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| Bar sign at Pierrefitte |
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| Mooring with irises at Pierregitte |
Breaking with tradition, and as mentioned before, slightly unenamoured with Diguin we decided to forego our day of rest and press on to our next destination, Pierrefitte.
The change in the whole atmosphere of the canal was absolute as we crossed the canal bridge over the River Loire and entered the Canal Lateral a la Loire - the canal that runs alongside the Loire. First, the canal is much wider, much straighter and has many fewer locks, allowing much faster progress than we made on the Canal du Centre. In fact we covered the 17 kms and 3 locks in just about 3 1/2 hours (although to be fair we pressed pedal to metal to reach the last lock before its keeper took his midday lunch break. Second, the whole style of landscape seems to be different, somehow larger and grander although still very pretty. Third, and of great significance, was the almost total absence of Henry the Heron (or his many cousins) who were our constant guides and companions on the Centre.
We had thought about stopping at Coulanges on the way, to await the Tuesday opening of the restaurant there, but we were making such good progress that it seemed a shame to give up so early in the day and we pressed on to Pierrefitte.
Here we found a delightful country mooring with irises and asign that said "Bar'. Good enough for us, so we tied up and went to have a beer.
May 10th
My late brother Mike's birthday. perhaps only Dini and I now remember the date.
What is it about this tiny, sleepy and isolated vilage that makes it so attractive to us, when we found Digoin to be so uninteresting. We have no idea, except that we feel very comfortable here with nothing to entertain us but the Bistro/Grocery/ General store which provided us with much needed cold beer on both days that we were here, as well as bread (delivered to the store at 7.30am) and a few meagre groceries. One of the remarkable things is that the village is full of large houses - some of which appear in the pictures below. Why did people with money decide to settle and to build here? Why were there so many of the (clearly small) local population killed in the First World War and why so comparatively few in the Second?
We could easily spend a week or a month here and perhaps we will in the future - but we have guests to meet 'down the line' and other exciting prospects ahead, so we will move on with happy memories.
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| One of the two Chateaux at Pierrefitte |
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| Church at Perrefitte |
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| Village pride - Pierrefitte |
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| Noisy and nosy! |
May 11th
It is written in one of the canal guides that travellers on the Canal Lateral may find it somewhat boring. If, by that, they mean less eventful, with easier corners, wider bridges and fewer locks, then I will agree with the sentiment. However the countryside is still beautiful and , with less pressure on steering, there is more time for the navigator to enjoy the views and watch the bird life. Mind you, just a few seconds lack of concentration is quite enough to send JC diving at one bank or the other. The journey to Beaulon was gentle and relatively uneventful and we made our mooring there in under 5 hours. Beaulon had been described to us a s a pretty village by the owner of the shop in Pierrefitte, but I think he was simply being modest about his own. We found Beaulon to be quite dull by comparison.
May 12th
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| From our mooring at Beaulon |
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| JC moored at Beaulon |
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| Stripping paint (and rust!) |
May 13th
Was indeed Friday 13th, a fact that escaped our minds entirely and therefore had no effect at all on our fortunes. By recommendation from Andy we had booked ahead to the marina at Gannay which is owned and run by two Englishmen. We found a mini English community there, and to a great degree the friendliness of the other marina guests offset the seeming total indifference shown by the owners. Though I say it myself we KNOW how a marina should be run and how important it is to greet guests properly and to make them feel at home. Not only did we have to find our own spot (there was only one free), but no member of management was on hand to say hello or to catch lines - even though we had seen them outside their office as we slipped gently past. Fortunately our next door neigbours, Graham and Shirly from Rottingdean in Sussex came to our aid and we made a neat landing. We lunched, at their recommendation, at the little cafe beside the marina, and although it was good - we had a beer each, two 50cls of wine and the pasta bolognese, we found it expensive at 35 euros.
Graham and Shirley came aboard for evening drinks and we learned a lot from them and got an offer of a car ride into town for groceries and a visit to the bricolage (hardware store).
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| The peaceful Canal lateral a la Loire |
'May 14th
One of my morning pleasures, as I may have written before, is to seek out the local bakery and buy a baguette of bread - plus, most days, a suitable piece of patisserie for dessert. Along the Canal Lateral the villages seem to be a little further away, necessitating a bike ride rather that just a walk. I finfd that I enjoy these morning rides greatly, and they certainly give me good exercise - although, of late - the mornings have been quite chilly and I have had to revert to my heavy windcheater. Gannay was one such village, needing a bike ride of some 10 minutes in each direction - just about enough for an old man.
Our promised ride to town (although which town it was I never discovered) duly took place and we managed to keep Graham and Shirley busy most of the morning and filling their car with our supplies of groceries, drinks, sandpaper, paint and curtain rods. In return we provided dinner for them - roast rolled shoulder of lamb which took far longer to cook than anticipated and was therefore extremely underdone, but luckily also very tender; accompanied by Skye Gingell's recipe for baked aubergine (egg plant to you Americans) with tomatoes and creme fraiche - delicious enough to cause Shirley to ask for the recipe.
