WED
Friday 6th June
Went through the lock into Cercy la Tour and moored up onto pontoon. Walked with Richard and Jan to the station 1/2 hour walk away. They have a change of trains and a bus ride to return to the van then will drive overnight to Le Hevre to catch their ferry
Started to rain again and we found out the Loire was closed due to the height and speed of the river to boats. Hopefully will re - open on Monday meanwhile we are stuck. Dave was still having trouble with an infection on his leg so a visit to the GP was required. Doctor very good but cross we didn't make an appointment ( how?) but saw us after a long wait. 250 euros later we returned to the boat!! Antibiotics for ten days and self administered jabs in case of thrombosis for 5 days. hope it works, means we are on field rations for a week as that was our weeks money used up.
Saturday 7th June
Still raining Loire opening now possibly Wednesday. Cercy is a nice town but very small and took a whole hour to see round it. Both Dave and I are getting stir crazy and are seriously thinking of moving onto Dicize tomorrow.
Sunday 8th June.
Stopped raining so a quick sort out and we got to Dicize by 11 am
It just goes to show what a bit of sun can do , it was a lovely journey down and we were shown a mooring rafted up to a unused barge. Dicize also has water and electricity with a donation suggested by the VNF water authority. It looks now as if we will be here until Friday but at least Dicize is a bigger town and what with the rail station almost on our doorstep we can go sightseeing if we want to.
Monday 9th June
Getting used to this stationary life, lots of housekeeping while Dave caught up on his work hours. Met several neighbours in the same boat ( excuse the pun!) Major disaster as I have lost the sapphire out of my engagement ring, very upset, must be on the boat somewhere I hope.
Tapas 10th June
Went into the town centre, thought we would take the bus, waited but no bus or buses anywhere so walked . Needed to reclaim our medical expenses at the local hospital administration office and find internet access. The hospital paperwork was done very efficiently in 10 minutes but we will have to wait for two months to see any of it as it takes that long to process it! Internet was done in two hours due to Dave's work cost 10 euros. When we went into the tourist office we then found out we could tap into their WiFi for free , Oh well. The laundrette is miles away so will have to hand wash tomorrow and save the sheets etc. until a closer laundrette becomes available
Wednesday 11th June
Washing day!! some very kind French neighbours who live next to the river came over and let me use their washing line which was kind of them. Still no rain so maybe Friday we can escape
Thursday - Friday 12th - 13th June
Still waiting, attempted to take the train to Never which is the capital of the region only to find they were on strike! Seems to be a national passtime in France, since we have arrived I think we have noticed or been affected by at least 4 of them so it was back to Rosa. We have been invited to have tea with the elderly french couple who lent me their washing line, very nice of them but I must admit I am dreading it. Will sit there like a spare part. We appear to have a water leak so have resorted to using water from our large water containers, not the best solution. Hopefully Dave will be able to figure out where the leak is at the weekend
Saturday 14th June
Decided to escape to Never today and THE TRAINS WERE RUNNING. Never is a large town with several churches and a cathedral. It also has the preserved remains of Saint Bernadette.
We treated ourselves and had a nice lunch in town saw a couple of churches including a rather run down but fascinating 16th Century Jesuit church with lots of wall frescoes. Found out the train back was a bus a good hours journey unstead of 35 mins stopping at all points on the way
Dave bless him was worried that we would be carried into Decize town centre and had arranged to be dropped off near the boats not realising we would be dropped at the station so ended up walking miles back to Rosa!
Sunday 15th June
Had tea with Madame and Monsieur Clanard? Madame seemed to appreciate my offering of Little cakes acquired in Nevers yesterday so that was good. Had a good time even though my contribution to the conversation was minimal!
Monday 16th June
A knock on the side of the boat at 8.45, the Loire was open at long last. you should have seen two people move as Dave was terrified that they would close it again!
We were on the canal ready to go at 9 am. When we arrived at the lock leading onto the river the lockeeper denied any knowledge that the situation had changed so after a quick phone call to head office we were eventually let through We had quite a reception committee seeing us through the first lock. Dave had some difficulty manuvering into the lock leading from the Loire into the canal Lateral as there were some nasty currents round the lock gates but on his second approach managed to slide in. Yet another different way to operate the locks using rope to announce our arrival after which the lock was automatic.
