We left Montceau-les-Mines and headed towards Palinges – 21 kilometres and eight locks away. It took five-and-a-half hours under a beautiful blue sky. We knew that Palinges had bollards for just one boat and hoped the spot would be available when we arrived. It was.
With barely a cloud in the sky, imagine my surprise and disappointment when I opened an e-mail from the VNF stating we could go no farther. The canal was closed.
A violent storm had uprooted trees. For 10 kilometres, they had fallen across the canal. Some were big. It might take awhile for the VNF to clear a path. The “Navigation Stop” did not have an end date. We were lucky. Our one-boat mooring spot had both water and electricity. If we ran short of food, we were sure there would be at least a small shop in Palinges. We couldn’t have been marooned in a better spot.
Two days later, we got another e-mail from the VNF. The locks would resume operating at 9 the next morning. We phoned the VNF office responsible for that stretch of the canal to reserve a spot – saying we would be at the lock tomorrow morning. “No, you won’t,” they replied. “The canal is closed.” We said, “No, it’s open. We have a letter from the VNF.” “We never got one. Can you send it to us,” they asked. We had to inform the VNF that the VNF had sent out a notice saying the locks were opening. Life on a canal.
With that sorted out, we cast off and arrived at the next lock at 9am – only to find the lights out and the gates closed. We phoned. “The canal is closed,” we were told. Here we go again. After holding position in front of the lock for more than hour, a VNF van finally arrived. The gates opened. The green light went on. And we were finally underway. But not without incident. The canal was still littered with debris. At one point, I had to leave the engine in “tick over,” abandon the helm, walk towards the bow, and lift heavy branches from a fallen tree high enough so they would clear the wheelhouse as Aleau continued forward with no one at the helm. For 15 kilometres, we played “dodge-em” with branches floating on the canal. We finally made it to Paray-le-Monial and a mooring with bollards and electricity – minutes from the heart of town.
Maybe the worst was behind us.