It was a good day. Today we walked for a long time, from 9 am to 6 pm. Passed 24 locks and 25 miles. In the morning the weather was cloudy, it was raining. But by the middle of the day the clouds had dispersed, and the sun began to fry like a summer. And in the evening the clouds thickened again, thunder began to rumble, and soon a heavy rain with hail began to fall. The city was the size of a pea. It's good that by that time we were already standing in the parking lot. If we had lingered for half an hour, we would have fallen under this hail, and we would have had a hard time.

The first 5 locks were opened for us today by a locksmith, and then it got even worse - the locks were generally opened manually. At first, one guy worked, and then a young girl, not at all powerful in complexion, joined him and, along with him, began to turn the levers. Indeed, France is a country of victorious feminism. Before the young lady appeared, I helped the locksmith open the gate and made sure that this required quite decent physical effort. But I was ashamed to offer my help to the young lady: what if she considers this a manifestation of maleabout chauvinism? There were 12 “manual” gateways. At the last one, the gateway operator gave us a remote control and pleased us by saying that the rest of the gateways on the channel were automatic. In the book, it was written that there were more "manual" gateways - it's good that the book was wrong.

On the way, in the city of Charmes, we went to the marina to get some water. We were met there by a man in a captain's cap, with a pipe in his mouth - in general, a typical captain from the picture. I asked him for permission to fetch water. He nodded majestically and gave his highest permission in good English.

At one of the locks, I had to wait a long time in front of the gate until it was opened. At the same time, the banks near the lock were not equipped for parking and, judging by the grass sticking out of the water, they were very small. I had to drive back and forth for about 15 minutes. It was not an easy task, because my boat is poorly controlled in reverse.

We passed 7 more locks, and reached a fork, where a branch to the city of Epinal departed from the canal. There was a well-maintained marina in Epinal, but we had to go 3 km to it (and then return the next day), so we decided to stop here, at the fork. We saw a couple of mooring rings on the shore, and moored to them.

I started pouring fuel into the tank when it started to rain. Having quickly finished filling the tank, I put up an awning over the cockpit - and in time: soon it began to rain heavily, with hail. Then we had dinner and went to bed. It was a good day at work. But we are very tired.

Coordinates: N 48-12.537' E 006-26.405'

In the morning we both got up looking a bit gloomy. The weather was cloudy, we got up early and did not get enough sleep, and in general the mood was not very good. Another "conquest of the locks" was coming, and this did not please. My Mila and I even had a fight (which rarely happens).

I waited 9 hours for the locks to start working. But this time has come, and the traffic light on the gateway has not lit up. Then I went to the VNF office, which was nearby. Some guy from this office, in response to my question, poked himself in the chest with his finger and went with me. He got into the car and drove to the gate. He opened it for us and with this launched the gateway through the entire chain of gateways. There were 14 locks, one after the other, and the gates of the previous lock did not open to the exit until the gate of the next one opened to the entrance.

In general, in 2 hours we passed these locks, which were located on a 2-mile stretch of path. Further there was a long section of the canal, free from locks. I added gas, and the boat went at maximum speed. I handed the steering wheel to Mila, and I myself went to the bow, to do something there. And suddenly a barge flew right at us from behind a bend. The channel was narrow, and for the first moment it seemed to me that the barge occupied the entire space, from shore to shore. I rushed back to the steering wheel, turned on the reverse and pressed myself as tightly as possible to the right bank. The barge also slowed down and moved intoright. Between it and the shore formed a passage through which it was possible to pass. We carefully walked past each other, and the woman on the barge gave us two fingers, which meant that they were followed by another barge. And indeed, we soon met the second barge and cautiously dispersed from it. I have absolutely no idea what to do if two barges meet in this canal. In my opinion, there is no way they can separate. Maybe they are launched there in turn?

After that, the section of locks, bred by hand, began. They were bred for us by a young guy who rode a scooter from lock to lock. I helped him push the gates, for which he was filled with gratitude to me and, in turn, tried to speed up the passage of the locks for us: I rode ahead on a scooter and opened the gates, so that by the time we approached the next lock was usually ready to receive us.

