Saturday 6th March 2004 Abbécourt to Jussy.

Clock tower at Chauny

A mild 4° C overnight, but grey, chilly and drizzly all day. Helen ‘phoned at 8.30 a.m. to ask where we were, Mike told her we were at Abbécourt heading for the St Quentin canal and then the canal du Nord. She said she’d ring us again on Monday to find out how we’d got on. We set off at 9.10 a.m. winding in the wide below the lock, after Congaye and Chakari had gone past heading downhill. In Chauny we met a downhill empty from Nancy called Roquette. The town looked a little down at heel. A couple of cruisers were moored at the port, as was a small converted tjalk called Perseverance and a couple of old and battered ex-hire pénichettes. The paired locks had been made automatic! The right hand side lock emptied, although the left hand chamber was empty as“Roquette had just descended in it. We went up lock 35, Chauny, side by side with Rosy. A short pound lead to lock 34, Senicourt. Anitjo, a loaded boat from Soissons, was just coming out of the left hand chamber as we went into the right to go up. Before we got there the left hand lock had been full and running weir over both top and bottom end gates. Just beyond the bridge three fishermen (the only ones for miles) were sitting elbow to elbow, fishing under their green brollies in the rain. 

Garage on the stern deck of a peniche

A slinky, auburn-furred bank vole swam along the bank opposite the fishermen and disappeared into a hole in the piling. Lock 33, Viry, had a green light on the left hand chamber. As we got closer it became apparent that the lock hadn’t closed after the péniche left, as a keeper was in the cabin and the right hand chamber had started to empty automatically for us. We went into the right hand side, waved to the old chap in the cabin who had succeeded in closing the gates on the left hand lock chamber. It was nice to note that all the central dividing wooden platforms, above and below each set of locks, had been renovated so that they all now had new planking (the old ones had been very rotten and dangerous). 

Remains of an old house at Chauny

Lock 32, Tergnier, was also automatic - we expected there to be a keeper who would ask if we were going to continue along the St Quentin canal (which the canal had been called since Chauny) or were we going to travel the Sambre à l’Oise canal, for which we would have needed a control box (zapper) which he dished out last time we were there. There was no one in the greenhouse lock cabin as we rose in the chamber. The planking on the dividers hadn’t been renovated any further than lock 32. We swung left under the bridge to activate the right hand chamber of the bottom pair of the three locks at Fagniers, lock 31. The lock emptied, we went in and the red light was flashing atop the control pole, not the green one which had been flashing on all the other automatic locks on this section to tell us to lift the blue bar. Mike reversed out, after Bill had tried lifting the pole for the third time with no success, dropped me off below the lock and I went up to see if there was an intercom on the lockside. There wasn’t. Mike tried calling for a keeper on VHF channel 10 and got no reply. He had spotted a ‘phone number on the previous lock, so he called that. 

Lock island garden at Mennessis

It wasn’t the right number, but the person who answered said they would call the man who was responsible for the locks. He arrived and I went to have a chat. He said the computer indicated that it was waiting for two more boats! He said we should keep twenty metres apart when passing through the sensors. We had done. Bill ate his lunch while the itinerant sorted the lock out. I went inside to make a sandwich when the chamber was full and I could get back on board. The keeper worked the locks for us at 30 and 29, we used the left hand chambers of each pair. As we left 29, I asked him if the canal de la Somme was open on Sundays, he replied that it was closed until June, as the VHF were in process of reconstructing the locks. Padoue came down the next pound, running empty. 

Old route on to the river Oise at Chauny, long closed.

We ate lunch on the long pound to lock 28, Voyaux. We went up the right hand side chamber on auto with no problems, except Bill followed us straight out, forgetting to leave a gap between the two boats. Lock 27, Mennessis, had stop planks across the gates on the left hand side chamber as they were installing new lock gates. The right hand chamber emptied and we went in, but the red light was flashing again. Now we know why. Mike spoke to Bill later to say that we must keep closer together when passing through the activating sensors and be sure to leave the same sort of gap when leaving the locks. The keeper turned up, reset the lock and then left us to it. At lock 26, Jussy, the left hand chamber emptied and the lock worked perfectly. Through the cutting and we were into the valley of the Somme. Moored on the silo quay at Jussy. They had removed the loading chutes at the silo, so no boats can load there anymore. A fisherman was installed at the downstream end where we normally would have moored, but as the whole quay was now available we moved up so as not to disturb him. It was 2.40 p.m. Gave Mike a hand to get the moped off the roof and he went to collect the car from Abbécourt. Peter sent an SMS wanting to know where we would be on the 12th of April. I sent one back to say probably somewhere in the Netherlands.

