Tuesday 25 April 2017

Canal du Centre: Digoin - St Berain-sur-Dheune (Or, On To Our Third French Canal)


 
I saw three ships come sailing in..... L-R: Catherine Clark, Lazybones, Quaintrelle at St Julien-sur-Dheune

At Digoin, the Canal du Lateral de la Loire changes into the Canal du Centre.  There’s no fanfare, dancing girls, fireworks, not even a simple sign indicating the line of demarcation.  It simply says on the map that the canal is now Canal du Centre and so we set off on our third French canal on Friday 21st.  We have still only completed the one, however, the Nivernais, as we joined the Lateral de la Loire halfway along, so we have the other half to do at some point before we can claim it ‘done!’  On the Canal du Centre the locks are automated, so we were looking forward to not being nanny-ed by the lock keepers, “Where are you going, when will you leave, are you finished for the day, are you continuing…..”.  It’s nice having them do the locks for you, but it takes away a bit of freedom and spontaneity.  However, as we approached the first lock we saw the familiar VNF van and a chap in the blue uniform dotting in and out of the lock cottage.  He helped us with our ropes and pulled the start rope and disappeared back into the cottage.  We rose nice and smoothly being lulled into a false sense of security that all the automated locks would be as smooth…..  At the next lock we were on our own and decided that the chaps at the first lock were actually maintenance and just happened to be there and give us a hand.  We’ve had to deploy a different technique when operating the locks ourselves while going up.  I steer in and drop Mike at the bottom of the ladder and he climbs up taking the front rope with him – we are too small to be able to see the bollards, never mind throw a rope around them!  He then puts the back rope on, pulls the starter rope on the lock, then I reverse back and pick him up at the foot of the ladder so he can man the front rope as we rise.  We were getting into quite the routine when we reached one lock where the ladder and starter rope was right at the front……..  As with the UK it would appear no two locks in France are the same.  At least some of the automated ones have ground sluices so it’s a bit of a smoother ride.  We reached Paray le Monial in time for lunch which we had moored near the Fondue Barge, walked along to the little port, then moved the boat in as there was only one other boat there.  Paray le Monial is a nice town and has an interesting history; being a town populated by both Protestants and Catholics living peacefully together back in the days they didn’t and also for being the place where a vision of Christ appeared.  He obviously doesn’t start til 1 May, cause we never saw him but we enjoyed a visit to the Basilica and a walk around the pretty town.
 
Little feeder canal onto the mainline
Automated lock operation: Pull blue to start the lock operation, red to stop it.  The blue works quite well so far - haven't tried the red.......
The fondue barge.
Big barge coming through Paray le Monial
The lovely Basilica




The port by night.
Following our weekend special breakfast of bacon butties, we set off about 10am on Saturday to find that the road that had accompanied the canal from the outskirts into Paray now continued to follow our route.  There was a small rush hour of half a dozen cars around 12 noon, but it was very quiet other than that and we kind of forgot it was there.  Half-way through the morning a nasty, nasty smell indicated that the black tank had reached the top, even tho’ the light hadn’t come on.  We pulled over to the side in the middle of nowhere, but it was the road side, and did our first ‘wild’ pump-out.  I’m sure the occasional motorist and biker that passed wondered what we were doing……..  It went fairly smoothly with the only nuisance being the lack of a water point to rinse it out, so we bit the bullet and put down a few buckets of canal water.  We’ve been told in the past this can make the tank smell, but it can’t be any worse than it was – watch this space….  As we pulled into the little port at Genelard we were delighted to see another bright and lovely narrowboat moored up, The Puzzler – home to Sally, Andy and their cute wee dog Shannon.  They’ve been onboard for 8 years in total, covering the canals of the UK, Ireland and Europe.  We had a great chat with them, a tour of The Puzzler and then I headed up to the supermarket with Sally for some supplies while Mike listened to York City play badly on the radio.  A cutting was built through Genelard to accommodate the canal and the small town has made the most of this feature.  I really love how French towns and villages will grasp the tiniest thing of significance and make the most of it – they are very proud of their towns and villages’ histories.  The other point of interest in Genelard was the bridge at the lock.  During the war, this was the line of demarcation between occupied France to the north and free France to the south of the bridge.  It’s hard to believe that little places like this in the middle of nowhere were actually occupied, but they had pictures of the german sentry outside the building they took over as their HQ to prove it.  In the evening Sally and Andy came over for a drink and we exchanged stories, experience and picked their brains on boating in France.  The eclusier had been to ask what time we were setting off the next morning and we said 11am, to have time for our bacon butties, and we’d have company with The Puzzler deciding to lock share with us for part of the day’s cruise.
The road is still there... Liz, do you think this is the same group you saw???
Lovely countryside
This is only the second or third ducklings we've seen - normally ten a penny at home they seem quite rare here.
Great old ceramics factory with kiln
The cutting at Genelard telling the story along the cutting