In one of the locks we met a large sailboat without a mast (it was sent, apparently, by a transport office), going north. It was Oceanis 473. Big sailboat, I was surprised to meet her here. What, I wonder, is her sediment? Even for me, with my 1.3 meters of draft, it is difficult even in these channels. Actually, walking along the canal is not difficult, the depth here is 2.2-2.4 meters. But what about overnight stays? If you go on a large sailboat, you need to carefully plan where to get up for the night, because just sticking to the bank of the canal, as we do, is unlikely to succeed. By the way, when we metthis sailboat, we were aground (they wanted to land in front of the lock, so as not to crawl back and forth in front of it, and ran aground), and the crew from this Oceanis watched how we were refloated with keen interest. Apparently, this topic is also relevant for them. It is good that I have a boat with a long keel - it is not afraid of running aground. But on a boat with a finned keel?.. Poor fellows.

In total, we passed 32 locks that day - an absolute record. We haven't gone through any more. But relatively little progress has been made in miles: 14 miles.

We got up for the night in the village of Foges d'Uzemain. The book promised that there would be a relatively civilized parking lot: mooring bollards, a garbage container and water. But of the promised were only pedestals and a trash can. We did not find water, which is a pity, it would not hurt us to fill the tank.

Coordinates: N 48-05.017' E 006-18.075'

The weather has been following a stable pattern for many days now: in the morning - overcast, light rain, in the afternoon - sunny, hot, in the evening or at night - rain. That night there was heavy rain, a real downpour. In the morning the sky was covered with clouds, but the sun peeped through the gaps, promising a hot day. But this time the weather was capricious - the clouds did not dissipate during the day, a cold wind blew, it was rather cool.

We woke up at half past seven. We had breakfast and started getting ready for the road. The traffic lights at the locks have already been lit, which means that the locks have been operating since 8 o’clock. A large boat spent the night next to us, and we wanted to leave early so as not to lock with it. But we did not succeed - the boat set sail after us, and we entered the gateway together. At first we wanted to stop and let the boat go ahead, but then we decided to try to go along with it. Turns out it's not that bad. We walked ahead and opened the gateway (using the remote control). We went into the gateway, then behind usa boat came in and immediately someone from the boat’s team, without waiting for the boat to stop and be moored, jumped onto the pier and ran (in the literal sense of the word) to the lock control panel. He pulled the blue rod, and then helped his comrades to moor the boat. Thus, we almost did not lose time on the passage of the lock (compared to if we had gone through the lock alone), in addition, we were spared the need to run to the control panel and pull the rod there. There were four people on the boat: two men and two women. I once againmade sure that France is a country of victorious feminism: the women there held the mooring lines and stood at the helm, and the men walked around the boat with brushes and washed it with soapy water.

We passed 17 locks with this boat. Then, in the town of Fontenoy-le-Chateau, the boat stopped, and we went on. There was a parking lot for boats that are rented, and the boat was from this flotilla. There was also a well-maintained marina for us, but we decided to go further, to the village of Corre, because it was only the middle of the day, and we had to get up early for the night.

Corre was 10 locks and 15 miles away, and we had 5 hours to spare. Theoretically, we should have been on time. If we didn’t have time, we would have to spend the night again in the “open field”, but we didn’t want to, because the body was thirsty for washing (in other words, I wanted to wash).

And we made it to Corre before the locks stopped working. But they barely made it. When we had to go through the last lock, the hardest bummer almost happened: the lock did not want to open. Although the red and green lights were already lit at the traffic light, indicating that the gateway was preparing to open the gate, but something did not work for him there, and the gate remained closed for a long time. Imagine our annoyance! Only one gateway separates us from a well-maintained marina with showers, electricity, and maybe Internet, and this stupid gateway doesn't wantem work! And at the same time, there was, in general, nowhere to spend the night in front of the lock: the shores were completely unequipped, so even just landing on the shore was a problem (we tried and immediately ran aground). I somehow stuck the boat with its bow to the shore and asked my Mila to hold her by the bow pulpit while I ran to the lock. There were fifteen minutes left until the locks closed! I ran to the gateway at a trot, pressed the button on the intercom, and, panting, said that “such and such a gateway is a problem!” The Frenchman answered me that "somebody is coming". And then there was a longthis squeak, indicating that the sluice gates have finally begun to open! This damn gateway has decided to have mercy on us!