(Note: due to lack of photos from  I've added ones of the same trip done in 2011, sorry if you've seen some of them before.)

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Friday 5th March 2004 Abbécourt. Visit to museum at Compiègne

Milder 5° C overnight. Rain was forecast so we had a day off at Abbécourt. We went shopping at Auchan in Noyon. Bill didn’t need anything so he stayed on board Rosy. When we got back I suggested that we could go and have a look at Compiègne, if Bill wanted to go, and visit the Armistice museum again. He said yes, so we had some lunch and collected Bill at 1.30 p.m. Mike had left the ‘phone in the car when we came back from Noyon and we’d missed a call from Helen on Floan to say that they’d just come down the lock at Vraux, she ended by saying she would call Bill. When we got to the Clairèrie de l’Armistice the sand (a softer alternative to gravel) around the rail tracks was waterlogged. We had a wander round and looked through the huge selection of 3D black and white photos. Noticed Bill was missing, so Mike looked at the last couple of viewers and skipped the end two rooms full of maps, newspapers and uniforms and we went to find Bill, he was outside. Mike dropped the ‘phone, it landed flat on the stone path but still seemed to be working OK. Back home across the hill through the thick of the WW1 battlefield surrounding Tracy-le-Val.

And in lieu of photos here are some interesting links:-

Official site of the War Museum at Compiegne

and more historical facts in English 

Thursday 4th March 2004 Pinon to Abbécourt

Vauxaillon lock 5 Canal de Oise a l'Aisne

A mild night. Overcast morning. Showery. Five boats went past early. Bill went shopping at the Champion before we set off at 9.35 a.m. following a craneboat being shoved along by a little tug called Compiègne. We dropped down lock 5, Vauxaillon, to find the next resting place of Le Camargue, the wreck that had been rotting away in the corner of the “large” at Berry-au-Bac for years and years. It was interesting to note that it now had a Belgian registration at Marchienne-au-Pont. The first of a series of showers started as we went along the next pound. Select from Douai passed us, heading uphill, just before we reached lock 4 Leuilly, where we discovered we’d caught up with the crane boat. 

Lock cabin Crecy  lock 3 Canal de Oise a l'Aisne

A loaded boat came up, Welland from Douai (one of a fleet owned by a M Dubrulle), then we went down. Another loaded boat, Da Capo from Nijkerk, was in the next lock, no 2 Guny, coming uphill. When he cleared, we went down. The next loaded boat was not far behind, Deo Juvenos from Conflans, it passed us on the long pound. I flung ingredients together to make a quiche. We had lunch. We passed the next loaded boat, Picaro from Oss, at KP 6. Ronita from Gent went past at KP 5. We had to wait above the last lock, N°1 Abbécourt, which was keeper operated. 

 Flowery gates Guny lock 2 Canal de Oise a l'Aisne

Thursday 4th March 2004 Pinon to Abbécourt

The back half of the pusher pair Rolibert 2 was in the chamber. Something was going on, but no one said anything. We waited. The crane boat (which we’d overtaken earlier as it had been tied up for lunch) arrived and moored before the aqueduct. Its crew went off home, finished for the day. There seemed to be lots of paperwork filling in going on down at the lock. Eventually Rolibert 2 went out of the lock and moored immediately below it, opposite Rolibert 1. The keeper refilled the deep chamber and we went down. The skipper of the pusher pair was making a very animated ‘phone call as we passed the moored pair. To Like, an empty from Douai, had just moored at the upstream end of the quay, we moored with our stern rope on the same bollard as he had tied his bow rope to. Bill moored in front of us and Fanny had a good romp on the great open space of grass by the quay. It was 3.15 p.m. Mike unloaded the moped and went to get the car from Berry, just as the rain started at 4.00 p.m, it was still raining when he got back, I gave him a hand to replace the bike and planks on the roof.  

(Note: due to lack of photos from 2004 I've added ones of the same trip done in 2011, sorry if you've seen some of them before.)

Wednesday 3rd March 2004 Berry-au-Bac to Pinon.

