Favee – Canal du Centre
Whilst travelling west on the Canal du Centre in France last summer, we were held up at ecluse 3 at Favee. This was due to the sluice jamming – it was a large metal bell type object that was raised and lowered by the lock gear. The lock keeper, a rather pleasant young lady, pressed many buttons but eventually gave a Gaelic shrug and called her supervisor. Within a few minutes a van arrived, and then another and finally a truck, loaded with some impressive looking aluminium dams (Stop Boards to us). The dams were lowered, the lock dammed, the lock drained, the sluice freed, the dams removed, the lock started working.
VNF staff sorted the problem in two hours.
But the canal was now closed because it was after 6pm