We had been hoping to stop overnight in Bologne but on paper the mooring didn't look that good so we decided to go straight to Chaumont with Janette and Steve. It made a change to share the locks and our two boats fitted them perfectly. At our third lock there were truffles for sale - we declined to buy as Crew was not an expert with truffles, to say the least but Janette bought some........must ask her what she intends to do with them! Our fourth lock of the day was another 3.9 metres, added to which Skips' bollard was hidden behind some railings, resulting in wet rope (and boat) and quite a lot of cursing! In the end he had to climb the ladder in order to get secured. Crews' hobby of inspecting lock keepers' houses is slightly different now as most of them are occupied so now she is giving them marks out of ten for attractiveness! Most of them have been built in the late 1800s (as well as the locks I presume) and have stood the test of time, being robustly built. Some of them still have their original wells. Just before our last lock into Chaumont was a small tunnel, just over 300 metres long.
We arrived in Chaumont around 1 p.m., rather disappointed to see the state of the moorings! The bollards were big fat concrete things which were too close together........a good fit for a 10 metre boat but not for us. Hence it took us longer than usual to secure ourselves - we had the added problem of negotiating a bollard that had imploded on itself, leaving a large jagged piece of concrete pointing straight at our topside! Three fat fenders were brought into use and later checked when a commerce passed by!! Not an ideal berth for 5 nights - the plan was to move as soon as possible!
Unbeknown to us it was Steves' birthday so Janette had asked the Capitaine about possible restaurants. The town was a good 20 minute walk up a steep hill so she arranged for the restaurant owner to pick us all up at 7.30 p.m. for dinner in town and for us to be driven back afterwards. Great service! And indeed, even though we chose the Brasserie menu, the quality was very good, served by a very helpful young lady. The arrangement was that there were two buffets, one for starters and the other for dessert, both of which were very good quality and then four or five options for a main course. We were driven back to the port again after a lovely evening!
16.5 km 8 locks 1 tunnel 4 hours
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