Derelict lock house lock 13 Verneuil. Oise a l'Aisne canal

Even colder - 4.7° C overnight. After a frosty, misty start, we had a mild sunny day. Mike went to buy a loaf before we set off at 9.15 a.m. An older VNF lock keeper worked lock 3 Berry for us. Mike checked with him that it was OK to leave the car by the bins for a couple of days. Below the lock we drifted while Mike put the pins in to run the generator so I could do my ironing. Chatted to the skipper of the moored, empty péniche Lesage as we went past. The flow rate of the water from the Aisne, which runs the length of the long pound to power the Hydro-Electric-Power station at Bourg-et-Cumin, was about one and a half kilometres per hour. 

Lock chamber at 13 Verneuil

Bill had gone on ahead. An empty called Syljo went past at KP 30, as we were passing a grey-faced old coypu, the latter carried on swimming merrily along the bank as the wash from both boats bounced him gently up and down. Their other boat, Josyl, (which makes up a pusher-pair) was not far behind - we passed them at Maizy, it was followed by Sta Cruz, which was also empty. Then, as we passed the sugar works at Villiers, a loaded boat called Cathy went past, also heading uphill. Turned right on to the Oise à l’Aisne canal and into lock 13, Verneuil, which the tunnel keeper keeps an eye on using cctv - he sets the chain of automatic locks for uphill boats. There was a new war memorial monument alongside the lock. A young itinerant lock-keeper on a moped arrived to check the lock, he said we must to put a rope on a bollard for “securité” I almost asked him why. 

The ventilator fan at Braye tunnel

These next four locks must be the gentlest filling ones in all of France. Bill complied with his request, we didn’t. The lock keeper on a moped left us to it. I made lunch on the way up the flight as Bill was on the left (his preferred side, we favour the right - it's all to do with the hand of the prop) and was doing the job of lifting the lock activating bars so I was redundant. We arrived at the top at 1.10 p.m. Quomodo Vale (loaded) from Dombasle, was heading for the locks we’d just left. The big green fan was out of action at the portal of Braye tunnel. The fan itself was missing and a very old electrical panel (with loads of connections) was laid against the wall. The tunnel was dripping in places. Cabourg, an empty from St Jean-de-Losne, was waiting at the far end. The tunnel light turned to green for him as we passed through the portal. 

Lock cabin at 6 Pinon. Oise a l'Aisne canal

The middle-aged couple on board the peniche were still eating their lunch as they cast off. A houseboat péniche, called Joyau from Eisden, was moored above lock 9, Pargny. The lock was now automatic and so this time (sadly) there was no keeper with a big black dog to come out to work the lock. A short pound lead to lock 8, Chavignon, where the keeper was working in his garden. His two large Rottweiler-cross dogs were on the lockside. One came close to the boat and growled savagely at poor Fanny - and we were in the middle, being deafened. Varia, a loaded boat from Amsterdam, was coming uphill, heading for the lock as we left. Mike went inside to fix a wire that had pulled out of our radio. A short pound lead to lock 7, Chaillevois, where there were lots of VNF vans at the lock house, but no one was around as we dropped down in the chamber. Five kilometres to lock 6 at Pinon. We dropped down the lock and moored on the quay at the back of the Champion supermarket at 4.30 p.m. Mike went to look at Bill’s cooling system, it was still spewing antifreeze all over his engine room floor. After dinner Mike made up a temporary header tank, using an empty plastic five litre container, to fit into Bill’s system.

(Note: due to lack of photos from 2004 I've added ones of the same trip done in 2011, sorry if you've seen some of them before.)

Tuesday 2nd March 2004 PUM to Berry-au-Bac.

Empty quay at PUM

It was chilly, but sunny all day, after -2° C overnight due to a cloudless sky. There was a light layer of ice on the cut as we set off again at 9.05 a.m. The one boat moored on the PUM mooring was called Lucette. We passed a loaded boat called Gastalle, then two empties running uphill, A Dutchman called Sonnepaerd followed by Kama from Béthune. The first one didn’t see Bill and got a hoot from Bill’s horn which caused him to move over. Four locks followed close together, 9 Coucy, 8 Noue-Gouzaine, 7 Fontaines and 6 Loivre, where our smiling lady keeper came out from her cabin to lift the bar for us. 

