Écluse 7 Carandeau - River Aisne - Choisy-au-Bac - Oise 60 - France - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

This is lock number 7 on the River Aisne and is known as Carandeau. It is situated in the large village of Choisy-au-Bac in the Oise 60 département.

Boaters operate the locks on the River Aisne by using a télécommande or remote control unit. The unit is used to set the lock from a point about 100 metres away. A traffic light system is in place: flashing orange means the lock has received the request to operate, red and green means lock being got ready, green means it is safe to enter, two reds mean lock is out of operation.

The canalised River Aisne is a large river and is part of the Aisne navigation that joins the Ardennes region down to Paris. When it was first canalised the freight was mainly stone for buildings in Paris. It is still used for freight traffic and the péniches carry up to 220 tonnes.

There is not a lot of leisure boating as there are very few services available but work is underway by VNF (Voies Navigables de France) to improve the situation. For example there are nice new electricity and water points along the moorings in Soissons itself.

The canalised river Aisne extends 56km from its confluence with the River Oise at Bouche d’Aisne, a short distance upstream of Compiègne, to the entrance to the Canal latéral à l’Aisne at Celles-sur-Aisne, 15km east of the historic town of Soissons. The route east continues on the Canal latéral à l’Aisne, connecting with the Canal des Ardennes at Vieux-lès-Asfeld, a distance of 51km. The total length of the river and latéral canal is 107km. This makes it an important hub in the waterway network, carrying both north-south and east-west traffic.


The following historical information is taken from frenchwaterways.com:

The River Aisne was a commercial navigation as early as the Gallo-Roman period, and the river was navigated by rafts from a long distance above the present limit of navigation at Vailly-sur-Aisne until the mid-19th century. The large-scale canalisation works were begun in 1836, at the same time as construction of the lateral canal. The canal was completed first, in 1841, then two years later the river navigation. The waterway remains in the strategic national network. Commercial traffic in péniches carrying 220 tonnes is still several hundred thousand tonnes per year. Recreational traffic is mainly private boats. For many years there was discussion of the possibility of upgrading the river to high-capacity European standards, to serve the port of Reims or even as the first stage of a Seine-Moselle waterway.

Waterway Name: River Aisne Connected Points: The canalised River Aisne runs for 56 kilometres through seven locks from the Canal Latéral à l'Aisne at Celles-sur-Aisnes to the confluence with the River Oise at Compiegne. Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1843 Elevation Difference (meters): 2.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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