The port at Genelard with NB The Puzzler
The last couple of days had taken us through some stunning countryside, the blue skies and sunshine making it even more beautiful of course.  We were uncertain of where we would moor, in the next town Montceau-les-Mines, or on the outskirts, but the lock keeper didn’t seem happy to leave us undecided and said he’d see us later when we wouldn’t confirm.  He was very smiley – I just couldn’t understand what he was saying.
 
Just like home...... except it's warm!
Waiting for a big barge to clear the lock.
Cute sculpture.
NB The Puzzler leaving the lock.
By our last lock, we had decided we would moor in the port in Montceau itself and the lockie was delighted.  As we pulled away he was on the phone to let the bridge operator know we were on our way – there are three automated bridges to get into the port.

We weren’t sure what to find at Montceau as people seemed to have mixed opinions about it.  The outskirts reminded us of coming into Castleford, or Casvegas as Mike calls it.
French Casvegas
First bridge...
Second bridge adding a bit of variety in case you're getting bored with bridges at this point.....

And the third, a foot bridge, rises up vertically.
As we moored up, some French people chatting on their boats told us that the Capitainerie was in fact closed, so we couldn’t register with them just now, as the building was being used as a polling station.  It was an important day in France and we were keeping a close eye on the news.
The polling station......
Lovely square at Montceau-les-Mines - shame it wasn't market day ;(
This was fine but it meant we couldn’t get the code to get back into the port if we left as the French people had now disappeared.  Thankfully we found another one who gave us the code and we went for a wander.  We even got into the polling station!!  But were too scared to take a photo.  As well as being the Capitainerie and the local polling station, the little building is also the Tourist Information Office and one lady who had just cast her vote insisted we go in to get what maps, brochures etc we needed.  We both would have loved to be fluent in French at this point as the people going in and out to vote were very animated and excited and it would have been great to speak with them.  We did manage to ask one man who will win and he laughed loudly and said we’d know this evening.

When the results came out later that day, we weren’t altogether surprised but we were glued to the BBC News channel til quite late on to get the gossip.

As law-abiding EU citizens (for the time-being), Mike went up to the Capitianerie first thing on Monday and paid our 3euros45 for the mooring – much cheapness, but we hadn’t used electric or water so fair do’s.

We cruised about 1km and did 1 lock then stopped at the mooring outside a Leclerc supermarket to stock up.  (Don’t worry, we told the lock keeper we were taking a ‘pause’ before heading onto St Julien-sur-Dheune for the night).  It was a huge, lovely, new Leclerc with a great little proper wine cave inside.  It had everything the world could want - except brown sauce, and an electric hand pump to replace the one that had melted when it was tidily squirrelled away next to the hot exhaust pipe…….  We were able to take the trolley back to the boat so we loaded up with fizzy water, milk and, of course, wine.

Monday was the day we crossed the summit of the Canal du Centre and the scenery was just fantastic.  Not stunning in anyway but just really, pretty countryside and we had a lovely long cruise to St Julien which brought us down the lovely flight off the summit with rolling, green countryside as far as the eye could see.

On the way up the summit, the west side, the locks are numbered and named Ocean, so 1 Ocean, 2 Ocean etc.  Once you are over the summit the numbering starts again but the name is Med, so 1 Med, 2 Med.  This was because the canal was to link the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.
Cute old fire engine in an old boatyard.
Bet they went down cos they couldn't afford the window-cleaning bill.....
Top of the flight - it's all downhill from here....... And Liz, no it isn't as good as yours :)

Floating bollards for this deep lock - just over 5metres.