Lock house at top lock Coucy Lk 9

She’d got onions and garlic for sale, pity we’d recently stocked up. Bill paused briefly at the quay below for Fanny to get off for a quick pee-pee and we pottered on down to Gaudart no 5. I ‘phoned Gérard and told him we would be at Berry by two, he said he’d be over just after four o’clock. The radar at lock 5 didn’t “see” us, but luckily there was a VNF man working in the lockside garden who set the lock for us and then went back to digging. I wished him good afternoon and thanked him for resetting the lock. 

Loivre lock house

Lock 4, Alger, now had a swimming pool alongside the lock house, but no shaggy Korthals dog came to greet us this time. Ate our lunch on the long pound down to Sapigneul no 3. The radar on that one worked OK. A loaded boat was coming up in the lock. It was our friends with the péniche Sinaï - Paul came out of his wheelhouse to shout hello and ask where we were going. Daughter Clothilde was in the wheelhouse with him, Paul shouted to us that she was six now. 

Lock cabin

The loaded Dutch boat, Equinoxe from Lekerkerk, was waiting below. We’d last seen the boat at Langres when they chased us through the tunnel only to stop mid-afternoon on the quay – mariniers! Today the couple on board waved pleasantly as we passed. An empty pusher pair, called Rolibert 1 and Rolibert 2, were moored by the silo quay waiting to load. We were surprised to find a keeper in lock 1 Berry, the last lock before the junction. Mike told the keeper we would be mooring in the corner. Ste Rita was moored on the corner nearest the fuel depot, 

Moulin de Sapigneul lock house

but the rest of the “large” (wide section of canal) was completely empty. Even the wreck called Le Camargue that had been there for years had gone. We moored in the corner, bows to bows with Rosy once we’d bounced off the silt and had another try at getting close to the bank. Bill asked Mike if he could fix his Nokia ‘phone. He’d dropped it on its antenna and broken it. Mike took it all apart, there were bits spread across the table, he re-bent the wire which connected the antenna to the circuit board inside and rebuilt it. It worked OK. 

Lock house by the bottom lock Berry-au-Bac 

Bill was very pleased. Son Peter sent an SMS to ask if Mike wanted to play HF radio (we're all radio amateurs) just as Gérard arrived at 4.15 p.m. I sent one back to him to say sorry his Dad was moving the car and would play later. We gave Gérard a birthday card (luckily I’d got a spare in the cupboard, albeit a rather rude one) and wished him many happy returns for Saturday, when he will be sixty. He had a coffee and a chat before he ferried Mike back to Condé. Mike said they talked non-stop all the way back. He came back via the breakers yard at Bisseuil for a radiator cap, then to Castorama (DIY) for some pipe, etc.

(Note: due to lack of photos from 2004 I've added ones of the same trip done in 2011, sorry if you've seen some of them before.)

Monday 1st March 2004 Condé to PUM Reims.

Photo of towpath traction mule at Conde from 1996

Up early after a frosty night with temperatures down to -2° C. A CFT pusher tug came down the flight before Mike was out of bed at 8.00 a.m. It was freezing cold, we were very chilly getting the boat ready to move for nine. It was 9.10 a.m. when we set off, saying our au’voirs to Gérard - we would see him again when he came to pick Mike up from Berry to come back to collect the car. A loaded péniche called Macte Animo (used to be Colfra according to the embossing around the bows) from Marchienne, came down lock 24 Condé, then we went into the chamber, followed by Rosy. Within a few minutes we were trundling along the long pound to lock 23, Coupé. When the lock was full, the Dutchmen hopped off and went back down the towpath to Condé. Bill told us that Johann’s brother’s job was as an artificial inseminator of cows. He’d told me that he’d had to deliver something in Paris, which was why the two of them were visiting the boat, we wondered what he’d been delivering as there are not many cows in Paris! Up 22 Isse, there was still a shimmering layer of ice on the canal and where water had dripped from the ropes on our front deck there was now a sheet of ice. We motored gently on up the flight, leaving the top lock, 17 Vaudemange, at 11.20 a.m. The port was almost empty. The converted Dutch barge “Doggy Nauty” (what a name!) was still there and an old cabin cruiser in need of restoring, but the converted péniche had gone, to be replaced by a small klipper called “Sunamelia”. The wild helibores were flowering along the