We managed to cover some considerable ground as there are very few locks on this canal and did 41 Km upto Putney where we moored up for the night
Tuesday 17th June
Motored through the canal de Lateral and onto the canal Central in the early afternoon after a stop to restock provisions in Digoin
Although it was the secret hour of 12 - 1pm managed to obtain all my requirements including finding a butchers open!
We motored on hoping to reach Palinges for the night, had two more locks to go arriving at 6.30 with time to spare at the first one before lock down only to find the lock closed up with no one on site These locks are automatic and should be available until 7 pm Dave dropped me off to see what was what only to find the place deserted and big chains on the equipment. We weren't going, so was forced to moor up next to the lock. WORDS WILL BE SAID TOMORROW TO VNF
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Up the Canal du Centre
The canal du Centre runs straight into the Lateral without even a board marking the spot. Even the PK0 milestone is missing. Despite this it is significantly different.
The locks are a different pattern again. The early ones are all automatic. They magically show you a green light when the doors are open and in you go. Then the fun starts!
To operate the lock, you have to pull a blue rope attached to a pole mounted on the side. Unfortunately for us, there appears to be no consistency about how close to the gates this pole is sited. On many of them, we found it to be much to close to the gate for our encumbered and rounded stern. We tried to pull the cord from the boat but it involved so much toing and froing that we gave up and now I always drop L at the ladder (usually but not always beside the pole). She climbs up, puts the ropes on the bollards taking care to ignore any that are too close to the gate) and then pulls the cord for a few seconds (until the little orange lamp on the hut starts flashing)
From then on it is all very smooth. The gate behind shuts and then the paddles open. The flow is powerful but surprisingly free of turbulence. It pulls you hard backwards and then hard forwards. Finally the upstream gates open and you’re off.
The mystery is how the gates no you have arrived. There are no sensors. Talking to a keeper, it appears that the ‘center’ knows where you are on a big board – based just on reports of lock keeper. Then there is a keeper checking for trouble (and presumably for surprise travellers who have been moored) who drives between several locks.
The next surprise was when we rolled up at a lock at 6.30 expecting to have another ½ hour to find it shut and dead with nobody anywhere to be seen. We did a wild mooring with our trusty Ronde anchors and asked in the morning what had happened. Oh says the keeper – you’re on a new canal now. The hours are 8.30 to 6.30 with no hour for lunch. Nice of them to let us know!
The third difference we noted is the towpath. On the Nivernais and Lateral, this is reserved for users, the VNF service and bikes. On the central, it is a road. This means that you lose the feeling of rural isolation. It does have the advantage however that services, such as small shops, restaurants and fuel stations are all frequent as they pick up custom from both the canal and the road. That said, the canal edges are distinctly challenging for a fragile boat like Rosa. They are mostly made of corrugated steel plates or sloping concrete. Elsewhere they are very shallow and often have underwater chunks of concrete or stakes.
We went on to Montceau les Mines – which is a real surprise. It’s a pretty heavy industrial city complete with a huge factory and cooling tower as you approach. But they’ve made a huge effort to make it attractive. The bridges are all brightly painted and the Port au Plaisance is superb with large high-quality pontoons and VERY modes fees. The town has everything you could want except a chandlery including a launderette. I have to say it is a thoroughly recommended stop. We missed it, but were told that it has a really excellent market on Tuesdays and Saturdays right by the quay side.
The locks are a different pattern again. The early ones are all automatic. They magically show you a green light when the doors are open and in you go. Then the fun starts!
To operate the lock, you have to pull a blue rope attached to a pole mounted on the side. Unfortunately for us, there appears to be no consistency about how close to the gates this pole is sited. On many of them, we found it to be much to close to the gate for our encumbered and rounded stern. We tried to pull the cord from the boat but it involved so much toing and froing that we gave up and now I always drop L at the ladder (usually but not always beside the pole). She climbs up, puts the ropes on the bollards taking care to ignore any that are too close to the gate) and then pulls the cord for a few seconds (until the little orange lamp on the hut starts flashing)
From then on it is all very smooth. The gate behind shuts and then the paddles open. The flow is powerful but surprisingly free of turbulence. It pulls you hard backwards and then hard forwards. Finally the upstream gates open and you’re off.
The mystery is how the gates no you have arrived. There are no sensors. Talking to a keeper, it appears that the ‘center’ knows where you are on a big board – based just on reports of lock keeper. Then there is a keeper checking for trouble (and presumably for surprise travellers who have been moored) who drives between several locks.