The port at St Julien-sur-Dheune
Lazybones' pet tortoise enjoying the sun.
In St Julien we caught up with the barge Catherine Clarke who we’d briefly seen in Digoin and WB Lazybones, who we had met and chatted with in Auxerre in March 2016.  We had a look round the pretty little village and then had dinner outside as it was a lovely evening, only hampered by a poor internet signal.

Just a short hop today, of 8 locks and 9KM to St Berain-sur-Dheune, where we finally got moored up at 1pm.  There were moorings shown on our guide above and below the lock and we had opted for below, and having passed through the little village (and nice moorings) to go down the lock, were looking forward to seeing it on foot.  Below the lock the moorings proved to be collapsed and overgrown with small trees making it impossible to get anywhere near the one bollard we could see, so we turned around to go back up the lock to the nice ones we’d seen above.  This is where we don’t understand the automated locks but perhaps explains why you still get nanny-ed along by the lock keepers.  After we’d come down, the gates had closed and the lock reset itself for the next boat coming down.  We thought if we went towards it from below, it would sense us and make the lock ready for us to go back up.  It didn’t.  We sat a while waiting but nothing happened and the boat behind us above the lock had gone into the little bar for lunch and would likely be some time before coming down.  So we backed up, turned again and decided St Berain-sur-Dheune would have to wait for another time.  Then half a km on, round the bend, was a mooring; a big, high wall with bollards on it, with a slightly lower wall next to it and a bollard on the ground before it.  We pulled in there, so are sat looking at some long grass and brickwork for the evening.  We had some lunch and walked up to see the village and got back to the boat just before the rain settled in for day.  With it being so wet the other boats appear to have been racing to their next stop and have passed us at high speed leaving wakes for us to rock in for the next 20 minutes.  Mike has gone out and put a spring on to steady us, I’ve gone out to get some logs from the gas locker for the stove.  It looks like Britain outside.
Just to add more confusion, the locks were renumbered at some point..........this IS lock 15 Med.
St Berain-sur-Dheune
Is this not the cutest cludgie you've ever seen??!!

Rain rain go away.......ah well.... on a positive note, we're not on a river....


Thursday 20 April 2017

Canal du Nivernais: Pannecot - Digoin (Or, Our First French Canal Completed!)

Look who we found at Decize!!!
While strolling around though Pannecot there was a road sign for Nevers, 49km and I remarked to Mike that it was funny we were less than an hour’s drive from seeing Chris and Liz, who had gone in the opposite direction from us on leaving Auxerre and headed down the Loing, Briare and onto the Lateral de la Loire, where they had now stopped at Nevers.  Well, guess who we met in Decize!!!  But we’re not there yet……

We left sleepy Pannecot and cruised for a couple of hours to our mooring for the night at Moulin d’Isenay, where the sun was shining and we decided to put the bikes together and go for a ride to the nearby town of Vandenesse.  It was a lovely route through the countryside, and the town was pretty, but like everywhere else – closed!  Which was a bit disastrous for our bacon butties the following morning as we’d run out of butter…. I’d have to do pancakes instead……..  We then headed up to the small hameau of Isenay from where there is a lovely view for miles across the countryside, dotted everywhere with the beautiful (and tasty!) Charolais cows.
Enjoying the last t-shirt day for a while :(
Unusual mooring for us on a short pontoon.

Cows next door.

Lovely views from Isenay


Curious cows

Lovely stone barn with all the farmers awards from his cows displayed to the left of the door.

Cute church at Isenay
The next day we changed our plans slightly and instead of stopping for the night on the outskirts of Decize at Champvert, we headed straight to Decize where a reunion was awaiting.  We spent a nice lunch hour at Cercy-la-Tours, where thankfully we bought some butter in the local butcher and some bread and easter supplies from the bakery.
 
All the towns have these displays for the upcoming election and the posters are in exactly the same order in every town.
Notre Dame du Nivernais getting her feet tickled
View from the statue of Our Dame of Nivernais


Leaving Cercy through a gard lock, onto a very straight bit.....