Falcon moored at Vaudemanges in 1998

banks of the cutting leading to the Mont de Billy tunnel. We followed Rosy into the tunnel at 11.45 a.m. emerging from the other end twenty five minutes later. A loaded Dutch boat called “Kerizel” from Terneuzen passed us, taking photos as we passed. Not long after we’d eaten lunch at 1.15 p.m. we arrived at lock 16 Wez, the first lock on the Aisne side of the hill. “Moshulu” was coming up in lock 15, Beaumont, so we hovered above. The keeper was working the lock from the cabin and started closing the gates behind the péniche, until he spotted us and reopened them, then he turned the lock back on to automatic working and left us to it. Bill was in lock 14 long before us, he lifted the bar a bit too soon after we’d entered and got back on his boat. A VNF man was working stacking logs in his garden alongside the lock, he smiled as he paused to lift the bar again to set the lock working for us. No foul smells from the big Béghin Say sugar works as we passed through (I HATE the smell of cooking sugar beet). They’d covered the large warehouse on the right bank with netting, which covered the whole of the roof and walls - we wondered what it could be for. 

Peniche moored in Reims (photo courtesy of Photopin)

There were no boats moored in the basin at Sillery, just one lone fisherman. Gérard had told Mike that they close the port for winter now. Serves them right, they doubled the prices for winter mooring and wondered why no one wanted to moor there! Down lock 13, Sillery and on to a long pound of seven kilometres. Three lads riding on one small motorcycle waved to us and promptly fell off! They got up again, each one holding on to an arm or a leg going ouch! that hurt! I read some more of the book en route to lock 12, Huon (I read to Mike as we go along sometimes, and back then we were reading Terry Prachett). We passed Jeanine from Fagnières running empty up the pound as we went down to lock 11, Château d’Eau. The other brother was coming up the next pound with “Roger”, we passed him as we ran down to lock 10, Fléchambault, where the keeper was in residence in the lock cabin. It was 4.20 p.m. as we set off through the city centre. We passed “Catania” an empty from Gent by the Palais du Congrés. The moorings at PUM steelworks were empty save for one empty boat. We went into the old gare d’eau and tied up at 5.15 p.m. The new rubbish disposal plant was making a bit of a pong. Bill was experiencing problems with the new cooling system on Rosy, with coolant erupting from the header tank making a mess all over his engine room floor. There was a really lovely sunset. Back to work lads!

Our first meetings with Bill and Rosy

On August 26^th 2002 we saw narrowboat Rosy for the first time. At that time our boat was moored at Gannay and we had been out in our car when we spotted Rosy moored by the Tourist information office in Decize. As we were on our way to the Préfecture in Nevers we didn't have time to stop and say hello. When we moored in Decize a couple of days later the boat had gone. As the weather was good I started work on smartening up our interior woodwork with a lick of varnish. Moved the boat to the end of the quay, then ran the engine and Markon to do some washing and power the sanders. Not long afterwards Rosy came up the automatic lock off the Loire and came to moor on the quay. Mike went out to chat with Bill, a tall chap with glasses, Bretonne cap and blonde beard, he was en route to collect his post from Roy and Audrey’s and then off to Briare for the winter. Mike invited him in for a cuppa and we sat among the piled up gear, covered in dust from sanding, on bare bunk seats and had a natter. Next day Mike helped Bill bow-haul Rosy down the quay (other boats had left and made a space) so that we were moored bows to bows. Mike took some of our photos of the Elblag lifts and went to have a coffee with Bill. I did another coat of varnish and went to join them. We got on well with Bill, he hadn’t had any experience of “exotic” cruising, like the Rhône or the Rhine, and said he would have to change his engine if he did envisage a trip to Poland as his old Kelvin would only shove his boat along at canal speed. But he showed a strong interest in going. Next day Bill left, calling to get his post from Roy and Audrey's - they owned the other narrowboat called Rosie (different spelling) and also had a house at Garnat called “The Lighthouse”- before continuing to Briare for the Winter.

The following year at the beginning of January 2003, we had surprise ‘phone call from Bill. He said he was getting his engine changed and Geoff at Monchanin would be doing it for him later in the year and said he was definitely interested in going to Poland in 2004 if we were still interested in going. We said we’d go and visit him in Briare and take some maps and photos. The phone call cheered us up and gave us something to look forward to as our friends Ray and Yvonne had also phoned and said they'd like to come with us on the Yonne and Nivernais that summer (2003) and the following summer (2004) was now planned too – Poland with Bill.

