July 12 - Today's the day we do the 16 écluses of the Sardy Lock Staircase that links together 16 chambers. While some may think this sounds like a chore the staircase takes us up a beautiful valley, with many of the old lock keeper's houses now inhabited by artists. Plus you gat a top notch crew of éclusiers, We had a team of three that whisked us through in a bit over 2 1/2 hours.
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| The distance between chambers leaves just enough room for uphill and downhill boats to pass |
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| Lock keepers house |
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| With the shorter locks, it was a tight fit for "Old Harry" and Juniper. Charl and Ali hard at work on their lines |
One of the first things we notice is these écluses are 10 meters shorter than the chambers we have been in lately. Buddy boating with a 15 meter boat and us at 11 meters doesn't leave much room for lock doors to open and close and us to keep from hitting each other in the turbulent currents experienced going uphill
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| Two of our lock keepers waiting for the water levels to match so they can open the gate |
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| Entrance to one of the tunnels |
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| Dark and narrow hard to keep the boat in the center |
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| Passageway between tunnels |
At the top - your reward is a oneway passage of three unlit tunnels connected by a deep narrow ditch. In the end, you arrive at Baye with its beautiful Étang de Baye that serves as a reservoir for the Nivernais Canal as well being a beautiful clean body of water for swimming, non-motorized boating and fishing.
And - our final reward was a dinner out with Charl and Ali, our écluse partners these past few day.
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| The end of the storm - tomorrow's going to be a great day for cruising |
We ended up staying an extra day due to a storm that swept through, plus Michael wasn't feeling good. That evening we had a rainbow that went nearly from horizon to horizon. What a treat
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