Brief Update

Chalon-sur-Saone

Once we finished the Lateral de la Loire we were retracing our steps (or paddles) and not a lot new to report.   The Loire lateral is a lot of long straight stretches with occasional glimpses of the river and the surrounding hills, pretty  but not the best canal by a long shot.  Other than the lovely wine town of Sancerre that sits on top of a hill and the large town of Nevers there is not a lot to see.

The little port of Fleury has a little fast food place right at the port and on a Saturday night it was jumping, not least because a Steak Frites is only 5 Euros. We sat at a table with two English boating couples  (including Maurice and Mary) and a young couple from Perth off a rental boat who didn’t know what they had stumbled into.  The prices  of the wine were commensurate and a good time was had by all.

Once the committee that runs it had confirmed that the Canal du Centre would definitely close on Sept 30th due to lack of water the weather changed and we have had a lot of rain.  Doesn’t matter as we are through it now and on the Saone river.

Shortly we will head back up to St. Jean de Losne and decide whether to put Armida up for sale now or store her for the winter and wait until the new season.

Bye Briare and back to Burgundy

Somewhere on the Canal Lateral a la Loire.

Summer is over! You may not think so as today was hot with a warm breeze where little white dogs sought shade and we stopped early under some shady trees on a quiet bend in the canal, but come 9pm (21:00 French Time) and the chill is definitely in the air.  This makes for good sleeping and cool, clear mornings and the sad thought of the impending end of the season.  If only we could squeeze a  few more months out of this time.

 

Having made good time along these canals we sat in the lovely port of Briare on the Loire for an extravagant six days and enjoyed every minute. The town of Briare has nothing in particular of note except for the lovely 600m bridge that carries the canal over the Loire (designed with help from Monsieur Eiffel) and a disproportionally good market but the port is well set up and surrounded by flowers and just a nice place to be.  We connected with Greg and Cecilia from Sydney and Tony and Lorraine from the Gold Coast and had a movable feast around the boats.  Then our friends and neighbours Randy and Judy arrived on their way to Paris and the weather was perfect the whole time.

Today we set off over the long bridge on the lateral canal that parallels the Loire where we left the Loiret region and returned to our old hangout – Burgundy. This is open river valley with long straight stretches and only a few places of interest so we hope to make some more good time in the next week.

Over the top

Canal de Briare

We are now at the top of the Canal de Briare, the first “summit level” canal in Europe when it was finished in 1642. It joins the valley of the Loing with that of the Loire. The top doesn’t really feel like a “summit” with lovely lakes to provide water for the canal .  This is part of four canals from the Seine to the Saone that are really one canal. As they were built at different times, when the rivers they linked were navigable, they still have separate names and personalities for that matter.
We started on the Canal du Loing which parallels the river of the same name. It didn’t make us feel like we had been missing the canals; the best that can be said of it is that it gets you to the Canal de Briare quickly.  This canal has the charms that make us love this life – some lovely rural moorings, the delightful town of Montargis and locks with lots of flowers and friendly lock keepers.


Today is Sunday when the French go out for their excursions. The weather was nice so many of them headed for Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses where they could watch Terry expertly handle the ropes in the first lock of the six lock staircase. 
Tomorrow we will drop down to the Loire and the town of Briare which is our only downhill for a long time. After that we have the long flat runs with few locks as we parallel the Loire for 200km.
You may remember that at the beginning of the season we didn’t know if we could come this way as the Canal du Centre was going to close at the beginning of May due to lack of water – well now we need it to stay open now so we can get back to St. Jean de Losne for the winter. They are threatening to close it on September 30th if there is no more rain.  At the current rate of travel we should have no problem but we hate being rushed.
Normally we would consider finding a place to winter Armida closer but as some of you know, our daughter Skye is expecting our first grandchild in January.  Our plans were to cruise until this eventuality so we are considering putting Armida up for sale and St. Jean de Losne is the place to do that. But we are still debating whether to come back for one more season – so stay tuned.

A great big Happy Birthday wish to Tess on her 30th!