A couple of weeks later peniche Floan went past our mooring – Helen and George shouted hello and we said we'd come and find them after they'd tied up. Working boats never stop until they have to, and Floan had moored below Juvigny lock when it was closed for the night. As always we had an amazing catch up session – the towpath telegraph lives, even in France! They said that they had met Bill when they were tied up in Gent and agreed with us that he was a thoroughly nice chap. We said goodnight to them at midnight. Driving back we found there were owls out hunting, two great big ones, which struck up from along the road side as we went back into Juvigny.

In March 2003 we went by car to visit Bill in Briare. Rosy had got a bankside mooring, after a major boat mooring reshuffle. Bill had made us some lunch and Fanny was being good, she was growing up, Bill’s training seemed to be starting to take effect. Mike helped him set up his satellite system. He was lucky, the dish had to be 90° to the boat and there was a very convenient gap between the buildings through which the satellite was accessible. Mike had a look at his engine, an ancient Kelvin. Bill said a friend of his in Britain was going to bring over his new engine, (a three cylinder Perkins was what he was hoping to get), and help strip out the old Kelvin (he wasn't sure whether to sell the latter or store it).

In April a visiting Aussie introduced us to the Internet. We took him shopping in Chalons and he had wanted to call in a cyber cafe. With Leigh's help we started doing online banking and had our first look at Bill's Witterings.

On 28^th July 2003 we had a day off while moored at Pont d'Ouche on the canal de Bourgogne and drove over the beautiful Côte d'Or to Montchanin to visit Bill. Bill’s boat Rosy was in the arm, with narrowboats Falcon alongside and Presqu’ La behind. Braunston-built Belle Etoile was moored on the other side by a large Dutch cruiser, whose skipper had gone back to Britain. A large Luxe and two small yachts made up the moorers in the basin, plus Jeff’’s péniche. We had a cup of coffee on board Rosy. Fanny was getting jealous of visitors and playing up, not doing as she was told. Bill told us there were twenty six boats due to overwinter in the basin. He was thinking of having extra cooling tanks welded in before his new three cylinder Perkins was installed in the big empty space where the old Kelvin used to be. Jeff didn’t like the idea of welding the hull while the boat was in the water, so Rosy would have to be dragged out up the slipway. We went to have a look at the “new” engine, stored in Jeff’s big shed. It had been painted royal blue, much to Bill’s disgust, so he was painting the bits to add to it, such as the manifold, with black paint to tone it down a bit. Had another coffee with Bill before setting off home at 5.30 p.m

We were at our Winter mooring in Condé-sur-Marne early on the 17th October, a few days later Bill ‘phoned to say that his new engine was now installed, but not all the jobs had been completed, the boat hadn’t been out of the water and his new extra cooling tanks hadn’t been fitted. His plan was to leave Montchanin when they opened the cut for five days, which should be any time he said and then follow us across the canal de la Marne à la Saône.  We moored for the Winter at Conde-sur-Marne and when we left  for the UK by car on the 30^th October there was no sign of Rosy. But Bill was there when we returned on 11^th December. We spent the Winter doing maintenance and refitting. Rosy's wiring needed some work and Mike made a new cratch out of steel to replace our wooden one which was starting to rot. He also replaced some woodwork on our front doors where a wood wasp had decided to bore holes and lay eggs. 

On the pontoon at Conde - Rosy in background
 Bill's photo of our local friendly fisherman Serge's huge fish 

In January 2004 Mike started welding extra cooling tanks in Rosy. Our good friend Hans-Dieter, who lives in Eisenhüttenstadt on the Polish border with Germany, 'phoned to tell us he'd been speaking to a Polish man who could get some maps of Polish waterways for us. They arrived the following month, February 2004, in the form of a booklet written in Polish and German with the best maps we'd come across yet. Bill hired a car and went back to the UK for a couple of weeks. On his return Mike finished making the extra cooling tanks on Rosy. On the 29^th we took both boats down the canal Latèral à la Marne as far as the first lock at Tours to check Rosy's new tanks. Gérard loaned Mike his digital thermometer to check the temperature of Bill’s tanks on the test run. Everything seemed to work OK.

We set off from Condé on 1^st March 2004 to begin our voyages together with Bill and Rosy.

Readers please note - it is a very, very long way by narrowboat from Champagne to the borders of Poland in East Germany.  Here begins the tale...............