Today would be our first low bridge day on the French canals and before setting off we removed the canopy and lowered the radar arch. As usual on these occasions the skies clouded over and we had our first drops of rain for weeks, the heaviest coming whilst we were in a lock. After only 6km we joined the Canal lateral a l'Oise, a much narrower section of 34km length, built in 1821 to bypass a meandering stretch of the river.

There is little to see along the canal, most of the settlements being on the banks of the original river. At the confluence with the Canal de l'Oise a l'Aisne near Chauny, the waterway changes its name to the Canal de St Quentin. In the 7km stretch linking Chauny to the Canal de la Sambre we encountered four locks with minimum bridge heights reducing to 3.5m. This would be the pattern for the next few days with locks about every ten minutes on this quiet stretch of the canal.

Once past Tergniers we took the right fork in the canal, the La Fere branch of the Canal St Quentin, leading to the Canal de la Sambre a l'Oise. At Trevecy lock we had our first automated lock experience; the gates opening as we passed the downstream sensor. Once moored up we eventually worked out to push the green lever to request sluicing and up we went.

The third lock in this section, at Brissy, is the first of a series of locks operated by means of a remote controller which we were given at Tergnier lock. On approach we hopefully pressed the Franchissement button to open the lock, but received only the message that we were outside the hours of service. As it was only 1815 and it was an automatic lock with no staff on duty this seemed a bit harsh, but there we were with no choice but to moor up for the night and await the morning opening.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 33 nm

Total to date: 1741 nm

Avg Speed: 6 knots

Duration: 6 hours

Diesel: 65 litres (est)

Mooring: Free

Electricity: N/A

Locks

Janville

Bellerive

Sempigny

St Hubert

Chauny

Senicourt

Viry

Tergnier

Travecy

Travecy-Montigny

Min headroom: 3.5m

Min draught: 1.8m

Charts

Navicarte 24