Narrowboat Quaintrelle: Canal du Nivernai: Chitry to Pannecot (Or First French Animal Rescue!)

One of our more unusual moorings with the etang (small lake) on the left and the canal/river on the right. This is the summit of the Canal du Nivernais, Baye.

On the afternoon of Sunday 9^th April, we watched as Ilona and Bernard and Fabienne’s boat moved off at 2pm. I can’t remember, pronounce or spell the name of Bernard’s boat as it was Dutch and I’m not even going to try…… It felt strange watch them go leaving us alone to follow thirty minutes later.

Bye bye - or Au revoir....

A short cruise of an hour took us up four locks to where we would wait at the closure for it to open in the morning. It wasn’t an uneventful hour’s cruise, as while we were coming up the last lock, I noticed something brown moving in the water. I thought it was a rat, but then saw the leg movement and saw it was an exhausted wee frog who had survived the turbulent filling of the lock. I knelt down and held out our navigation book in its waterproof cover and he climbed on. I popped the book on the side while we came up the last few inches, then, tipped him onto the grass to recover as we went on our way. We were no sooner through the gates than I realised I had probably condemned him to death leaving him on a high lockside with no access to water other than jump back in the lock, with no lillypads to rest on. Under the next bridge Mike slowed up and I jumped off, Tupperware in hand, and set off back to the lock, where, 10 minutes on, wee Froggy was still sitting panting. I scooped him into the Tupperware and set off back to catch up with Mike at the mooring, intending to pop Froggy back in the water at a suitable spot. But there were no suitable spots. It was a section of canal in a cutting and although I could get down the steep, grassy sides and leave him on a stone near the water, he’d probably at some point get washed back down to the lock. After about 20 minutes walking, Froggy was starting to jump about in the Tupperware and I reached our mooring. At this point the river was once again running alongside the canal so I headed over and found a drain running off it into a small stream which was full of nice stones and shallow leafy areas and most importantly – no herons! I left him there to get used to his new surroundings and hope that I he hadn’t left a wife and kids back at the lock……

Meanwhile, Mike had moored up, where we had another French first – unable to get into the bank because of a shallow ledge. It was a hot day so there was nothing else to do really but relax and wait for word of Monday’s cruise which would take us up to the summit of the Nivernais.

Lives to hop another day

Man, life is tough.....

Plank being used for access for only about the second or third time in its life.

The next morning there was some humming and hawing from the eclusier as Bernard and another boat were heading off first at 9am, and Ilona had the second position at 9.30/45. But he was happy when we suggested we go with Ilona although we weren’t that keen to lockshare after our first experience with Bernard, but we didn’t want to wait another day and Richard is an experienced skipper and they’re familiar with these locks, so we decided it would be okay.

Eight locks later, we stopped for lunch and waited word of what time we should continue as we were now meeting the traffic that had been stuck at the other side and were coming down the flight of 16 locks that would take us to the summit.

Lunch stop at nice mooring at Sardy

We were told it might be a couple of hours, but once we saw two boats pass us, we should go. They passed just over an hour later and we began our ascent. As we only had one lock keeper with us, it was decided Fiona would stay on land and cycle between locks and do our ropes and help with the gates. Once we were up the lock, we could assist with the top gates while Fiona went on to the next. Some of the locks were really feisty, and all gate paddles so being at the front was somewhat challenging at times, but we managed and about half-way up some more lock keepers appeared allowing Fiona to concentrate on ropes.

Pretty lock keeper's cottage that is now a pottery.

Sculptures along the way

Ilona following us out of the lock, Richard piloting while Fiona cycles on.

Deep concentration in the lock

Feisty!

At the top we were fairly knackered, but decided to keep going with Richard and Fiona to stop at Baye. We would part ways after this and Fiona had been such a great help on the locks that we wanted them to come for a drink with us that evening, even though for us it was a ‘no wine’ night, we decided that we’d all earned it and enjoyed a couple of glasses of pink fizz to celebrate.

After the climb, you cross the summit through a cutting and three tunnels. Here's Ilona entering the cutting, which is one way, so we had to wait for the green light on the other side of this bridge.

The cutting was like the canal that time forgot......

Shorts weather :)

First of the three tunnels and our first in France!

Safely out the other side only to find that giant wasp's back on board..... ;)

Fantastic full moon at Baye

Entrance to the cutting at the other end - see the green light for Go!

Mooring at Baye

We didn’t want to early a start on the Tuesday and wanted to have a look around the summit before setting off, so we told the eclusier we would leave after lunch, at 1pm. I’m afraid we weren’t up in time to wave Richard and Fiona off at 9am…….

