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.