Time to move on. Heading south. Vineyards to the right of us, play parks to the left, here we are, sailing down the middle and fast approaching another long tunnel. “Billy le Grand” is a 2.3km of wall to wall Lobelia subterranean experience. Andy is unshakeable. Lobelia unscathed.
For now…
The tunnel was at the top of the hill. We now had great views but needed to work our way back down the hill via a closely grouped set of locks. Small locks. No lock keepers. No onlookers.Edged into the first and set the lock in motion. The chamber emptied quickly. Lobelia lurched and alarmingly the bow dipped as the stern rose. The rudders were caught on the back sill. We were in trouble.Andy raised the alarm rod and I ran to the lock intercom. I spoke to the kingdom of far far away and pleaded for assistance. Meanwhile the lock had stopped emptying and Lobelia sat at a crazy angle, her rudders taking far too much weight.Within ten minutes the lock keeper arrived. He came to look and shook his head, muttered in French, wagged his finger and set about refilling the lock.He saw us safely through and Lobelia seemed to be ok. Our lock keeper stuck to us like glue as we worked our way down the chain. His disdain gradually disappeared and he seemed to warm to us. “Mais oui” – he liked the garden. Though he declared that the tomatoes had a mould problem due to too much heat.Seven locks later we bade farewell and gave him a bottle of wine. He seemed happier.
Moored at Conde sur Marne and heaved a sigh of relief.
No comments:
Post a Comment