The Canal Lateral to Digoin
Monday 25 July - Gannay and Beaulon in the Rain
Today we set off on the upstream part of the CLL we have never done before. The Meteo promised rain, and they have delivered on their promise. In fairness they kept the weekend moderately fine and very warm. But today it is certainly raining. A good day for a business-like cruise. We aim to get to Digoin where the CLL meets the Canal du Centre which then turns north to the Saone. They say you can do it in two days, so that is our plan. Our half-way target for today is Beaulon in the Allier. This is 31 kms and 7 locks so should be about 7 hours cruising.
The rain is gentle as we walk the girls in the morning, but when we set off at 8.30 it is getting steadier. The morning journey to Gannay is pretty straightforward if wet. We keep up a steady pace. As we were outside the port at Decize we were not lock-bound so could get ahead of all the boats from the port and the Loire which we know are also heading for Digoin, Roanne, the Saone, and the Rhone. And some are worried that the Canal du Centre (critical to reach the Saone and points east and south) is now scheduled for closure from 17 August for lack of water. Lack of water!!? Maybe the last two weeks and today has changed that, but boaters are always cautious. The scheduled “chomage” has not yet been de-listed.
We arrive at Gannay and moor up for a lunch break. Martin from the China Bird greets us. He and his wife have just moved from Brittany and have a bright new spick-and-span Widebeam quite similar to ours. He advises that the chantier (boat yard) here is quite good but charges €50 just to look at any job. He also says there is good walk going further along the canal for the dogs and is only about 3km. We set off. 300 metres, forget 3km, and we and the dogs are all drenched to the skin. Another 200m and we decide enough is enough. Shady has already gone “en greve”! (We worry about her increasingly French tendencies, but what’s wrong with being French.)
We race back to the boat. Dry off. Eat some lunch. And decide that in weather like this the best thing is to just keep moving. So off we go and hit the next lock at Gailloux at 1pm. The lockkeeper is young lady totally drenched so that her clothes all cling to her. Yet she is so happy and friendly. How can you be happy in weather like this? She is marvellous.
We make Beaulon and moor up. It is good mooring with free water and electricity. We take the former but have no need of the latter. The rain is easing off. We realise that we had a discussion with Pauline and Peter on the Peppa at Decize when they discussed free water and moorings at Beaulon. We thought they had meant Beaulieu (downstream) and we also mentioned Dampierre both of which have some blessings from being near major generation stations. Now we realise that they were talking about Beaulon and Dompierre-sur-Besbre which are upstream. No wonder we had a disjointed discussion.
It is very good here, and easy for the dogs to go out, with excellent walks. But the town is quite a walk away, so we don’t get there. They must be nice people though, to provide so much for visitors. We are moored next to an American flagged boat called the “Mare”. We ask whether it is horse or sea. They are confused but explain it is Italian for “sea”. Mare Nostrum, no doubt.
Tuesday 26 July - If You Don’t Get Soaked You Just Get Baked
An early morning walk with the girls and again we meet a snail collector (again with a liberal interpretation of “Burgundy”). He is very pleased with his harvest this morning. Clearly rain has some benefits.
It is lighter and brighter this morning, but still with some damp in the air. It is 32 kms to Digoin and 8 locks. We set off in pleasant, cool weather and moor up for lunch at Diou. These are very good moorings and a lovely town / village. The kids playing in the adjacent playground are very noisy but it is a beautiful and welcome noise.
We push on from Diou and it starts to get warmer, and warmer, and warmer. The trouble with the British is they are never satisfied. But we have the wrong clothes on, so at each lock we slowly but further divest.
We see the Mare now ahead of us. She seems too close to the bank, and struggling. One of the female members of the crew is trying to push her off. Oops! Then again, in slow motion, we see her slowly lose her balance and end up in the nice, clean, fresh canal.
She finds her feet and climbs out. But the boat is still stuck. We offer a tow and a rope. They say, thanks but offer their rope. We say jokingly you know about salvage then!? We certainly do they say. One of them worked with the salvage loss adjusters in the City of London, though they are doubtful we could claim salvage towing them off some mud in a French canal. Any way after a couple of tugs in different directions we get her away. Bon Voyage.
We reach Digoin at about 6pm, cross the Pont Canal over the Loire (shorter than at Briare, and not so spectacular, but still very attractive) and moor up just the other side. We take the dogs for a short walk. We decide to go back over the Pont Canal and Glyn thinks he can do it - it is not so high. But the railings on the side are very light and open. Something distracts him, and suddenly the balance is gone. We reverse slowly backwards.
The walk along the Loire is excellent, and the view to the Pont Canal quite charming. Isn’t it intriguing? We take to this place quite quickly, whereas as Decize had the opposite effect. But they are not that different.
After supper we stroll around the town, see the church. A pleasant town, but very quiet.
The Pont Canal at Digoin
Wednesday 27 July - Digoin Has Its Charms
We wake up nicely in the morning. Glyn does morning duties along the Loire, while Linda goes to find the Boulanger. First one closed for the vacation (14th to the 15th as we say). Second one closed for ever. Third one under new management but not re-opening till mid-August. Fourth one closed for ever. Fifth one only a patisserie (whatever it says on the board). BUT ... they do know where there is a Boulanger. Sixth one sells bread and croissants.
Have a lazy breakfast on the boat. Some biggish boats going out to the Pont Canal. After a while Linda thinks our boat is swaying. Glyn is sure we are still moored, and last night he ensured the mooring pins were well-secured. But we are moving more than we should. On examination both mooring pins have held, but one has nudged out a little and then bent like a piece of willow. It will hold, but not for long (and we have lost one mooring pin already).
