News for April 2006
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It is good to be on the move again and we have really appreciated the colourful wild flowers along the canal banks, the birdsong from dawn to dusk and seeing the trees become really green. We had a wonderful 'send off ' from Decize by Marco, Carmen and their dogs. Carmen and Diane felt a bit emotional about parting after a good 5 month friendship. They have already been in touch and will maintain those links. As expected there have been some adventurous moments but that is all part of boating. Relaxation, pleasure, sport and those occasional 'adrenaline moments'.
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Our first lock to leave Decize was automatic and was so gentle that at first we wondered if it was working. We then moved onto the Canal Lateral a la Loire with Plagny as our first destination. We approached our second lock, managed by a lock keeper, and worked with one lock gate open, which in the main is absolutely fine for our narrow boat. A gust of wind at a crucial moment pushed us into the closed gate as we entered the lock leaving a nasty gouge in the nose of the freshly painted hull. The damage has now been repaired and evidence of the incident well hidden. At Plagny we saw our first big peniche on the move quickly followed by a second but since then traffic has been mainly pleasure craft.
We quickly got back into the swing of managing ropes in the locks going down which is easier than climbing in the locks. The weather was a bit mixed over the first two weeks of April but there were days when it was warm enough to have a picnic lunch and we have taken advantage of that. Our first picnic of the year was 7th April at Lere. That was a really good day with lock keepers liaising well and helpful with their advice about mooring and shopping. A particularly pleasant lock keeper, with a side line of selling wine from the region of Sancerre, sold us some good wine at a very reasonable price. We did have some wonderful views of Sancerre especially from a particular lock. As we knew that we were going to return on the same route we made notes of pleasant mooring areas and registered particular locks where we could possibly have difficulties. Fore warned is fore armed.
Our ultimate destination for this leg of the journey was Briare. This involved crossing the Pont Canal de Briare, 662 metres long and said to be the longest 'pont' (bridge) in Europe. It is in fact, an aquaduct. We cannot say whether this is true but what we can say is that it is spectacular. Designed by Gustave Eiffel late 1800's it took four years to build and it has to be said that there are wonderful views from this impressive aquaduct crossing the River Loire. We were fortunate to have good weather to cruise over the 'pont'.
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A telephone call to the harbourmaster on the morning of our afternoon arrival meant that he had informed lock keepers of our cruising intentions and the harbourmaster was there at the ready to welcome us and to help with roping up appropriately to moor. Briare was another 'good find' for us. A nice town which not only boasted the Pont Canal but also a Church, richly decorated inside and out with enamel mosaics. We hade intended to spend a couple of days but finally stayed for a week over the Easter period. People showed a lot of interest in the boat and in particular the history of narrow boats. The chef from the restaurant opposite the mooring was so intrigued by what he saw as the beauty of the colours he kept coming back to look. We gave him and his wife a visit of the inside of the boat and they were both surprised by the comfort of Idling By No 2. Another encounter was a delightful couple in their 80's. The gentleman had spent three years in England during the war as a member of the Free French Army . That sent us scuttling to the internet to learn more about the force.
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The main problem on our journey, Decize - Briare - Decize was finding water points to top up the tank on the boat. Electricity with hook ups is useful but not essential, water is. We found that the guide books that we had were no longer up to date regarding the facilities available at ports which is not a new problem but on the Marne et la Soane last year the facilities were better than indicated, this time it was the reverse. We ran low on water a few times but thankfully the tank was never empty. We were very pleased to find water at Cours les Barres as we had not put water into the tank for four days. Cours les Barres turned out to be a very pleasant mooring and we wished that we had moored up overnight. We were fast approaching Guetin with a two staircase lock taking boats up 9.23 metres. This was one of the apprehensive aspects of the return journey that we had been thinking about. Lunch beforehand gave us time to suss things out and a few words with the lock keeper gave us reassurance. The first lock was smooth, the lock keeper took our ropes and walked alongside the boat and secured us for the second lock. Our thoughts are that he was distracted by some observers chatting with him but he certainly opened the paddles too fast. It was impossible to hold the boat against the wall of the lock and we were pushed to the opposite side. All we could do was to exercise some control and ensure that we touched the wall gently. What we can say is that the exit from the locks onto the aquaduct, once more gave us beautiful views crossing over the River Allier. We were well on the return journey to Decize which felt a bit like going home. We collected outstanding post, saw familiar faces, stocked up on food and then continued our journey for a stay at Gannay sur Loire.
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This turned out to be an extremely pleasant mooring with water and electricity at no cost. We are still amazed at how often we are able to moor in towns and villages free. There was a built in BBQ and as the weather was good we had our first evening BBQ of 2006. We made a phone call to Alain and Suzanne who do not live far away from Gannay and they joined us for lunch on the boat a couple of days later. We had a very pleasant afternoon together. On the journey from Gannay to our current mooring point, Digoin we saw a young deer in the canal. The poor thing was struggling to get out of the water and clearly frightened. As the boat was too long for us to turn round in that stretch of water we couldn't do much to help. However, we alerted two men working on the towpath who jumped into their van to go to the rescue. Hope that the poor thing was saved.
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Our experiences with lock keepers have not all been bad, in fact there have been some excellent lock operator. One in particular was in charge of the lock on our final approach to Digoin which meant climbing in a lock 3.90 metres. Using ground paddles we rose fairly gently and were able to keep control of the boat. Arriving at Digoin we found just the spot where we wanted to moor, alongside a picnic area that we have used many times when on holiday. We often sat by the canal having lunch and imagining our boat in the water. Well, it has happened and we are here for the next couple of days, our dream come true. We continue to meet lovely people and are currently moored next to a Dutch couple who are heading for home but fully intend to return to France in the near future. It is hard to believe that we have been here for just over a year. There is plenty to see and we hope to continue to make the most of every moment.
