We departed at 8 am and at the first lock we had to wait thirty minutes until a commercial barge had gone through. Little did we know we'd have a heart-stopping moment a bit later!
After the lock we quickly caught up with the commercial boat. The Dutch vessel's captain allowed us to pass fairly quickly, with a hearty wave.
Plenty of room and good radio communication meant over-taking was not a problem.
Further along this empty vessel clearly shows that for quite some distance, when you are directly in front of the boat the skipper wouldn't be able to see you from the wheelhouse. Most vessels use radar.
Turning right.
Lock keepers cottage
Along the canal de l'Oise a l'Aisne another tunnel.
As we entered we turned on our navigation lights - the first part was lit, then the lights went out and we realised our nav lights hadn't come on! Rather frantic scrambling to switch the spotlight on occurred! The light you see here is from the camera's flash - it was completely black, just the pinprick white dot to steer by. Needless to say I took the boat out of gear until we lit the tunnel with our spot light.
With our spot light on.
The spotlight is mounted in the perfect place - this it the first time in 15 months we have used it!
Ahhh! The lights come back on. There is a vessel way up in front.
It was pretty black for a while!
Back to being fully lit!
Warp speed!
Sludge from the tunnel wall when we glided alongside within the black void!
We made it without a drama. When we tested our nav lights again they worked perfectly!
Tonight's mooring.
There was just enough room at the end. Another beautiful spot!
Whoop whoop, look at us!
A bit more information of where we are. We stopped at 1815 after 14 locks, camping at PK25.
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