From Vernon to Port Ilon

Leaving Vernon was not straightforward. As I mentioned, there is a shallow patch of water to negotiate between the main channel of the Seine and the Yacht Club. Despite what it says in the guide books and Navionics chart it isn't buoyed. We had a few tricky moments on the way in, so Igor, with his characteristic meticulous planning, wasn't going to leave it to chance on the way out.

We have our paddle boards with us, an act of optimism in early April that the weather truly would get better, so Igor inflated one and set off, moving in a grid and regularly checking the depth with the paddle. For anyone planning to come here, the deeper water is by the boats moored on buoys.

As well as the depth, we had shallows and the Old Mill in front of us, so not much room to manoeuvre. Igor decided that the best way out was to reverse. First he motored forward while I held the bow line tight which caused the aft to swing out, away from the pontoon. He moved to neutral, I released the bow line and we headed backwards, at least 2m of water all the way, until we reached the body of the river and a depth of around 6m.  Team work!

The weather wasn't brilliant but it was dry, and distinctly warmer than the trip from Poses to Vernon. We set off around 1.00 pm and by 4.30 were approaching the next lock, Mericourt. There hadn't been a lot of river traffic, but a peniche, Evidence, had overtaken us a few km earlier. When we called the lock keeper he directed us to share the lock where Evidence was already waiting.

This lock wasn't quite as slimy as the last few but there were no convenient ladders to loop my rope around. Instead were a series of bollards going up the wall, and next to them a floating bollard which rises or falls as water enters or leaves the closed lock. I hooked one of the lower bollards with my mid line while Igor attached the aft line to the floating bollard.  We couldn't see much of what was happening in front of us due to Evidence blocking the view, but sure enough the water started rising. It was a simple action to move my rope from the lower bollard to the next one, and before long we were at the top of the lock and saw the lights turning green for us to proceed.

We waited for Evidence to clear the lock and then moved out. It seemed prudent to keep a good distance in case anything unforeseen happened (thankfully it didn't). We were able to have a good look at the construction work being carried out on the adjacent chamber of the lock: cranes, lorries, cement, lots of beeping and work related sounds.

Once out of the lock Port Ilon was a very short distance away to our port side. We had heard good things about this marina and the approach was very promising. You go through a series of calm, pond like disused quarries and under a bridge until the expanse of water with the marina is revealed. We had tried calling on VHF channel 9 with no response, but one of the harbour staff was waiting for us on the fuel pontoon and showed us where to moor, then checked us in.  It was great, everything went smoothly, a good place to spend the night.

I'm so happy I didn't almost fall in the water today!