Exploring Europe by Canal Boat: Fragnes to Chagny on the Canal du Centre

Canal du Centre - between Fragnes & Chagny

We had a relaxing afternoon and evening in Fragnes with plans to get an early start on the canal this morning. We checked in with the Capitainery to see if we could get the first écluse time this morning. Unfortunately the two hotel barges, also staying in Fragnes, had claimed the early times. Our best bet was to wait till 10h30 or later to give them a good head start as they are much slower in the écluses.

As I was walking to the boulangerie for our morning croissants another pleasure boat was headed for the écluse half an hour before opening. Apparently someone at the VNF decided to let them go early. Unfortunately we had not even begun to get ready, or we could have gone with them.

Joan in tug of war with current

We waited till almost 10h30 before taking off at a slow pace (didn't want to catch up too quick). The écluses we would be going through today were up to 5.8 meters deep and the line you had to pull to activate the écluse was right against the upstream gates. Our solution was to just use one line in the center of the boat. We'd snag the last bollard before the end, then keep moving forward till Joan could reach the cord that closed the lower gates and started the water. We then pull ourselves back till we were alongside the bollard we were already attached to. This worked perfect.

After leaving our third écluse we found the fourth écluse full - it was the hotel barge, we'd already caught up, and we hadn't been underway for even an hour. We stopped above the écluse for a 15 minute break to let them get ahead, plus we started cruising at about 3 or 4 km/hr. We soon caught up and figured we'd have to wait again. We did have to wait, but it was in the écluse. The lower doors had trouble closing, but after 10 minutes or so they seemed tight. However, the only water
getting in to raise us was water coming over the top of the upper gates. We waited and waited. Then tried the boat's French phone and left a message that the écluse was broken. When that didn't work we moved back up to the upper gates and Joan pulled the red cord, indicating an emergency. We had an éclusier overriding the system to get us going in a matter of minutes. She, and her dog, not only got us through that écluse, but accompanied us through our remaining écluse.

Our éclusier and her dog

We arrived in Chagny about five and a half hours after our start time. We'd figured two and a half to three hours. Now in the port du plaisance in Chagny. We have three days of bicycling, wine tasting and dining out planned for this culinary gem of a town.