A Year of Days: Day 224 - Les Onzes Écluses de Hédé
Hédé is at about the mid-point of the Ille and Rance canal which connects Dinan to the River Vilaine at Rennes. This canal was ordered by Napoleon to ensure that Dinan could continue to be supplied if the English mounted an off-shore blockade. Construction began in 1804 and the canal was completed and in full use by 1832.
There are 47 locks along the 79 km length of the canal, 11 of them in a flight at Hédé. Each lock at Hédé is about 200 metres from the next with an average rise of 2.5 metres. Each lock has an impressive lock-keeper's cottage - this one is Lock 23 known as La Pêchetière which would probably translate as 'the fishing place'. Another nice afternoon out on the motorbike.