The next surprise was when we rolled up at a lock at 6.30 expecting to have another ½ hour to find it shut and dead with nobody anywhere to be seen. We did a wild mooring with our trusty Ronde anchors and asked in the morning what had happened. Oh says the keeper – you’re on a new canal now. The hours are 8.30 to 6.30 with no hour for lunch. Nice of them to let us know!
The third difference we noted is the towpath. On the Nivernais and Lateral, this is reserved for users, the VNF service and bikes. On the central, it is a road. This means that you lose the feeling of rural isolation. It does have the advantage however that services, such as small shops, restaurants and fuel stations are all frequent as they pick up custom from both the canal and the road. That said, the canal edges are distinctly challenging for a fragile boat like Rosa. They are mostly made of corrugated steel plates or sloping concrete. Elsewhere they are very shallow and often have underwater chunks of concrete or stakes.
We went on to Montceau les Mines – which is a real surprise. It’s a pretty heavy industrial city complete with a huge factory and cooling tower as you approach. But they’ve made a huge effort to make it attractive. The bridges are all brightly painted and the Port au Plaisance is superb with large high-quality pontoons and VERY modes fees. The town has everything you could want except a chandlery including a launderette. I have to say it is a thoroughly recommended stop. We missed it, but were told that it has a really excellent market on Tuesdays and Saturdays right by the quay side.
Canal Lateral de Loire
I don’t have much to say about the Canal Lateral de Loire – for a variety of reasons – none of which are anything to do with the canal itself:
• The weather was grey and miserable or raining.
• We were stir crazy after our enforced spell at Decize and so were itching to put some distance behind us. We took only a day and a half to reach Digoin which is pushing it some.
• We only saw the small section between Decize and Digoin.
The locks are very similar manual ones to the Nivernais although they are a bit bigger. The lock keepers still like a hand with the gates although, unlike the Nivernais, they don’t like you touching the paddles. They keep the same hours too of 9.00 to 7.00 with an hour for lunch from 12.00. The mechanism is intersting too and decidedly complex.
This part of the canal winds gently with widely spaced locks through very gently rolling green fields dotted with small villages. Many of the villages take considerable pains to provide facilities for boaters – moorings often with water and essential shops such as Boulangeries close by and well sign posted.
It all ends up at Digoin where you cross an impressive auqueduct over the Loire as you finally say good bye (or good riddance).
• The weather was grey and miserable or raining.
• We were stir crazy after our enforced spell at Decize and so were itching to put some distance behind us. We took only a day and a half to reach Digoin which is pushing it some.
• We only saw the small section between Decize and Digoin.
The locks are very similar manual ones to the Nivernais although they are a bit bigger. The lock keepers still like a hand with the gates although, unlike the Nivernais, they don’t like you touching the paddles. They keep the same hours too of 9.00 to 7.00 with an hour for lunch from 12.00. The mechanism is intersting too and decidedly complex.
This part of the canal winds gently with widely spaced locks through very gently rolling green fields dotted with small villages. Many of the villages take considerable pains to provide facilities for boaters – moorings often with water and essential shops such as Boulangeries close by and well sign posted.
It all ends up at Digoin where you cross an impressive auqueduct over the Loire as you finally say good bye (or good riddance).
Free at last
We’re free at last!
The word came around at 8.45 that the lock was going to open at 9.00. At 9.00, I phoned VNF and they confirmed that the Loire was open for navigation. So 10 days after we had intended to we cast off and did the 500 yards down to the lock following some Austrians on a hire boat. The lock keeper was busy doing his garden and said it was closed but we got him to go into his house and phone VNF and sure enough, 5 minutes later and the lock was open.
The Loire had dropped about 2 feet from flood level but was still running at 3 knots against us. Right by the lock there is a nasty eddy which pushed our bow around. I over compensated and ended up in a position where I couldn’t line up properly and decided to abort and go around again. This time I went in closer to the bank and we got in fine.
Frank and John who we have shared a jar and a yarn or two with over the preceding days had kindly come over and took our ropes in both the Loir lock and the one onto the Canal Lateral du Loire (PK68). Both locks are automatic and very gentle – apparently so the hire-boat novices get a gentle introduction.
