Rangali Adventures: Châtel-Censoir to Clamecy

Tuesday 15^th April

Châtel-Censoir to Clamecy

8 Locks, 1 electric drawbridge and 18km

We woke up to another beautiful morning, frosty again last night. Luckily the lock keeper lives at the lock keepers cottage in Châtel-Censoir so I was able to speak to him to let him know we were moving on. It so happened he was responsible for the next lock we were going to go through, so off he drove in his VNF van. We had three very nice lock keepers looking after us today, one even apologised for keeping us waiting as he was working a different lock further along the canal, we had hardly had to wait at all.

After lunch we caught up with a couple of boats going the same way as us, so they slowed us down but we made it to Clamecy by 3.30pm. We moored up just after the last lock, thinking we could moor up in a better place that had electric the next day. Luckily a hire boat moved off and left a perfect place that has the late evening sun plus electric and water so we moved position. We are going to stay here for a few days, maybe even until after Easter.

Another hire boat arrived early evening, and struggled to fit into a space in the port, I went down below, (hiding, as I hate to watch them when it goes wrong!) Kev had to ask them not to use their boat hooks to push off our boat. I don’t think they realize it’s our paintwork they are pushing off, as their boats are plastic, (and not their own property!). We’d rather they touched us with their boat, as our fenders will protect us better than a sharp boat hook.

There has been a cold wind today, but not a cloud in the sky.