.....which meant we could keep our eye on the clock which was about to turn over to 2000 hours :)

Then it was onwards to Decize.  The day was overcast and the shorts had been put away as a cool wind was playing around and making it feel like the UK!  In Decize we reached the last of the locks on the Canal du Nivernais, meaning we had completed our first French canal, before a brief jolly on the River Loire took us into the port and our mooring for the next wo nights.  Heading towards an available space on a pontoon, Mike spotted a familiar vessel and we pulled in next to De Halve Maen.  With it being the Easter weekend, we weren’t sure what hours the shops would be open, so after checking in with the Capitaine we headed straight to the Inter Marche supermarket next to the marina.  Chris and Liz had had similar thoughts and we bumped into them after about 10 minutes.  Despite making arrangements for drinks later on, we still stood in the aisle blethering for about 20 minutes!

On Easter Sunday we had a lie-in then topped up our diesel.  At the port-side it was 1E48 a litre but the Intermarche was only 1E24, so we wheeled our cans over, filled them, brought them back, filled the tank, then refilled the empty cans.  We then had a wander around the town, which is only really pretty because it has three waterways going through it; the Loire River, the Canal du Nivernais and the River Aron.  Otherwise, it was pretty average and of course, as it was Sunday, everything was shut.
The last lock on the Canal du Nivernais, appropriately named Ecluse de Loire, which is the river the lock takes you on to.

Bye bye Nivernais - It's been a blast!

The automated lock taking us up to the port in Decize.  Once you're roped on to the rising bollards, you shuffle along the gunwhale to the blue tube (on the right at the life ring) and push it upwards to close the gates behind you and start the lock working.

Quaintrelle tucked in at the port next to De Halve Maen.

Decize clock tower

Medieval gate to the city.
At 6pm we headed next door to Liz and Chris for cocktails and Easter Dinner – yum!!!!  Liz does the most amazing aperitifs when we go to theirs and really puts my cheese cubes and crisps to shame………  We had a great evening with them, good food, wine and company and of course, got some cuddles from the cats – even Hugo was feeling brave enough to come and say hello……..eventually……..
 
Cosette enjoying some cuddles - she's such a lush!
The ever-elusive Hugo captured by camera :)
We were all leaving on Monday morning and as Chris and Liz’s plans timewise had changed slightly (due to one of the ports they wanted to stay at not opening until 1 May!), we decided to travel together for the next few days as we’d be on the same route, only we’d planned to do it more slowly than them as they’ve done it before.  Another automated lock took us up on to new territory, a new canal; The Lateral de la Loire.

We enjoy cruising with another boat and this has been no exception.  Our lunchtime stop was spent on board De Halve Maen, with a pot luck lunch, us donating some veg curry left over from the previous night.  After lunch it was just a short cruise to Vanneaux where we spent the night.  Conveniently, the little bar/bistro on the port was open, so at 6pm we went for a pichet of wine before dinner.  Mike had made us a beouf bourgignon and there was enough to last us several days, and rather than get bored by it, Chris and Liz joined us for dinner – and very, very delicious it was too!!
Exiting the port taking us up on to the Lateral de la Loire Canal
Out of the lock and on to the Lateral.  The grey arm you can see above us has a rope hanging off it and you pull it as you go past to start the automated lock setting for you.

Pretty wide for a canal!

Liz got off and walked a while which meant we got a rare picture of us moving with both of us on board!

De Halve Maen and Quaintrelle in convoy
Mooring at Vanneaux

At Vanneaux we saw time-limited moorings for the first time.
The next morning a cold wind had arrived – really cold and we all had hats, gloves and coats on as we pulled away just after 9am.  Thankfully we were only cruising for a few hours to the village of Garnat-sur-Engievre as it was really cold, and as per the previous day, shared lunch sitting on the back of De Halve Maen.  Chris and Liz settled down on board for the afternoon as they’ve stopped here before, but Mike and I headed off to look at the small village and visit the supermarket, that was a cross between Asda and Woolworths.  Food was in one half and the other half was devoted to all these things you didn’t realise you need until you see them.  We managed to find foam paint rollers and little clear sticky dots that we’ve only managed to find online before, so it was a successful visit.
Some friendly lock dogs

