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.