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Sun 13^th May.
Set of a little later than usual. We are always up at the same time. Rupert has a routine of waking us every morning at six o clock. He does it at home and on the boat. Somehow he adjusted very quickly to French time. Spent some time fiddling with engine and Eberspacher.
First returned through Lock 5 and filled with water at the moorings. Arrived at Commercy about eleven. Time for shopping before noon close down. A town worthy of a longer stay. Much history and The Chateau is extremely impressive. Originally a Hunting Lodge of King Stanislas.
Moorings are poor. Surely a town like this should be trying to attract visitors.
An old stone barge wharf alongside a builder’s merchant. Rough access. No facilities except rubbish bins.
On to St-Mihiel for the night. Ignored Official moorings and went on 1Km to a semi derelict Camp Site. No facilities but no roads and traffic.
Canal de l’Est (Branche Noorde) is a very mundane and un romantic name for a lovely rural canal, which for much of the way is actually the course of the young River Meuse. However I noticed on some announcements at Lock Sides VF is calling it “The Meuse Canal”
Branche Sud has already been renamed Canal des Vosges.
Saw three other boats moving today.
Dry day, warm but thunderstorms this evening.

From next lock, 11, to Lock 27 operation is manual by Eclusier. We are supposed to telephone VNF Control in Verdun to arrange passage. However we were approached by a travelling Eclusier earlier today and have been booked. Unfortunately this means that we have to decide on a plan and don’t have flexibility to stop where and when we wish.

Mon 14^th May.
First returned back to Official Moorings for water and walk into town for shopping. St. Mihiel is a much larger town than I realised with a huge Ecclesiastical building, probably a former Monastery. Shops mostly closed on Monday, but only a short walk to Champion, which is open seven days a week.
Soon caught up by a Connoisseur Hire Boat crewed by 8 German men and continued through locks with them until lunchtime. Unfortunate incident. We had arranged with Lock Keeper to continue through Lock 15, Dieue at 2.30pm. The German party later asked the Lock Keeper if they could change their departure to 4 pm. And Lock keeper took this to apply to both boats. Unfortunately no one told us. Wasted 45minutes sitting waiting in the lock before I got things sorted out by telephoning control at Verdun.. Not often I get annoyed with an Eclusier, but I did give full vent to my limited French in this instance.
Passed through Lock 17 Haudainville and moored in open country.
Unattractive scruffy village set on main road.
Close to the canal is one of the hundreds of French Military Cemeteries in this area. A small cemetery where 210 soldiers are buried killed in the period 1916 - 1918.

Things that can annoy. 1. You find a Boulangerie, it is nearly closing time and the mediocre stock is almost exhausted. You buy sufficient for the day then walk 100Yards around the corner and find the most magnificent Boulangerie with many types of bread, buttery croissants and magnificent pastries.

Things that annoy. 2. You get all moored up in a pleasant site then a tractor appears in the field just across the canal and starts spreading farmyard slurry.

Wed. 16^th May.
Hurrah. At last my English Credit Card has been accepted by a French Automatic Petrol Pump. The English Banks seem to have caught up with French technology at last. (Later found that this only works at Esso stations.)
Trotted off with my little trolley and three cans early this morning to purchase diesel. Found that Esso Station is automatic only, with no cash payment facility. Short walk to Intermarche, cash kiosk opens at Nine. Further walk to LeClerc, same. On the way back knowing full well it would not work, I tried my card in an Esso pump. Hey Presto - action.
Delighted to be proved wrong at last. - I do hope this applies everywhere, it is becoming very difficult to find petrol stations in France open outside shop hours (Which means closed anything up to three hours at lunchtime)
Left Verdun at ten. I have been a bit hard on the people of Verdun, but they were kind enough to provide me with a good mooring, water and electricity, all free of charge.

Wet weather again. It is now ten days since we lost the hot sunny spell, but this has been the worst yet. Short breaks between continuous rain. Really miss the Webasto blown air heater, it is ideal for drying out wet clothes.
We decided to stop for lunch at the moorings shown near Lock 24(Consenvoye) Our guides show moorings near here, but the Eclusier, obviously knowing better than the guides, invited us to moor in the lock for lunch. This is a sloping sided lock, the only one we have come across in this area. Fitted with a floating mooring pontoon on one side which runs up and down the sloping side on guide rails.

Lock 27 was the last manual lock operated by Eclusier. At Lock 28, just before the moorings here at Dun sur Meuse we are back to initiating operation with a Telecommand (Zapper) and then lift the blue rod once inside.