This style of bridge seems to be a trademark of the Lateral de la Loire canal

Nice view from our pontoon mooring at Garnat

Not a lot happening in town though.....
 On Wednesday the cold wind was accompanying us again as we cruised to Pierrefitte-sur-Loire and the lock-keepers clearly weren’t happy with the weather either as we had the grumpiest bunch, one of which didn’t even return my ever-jolly “Bonjour!!”  He retaliated by opening up the paddles full-whack before Mike was back on board from securing the ropes, and De Halve Maen went shooting across the front of the lock and bashed a flower pot against the side, causing a small break.  We stopped for lunch at Diou where both parties were now scraping the bottom of the barrel for food; Chris and Liz had soup and Mike and I consoled ourselves against the cold with a sausage sarnie and a brew.  As it would be our last night together and we were both low on food, we decided that we would have dinner at the restaurant at the port that evening.  When we moored up we went for a wander round the little village, which was really pretty and lots of people were out mowing grass, strimming, washing fences.  We popped into the local shop which was attached to the little bar and picked up some local cheese and wine.  I hadn’t planned on the wine but the rest headed into the bar and I was left with the shop-keeper/barman, who brought a bottle of red over to me and told me its name enthusiastically as if I’d be mad not to buy it.  So I bought it.  It was 5euros and it was the same wine we were served in the bar which was fine so I didn’t mind.
Another bridge
The first industrial scene we've had since setting off.
Crossing an aqueduct or 'Pont du Canal' as they call them here.
This is grumpy lockie in the blue that broke the flower box.... grrrrr.......
The restaurant with the gas problem, painted to look like a Peniche.

Pretty view of Pierrefitte-sur-Loire
Mike sitting on the truth seat - which he found a bit uncomfortable - boom boom!!
These have been set up along the canal here as wee memorials to people who have passed away.
Unusual to see the Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite on a church - it's usually on the town hall.

On the way back from the village Liz popped into the restaurant to ask what time they started serving food in the evening.  We were told 7.15pm, so arranged for Chris and Liz to come for a quick drink at 7pm and we’d head for food after that.  All went smoothly until we got to the restaurant door at 7.40pm.  It was locked.  We could see the tv on in the restaurant and Liz peered through the window and could see someone watching it, but although the dog started barking at us, no one appeared at the door.  Liz then knocked on the window and the lady she’d spoken to earlier came to the door.  There was now no food being served, a problem with the gas.  Apparently……  Mike was all for assisting (him being a gas engineer by trade), but the rest of us were less keen for him to get involved and we headed back to the boats to consider Plan B.  There was another restaurant just over a kilometre away but when we phoned to check its gas was working, we discovered it wasn’t open until 1 May.

Liz and Chris had some green beans and a pork chop, and we had half a chorizo, a sausage, and some pasta so we conjured up a pork and bean starter and some pasta with tomato, chorizo and sausage.  Given the lack of ingredients and impromptu circumstances, after a couple of glasses of wine we all agreed the meal had been fine and possibly better than we might have been served had the restaurant been open.

If possible, Thursday morning was even colder than the last two days and I actually got my down jacket out of its summer hibernation  - there was frost on the back pontoons of the boat!!  We put the fire on not long after setting off and we were glad of it as the wind was freezing and relentless.  We only had a couple of locks to do today, but the last one going into Digoin was the busiest we’ve seen.
 
Waiting for a boat coming down.....
......while these guys were waiting on us coming up....
Don't think there's a car small enough to do this on Quaintrelle!
The entrance by boat into Digoin is fantastic as you cross a sizeable aqueduct over a very pretty section of the River Loire.  The town itself is fairly average but we moored up at the tidy Port de Plaisance, where Mike and I would spend the night and Chris and Liz would head off thus parting ways again.  After lunch, a delicious soup made by Liz and eaten on Quaintrelle, we bid Au Revior and Mike and I headed to the big Leclerc for a much needed stock up of supplies.  We took a cycle down the towpath where there was an ‘ecluse ancienne’ marked on the guide, but it was so ‘ancienne’ there was nothing left of it and we could only guess that the deep, grass covered cut to the side of the canal must have been it.
 
Crossing the Loire
Looking back.
On our return to the boat, we paid our mooring dues to the Capitaine and have settled down for the night.  It feels very quiet without De Halve Maen and her crew……..

So to cheer me up, here's the five stages of a 'Jump!' shot:
1. Throw yourself into it.....

2. The high peak

3. Descent begins.

4. Bending knees on landing

5. Look pleased with yourself cos you executed the jump without breaking anything.