before and would rather spend more time on the Marne.

An old friend.  Last year we shared a series of locks with this barge and got friendly with the owner.  We have seen him twice before this year and every time we get a huge, enthusiastic wave.

Part one of a two part staircase lock, looking back down the canal

and looking forward as the gates between the two locks open

Looking back over the first lock to the canal far below

Very low canal sides, these fields must flood from time to time

About lunch time we came across a barge straddled across the canal so we could not get past.  We drew alongside and he told us that he had a rope wrapped around his propeller – his own rope!  He said he had called for assistance and was waiting for the fire brigade barge with a diver to arrive.  Ian asked if he could push him towards the bank so we could get past but he was fully loaded and ran aground too far from the bank and somehow that turned into a 1 hour 30 minute marathon because he wanted us to tow him 2 kms to a quay.

First attenpt: tied alongside mid-ships, moving forward with the barge captain using his bow thruster to steer.

Second attempt: tie up at his stern, going ahead, and going astern.

Third attempt: still at his stern but facing in the opposite direction, this is when we got pushed into the trees.

Final attempt: towing.  No more successful than any of the others.

But little 9m Njord towing a 40m 300 ton barge is not a match made in heaven.  We got pushed into the trees at the side of the canal (adding a few new scars) and eventually Ian said, Enough is enough, we have tried our best, we’ll take your line to the bank and tie it to tree.  Which meant that I ended up scrabbling through the brambles and undergrowth to take his huge heavy line around a tree. But we had managed to tow him almost one kilometre.

The joys of trying to be helpful!  But it was an adventure and it gives me something to write about.

That long delay meant we could not make it to our intended mooring for the night before the locks closed and at 18.30 we stopped just above a lock, nothing around except a water point that doesn’t work.

Beautiful clear water

Moored just above a lock