Tanlay to Ravieres, Lock 89 to 76
Sorry about yesterday, but it was mainly down to dodgy communications. We had intermittent internet connections, but not enough for a blog post. Also, actually, there was not really a lot to report. It was a hot day, and we had some frustrations with the locks, so we didn't make as much progress as we would have liked, at least in the morning. We did enjoy this little Good Life scene, however:
One of the main problems has been the weed in the canals, made worse by the cut grass floating along. Trying to drive through the weed is frustrating, because it gets tangled round the propeller, and all the while bits and pieces are being sucked into the freshwater cooling system. This is what the weed looks like:
All the same, the countryside is very fine and tranquil, post-harvest:
At one stage we passed an old wash house, but couldn't get close enough to explore it:
We also crossed with the large hotel barge below. No sign of any guests on board, but doubtless they were off enjoying expensive excursions. At some of the locks there were signs advertising Chablis Wine Tours – pick you up from your boat!
Most of the locks were manual, and the etiquette going up is to open one of the gates before leaving to help the lock-keeper. Quite heavy stuff, actually:
At the end of the day we found ourselves at Tanlay – and, as so often happens after a day of seeing no-one on the canal, the port was full, including barges taking up more than their fair share of space (at least one with a Brit flag). But we found a shady spot, albeit without services, and sat out enjoying the evening in our deck chairs.
That was after disposing of the day's collection of weed trapped in the filter basket:
Today it rained almost incessantly, at least this morning, but nothing daunted we set off, initially locking through behind one other boat, and then catching up with the New Zealanders, so there were three boats in each lock: quite tight, but no damage done. Not much photography, but pretty flowers at this lock house:
We arrived here at Ravieres at a reasonable stopping time and found the port completely empty. Water and electricity is apparently free, which can't be bad. While writing this, another boat has arrived.
Tomorrow we should reach Montbard.
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