Our last lock on day 14 after mastering 143 locks in 264 km was the most dramatic of all. Écluse Laroche had started out as 2 locks: #114 & #115 and had been combined into one. The result was an impressive wall of 5.5 metres (about 18 feet) - much deeper than the usual 2 meters we had dealt with up to this point. One issue that faced us immediately was in Barry's domain at the bow and Ray's at the stern: 'How in the heck are we going to throw the rope that far up?' Well the answer came quickly in the form of a grappling hook on the end of a long rope being dangled by the lock keeper down to the bow. The eclusier quickly pulled our coil of rope to the bollard 5.5 metres up and threw the end to Barry. He repeated this for Ray in the stern. The lock began to fill and up we went.
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| Ecluse LaRoche - Migennes - Last Ecluse |
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| Barry is thinking: 'Oh My! Now What??' |
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| Barry attaching the rope to the hook. |
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| Ray at the stern. |
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| Our Rookie Couple - advanced to Experienced Lock Handlers |
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| As we rise the world in Migennes seems strange... |
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| It is just an old Faucet they apparently used to fill the lock - or shower. |
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| Our Eclusier at Lock Laroche |
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