May 15th
As we were somewhat hemmed in at our mooring we were very grateful to Graham for giving us a good push off and out into the canal. This operation went so well that we anticipated the arrival of the lock keeper which meant we had aslightly late start as he did not appear until 9.15 with the consequence that we were one lock short of our destination of Decize when the system closed down for lunch. Nothing deterred we parked ourselves inside the last lock, had some lunch there, and were ready and willing to go as soon as the eclusier appeared. Even with that unscheduled stop we made it to a very nice country mooring just outside Decize in 4 1/4 hours. That gave me time to put on the fourth coat of varnish, for us both to take (quite a long) walk into town and for me to catch up on writing this blog, which I have been unable to do for the past few days due to lack of 'Orange' signal. We thought that we might have to invest in another provider's system but all is well here and Orange is performing perfectly.
"May 16th - 17th
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| The island town of Decize on the Loire |
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| Haircut time Decize |
We visited the town again today, where we bought a delicious looking dessert for Peter and Jan who are coming to stay tomorrow night, and where Charlyn had her hair cut - extremely well, I thought. Much progress was made with the work; the varnish on the aft deck is now finished and the first coat of cream paint is on and looks great.
May 18th
A gentle cruise to Fleury sur Loire. Just 12k and 2 locks, but it was too far to make the hop to Nevers and in any case we had arranged to meet Peter and Jan (and of course Jack the Schnauzer) who had agreed to bring us our Sky box and to stay the night. We arrived safely at Fleury at about 11.30 am and Peter plus team duly arrived at about 1.30 pm. It was so good to see them and to catch up on all the gossip from St Symphorien. We went to have lunch at the little snack bar by the mooring - more as a gesture od goodwill to the young couple who have taken the lease for the season, than for the quality of the food, which wasn't great. A lazy afternoon followed by supper on JC and bed far too late. As I had forgotten to ask Peter to bring his compass etc we were unable to make the TV work. I will find a man in Nevers - I hope!
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| Church at Fleury sur Loire |
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| Portrait of Jack |
May 19th
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| Peter and Jan |
Peter very kindly bought the daily supply of bread from our local boulangerie ( which only opens in the morning and stocks just bread and croissants) and we had a leisurely breakfast in the wheelhouse. With one hiccup (Jan had left her jacket behind, and they had to come back for it) they left in good time and I was able to complete the painting of the cream gloss on the aft deck. Next (in Nevers) will come the blue trim and after that we should be looking good - so long as nobody leaves the aft deck. A party of Americans on a hire boat stopped at our mooring, but at the time of writing we have not yet done more than say hello. Thank goodness the internet signal is back up to strength and I was able to catch up with the marina accounts this morning.
May 20th
Well, here we are in the port at Nevers, where we will stay until Marcia joins us on Tuesday next. However we had a number of adventures on the way, as a result of which we are both exhausted! The morning started just fine, with a walk to the baker, breakfast and then departure on time at 9.00 am
A lovely journey along the canal, with just one or two narrow bridges to keep us awake. Unfortunately Charlyn had a bad day with the lines and we had to cut ourselves loose in one of the locks. These things happen and there is no point in getting upset about it - just relax, work it out and get it right next time.
However that was the least of our worries. we arrived at the turnoff to Nevers and found that we had to pull a magic cord on the wronge side of the canal to get the lock to open. That was fine, but we then found ourselves in a position from which it was (thankfully almost) impossible to extricate ourselves. With a lot of bumping and boring and scraping of paintwork we finally managed to squeeze in to the lock and proceeded on our way to the port.
After exiting the second lock I called the port captain who assured me ' Pas de probleme M'sieur' A wishful thought. It seemed that we had to manoeuvre into a very tight space behind a number of other boats and barges. With the help of the port captain and a friendly Englishman, Satch, we maanaged to thread the needle and tie up safely. Heaven only knows how we will get out again!!??
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| Nevers from the bridge over the Loire |
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| JC in port at Nevers |
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| Fiat Panda, ours for the day |
May 21 - May 25
In port at Nevers. Nevers is an interesting old town with a very fine cathedral surrounded by a historic centre which surprisingly is totally devoid of shops. What is more, the city centre is perched on the top of a very steep hill, which makes my bicycling legs hurt! We heard that there was a market on Saturday 20th, so both Charlyn and I set off, first to go to the station to check on Marcia's train times, and secondly to go to the market. Charlyn was very wobbly on her bike, and as soon as we came accross some car traffic she decided that she had had enough and went back to the barge. This was sad as the market was spectacular, second only to our favourite at Beaune. I made a couple of complete circuits before I got out the wallet and came back home completely overloaded with stuff sticking out of the top of my backpack and the bicycle basket full to overflowing, so much so that I lost a tomato on the way home.
