Wednesday 17th March 2004 lock one Péronnes to Pommeroeul.

Ladder and floating "boulders) in Peronne lock.
(picture taken in May 2011)

Sunny, 6.6° C overnight. There was a layer of condensation over the roof when we set off at nine, the light breeze soon dried it. Met an empty called Tempore from s’Gravendeel at Wier bridge. There was a very smart converted péniche moored at the quay upstream of Wier bridge. An 85m empty, Asana from Antwerpen, went past, followed not long after by an empty péniche Santa Cruz, which we’d seen quite a few times before. An 85m long empty, Tarragona from Brugge, went by at 10.40 a.m. above Rouacourt bridge. 

Lock cabin and top end gate of Peronne lock
(picture taken in May 2011)

There were lots of people painting boats at Peruweltz yacht club, most of their boats were on the bank, they waved as we passed. Noted that there was a tap in the arm where they moor - a cut off bit of the old Peronnes-Blaton canal. Into a shallow cutting. We noticed one of the crows on the bank was distinctly brown coloured with lighter brown streaks down its back and across its wings. Definitely a crow though. The banks were covered in snowdrops. We passed the junction with the Blaton-Ath canal at 11.45 a.m. 

Emergency flood gate at Blaton
(picture taken in May 2011)

We talked to Bill and decided to move on as far as the junction with the Pommeroeul canal, which is at present disused as the bottom lock and the level beyond had not been modified since the change in levels when the Belgians removed Antoing lock, as there is a good quiet mooring there which we thought would be better for the dog than Blaton. The mooring was along a concrete pier pointing out into the middle of a large wide bassin above the lock. A tanker péniche and a hotel Luxemotor were moored at the end closest the middle of the “large” - we winded and moored at the end nearest the lock. It was 12.45 when we tied up. 

Mooring above disused lock at Pommeroeul lock.
(picture taken in May 2011)

There were a few fishermen around and people walking dogs. A slipway on the far bank was used quite a bit by fishermen with small day boats. I helped Mike unload the moped off the roof direct on to the concrete wall. There was a big gap between the boat and the wall due to a wooden balk used for fendering, but the bike went across that without using a plank, no problems. I did my chores while Mike collected the car from Valenciennes. The afternoon was balmy, like a spring day at 23° C! When Mike returned he said the variateur on the moped had been playing up and he needed to strip it down. He dismantled the variateur to sand off the depressions made by the ball bearings. He discovered he hadn’t got a spare oil seal, so he couldn’t put it back together. Chained it to the railings and put the cover over it, roping it down well as we were expecting high winds next day.