We were back on the Canal du Nord and heading for the
Royaulcourt Tunnel again but this time going north. We had hoped to moor for the night above the
last lock before the tunnel but it was full of commercials. However, we knew
that there was a mooring possibility at an old quay and turning point a few
kilometres on. It was empty except for a
rather disgruntled fisherman as we had to moor right next to him, but apart
from that, a very good spot.
The next day we went through the tunnel behind one
commercial with whom Alex had had a chat while we waited for the green
light. When we reached the passing place
in the middle it took Alex some time to realise that there was actually a
commercial coming towards us: the lighting is rather confusing in there and he
thought at first it was the barge in front of us! Plenty of time thankfully to
move over to let him pass through!
We stopped for the day a bit early just above the first
‘downhill’ lock, where we had moored some weeks before in solitary isolation on
that occasion. At 2pm when we arrived we
were the only boat again, and we cycled off to nearby Havrincourt for a mosey
around. During the course of the late
afternoon, commercials began to moor up with us, one of which very nearly
side-swiped a barge passing the other way. By 11pm that night, when the last
one arrived, they were two deep all the way along the very long quay!
A couple of days later we were back at the lovely Gare d’Eau
mooring south of Lille . But we were getting a bit low on fuel so next
day we stopped at Harbourdan, a suburb of Lille, for lunch and asked at the
Mairie if they could help us with a delivery by fuel tanker. They tried but without success, so we motored
on to the Bras de la Citadelle mooring which this time did have another barge
moored there, but plenty of room for us.
In chatting to Joseph and Madeleine on WEITSKE we learnt that the
Belfry, Lille ’s tallest building was open with
free entry for that day only, so we shot off on our bikes and enjoyed seeing Lille from a different
perspective.
On the way into Lille we had spotted COSMA and later rode
round to ask Stephan if he could possibly help us get enough fuel to get us to
the Captain Neptunia fuel barge at Antoing where we were heading on our way
back to Seneffe (via, we hoped, the Roubaix and l’Espièrre canals).
So we put 4 x 20 litre containers into his van and drove to
the local garage, where, with a slight worry about the police car which pulled
in to fill up halfway through our own can filling, we succeeded in getting
enough fuel for the next few days.
We rang Camille who asked us to be at the 2nd
lock of the Roubaix
at around 9 am on our chosen day. We
should pick up a remote control at the Grand Carré Lock just north of Lille which would operate the first lock on the Roubaix . So an early start for us at 7.30 (!!!) got us
to Camille just about 9.30am. Camille is
a lovely young woman who is the public face of the Roubaix Canal Roubaix and the surrounding suburbs and
warned us that a one kilometre section of the river before the next lock would
be a bit shallow.
All went well till we reached that section. We started to slow down. Alex reduced the revs to stop the back end
sitting too low in the water and we slowed even more until eventually we were
down to 0.5 kms per hour!
The lock was by now very close, but round a 90 degree bend,
so there was no other option than to put on lots of power and force a way
through the silt and round the corner.
What a stink came from the disturbed mud on the bottom of the river –
quite disgusting.
Once into the lock everything was fine for the flight of 5
locks, even though the helpful and friendly lock keepers had no sense of
efficiency whatsoever, but who cares, we were in no hurry! After a stop for lunch and a few more locks,
and lift bridges, we arrived at the next obstacle – a roundabout!
Suddenly Camille re-appeared as well as our lock
keepers. Ah, she said when we asked, it
requires a team of 4 people to stop the traffic, operate the lights and
barriers, while the two lift bridges on either side of the roundabout are
raised. So in the middle of the rush
hour, all the traffic trying to enter the roundabout was held up as we cruised
sedately through.
Our mooring for the next two nights was just past a gypsy
encampment beside the canal which was a bit worrying, but the lock keepers
assured us that they had never had any problems. The advertised electricity supply was
eventually located under a man-hole cover in the middle of the lane next to the
mooring and had we needed water, it too was under a man-hole cover. Not exactly user friendly, but they were both
free.
The next day we visited Roubaix ,
in particular the Piscine
Museum Tourcoing on our bikes.
Our visit to Roubaix was a mixed bag – the Hotel de Ville,
the church, the main square were as lovely as they usually are in France and
The Piscine was uniquely great, but the whole area has been down on its knees
and looks it, despite the millions that have been and are being spent on
it. But the important thing is that it
is a canal that has been re-opened and that is just the start of the
regeneration of the whole area. In years
to come the surroundings will hopefully echo the high standards which have been
incorporated into the canal and we would strongly recommend that other boaters
use the canal to show appreciation for those huge efforts.
The lock keepers were ready for us 9am but we were not ready
for them! Alex asked for a half hour
delay as he had a mission before we could start. He had spotted a flower shop 50m away which
was to be his saviour as it was Louise’s birthday the next day!
That night we moored just over the France border into Belgium , again with free water and
electricity though this time with a proper bourne for access, and Alex checked
that the little Maison du Canal would be open for dinner – Yes!
The place was packed with locals and the choice on the menu
board ran to three items: so we shared a ‘planche’ of cheeses and a planche of
charcuterie meats, a carafe of rosé and frites.
The ambience created by the simplicity of the fare and the engaging
locals made for a brilliant evening, even if we could barely understand a word:
and all for under €20. (So along with a
40th birthday card which Alex had found in our card store on the
boat – a bunch of flowers and this ‘sumptuous’ supper, that was it for Louise’s
birthday!)
The Belgian side is a total contrast to Roubaix ’s urban environment. The Canal de l‘Espièrres is a lovely,
tranquil rural waterway, and we were sorry to leave it.
A couple of days later after the morning mist had cleared we
were able to fuel up at the fuel barge in Antoing, and we were very glad that
we had failed to get a fuel delivery near Lille as our draught would have been
even worse on the Roubaix shallows with 700 extra litres on board!
So now we were retracing our steps towards our winter
mooring at Seneffe. A night in the
lovely basin at the top of the closed Pommeroeul-Condé Canal link, a late start
due to fog and another night in the Grand Large at Mons, a lift on the Strepy
Ascenseur and we were back at Seneffe – our home for the next 5 or 6 months.
Stats for this year 2013:
1331.3 Kms
99 Locks
21 Lift and swing bridges
2 Inclined planes
4 tunnels
2 Dry docks
1 Rip-off bottom repair!
1 Good value complete bottom overplate and paint!
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