That evening we had visitors for drinks - Satch and Alison who we had met at Decize and John and Angela from a small motor boat that they had kept on the Med for several years. John and Angela stayed for a quick supper (ready made hamburgers from the market - and very tasty too) and we got to bed much too late. We will see them again at the Arsenal in Paris, if not before.
Sunday morning we decided to move JC to a better mooring. Luckily we had help from both Satch (an ex Harbour pilot who knew exactly what to do and John. After freeing ourselves from the mud we managed the manoeuvre slowly, carefully and without bumping into anyone. The rest of the morning was spent painting the blue trim on the aft deck - apart from an interuption by John who came over and made out TV work. Guess who is delighted?
At the end of the morning we spotted that the restaurant accross the port was very crowded (therefore popular) so we cleaned up and went over for a very welcome Sunday lunch.Not spectacular but pleasant enough.
Monday started the day full of concerns and indecisions. The eruption of another volcano in Iceland may well put Marcia's plans to come on Tuesday in jeopardy. She is due to fly from Minneapolis to Paris via Reykavik on Icelandair. We simply have to wait and see. Meantime we will continue our plan to rent a car today and stock up the larder - and in particular the wine cellar which is suffering.
Our tiny rental car proved to be almost too small for our major, but very successful, shopping trips. 36 bottles of wine plus water (2 sorts), beer, paper towels and loo rolls - not to mention food and 4 jerry jugs for diesel had us bursting at the seams! But we did well, including painting supplies from a very good bricolage.
Good news in the evening. It seems that Marcia has switched to Delta and will in fact be with us in time for lunch on Tuesday.
Well, it was a late lunch, but nevertheless she arrived, and we were very pleased to see her. At least the delay gave me time to finish the first coat of blue on the aft deck. Salade Nicoise for lunch and Coq au vin for supper to celebrate.
May 25th
Marcia and I had an early morning bike ride to Nevers town centre to show her the cathedral and surrouds. Picked up bread on the way back.
No trouble either leaving the dock or in negoyiating the two locks which had given us so much problem on the way in. Just a short trip to Le Guetin accomplished in a couple of hours, the object being to have supper at the Auberge du Pont-Canal. Yet another beautiful warm day and an interesting days journey even if short. We crossed the Pont Canal over the Loire and immediately entered the double lock which took us down to the mooring at Le Guetin. A great introduction to barging for Marcia. the mooring was very pretty and just a short walk to the restauranr where we did indeed eat very well as Marcia's guests. Thank you very much,M.
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| Action shot - get that bollard!!! |
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| L'Augerge du Pont Canal |
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| Supper at L'Auberge du Pont-Canal |
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| Le Pont Canal at Le Guetin |
May 26th
It seems that our amazing weather may have left us for the time being, and we actually had a few drops of rain on our way along to our next stop (another short day) to Cour les Barres. Here we found a really pretty mooring which looked to be well occupied. However we managed to squeeze in and tie up with the aid of one bollard and a stke to hold the stern. pretty village with yet another good looking restaurant (which we patronised only for a morning glass of beer/wine.
We met Peter and Marie-Michele here on their brand new 20 metre luxemotor, the Phoenician. Very expensive and beautifully finished. Wouls we swap? Not a chance, but it was good to able to show Marcia another barge so that she could appreciate the differences.
Peter and Marie came for drinks and stayed for roast lamb supper and we were able to pick their brain
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| The mooring at Cour les Barres |
about the conditions towards Paris.
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| No idea where this is - but the pink champagne is good |
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| Marcia picked these - aren't they gorgeous |
May 27th
TYhis was meant to be just a gentle day to Argenvieres where we expected to pick up a nice quiet country mooring. It proved to be way different. Not only did it rain most of the morning, but when we arrived at the mooring we found only one bollard at the wrong end of the cut and therefore useless. So we put Marcia on the bank and attempted to stake the bow and float the stern in. JC did not want to co-operate at all and in any case the canal was too narrow for easy manoevering. After a lot of backing and forwarding, swearing and shouting, we finally managed to get her near enough to the bank to get the passerel down and to tie here to a couple of trees some 50 feet away. Not a fun exercise and a mooring to be avoided at all costs in the future. The really infuriating thing, as wefound the following morning, was that there was a perfectly good, easy mooring only some 2 kms further on. We will know better next time. However the day ended on a good note with the 25th watching of 'A Good Year', which Marcia had not seen before, and ham hocks in apricot sauce before staggering off to bed.
