Saturday 26th September 2009 Decize R.Loire

Warm and sunny. Mike bought some bread and called in the DIY Weldom to see if they had small sheet of galvanised sheet metal to repair the Torgem’s ash pan, which had a small hole, ready for Winter. He also called in the pharmacy to find something to ease the pain in his knee and bought some glucosamine tablets on the advice of the pharmacist. While he was out the pompiers arrived and set up a pump, right in front of our bows – the fishermen’s quay was empty but their pipe was too short – making a hell of a racket! (When he returned Mike took some photos - it was a training exercise for the guys to set up and run the pump) I made a quiche while Mike was busy cutting and drilling the aluminium strips for the secondary glazing in the bedroom. He stopped to watch the F1 qualis in Singapore.

A tjalk got stuck on the corner; we reckoned he was taking the wrong turn and thought he was going on to the canal. He tried forcing forward, then using the bow thruster to move right; that didn’t work. The skipper took a rope to the bank using his tender; that didn’t work. Mike said he would give him a “snatch” if he was still stuck when the qualis finished but he switched off before it finished and went out to start our engine just as the tjalk had managed to get off the bottom and went very slowly up to the canal. Not long after that yet another hireboat attempted to shoot the weir. Mike was standing on the stern and hooted and waved – eventually they backed off and circled around looking for the entrance to the canal. Half an hour later they came and moored in front of The Big Boat, another American crew. 

Friday 25th September 2009 Gannay. C. Lat à La Loire to Decize R.Loire

Dull, damp overcast morning; sun out 2.30 p.m. after we tied up. Left Gannay at 10.20 a.m. after D had been to book our locking with the lock keeper. Into lock 12 Vanneaux (3.20m) following The Big Boat. A young dark-haired chap with glasses worked the lock for us and we were soon running down on to the 5.7 kms pound. The air was damp, not exactly drizzle but enough to make me put my windproof, waterproof jacket on. A boat was coming up in lock 13 L’Huilerie (3.5m). We passed a British cruiser with a smoky engine and an enthusiastic young man in a peaked cap worked the lock for us then drove off down the towpath. 2.7 kms to lock 14 La Mothe (3.45m) where there was a smart lock house - but no longer a resident lock keeper - I had asked our young keeper who had driven down from his lock to work this one for us. Dommage, (a pity) we both agreed. He asked what time we would be at the next lock. Mike looked at the time, 12.06 p.m. and said 1.05 p.m. (It was 5 kms so it would take us just an hour). Impeccable, came the reply. He drove back up the towpath in his VNF van and returned a few minutes later in his car (a vehicle as battered and ancient as ours) with his missus - off to have their lunch no doubt. I made some sandwiches and we ate lunch on the move. Cottage gardens adjoining the canal had neat vegetable plots and fenced areas with ducks, geese and goats. One had an amazing pumpkin patch with some enormous specimens almost ready for Hallow’een, a festival French kids have heartily taken to, mainly from watching American TV. Rural France at its best. After all that quizzing about what time we would be at the lock, lock 15 Saulx (2.5m) wasn’t ready when The Big Boat arrived. They were still stooging in the middle while a middle aged VNF man in VNF long shorts and cap refilled the lock. Another VNF van arrived to join the two already parked by the house and our keeper had an assistant to open and close the top end gates. He asked D where we were going and she told him they were stopping on the quay in Decize to shop at the Intermarché while we were carrying on down the two locks on to the river. He said à tout à l’heure (see you shortly) as we left, which made us wonder what they had done to the automatic locks which lead down on to the Loire. Just a short distance and we were at the junction. The Big Boat tied up by RQ on the quay. (D told me later that M had stuck one of his mooring pins down a hole he presumed someone else’s pin had made, only to find it was a wasps’ nest!) A large 15m LeBoat was sitting at the junction waiting for the lock, 16 bis St Maurice (2.52m), to fill after they’d pulled the rope. The irritating zut-zut of a bow thruster kept the boat exactly in line with the chamber while it filled, very slowly. No sign of our keeper. When the lock gates opened we followed the hire boat in. It was slow to fill and even slower to empty. The keeper from the last lock turned up just in time to watch us leave. The hireboat turned sharp left back to the base it belonged to, as did the one which had just come up off the river. 

