Progress
Beowulf
Tom Fenton and Faith Ressmeyer
Thu 23 Oct 2014 16:34
Another degree of latitude crossed. Only just over two and a half more degrees north and I will be in Wivenhoe.
Progress, but not a lot. Grey, wet drizzle all morning. Sun came out for half an hour at lunchtime. Grey again all afternoon. Left the Canal Latéral à la Marne and joined the Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne. Immediately into a series of rising locks to the hill near Reims where there is the Tunnel du Mont-de-Billy, dead straight and lit for two and a half kilometres. The locks here close at 1800 hrs, and so I imagine does the Tunnel. Made it through with about 20 minutes to spare, and now tied up at Sept-Saulx, which I think must mean Seven Willows. Seven hundred more like. 23 nautical miles or about 46 kilometres today in ten hours including locks. Not bad. At lunchtime I was 139.4 nm from Dunkerque as the crow flies, and remained so for the next two hours, as I skirted the Mont-de-Billy (which must mean the Hilly Billy), but now just over 136nm direct. But since I cannot go direct, the truth is more like 350 km or 175 nm.
Getting there.