This becomes more a River navigation than a lateral Canal. Passed a few villages today, but many of the villages in this area absolutely ceased to exist in 1916. Several military cemeteries within view of the canal.
Now at Dun sur Meuse. Good pontoon mooring, completely full. A large Dutch cruiser which arrived Upstream late is double berthed against an English barge, The Darwen. And another latecoming large Dutch converted sailing barge has moored against the River Bank.

The narrow Boat “Idling By”, is moored here. I am a regular reader of their Web Site. They passed the winter in Epinal. Hope to have a chat before we leave.

Walked around the small town clustered around the canal side and two river channels. Tomorrow we will tackle the hill to the church which can just be seen on a wooded hill above the town.

Today’s run 41Km and 9Locks. Mostly sufficiently wide waterway to utilise full speed of our boat. Bank condition is much better after the first couple of days on this canal and work being carried out in several places using wooden stakes and fibre mat.
Met several cruisers and one loaded barge today.

Started raining soon after we set off so a wet run all the way to Stenay.
A rather straight uninteresting waterway today through flattish land.
As soon as we moored here the sun came out and afternoon stayed dry. However enough is enough - decided to stay for the night.
At Stenay the p de p is under a bridge on the Right Bank, on the bank of a small side stream. Town centre a short walk, with various large historical buildings, but all closed down today.
While weather was good took the opportunity to give small dog a good brush and combing. Due to all the rain he had not been done for a few days and was shedding hair in the boat.
This is also a site with all facilities for Camper Vans. There are at least 40 here tonight, don’t they pack them in,. but at 9.30 pm not a soul around and quiet as the grave.
Mooring charge 7Euros. Once again electricity supply live and neutral are connected wrong way round so that boat consumer unit refuses to connect. I have mentioned before that we get around this frequently met problem, by carrying a short link with one end “wrongly” wired. Inserting this in supply line reverses live and neutral to the correct polarity.
I don’t usually bother with shore supply power but after today’s short run batteries were probably not fully charged.
Still getting good results with satellite TV, but watched a DVD tonight.

The Café du Port had a guaranteed bumper sales day today. Situated within yards of 40 to 50 Camper Vans and 7 boats. All those people looking for somewhere to spend their money, so naturally on this Holiday Thursday the Café stayed firmly closed.

There is a good slipway here, just opposite our mooring, in the Camper Van field.

Fri 18^th May.
Friday is market day in Stenay. Many clothes stalls filling the main square but strangely very few food stalls.
There is nowhere in the town centre to buy food other than bread etc. The Intermarche just outside town must have put every other grocer out of business.
Dry day at last, with pleasant sunshine later in the afternoon.
Stopped near Pouilly sur Meuse for lunch. No proper moorings, rather difficult steep bank so did not bother walking into village.
At Mouzon moorings are in a small branch stream. Not very attractive. After walk around town moved on. Stopped for night above lock 36RemillyAillicourt, although at least 2Km from village. Grass is mown but mooring pins needed.
Met quite a few boats today, mostly Dutch cruisers and yachts heading South to the sun.

Sat. 19^th may.
Left our mooring about 9am and down through Lock 36, Remilly-Allincourt. Immediately took a sharp turn to the right and proceeded back up the Meuse River. Very soon, just upstream of the road bridge the Auberge du Port has a floating pontoon mooring. We tied up here and walked to the village of Bazeilles. The Chateau has seen better days, there has possibly been a fire in the roof. The scaffolding around one tower has rusted into position.
This is a Village Fleurie, so a great deal of EU money has been spent on smartening it up. Why I do not know, there is absolutely nothing to attract tourists. There is a Boulangerie, Newsagents and we had coffee at the small bar where everyone who entered the bar shook hands all round, including with us - complete strangers.
Back on board we continued up the By-passed branch of the Meuse. McKnight tells us that The Chiers, which enters the Meuse here, was in 1936 navigable for a distance of 35Km. We arrived at the mouth of the Chiers after about 1.5Km but it was very narrow and obstructed by branches. Continued on up The Meuse for another couple of Km until that became obstructed and then turned and returned to the proper navigation.