The afternoon brought another short hop for us to the tiny village of Mont et Marre, the peace and quiet of which was only disturbed by the birds – fantastic. Although not so fantastic as we couldn’t get an internet signal so were unable to watch anything on BBCiPlayer…. We’re nearly through the Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em box set so I hope we get a signal soon!

Plenty of water behind us as we do our first decents in France - much easier than going up!

Lovely mooring at Mont et Marre

We set off on Wednesday at 9.30 with our destination for the day Chatillon en Bazois, which provided one of the most grand entrances to a town we have ever experienced.

On approaching this lock we realised we would cross a small aqueduct to reach it. The lock keeper at the left is at the lock gate, and the railings on this side of him are the aqueduct crossing the River Aron.

Approaching Chatillon, with the rear of the chateau to the right.

Having come round a U-bend, the front of the chateau is now on our right as we find ourselves in one of the most magnificent settings for a lock!

The chateau being guarded by a couple of narrowboats.

I thought I’d said quite well in French to the eclusier that we would stop here for the night and then set off tomorrow afternoon, but he thought we wanted to set off again that afternoon, but it was quickly rectified and we pulled into the port, surprised to see another narrowboat moored up! We managed to find our second ledge of the trip and couldn’t quite get into the side and after a wander round the town returned to find Quaintrelle on quite a tipple. We’d stopped to chat with the narrowboat owner who was busy getting her ready to set off on their summer cruise, and when he saw us tipped, he came over and said it was deeper and a straighter edge near him. We measured out the space and would just fit between the two boats moored there, so we moved. It also meant we were next to the water point and could have electric if we wanted but we didn’t need it as our solar panels were holding our batteries at full charge. After restocking at the shops and exploring the town a bit, we did a boat wash. We had passed a quarry on the way up the flight on Monday and poor Quaintrelle had a layer of dust over her and was quite beside herself not looking her usual shiny self. I then returned to town to get our rewards from the pattiserie. We have discovered Café Eclairs, which may prove disastrous for my jeans……… We had hoped to visit the chateau, but it wasn’t open yet.

The River Aron runs through Chatillon and most of the way along the canal at this point - very pretty.

The pruned hedges at the war memorial reminded us of the Saint Paul cakes from Maison Roy in Auxerre - *sigh* - how we miss them :(

On Thursday morning we nipped in to the wee market to pick up some fresh veg and get the last bits and bobs required for the next few days. Unfortunately disaster has struck and there is a brown sauce crisis on board. We finished the last of ours last weekend and have been unable to find any anywhere, with Tomato Ketchup offered as the only alternative. Bacon butties are not going to be the same this weekend…….

In the afternoon we set off for Fleury, where many people have mentioned the restaurant at the lock there being worth a visit. Sadly, it does not open until Saturday and our dismay was only compounded by the little visitor centre/café not having any ice cream until Monday! We consoled ourselves with a short cycle up to a view point shown on our map, but it wasn’t much of a viewpoint to be honest, but it was lovely countryside to cycle through.

Pretty lock on the way to Fleury.

The viewpoint.....

The River Aron at Fleury, next to the canal.

Mooring at Fleury.

We have discovered that much of the Nivernais doesn’t open until later in the month, or even later. Despite the large boat shed opposite our mooring and the recycling point next to it, this proved to be one of our most isolated moorings so far and I was quite freaked out by the thickness of the darkness when I closed that shutters later in the evening.

We had an early start this morning, Friday 14^th, and set off at 9am with a ‘pause’ planned at Pannecot for a couple of hours, then carry on to Moulin d’Isenay for the night. It was cooler and overcast when we left, but the day has warmed up and showed us some absolutely beautiful countryside. It’s incredibly quiet with only Quaintrelle’s purr and the birds providing any soundtrack to our cruise. What has been most noticeable about the whole of the Nivernais is the lack of ducks. Anyone who knows Mike will know how devastated he is by this, particularly when we actually see one or two but they are scaredy ducks and fly away from the boat. Yesterday and today, however, we have been treated us to some alternative wildlife.

Today we saw a moorhen, but failed to get a photograph before it darted into the reeds at the side, and this was shortly followed by a small, sleek, brown figure crossing the canal and under the grass at the side. By his swim and size this must have been a water vole or water rat of some sort, I’m not sure what they have in France, but it was a shame we weren’t closer to see him properly.

Pannecot isn’t open yet, not that there is much to open in the small port, which is attached to a Campsite which has a pool and tennis courts that you can use – once they’ve opened in June……….. The little village is very pretty and provided some lovely views from the top of the small hill, but that’s all there is here. So we’ll enjoy the peace and quiet and some lunch before heading off again.