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| The terrible mooring at Argenvieres |
May 28th
Another fairly short day, starting in bright sunlight but chilly conditions. We got away from our horrible mooring without trouble and continued north. Early in the morning, when attempting to do my morning internet work, I discovered that we had used up all our credit on the Orange dongle. So we made an unscheduled stop at Herry where we bought more minutes, some creme fraiche for the aubergine dish that I had promised to make, and some eggs. Tis put us a little behind the clock so we had our omelette lunch sittin g in a lock waiting for the system to come alive again after the traditional 12- 1 lunch break for the eclusiers. In fact we had to gobble down the last few mouthfuls as the lock keeper arrived early. After that it was just a short run to our scheduled stop at Chambalay where, somewhat confusingly, the excellent mooring was just after the bridge, rather than just before it as shown on the chart.
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| Pretty garden at Herry |
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| The mooring at Champalay (Pouilly sur Loire) |
May 29th
Amazingly Marcia's last day with us - but a memorable one. We set out from Chambalay in good time at 8.45 am with Marcia biking along the towpath. Only 9kms and a couple of locks, so we arrived at Menetreol sous Sancerre really early. What a pretty little village with the moooring hard along the village street and a bakery just a few steps away. getting moored was tight with not much space to play with, but aided by a couple of locals we made a satisfactory job of it. Lunch on board and then at 4.00pm a taxi ride up to Sancerre for exploration and supper. Sancerre is a marvellous naturally fortified place, being built built on the top of a very steep hill. It has a pretty violent history, particualarly during the time of the prtestant(Huguenots) uprisings. Nowadays of course it is famous for its wines. We spent acouple of hours walking around the town and then sat and watched the world go by. Supper at the Pomme d'Or (which didn't open its doors until 7.30 pm) was delicious and a great way to rounfd off Marcia's all too short visit
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| Lunch at Menetreol sous Sancerre |
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| First view of Sancerre from the canal |
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| In Sancerre |
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| Sancerre in all sizes |
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| Sancerre |
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| Market square, Sancerre |
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| La Pomme d'Or |
Up early to see Marcia on her way to Switzerland. We heard from her later that she had arrived safely. BIG PROBLEM with main generator - won't start. Tried to get local help but although everybody in the local bar was very cooperative had no success - I'm sure mostly because it was Monday. However eventually got hold of Steve who told me how to make spare genny work, so at least we did not run out of electricity. Arrange for him to visit us Thursday and see what's up. Also to attend to non working boiler. Rest of the day was spent finishing up the painting of the aft deck, looks good and I'm glad it's done as we will be travelling a lot over the next few days and there won't be much time for that sort of work.
May 31st
Our 13th Wedding Anniversary. We left Menetreol early, full of electricity from the spare generator, at 7.45 am as we had a good long run to the first lock. That worked out fine, but the weather did not. It was cold and rainy for most of the day. Arriving at Sury we found a friendly Dutchman, Bob, who had previously met Jim and Judi somewhere on the circuit. Following his advice we went to the local cafe/bistro to order bread for the following morning and while there had what I though was a veryt good lunch for only 9.50 euros each, plas 2 glasses of wine each at the amazing price of 1.00 euros per glass. However, something struck back at me in the night, and I ended up with a very sore tummy. However, before all that, Bob came round to help us celebrate our anniversary with abottle of our favourite Cremant de Bourgogne. I should mention that this was yet another very pretty mooring,much enlivened by an enormous group of green frogs who lived in the ditch next door and sang very lustily!
June 1st
So whatever happened to April and May? Again a prompt start as we need to skip one potential mooring in order to meet with Steve on June 2nd. About 20 Kms, but only a couple of locks, so the whole thing was done in under 4 hours. We reached Chatillon at about 12.30 pm only to find that the best mooring had 'Reserved for Hotel Boat' written all over it. We managed to sqeeze in just beyond their space - but nevertheless found a huge bow prctically hanging over our rudder when we looked up later in the afternoon. The state of my tummy did not encourage great eating - but I managed the panacea of chicken soup at lunch time, followed by a stroll into town later. Not one of the prettiest of our travels, but it contained the much needed bank as our liquid resouces were down to only 30 euros.
June 2nd
Market day in Chatillon, but before that of course the obligatory visit to the local baker. This time I came back with a baguette all in squirls - it tasted good too. The market was excellent, not very big, but had everything that we needed, and what was not there (milk and bleach) was in stock at the local small supermarket. I was particularly delighted with the milk, as the habit of using fresh milk, either to drink, or in coffee (they don't drink tea the English way, is not universal - so it is always a thrill to find it.
A little bit more work on the painting, which I finished just in time to welcome Steve - and as an added bonus Joanne as well. Steve's work went really well. He discovered a loose wire on the generator which corrected the problem immediately. We also noted that we needed to change the oil soon and to replace the cooling water impeller (which he will buy for us). Shore power was restored and everything else checked over. That left us plenty of time for lunch and a glass or two, so the day was not only productive, but also great fun.
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