Sun. 20^th May.
Down river to Charleville-Mezieres.
28Km and 6 Locks.
Nice fine morning until 10am when drizzly rain set in for the day.
More traffic about now, as well as a variety of pleasure boats we met about five Peniches. Caught up a Peniche at last but one lock and had to wait for a while. Lock would not operate for him after he had entered the chamber and VNF was summoned.
The last lock Ecl 42 Mezieres is set on a bend and for large boats has very difficult entrance and waiting areas in both directions. More importantly for us it is a very deep lock and I could see no means of securing when ascending. We will find out on Tuesday when we go back upriver.
A Km after this lock bear left up river loop to moorings. There are a few pontoon moorings on the river side but carry on a further 200M and turn right under a footbridge into a large excellent Port de Plaisance. In Sept 2004 when we were last here this facility was almost new and we were amazed how few boats were using it. We were sure that things would have changed and hoped that we would be able to find a berth.
This appears to be a man made lagoon near to sports centre, swimming complex, rowing club and campsite - but not close enough for their presence to be noticed. I counted 90 pontoon berths. The finger pontoons are larger than usually found. There are 30 stands each with two water taps and four electricity outlet points.
Sunday night there is us and one other boat here!!
Visited this afternoon by Sister in law, who arrived in France via Channel Tunnel this morning. I was very pleased to be taken to filling station with my three cans for diesel. Once again an Esso automatic station, no facility for cash payment at any time - that’s OK now that my English Card works in their dispensers.

Evening meal ashore, but very difficult to find a Restaurant open on a Sunday evening.
Settled for Pizza.

Mon. 21^st May.
Stayed for the day at Charleville-Mezieres.
The normal route into town centre is about 200M along the river side and over a footbridge thus arriving 200M from The Place Ducale. At the moment the footbridge is under repair and closed. A boat service has been laid on from this basin across the river to a wharf near the footbridge. As well as casual passengers like us the boat carries large numbers of schoolchildren coming to the Swimming and Sports halls.
Spent the morning in town and took lunch at one of the restaurants under the colonnades of the Place Ducale - this is the square which is said to be identical to the Place des Vosges in Paris (except that this one has traffic).
Back to the boat and then took a short walk around the riverside path around the island formed by the bye passed loop of River Meuse and the short Lock cut. 4.5Km.

Nice clean pontoons and as no shortage of water a good opportunity to bath Rupert, starting with a bucketful of nice warm soapy water, a good rinse, then into his towelling bag to dry off. Later a good brush and combing. I try to brush and comb him at least every second day to prevent him getting knots and tangles.

Ourselves and two Dutch Cruisers here tonight.
Took a walk to the riverside pontoons. These have been repaired or renewed since we were last here and no longer fouled by ducks, very acceptable moorings now. About half a dozen boats moored there but three appear to be long term. A Narrow Boat arrived this morning - “Last Farthing”

Tues. 22^nd May.
Left Charleville-Mezieres and headed back up the River Meuse.
Lock 42 (Mezieres) is indeed a difficult lock to ascend. About 3.5M rise and no means of securing lines while rising.
We were very fortunate. “Last Farthing” left Charleville at the same time as ourselves. We had to wait some time for a barge to come down through the lock. Then “Last Farthing” entered the lock first, Lock Keeper took his bow and stern ropes. We went alongside the narrow boat and secured to him with bow and stern ropes. An easy ride up for us. A Dutch Cruiser was also in the Lock astern of us.

At Lumes (PK88) there is a good floating pontoon with berthing for five or six boats. Water stand pipes are pressurised but require a bayonet fitting to utilise.
Ten minutes walk to the village, which has Boulangerie and a small Bar/Tabac.

Entered Canal des Ardennes at Pont a Bar. Telecommand is still used to operate locks.
Met three barges this afternoon, two loaded and one flying high and empty.
Canal is very shallow for a considerable distance from banks, I doubt if two Peniches could pass in most places. They have very little room for manoeuvre and stick to the centre of the channel.

Passed a narrow Boat moored after St Aignan Locks.

Lovely canal so far, totally rural, passing through slightly hilly farm land, mostly pasture and woodland. Some cultivated fields of maize.

We continued longer than intended because of difficulty in finding a mooring place. There is much sheet piling on the off side but with such a mass of nettles, brambles etc. mooring is not attractive. Towpath bank is so badly eroded that even our boat can not get near to bank.
Stopped above Lock at Cassine. Good concrete wharf mown grass, picnic tables, no water. Lock keepers goats tethered nearby. After a brief investigation Rupert has studiously ignored the goats. A huge slobbery dog has just walked along from the house and peered at us through our open window.
Locks close at 7pm so very peaceful now.

