French Canals - cont. To us American boaters, the locals have gone out of their way to be helpful to us. In Maastricht I needed to buy lumber for fender boards. I asked a man doing repairs on a barge where he bought his lumber. He didn't speak any English. But the man on the next barge did and he then translated to the first man. The Dutch man stopped his hammering, and drove me to the lumber yard and back with the two fender boards even though he didn't speak any English! In Epinal, France, Richard, another American cruiser, needed a hydraulic mechanic for his boat. He bicycled to an area he was directed to, and walked into an office. The lady there said, "I don't have enough English words to tell you where to go, but I can take you there in my car." He asked, "What about my bicycle?" She said, "Just bring it in here, and leave it in my office." She drove him to the mechanic who replied, "Why it's only 4:00; I'll come work on your boat immediately, and you can put your bike in my truck." The "real France" is what the local French call these small villages. The French are also very serious about everyone getting their baguette daily. Little trucks deliver bread in the morning to campgrounds, harbors, and houses. At Pont-A-Bar where there were no stores, we boaters bought our baguettes every morning in the local bar. In other small towns where there are two bakeries, they coordinate their hours, off days and holidays so at least one bakery is open each day! Our normal canal cruising day starts around 9:00 and ends in early afternoon usually between 2:00 & 3:00 - we prefer to stop early. A couple of advantages for stopping early are more time for shopping & sightseeing, getting a nicer mooring and avoiding the heat of late afternoon on hot days. It seems like the charter boat run much later in the afternoons so if we are on a canal with lots of charter boats we try to stop early. Besides we are retired and shouldn't have to be driven by a schedule! For planning purposes, we once had a British cruiser tell us not to plan on doing more than 10 locks a day. That has worked out to be excellent advice. There are exceptions of course like canals where there is a set of locks identified as a chain or stairs - i.e., a series of locks where you come out of one and immediately enter the next. Many of the chains or stairs have no intermediate stopping places so once you enter you must complete the whole set. So when planning trips in the French canals you have to consider the number of locks in addition to how many kilometers. Legrace's log book shows 439 locks since delivery in April 2004. I guess with that number combined with almost 200 locks on Caroline, that we would be considered "old hands" at locks. Well maybe, but I do know you just can't relax at anytime when in a lock - be it an up lock or a down lock. Up locks tend to be more difficult with all the incoming water turbulence but down locks can be just as dangerous. We have seen one boat get suspended on a lock wall almost completely out of the water when their rope jammed. And I had to cut a rope once when it jammed in down lock. The French canals have many different types of locks; from completely manual (hand cranks on the gates & valves), to mechanized with the lock keeper at a master control panel, to various "automated" locks using different sensors to trigger their operation. One type of automated lock uses a long, stiff plastic hose suspended over the canal that you have to twist 3/4 of a turn to activate. One of the funniest situations we saw involved one of these locks with the plastic hose suspended over the canal and a charter boat full of Italians. Lynn & I can now laugh at some of the antics of the charter boats but also sympathize with them because we were once novices on a charter too. We approached a down lock and twisted the plastic hose. The signal lights on the lock went from Red to Red & Green, indicating the lock was being prepared for us. We were up high enough to see over the lock gates and saw a charter boat approach from the other direction. They came up to plastic hose on their side of the lock and twisted it. We could see them watching the lights on their side of the lock and it obviously stayed Red - because we had activated the lock first for our direction. Well the "captain" of charter boat kept swinging around the hose while the "crew" kept twisting and twisting and twisting the hose - it is a wonder they didn't twist it off. By this time the lock gate on our end opened and with the Green light we entered the lock & secured to a bollard. Now we can easily see over the lock gate and watched them milling around just outside the gate trying to figure out why the lock isn't opening. They never did look up and see us in the lock. So down we go, and then the gates open and there is Legrace right in front of them slowly coming out of the lock. First were the shocked expressions on their faces at seeing us then pandemonium. 10 people all yelling instructions to the "captain" who was also yelling & gesturing at the same time - who then proceeded to gun the engine and run the boat straight into the bank of the canal. This resulted in an increased volume of yelling & gesturing. Fortunately, pinning themselves to the bank left enough room for us to slip quickly past. As we looked back after passing, they were crosswise in the canal with everyone still yelling & gesturing but now of course they had the Green light. We could only wonder how they were going to manage once they got into the lock. Bob & Lynn Williamson MV Legrace Aquanaut Drifter 1250AK