Going through locks on the Bourgogne Champagne Canal

I haven't taken many photos of us going through a lock recently.  It is a lovely sunny day with a breeze, so I decided to walk beside the canal with the boating hook and assist from above.  That way I could also take photos of the whole boat.

Entering the lock

The locks are automatic and we have a remote control to open them in advance.

In the lock gated closing

Lock keepers cottage now a private house

Leaving the lock taken from the other side

Leaving the lock and I'm off to the next one just 900 metres ahead.

Sometimes when you think you have got into a good routine with the locking procedure,you get a bit complacent.  Just one thing that is unexpected or different from all the rest and the whole thing can go pear shaped, unless you are always alert for hazards.

Here is a case in point.  As I had decided to walk along the canal side, Julian was doing all the ropes and controlling the boat from the wheelhouse, and was alone on board.  My only job was to take the boat hook and hook the rope up and on the lockside bollard at each lock. We were going up so we approached the locks from the downstream position and these locks were deep, up to 5 metres deep.

So he decided to secure the rope to the front bollards leaving as much rope as he needed for me to reach down and hook up the rope, loop end, and drop it over the the lock bollard next to me from my position above.  All worked fine until the position of the bollard on the lock changed.  The rope was then far too long and we only realised this as the gates were closing.  We almost got squeezed in the huge lock gates.  Moral of the story is never set the lock gates to closed until you are properly moored up inside safely.

Too close for comfort

Nice old ironwork