Lock 16 ter Decize was full but the gates had closed. I pulled the hanging rope and the gates reopened. Once in the chamber I heaved the rod to activate the automatic sequence. Our lock keeper had followed us down to the lock and arrived as it was almost empty. (Still no idea why he followed us, except that he’s programmed to keep an eagle eye on hire boats  and can’t tell the difference!) We said au’voir and ran downstream on the Loire following the buoyed channel to the road bridge. There was one LeBoat moored on the quay by the road bridge. A very noisy mooring; we continued down to the junction with the old river Loire. The quay on the Loire was occupied by a group of fishermen who had numerous rods and lines set up. We turned the corner and went upstream on the old Loire, keeping close to the right hand bank as we could see clumps of reeds in the middle. Winded and moored next to a quay which used to have all facilities but now had only bollards to moor to and the remains of an electricity post. It was surprisingly 2m deep by the quay. I gave Mike a hand to get the bike off the roof which we did without using a plank as the quay came halfway up the cabin side. 

Later in the afternoon a hireboat went the wrong way and was heading for the weir on the Loire but managed to extricate himself - we thought we might be calling for the pompiers (fire brigade)! The Big Boat tied up behind us and Mike went off to collect the car from Gannay

Thursday 24th September 2009 Gannay. C. Lat à La Loire

Warm and sunny. Set off in the car to get some Perspex for the bedroom windows. First we went to Weldom in Decize. They had no plastic in the right size, just big sheets, but we bought some aluminium strips and draught excluder from them. Drove on to Nevers and went in a Bricomarché. They only had huge sheets, they were patterned and expensive. We drove over to Bourges, a bigger place than Nevers, and went searching for a large DIY shop. We eventually found LeroyMerlin; they had a big sheet of Perspex, but couldn’t cut it (and it wouldn't fit in the car), so we opted for two one metre square pieces (to cut to the correct size ourselves) for 27€ each. We bought plugs and sockets for mains cables, a new switch for one of our angle poise lamps, six packets of brass screws, blades for cutting the Perspex and I treated me to a new orchid, a deep purple Cambria for 9.90€. Home, hot and shattered at 4.30 p.m. Two péniches and two cruisers had gone past while we were out.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009 Gannay. C. Lat à La Loire

Warm and sunny. We went shopping at Carrefour in Moulins, 28 kms from Gannay and also started a search for perspex sheets. The only ones they had were 50cms wide and we needed 63cm. Mike asked but they had none wider. They had a great selection of artists’ materials, even clay! We got the groceries in Carrefour. Didn’t like the store layout, had to search for stuff. Went to find the Bricomarché in the north of the town and were hampered by the one way system. Found the place, it was closed for lunch, made our way through the suburbs and eventually found the road back to Gannay. 

Tuesday 22nd September 2009 Gannay. C. Lat à La Loire

Warm and sunny after early morning mist. Mike measured up the sizes for some acrylic sheet to make double glazing for the bedroom (as we’re now back in the land of snow and ice we may get ice overnight on the inside of the window frames!) and I checked the location of Carrefour in Moulins then looked for a bricolage. Only found Bricomarchés, but they should sell the stuff we need. Decided we’d go shopping next day and did some painting. Helped put masking tape on the engine room roof and Mike did the green bands and also painted the tiller. Several hire boats arrived, filled the last bit of the quay and started mooring on the opposite bank. 

Monday 21st September 2009 Garnat to Gannay. C. Lat à La Loire

Grey clouds at first which cleared to give a lovely sunny day, warm. A converted péniche went past heading downhill around 9.30 a.m. Then a Canalous hireboat arrived dragging a huge wash until we all stood staring at it and Mike told the steerer off about it – then he moored along the quay on the other side of us and asked if there was a supermarket. We set off at 10.05 a.m. just as the woman off the hireboat rode over the road bridge and asked if she was going the right way to the supermarket. Yes, there was one 1km down that road or 7km at Bourbon-Lancy. Followed The Big Boat along the 4 kms to the first lock. A meadow full of Charollais cows had an attendant flock of upwards of twenty egrets. Lock 10 Rosière (2.4m) wasn’t ready when we got there and the keeper (an older man) closed the bottom end gates and started the lock filling when The Big Boat stopped and hovered in the middle of the cut above the lock. There were three vans and a car on the lockside with two VNF workmen wandering around. Once in the lock Mike wound the top end gate shut and when the lock was empty D opened the bottom end gate then got back on down the ladder. The two workmen sat watching. Heaven knows what job they were doing, we saw no evidence of any maintenance work in progress – perhaps they hadn’t started yet! By the first bridge a shortened commercial was moored. Although it was now 30m long it still had its original plate on the back which said it was 55m long and carried 678 tonnes. An old cruiser was moored next to a VNF house at the next bridge, all looked locked up and one away. Maybe a holiday house now? 

