Sunday 14th & Monday 15th March 2004 Bassin Rond to Valenciennes.

Sunday 14th March 2004 Bassin Rond

Mild 5.5° C. Grey clouds and chilly in the blustery wind. Mike started fabricating flanges for Bill’s manifold, working on the pontoon using the workmate bench which was rocking from side to side in the stiff wind blowing straight down the old arm off the wide. Trouble with our electric supply - he had to strip down our Honda generator’s carburettor, the main jet was blocked with a tiny lump of fluff and hairs. He went back to cutting out the shapes for the flanges but got fed up with the wind and gave up.

Above Pont Malin lock (photo from 2011)

Monday 15th March 2004 Bassin Rond to Valenciennes.

Even milder 8.5° C overnight. Cloudy, but at least the wind had died down a bit. Set off just after 9.00 a.m. turned left, on to the main canal, then right on the Grand Gabarit (high tonnage route) into Pont Malin lock, which was full and ready for us. There were several boats moored above the lock, two empty pusher péniche pairs, which were pointing uphill, and a loaded Dutch boat which was in the act of offloading his car. Just us two to drop down in the chamber. Mike put the pins in to run the Markon generator and I did the ironing (we’d got very little water left in the tank so I couldn’t do any more washing!) on the 8 kms reach down to Denain. 

Unloading sand into lorries KP3 R Escaut  (photo from 2011)

There were lots of boats in the arm above the lock, including a 667 tonne boat (61.5m x 5.10m) called Amoco Cadiz (really! and it wasn’t a tanker) manoeuvring in the entrance to the arm. VD, a péniche we’d seen lots of times, was moored on the quay wall above the lock, as was an empty 80m called Naiado. A pusher pair had just left the lock heading upriver so it was ready for us. A couple of teenage lads were rescuing some ducks which had gotten themselves trapped at the back of the open top end gates. We moored on opposite sides of the lock chamber until we saw Amoco Cadiz heading for the lock too, so we moved over in front of Rosy. 

Container port at Prouvy  (photo from 2011)

Mike made a cuppa as I steered down the next reach. Rony from Antoing was loading at the silo by the autoroute. At Prouvy Josyl and Syljo were both loaded, moored side by side up the arm. Sankara from Brugge (85m x 9.5m 1,571 tonnes) was loading containers, Ben-Gus (84.75m x 8.2m 1,260 tonnes) was loading grain at the silo at the downstream end of the quay. An empty pan, (71m x 10m) called Scot was being pushed upriver by a small tug called Spes Mea from Dunkerque, the crew waved as we passed. The island above Trith-St-Léger lock was covered in tall trees which were home to a very large rookery. 

Moored in the weir stream in Valenciennes but in May 2011

The approach to the lock was crowded with coots, ducks and moorhens and even a few dabchicks. The boat we’d locked down the last lock with had just cleared Trith, so we waited above, next to the left hand wall. We went down the lock with the containerboat Sankara which must have just finished loading as we passed it at Prouvy. It went into the chamber first and there was just enough room for us two behind it (lengthwise that is, there was enough width for four more narrowboats!) but nothing to tie to. We dropped down ropeless, Bill had lassoed a bollard not far from the sill. It was almost 1.30 p.m. when we winded above the lock next to a large college where all the teenagers were just returning after lunch. We reversed down the (at times) fast flowing weir stream where several old péniches, a yacht and a couple of cruisers were moored. We tied up next to a foot and cycle path separated from a road by a strip of grass and some bushes; beyond the road were a few shops - an electrical retailers and a place selling carpets, etc. Once secured and Mike had chucked out one of our small grapple anchors, (just in case the local kids have developed British kid mentalities and decide to untie the boat), so we won’t be off down to the weir at a high rate of knots in the dark, he went off to get the car. Bill did a couple of twirls around a tree (we’re still in France where trees don’t mind being tied to) with his bow rope for security. Mike was soon back with the car and a fresh loaf. 

Sorry, pictures again are from 2011 - taken in May not the cold blustery weather of March 2004!!