Sardy to Baye

8 kms, 16 locks, 3 tunnels, 6.5 hours

A charter boat (Locaboat) arrived late yesterday going in the same direction we are.  It is a much bigger boat than us and, this morning, we were just contemplating asking them if we could go behind them in the lock when the lockie rocked up on his bike and asked if we wanted to go into the lock at 9.00.  Yes, we said, and can we go behind the other boat because we are smaller.  Yes, he said, no problem.  5 minutes later we were lined up astern of the hire boat and all went smoothly.  The people on the hire boat were great, obviously not the first time they have done this.  One of the younger chaps was really keen to help the lockie, and us.  He shot up the ladders in the locks, took their line to a bollard, took our line to a bollard, closed the gate and opened the sluice, with great vigour (whereas the lockie was trying to be gentle).  The water poured in in a torrent and they were bounced around from one side of the lock to the other, banging the walls on each side.  They managed to lose a front fender twice but retrieved it with the boat hook and tied it back on again.  As the lockie walked past us in one of the locks he smiled and said It’s better at the back!

Not my photo, it's taken from a poster board at the beginning of the 16 lock ladder (not staircase as I thought yesterday)

The energetic chap hard at work, next lock right ahead 

A pottery in an old lock keeper's cottage

The locks are beautifully kept, including decorative bollards

Isn't it lovely?

Some of the locks still have the really old, un-mechanised wooden gates.  Our energetic friend was hard at work again

This lock keeper's cottage now houses a sculpture and his workshop, his works of art are on display alongside the canal

Each lock is painted in different colours, except the old wooden ones.  Here we are in a wooden gated lock looking up to a yellow one and a pink one

Synchronised lock opehing.  As we leave the yellow lock a downstream boat exits the pink lock

More lock art

...and even more

We had to wait 20 minutes for a boat coming down in the opposite direction, and we had the customary 1 hour (plus 15 minutes because they stop early) lunch break, and then at the top of the flight we had to wait over an hour for the green light to enter the tunnels (there are 3 of them) because boats were coming in the opposite direction.  These turned out to be 5 electric hire boats from a rent-by-the-hour company just after the last tunnel.  They wheeled around, waited for the last one to exit, and promptly took up station ahead of the two of us who had been waiting for them for over an hour (gnashing of teeth).  But the last one so slow it got between us and the Locaboat and just crawled along at 3 kms/hour.  Idle on our boat is faster than that so it was rather frustrating, but this stretch of the canal is so stunningly beautiful you could not let that detract from the pleasure.

The lunchtime break, a barge in one lock and the Locaboat plus us in the lock below

 Time to go for a walk and take photos of wild flowers

Waiting at the top of the flight for other boats to traverse the tunnels

At last we are on our way into the "vault", a cut through granite rocks including the 3 tunnels.

We have stopped at the summit on a long dock between the canal and a huge lake. 

The Locaboat continued through the lock and after tying up we went to say goodbye to them as they were processed through the first lock going downstream.