I rushed back to the boat, shouted from afar to Mila to get on the boat, then, running up, leaned my chest on the rail and somehow pushed the boat into the water (it was sitting on the bow with its bow). He started the engine, and we hurried to the airlock. The lock was successful, the gates opened, we got out and were finally able to breathe easy.

Soon we saw the moorings, which were three boats. We moored nearby and went to look for the hub-master. There was no one, but we found that there is a shower, paid, and costs 1€. The shower there was extremely funny and worth describing in detail. He acted like this: he had to throw a coin of 1 € into the slot in the corridor, then go into the shower and press the switch button. Hot water started flowing from the faucet. And very hot! And to add cold water to it, you had to pull a chain hanging from the ceiling. Then a jet of cold water was mixed into the stream.and the temperature returned to normal. After a while, the cold water stopped flowing and the water became hot again. Therefore, it was necessary to pull the chain again. Another feature of the shower was that there was no light on and it was illuminated only through a window in the wall. This is probably why there was an announcement on it that it only works from 8 am to 8 pm (that is, during daylight hours).

At 8 pm, the hub master appeared. A man arrived on a bicycle and took from all the boats standing at the pier, but 8 euros (regardless of their size). And electricity had to be bought separately: there, on the pier, there was a machine into which you had to throw a coin of 2 € in exchange for an unlimited amount of electricity for a period of 1 day. I advise everyone who travels in France to have a supply of 1 and 2 euro coins with them - they will come in handy more than once.

On the way, I remember two amazing drawbridges. Imagine: a bridge on which cars drive. The bridge rotates around a vertical axis. A man comes up to the bridge, pushes it and, without much effort, manually turns it around its axis, spreading it for the passage of the sailboat. Steel road bridge! Manually! The inscription on the bridge said that it was built in 1890. Amazing building.

Coordinates: N 47-55,012' E 005-59,696' Passed 26 locks and 33 miles.

The weather was not good in the morning. It rained all night and did not stop in the morning. Therefore, waking up at 8 in the morning, I decided to continue sleeping, hoping that the rain would stop after all. The rain didn't stop until 10 am. But we slept well, which greatly improved our mood.

Darling went to the village, bought long French bread (baguettes) there, and we had breakfast with appetite. Then I went to the village. I had to buy fuel, and besides, I was hoping to find an auto shop to buy transmission oil (I fill it in the propeller shaft oil seal and I run out of it, since I have to add oil every day). But all the shops were closed for lunch. These Frenchmen eat lunch for an hour and a half! They have a break from 12 to 13-30. And the gas station was also closed for lunch, but I needed fuel, so I waited until it was open.tsya. Diesel fuel cost 1.02€ per litre.

Finally, at 2 pm, we started moving. We passed the gateway, the last one on this channel (we gave away the remote control there), and went out into the Saone (Saone) river. I congratulated Mila on this significant event, which meant two things for us: 1) that we passed the first half of our journey through France ; 2) that the further path will be easier than the previous one, because further we will go downstream of the rivers (first - the Sona, then - the Rhone), and this means that the locks will all go down, it will not be difficult to lock, and, in addition, on rivers, locks are much less common than inchannels.

We went to Sona in its upper reaches. Here, the Sona is a narrow, calm river, almost indistinguishable from canals. The right bank is hilly, overgrown with trees and shrubs, the left bank is low, meadow. Cows and horses graze along the banks. Many wild ducks swim with their chicks in the water. There are swans. There is almost no traffic on the river, for the whole day we met only a few boats.

Three locks passed in 3 hours. The locks here are of the "hose type", that is, they are controlled by a piece of hose suspended over the river. The hose must be turned counterclockwise when you approach the airlock so that it opens.

