We woke up to beautiful sunny and clear blue skies this morning and pushed away from the berth at 8.30 to make sure we were front of the queue for the lock. Queue! Errrmmm, not quite – we only saw one other boat on the move today, going in the opposite direction.
We’d decided to make our way to St Leger sur Dhuene but I don’t think either of us really looked at the navicarte. Turns out there were 35kms and no less than 28 locks to negotiate before arriving at our destination. We worked out that each lock takes between 7 and 10 minutes to get through, so we spent over 4 hours of our 9-hour day doing locks! Absolutely knackering!!
Thankfully it was a beautiful day and the countryside is just gorgeous darling! (Sorry, been watching Strictly!).
The day wasn’t without its worries either. At some point this morning we heard a bit of a clunk and change in engine tone followed by reduced speed and unusual vibration throughout the boat. There was obviously something round the prop and our tried and tested method of running the engine astern for a short period was unsuccessful. Eventually we decided to try full-steam astern again but with the boat securely fastened to a lock wall. That did the trick and Frank was very happy that he wouldn’t have to don his wetsuit and goggles to dive under and inspect the propellor – not sure why!
Anyway, we arrived safe and sound and are hoping to reach the Saône by tomorrow evening. We’ll let you know how we get on!!
Adventures with Thirza 