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.