A young VNF man worked lock 11, Gailloux (3.38m) and lifted a feed paddle as we left - the pound below was overfull and the one above had been 6” to 8” down. It was 12.10 p.m. he’d worked 10 minutes into his lunch break. A short line of plane trees on the left hand made a change from the usual oaks on this canal. 3.2 kms to Gannay. The Big Boat moored at the end of a line of moored boats before the layby and lock at Gannay. We carried on to see what was available closer to the lock. There were eight or nine large replica Dutch barges, mostly left for the winter and a couple of cruisers. There was enough space for us on the quay in the layby where, according to our notes there was free water and electricity for three days. We moored between a pair of breasted up DBs and a Canalous hireboat. Shortly after The Big Boat came and moored beyond the hireboat. We had some lunch then I gave Mike a hand to get the fizzer off the roof and he collected the car from Garnat.

Sunday 20th September 2009 Garnat-sur-Engrièvre. C. Lat à La Loire.

Heavy rain in the morning, lighter in the afternoon. 
We had the day off.

Saturday 19th September 2009 Dompierre to Garnat-sur-Engrièvre.

White clouds, turning grey later and sunny spells. Heavy rain showers in the evening. M and D took a walk into Dompierre and brought us a loaf back. We set off just after ten following The Big Boat back down the branch back to the main line. I made some tea and toast. Besbre lock was emptying as we turned left at the junction heading downhill. 

Mike took photos of the working foundry on our left; on the right the Abbaye de Sept Fonts was hidden from view by trees and high walls. Round a couple of bends and there was a long straight section leading to lock 7 Bessais. The resident keeper was a middle aged man who spent all the time we were in the lock on the phone. We emerged 2.5m lower than we started. 4.9 kms to the next. A lovely quiet and peaceful spot with cows grazing in the fields and oak trees lining both banks beyond the towpaths. I read in my French Canals book of 1963 that commercial boats were towed by diesel tractors on the towpath which would account for wide towpaths on both sides. A hireboat was coming up in the lock so we stooged around to wait until it cleared then we dropped down another 2.4m in Beaulon lock, no 8. Below the lock on the left there was a layby where a British cruiser, British replica DB and two Dutch DBs were moored. The crew of British DB came out to wave as we went past (They were last seen down at Meilhan we hadn’t expected to see them here, they were supposed to be wintering on the Midi) We carried on 2 kms to lock 9, Clos du May. It was lunchtime, so we threw a rope around a bollard on the left and had our lunch. At 1.15 p.m. we were on our way again. The keeper was a thin faced man in his thirties with sandy hair. He was ably assisted by his young son, aged about ten, who raced along the lock sides to open and close gates for Papa. Down another 2.5m. Yet another keeper who was on the phone. Fifteen minutes later we tied up at Garnat on a floating pontoon. 

Friday 18th September 2009 Diou to Dompierre-sur-Loire. C. Lat à La Loire.

Lots of grey clouds with sunny spells between. The air felt damp when we set off at ten. Mike had already been on the bread run (artisan boulanger prices 1,19€). The boats that had moored at Diou overnight left early. Three peaceful kilometres to the lock. The towpath was grassy, no tarmac therefore no cyclists, just an occasional fisherman. The banks were lined with acacias and alders; bright yellow trumpets of toadflax flowered in the grass. The canal crossed the tiny river Roudon on an aqueduct, then an embankment to cross the river Besbre immediately before the lock of the same name. The Big Boat waited on the aqueduct for the lock to fill. The young lad who was the keeper of the previous day at lock 5 Putay was now on duty at lock 6 (the lock house was shuttered). We took the left side of the chamber so Mike could close the gate on that side for him; there was no bollard on that side for our centre rope so we shoved over to the right and descended 3.2m. I noticed that the sign on the lock cabin had an error, it said lock 6 Bébre when it should have should be Besbre, same as the river! Seems they used to get it wrong a century or more ago - but strange they’ve never put it right! Below the lock the Irish cruiser we’d last seen in Paray was hovering waiting for the lock. We followed The Big Boat sharp left into the Dompierre branch, then the cruiser went into the lock we’d just vacated. The canal arm was quiet. An old railway track ended by the first bridge and two ore carrying railway wagons were sat underneath the road bridge. The sides of the canal had sloping stone walls and high sandy banks topped with poplar trees. One section was narrow, too narrow to pass two péniche-sized vessels. 




Winded in the basin at the end of the canal by the Locaboat hire base and moored behind The Big Boat next to the towpath and a Gedimat builder’s supply yard filled with wooden planks, septic tanks and huge coils of plastic tubing. The towpath was well used by vehicles judging by the tracks, but the edges were lined with wild flowers and alive with butterflies.