Wed. 23^rd May.
Walked into the hamlet of La Cassine, a well kept pretty little place with a ruined Chateau where A Son et Lumiere performance of Les Miserables is to be performed through July and August Weekends. On to Vendresse 4.5Km away. A pleasant walk, since most of the route was away from roads on a track forming a short cut between the two villages. In Vendresse found a Boulangerie and a very good small epicerie. There is also a small Tabac, and a Restaurant which appears to be permanently closed.
Did not rush to leave since we only intended to go as far as La Chesne, wishing to start down the Montgon Flight of 26 Locks in the morning.
We had not seen a boat heading in our direction all day, then 30seconds after I unmoored two Dutch Cruisers appeared in sight. Well it saved me returning up the canal to “Zap” the telecommand.
We stayed with them through this and the next lock. They also are moored at la Chesne, but at the official moorings. After taking water we returned a couple of hundred yards to a more pleasant open space.
A good small Supermarket here, 8 to Huit. (Strangely the French interpretation of 8 to 8 seems to be. 08.00 to 12.00 and 15.00 to 19.15 and 08.00 to 12.00 on Sundays.)
Also two Boulangeries, three bars and a Garage/Filling Station - so I took the opportunity to fill my diesel cans even though only two were empty.

Thurs 24^th May.
Empire Day and Peggy’s Birthday.
Moved to Halte Fluvial to take water. After several Birthday phone calls left Le Chesne at about 9.30
9.50 entered Ecluse No 1 of the 26 Lock Montgon Flight.
Eclusier took our Telecommand which had been issued to us at the lock above Toul.
This flight is automatic, as the boat leaves a lock the next is already in preparation and usually gates are open and green light showing before boat arrives at entrance. We completed 8 locks in the first hour but slowed down a little later due to a hiccup with the automatics.
Most locks only a few hundred metres apart, opportunity for Peggy and Rupert to walk.
A delightful rural flight with almost no habitation within sight . This is indeed a lovely canal, with just enough traffic to make it interesting.
Very hot sunny day. Arriving above Ecl 20 (Neuville-Day) we found a shady mooring, picnic tables, mown grass bank and a Bar/Restaurant just across the canal. Stopped for Lunch. I informed control using the telephone at lock side - it is perfectly acceptable to stop in mid flight as long as you keep the Eclusiers informed and the flight does not become blocked waiting for your non-arrival. (We actually only met one boat ascending this morning)
After lunch decided that it is so nice here we will stay the night - another call to control.
Took a walk to the village, but too hot to walk far. Came back to the boat and just sat in the shade.
Narrow boat Saorsa arrived 4.30. They have been living on the boat in France for Four years. Saorsa I am told is Gallic for Freedom.
Already knew about us as they are friends of “Last Farthing” and had conversed by telephone recently. We dined together at the nearby Restaurant in the evening. A good meal is all the better when taken in Good Company.
An extremely heavy thunderstorm broke just before we due to walk across to the Restaurant.

Hotel/Restaurant “Au Sans Souci”. Very French. A complete muddle, inside and out, but a first class meal. Some out of the ordinary dishes - quality as well as quantity. House wine excellent. Run by a friendly and efficient couple. He the Chef.

Fri 25^th May.
Left at 9.00am and continued to the bottom of the Montgon Flight.
Took water at Lock 27. The helpful lady Eclusier had the hose laid out and waiting for us. The fall in this lock is only 60cm. But the walls tower over the boat. Obviously a flood control measure, as between Lock 26 and 27 the canal crosses the River Aisne at River Level.
I had intended to turn left and head up the “Embranchement de Vouziers” but there seemed to be a subtle campaign by Lock Keepers to thwart this plan. The Branch might be closed tomorrow morning! There is a lot of weed! You will have problems! etc.
A nod is as good as a wink and so on - Not wishing to get trapped over the weekend, we continued straight on down the Can. Des Ardennes.
A further 5Km and 1 Lock to Attigny, where we moored at the small Halte Fluvial just in time to rush up the road to “Shoppi” ten minutes before they closed. Nice butchers counter where I bought steak and sausages for a barbecue. By the time we had paid and left at one minute past twelve, lights were out and the entire staff were ushering us out and locking up hard on our heels.
A short distance further into the town square found two Boulangeries open, also a smaller epicerie and various other shops and bars.

After lunch and a long chat we moved on. Saorsa stayed put.
Moored for the night on off side above Ecluse 8, Thugny.
Steel sheet pile, mown grass.
Just completed cooking barbecue before rain came - finished eating inside the boat.
A vicious gust of wind blew up at 8.30. Fortunately as well as two pins I had the centre rope out to a bollard and back as a spring. This had been done to secure us against wash from passing Peniches.