Along the way, I did complex calculations. Since the weather was cold, it was desirable for us to spend the night that night in a place where there is electricity. On our way there were two harbors that promised this blessing of civilization: in the village of Fouchecourt and in the city of Port-sur-Saone. The village was too close, we reached it by half past five in the evening. It was necessary to decide: to go further, to Port-sur-Saone, or to stop here. After complex calculations, including taking into account the speed of movement and the number of locks that will have to be passed, I made, and the crew approved the decision to gotee in Port-sur-Saone. Theoretically, we should have been on time, because there were still 2.5 hours before the locks closed, the distance was 20 km, and our speed was 10 km/h. In general, the main thing for us was to pass the lock, located at the 372nd kilometer, and then there were no obstacles. I hoped that the book did not lie, and the gateways really work until 19:00. This book, by the way, in general, is very good and useful, but the information in some places is erroneous. The book is called Through the French Canals by David Jefferson.

We passed the lock on the 372nd kilometer at 17-50. Everything, it was possible to calm down - now there were no more locks to the very Port-sur-Saone.

I liked walking along the river more than along the canals. There are few locks, you can go at maximum speed, so you can go through a lot in a day. Today we have walked almost 21 miles, although we have only been moving for half a day.

At half past six in the evening we came to the city of Port-sur-Saone. Entering the city, we saw a boat that had spent the night with us at the previous stop. He stood at the embankment, where, except for the mooring bollards, there were no other "benefits of civilization". I looked for power poles, but found none, and we slowly moved forward until I saw ahead, around the bend, a large cluster of various boats. Coming closer, we saw that this is the marina. But it was not clear how to moor to the pier, because the piers did not have "stalls". The boats that stood at the piers wereand simply moored stern to them, and nothing held them from the bow. But these are boats, with a wide (5 meters) stern. This approach didn't work for us. We slowly moved along the berths, until Darling noticed a lone buoy of a “dead anchor” lying at the bottom of one of them. We grabbed it with a hook and slowly approached the bow to the pier, standing there between two huge boats.

There was electricity and water on the pier. We tied up the boat and then I went to the captainry to pay for the mooring. When I arrived there, the woman in charge of all this household was about to leave. If I came 10 minutes later, there would be no one to pay. But then I would not have received a password from the Internet (there is WiFi here). If anyone is here, use it. The password is: aaaaaaaaab. This harbor is also notable for the fact that there is neither a toilet nor a shower. I asked a local Frenchman where the toilet was. "Closet?" he asked, and waved to the side.mouth - there, they say. I paid €10 for parking, and the woman did not ask about the length of the boat. Apparently, one fee for all.

Coordinates: N 47-40.993' E 006-02.456' Passed 20.7 miles and 4 locks.

Passed today 11 locks and 2 tunnels. The tunnels are short - 680 and 640 meters. I did not expect that here, on the river, there would be tunnels, but it turned out that the Sona winds a lot, and, to shorten the path, channels were dug in these sections (including with tunnels).

Of course, I could not pass by the city of Gray (Gre), so consonant with my nickname (GreyAngel). By the end of the day we came to this city. But Grey disappointed us. As we approached the city, we were deafened by the wild peals of crazy music. Some kind of concert was being held in the city, and because of this, it was impossible to stand in the center of the city.

In addition, it turned out to be difficult for us to land on the embankment in the city center, because there were signs everywhere that the depth was 1 m. I decided to check (what if the signs are lying?), went to the shore - and ran aground. A friendly Dutchman came up from a nearby boat and advised us to go further, where, after 1 kilometer, there would be a berth just for our boat. We obeyed and moved on. Soon we found a pier with water and electricity. Parking there, as it was written in the book, is free. True, we did not manage to get water, because there were some cunningAna.

After dinner, I went to look for a gas station to buy fuel, walked for a long time, but did not find anything. In general, we decided not to linger in this city and move on with the dawn.

The weather finally decided to please us, and the sun shone all day. But, despite the sun, the wind was cold, so it was not necessary to sunbathe. In general, a calm, good day. There would be more of these.

Coordinates: N 47-26.928' E 005-33.719' Traveled: 33.9 miles.