After a short morning's cruise we had planned to stop off for lunch at Pont St Maxence. However the downstream moorings described in the guide as possible but tricky were very shallow with rocks, so we opted to forego the delights of this pretty town and pushed on upstream through the Ecluses de Sarron, sharing it with two large barges.

We were not tempted to stop at Verberie - the riverside being crowded with barges busy loading and unloading. The lock keeper closed the gate as we approached, despite our radioing ahead to warn of our arrival, but we waited patiently and it was only a few minutes before he was able to turn the lock round.

On arrival at Compeigne we were relieved to see the advertised fuel barge alive and well and busy fuelling the barges. Although he had red diesel he said he couldn't sell it to us - explaining the likely penalities as 'you pay, I pay, I prison'. We dutifully filled up with official white diesel at merely double the price and moored up at the quay opposite, moving the odd Dutch boat to make ourselves a space.

We waved goodbye to Malcolm, Michelle & Bella at Compeigne, who made their way back to Paris from the nearby SNCF station.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 20 nm

Total to date: 1708 nm

Avg Speed: 5 knots

Duration: 4 hours

Diesel: 50 litres (est)

Mooring: Free

Electricity: N/A

Locks

Sarron

Verberie

Venette

Min headroom: 5.25m

Min draught: 2.5m

Charts

Navicarte 24