Sat. 26^th May.
Another very hot, sunny day.
Through two locks to Rethel. Not a particularly attractive mooring but has good facilities. As well as water and electricity there is a sanitary block including large laundry sinks with a permanent supply of hot water.
This is a large town with large shopping area. A Shopi very close to the Port - recently we have found the Shopi Supermarkets to be of a very high standard, more attractive than Intermarche, Casino, etc.
A Total filling Station very close by. I only had one empty can, but the facility was so convenient I filled it anyway.
Small Bar Restaurant Gambetta, just across the main road from the Port, provided a good lunch. Friendly and efficient service.
Bought an oil painting from a Dutch lady Artist on a large barge which arrived and moored near to us.
Moved on in the afternoon. Since descending the Montgon Locks we are crossing a nearly flat plain. Grain growing area with large fields. Many large Grain Silos visible for many miles and often sited alongside the canal. A few small villages and isolated Farmsteads.
Not many possibilities for mooring. Banks overgrown and towpath not well maintained, just about clear to walk.
Stopped for the night Kp 51 near a bridge carrying only field tracks. Completely isolated.
Another thunderstorm but not so bad as last two nights.

Sun 27^th May.
On to Asfeld. Nice moorings, not shown in Guide book, but no water.
A large village with a most unusual brick built Baroque Church built in 1683. A small Shopi near to canal (Closed Sunday) Could not help noticing that although closed all the shopping trolleys were left outside on the pavement, unsecured yet untouched and obviously not expected to be vandalised.
Other shops in Village Centre - very good Boulangerie. Could not find a Café/Bar.
A large fun fair was covering the extensive Greens in near centre of village and Church.
Carried on a little further before lunch, stopped at Grain Silo Quay Near Neufchatel-sur-Aisne. Which would be OK for an overnight mooring.
Just as we were preparing to unmoor a boat came into view around the bend astern of us, so we waited a couple of minutes and followed on behind them.
This is a boat we have seen a few times since joining the Canal des Ardennes. I had actually had a good look at it at Asfeld, knowing that the Owners were ashore.
The “Neptune” of “Pont-a-Bar” is a boat of distinctive appearance and I learned more later talking to the Owner.
Formerly a River Tugboat. Built in 1904 by Smits of Rotterdam and originally steam powered. Hull is Iron. Draft 1.4M Weight 9.5 Tonnes. When first converted a superstructure similar to a cruiser was added. Present Owner then changed this to a Dutch barge style superstructure but then did a complete strip and rebuild adding a high square old fashioned wheelhouse.

We both moored at Variscourt for the night. Lovely moorings with grass mown like a lawn. Quiet position, a few hundred yards from the village. Water tap, unfortunately too far from mooring and the push and hold type with no oval plain spout. However these things can be overcome!
The village is spruce, clean and tidy. Paths and verges all mown, well tended flower beds in public spaces, shrubs and trees planted, houses, gardens and hedges all neat and well looked after. No shops.

Mon 28^th May.
Public Holiday, Pentecost, but canals operating as normal.
Walked along the towpath 3Km to Guignicourt. The Champion Supermarket was open, as was a small Tabac/Newsagent and a Hotel/Bar where we took a coffee.
We could have moored close to Guignicourt, opposite the sugar factory and grain silos, but enjoyed our walk.
Under the A26 and arrived at Berry-au-Bac, once a busy canal junction, but now deserted. A large empty basin and long reaches of weed covered quays and derelict buildings.
We moored up for lunch and then took a walk along the busy N44 into the village.
Small village strung along the main road with no redeeming features.
Set off just before the rains came again. As I turned left into the mouth of the lock at the entrance to The Canal de l’Aisne a la Marne I wondered how I should set the lock in motion. But there must have been a sensor unseen by me, lower gates opened as I approached.
We are climbing again now.
Lock 2 has a hanging pole to turn when approaching. At lock 3 there is no apparent means of operating, but as we waited an Eclusier in little white van arrived and stayed with us to Lock 5. We carried on and moored at Loivre just before Lock 6.
Even though we had told Eclusier of our intention, as we approached lock 6 gates opened and light turned to green - the whole flight seem to be controlled by sensors (when working)
So far this canal has banks completely lined with steel sheet piling. Locks are in good condition with newish steel gates and hydraulics. The towpath from Berry au Bac is new smooth asphalt - a high speed cycle raceway - ( Ended before Courcy)

Night at pleasant mooring on edge of village of Loivre just before Lock 6. No water.