By 10.30 we were out of the second lock and on our way. We decided to put on as many miles as possible and batted on through Motte (PK61) and had lunch waiting for l’Huilerie. At 1.00 we were off again sailing in bright overcast. The canal (at least this part) is wider and much more uniform than the Nivernais. Attractive enough in a gentle rural sort of way but it certainly does lack the beauty and interest of the smaller canal. The locks are manual and very similar to the Nivernais although I think they are a bit bigger. They have a different system of Paddles than the Nivernais and the lock keepers don’t like you touching them. They have a system of ratchets that look very easy to trap a finger in.
We met few boats and just one commercial: The Liberty
By 4.00 it was raining and it kept it up on and off until we moored before lock Thiel (PK21) at 7.10. There are no facilities so we moored using our trusty Ronde Anchors. These are wonderful devices that are used extensively in the Norfolk Broads. If you are following in our footsteps, you could do a lot worse than ordering a pair from Norfolk Marine in Wroxham.
On the way up we kept our spirits up by watching lots of Black Kites and an even larger number of Herons.
Each Heron seems to have its own strip of canal that it's careful not to go outside. It also has an absolutely fixed 'danger distance'. They completely ignore the boat until its an exact distance away (about 30 Meters). It then looks up in horror at this hugething that is passing it and takes of in a hurry. More often than not, it flys 100 Meters down ints territory, lands, stalks up to the bank and resumes fishing - only to repeat the whole process when we catch it up within the critical distance. This can go on 3 or 4 times till it reaches the end of its strip and doubles back. Talk about bird-brained!
Altogether we covered 51Km today which is a record for us. And we've finally left Bourgoyne ant entered Auvergne! Altogether a red letter day which we celebrated in traditional style with two large steaks and a bottle of Chamagne (we Bailly which really is just as good).
The word came around at 8.45 that the lock was going to open at 9.00. At 9.00, I phoned VNF and they confirmed that the Loire was open for navigation. So 10 days after we had intended to we cast off and did the 500 yards down to the lock following some Austrians on a hire boat. The lock keeper was busy doing his garden and said it was closed but we got him to go into his house and phone VNF and sure enough, 5 minutes later and the lock was open.
The Loire had dropped about 2 feet from flood level but was still running at 3 knots against us. Right by the lock there is a nasty eddy which pushed our bow around. I over compensated and ended up in a position where I couldn’t line up properly and decided to abort and go around again. This time I went in closer to the bank and we got in fine.
Frank and John who we have shared a jar and a yarn or two with over the preceding days had kindly come over and took our ropes in both the Loir lock and the one onto the Canal Lateral du Loire (PK68). Both locks are automatic and very gentle – apparently so the hire-boat novices get a gentle introduction.
By 10.30 we were out of the second lock and on our way. We decided to put on as many miles as possible and batted on through Motte (PK61) and had lunch waiting for l’Huilerie. At 1.00 we were off again sailing in bright overcast. The canal (at least this part) is wider and much more uniform than the Nivernais. Attractive enough in a gentle rural sort of way but it certainly does lack the beauty and interest of the smaller canal. The locks are manual and very similar to the Nivernais although I think they are a bit bigger. They have a different system of Paddles than the Nivernais and the lock keepers don’t like you touching them. They have a system of ratchets that look very easy to trap a finger in.
We met few boats and just one commercial: The Liberty
By 4.00 it was raining and it kept it up on and off until we moored before lock Thiel (PK21) at 7.10. There are no facilities so we moored using our trusty Ronde Anchors. These are wonderful devices that are used extensively in the Norfolk Broads. If you are following in our footsteps, you could do a lot worse than ordering a pair from Norfolk Marine in Wroxham.
On the way up we kept our spirits up by watching lots of Black Kites and an even larger number of Herons.
Each Heron seems to have its own strip of canal that it's careful not to go outside. It also has an absolutely fixed 'danger distance'. They completely ignore the boat until its an exact distance away (about 30 Meters). It then looks up in horror at this hugething that is passing it and takes of in a hurry. More often than not, it flys 100 Meters down ints territory, lands, stalks up to the bank and resumes fishing - only to repeat the whole process when we catch it up within the critical distance. This can go on 3 or 4 times till it reaches the end of its strip and doubles back. Talk about bird-brained!
Altogether we covered 51Km today which is a record for us. And we've finally left Bourgoyne ant entered Auvergne! Altogether a red letter day which we celebrated in traditional style with two large steaks and a bottle of Chamagne (we Bailly which really is just as good).
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