Tues 29^th May.
Loivre is another very well kept village. Perfectly tidy with flower troughs planted up with a good mixture of plants. Grass all mown. Two council workmen were round early with their mini tractor and trailer emptying litter baskets and generally tidying up.
Only one shop in the village, a Boulangerie of course. There is a Bar/Café alongside Lock 7 which we unfortunately did not find until passing up the flight.
Old photographs of the village are displayed at various strategic positions and some of these show immense damage suffered by bombardment during WW1.
We had arranged with Eclusier to set off at Ten o clock. I don’t know why this was necessary because the flight of four locks is a fully automatic chain. However a loaded Peniche passed up just as we were due to leave, so we were a little delayed. So cold this morning that we moored up again at Courcy, 0.7Km after the top lock. Another well tended and attractive mooring. Walked about Km into the village of Courcey and had a drink at the Bar/Restaurant, which was extremely busy doing the workman’s 12Euro Lunches. (Choice of 2 starters, choice of 2 Main Course, Cheese or sweet, ¼ wine and coffee)
Just before we set off after lunch “Neptune” arrived, tried to moor but could not get alongside due to shallow water, continued on his way. We followed on, but this time Neptune was travelling faster so we were not at all delayed.
12.5Km to Reims. Before entering Reims, after industrial area there is a very convenient Shell filling Station just over the road which runs alongside the canal.. Good flat stone bankside. There is even one mooring ring. Very busy road, but I crossed safely with my two cans. The shop also had small (2.75L) Gaz cylinders. However wanted to charge 25Euros to exchange my empty cylinder. I am sure that can not be correct.

The Relais nautique at Reims is, I think, the noisiest mooring we have ever stayed on. The A26 Autoroute adjoins the opposite bank of the canal and on this side a busy duel carriageway and two elevated slip roads. Definitely only for one night.
Charge 10Euros, including electricity and water.
At the end of the moorings is a slipway. Good concrete surface, but closer examination shows that it stops exactly at the edge of the quay, with a large vertical drop under water. Useless!!

Wed. 30^th May.
Morning in Reims and lunch at “Boeuf ou Salade” on Place Drouet d’Erlon, a broad pedestrianised street in City Centre.
At the moment several streets in City Centre are undergoing major work to sewers and surfaces which detracts from atmosphere.

On up three locks which lift the canal out of Reims. Automated, but Lady Eclusier quickly arrived on her Motor Cycle when one set of gates failed to open - she was watching our progress on her control panel.
Met one loaded Peniche during our 12Km run to Sillery. Here there is a roomy Halte with two banks of finger pontoons. Electricity and water. Cost 4 Euros.
I don’t really need an electrical connection when mooring for only one night, but when it is there and free I often connect.
Plenty of space, only 5 boats here tonight, including ourselves and Neptune, who we have caught up again.
Here there is an excellent slipway. Good surface and concrete walls which would make launch and recovery easy. This would be a good place to start or finish a cruise.
Ecomarche about 300 Yds away. In the opposite direction in the village there is a Tabac/Newsagent and also a very nice Bar/Restaurant.
Very large French Military Cemetary just across the road from the moorings.
Lucky to have stayed dry today - rain sets in at 9.30pm.

Thurs. 31^st May.
Stopped about 11am at Sept-Saulx on the summit pound. No recognised mooring but sheet pile just after the road bridge are very adequate. Pretty Village, found a very small shop, which the sign said was a Tabac/Café. Something from an earlier age. However the elderly lady proprietor found us a Baguette - said she did not usually have bread but happened to have one today. We bought a packet of biscuits as well out of politeness but did not dare to ask for coffee - the Café part seemed to be in the living room.
Also in the village centre is a Four Star Hotel, “Auberge de Cheval Blanc” Very attractive both inside and out and menu reasonably priced. (Unfortunately the coffee we took was not good) Some of the rooms are in separate buildings within gardens across the road.
At Mont Billy tunnel the red light was displayed when we arrived. After 15 minutes or so a Dutch cruiser emerged. They shouted to us as they passed that a Big Boat was following them. We then waited a further half an hour before the loaded Peniche emerged from the tunnel. Light immediately turned green. By this time a Peniche had come into sight half a mile behind us. We quickly shot into the tunnel and got well ahead and out of the way - we did not see that Peniche again until Seven in the evening when it came past us at Conde-sur Marne.
For us the automatic flight of 8 locks down to Conde were trouble free and rapidly negotiated. Moored overnight close to Neptune, for the last time.
A Narrow Boat was also moored - Firefly. No one on board.