So instead of sightseeing we head off to the chandlery. “Un piquet d’amarrage” (our French improves daily). No sorry, don’t stock them. However we are able to buy three one-metre lengths of chain and with shackles we can fix these to the shuttering, and then secure the mooring ropes to them. Our improvisation improves daily too.
After lunch we do get to explore the town. There is an excellent model boat builder, who must do most of his work for museums and showrooms, but he does perfect models of old boats. The other shops are largely boutiques or beauty shops. Food shopping is clearly done out of town, but we find enough to keep us going. There is a small cinema set back in an unlikely building. The town reminds us a little of Chippenham, though the port on the Canal and the frontage to the Loire are more impressive than the Avon frontage in Chippenham.
The Church at Digoin - A Different Architecture
We find a good kebab house. That evening we have takeaway kebab and Linda wants “frites” – she hasn’t had any since she’s been in France. We do spoil ourselves, don’t we? In fact the meal, including baklava, is cheaper than if we cooked for ourselves. And it is good. The “frites” aren’t as good as Marie-Paule’s, and the Doner not quite as good as the “Marmaris” in Bath, but come on, those are impossibly high standards. It is really good, and excellent value for money.
The Pont Canal at Digoin from the Loire
Thursday 28 July - Everyone should Visit Dompierre Once / Beaulon in the Mist
We are going to take three days back to Decize, just a little more slowly. So today we think we will aim for Dompierre-sur-Besbre, just a few miles north of Diou. It is off on a small branch canal which looks interesting, and the port offers all facilities including pump-out. Worth a try. The journey is pleasant and the canal is quite beautiful in many parts. We pass Diou with its winding approaches and narrow little bridges. We reach the Besbre lock. Here, when we were coming upstream, an enormous transporter barge emerged and began to turn in the winding hole in front of the lock. We thought it was going to Dompierre and couldn’t see how it could get through the tiny bridge to the branch. It couldn’t of course, but was merely turning to reverse up to the grain silo to collect a cargo. By the time we return two days later it has already left.
We turn into the branch and under the bridge. But any prettiness before the bridge soon disappears afterwards. For a few hundred yards we think we are in a ditchwater. But it is navigable. Then after a while it brightens and greens, and it is indeed a very pleasant backwater. We very slowly nudge up and finally reach the very pretty port, hidden away from almost everybody. Unfortunately it looks like there is nowhere for us to moor, or even, to turn. However very slowly we turn around using some of the space between the short pontoons. We identify the pump-out. Linda manages to disembark and goes to the office. As always the pump-out case has been installed, but there are no works. A nice Lancastrian comes out to talk to us. We can moor against the pontoons if we want, even though we overhang more than half. Not really a good mooring. He explains that French boats don’t have the capacity to hold their waste water so there is little value in pump-out stations.
We head back down the branch, very slowly again. It is actually a very pretty and quite different stretch of water. We are really pleased we visited, even if unsuccessfully. Anyone passing this way should pop in, just to see.
We look at our options and decide that Beaulon is our best bet for the night. We arrive safe and sound. There is mooring but no available bollards or rings. We move in and consider how to secure our ropes. “Got a problem?” says the guy from the next boat, who has hailed from Aberystwyth and heading back for the Rhine. We explain about our shortage of mooring pins. No problem - he lends us one. Everything is right with the world.
Except for Shady. She has a very bad night, and at 3am is making all sorts of uncomfortable noises. We try to calm here but decide she just has to go out. At 3.30am it is pitch black and there is thick mist everywhere, over the grass, over the banks and over the canal. In fact, even with a good torch it is difficult to tell where the bank ends and the canal begins. Also here all the electrical points are in one place. So the various boats and camper vans which are plugged in for the night have electrical leads going in all directions. One trip and God knows where you will end. After 20 minutes wandering around in the dark and mist Glyn and the girls return. Shady is eventually quieter, but not a good night.
Friday 29 July - Meeting Old Friends (Already) – Gannay in the Sun
Today is only short hop up (down) to Gannay. We lie in till 7.30pm and the take the girls for a long walk. We are in no rush. We finally set off later but make Gannay by lunchtime. The weather is warm and wonderful.
There is a good mooring available and someone has just moved off the quay and double-banked to leave space for someone like us. As we moor up we realise it is Tony and Rose on the Anfra, double banked against Andrew on the Maja. Andrew has had a new wheel house delivered this morning and Tony has helped him install it. We natter, though Topsy is a bit defensive about anyone coming near her boat.
We wander over to the boat yard to see if they might have any mooring pins, in the process meting Dick and Mary on the Oribi who come from Devizes. Isn’t it a small world? They know Malmesbury, and we explain that Glyn’s sister and brother-in-law also called Dick and Mary used to live at Bishops Cannings. Dick says that back home he drives through Bishops Cannings every day. Martin and family are however not at home on the China Bird.
At the boatyard they too don’t stock mooring pins, but advise us that the best thing is to get some builder’s stakes, which are very strong and easily obtained in a builder’s merchant. There is one called Doras right by the canal in Decize which will have just what we want.
Alas tomorrow is Saturday and it will close by midday. But later we bump into our American friends from Fleury and Decize (never did get their names and their boat seems to have no easily visible name) who say they think it stays open till 12.30pm. So we’ll make a sprint for it in the morning.
Meanwhile a Belgian couple have arrived and say hello, but surprisingly their French is limited. They have moored right tight up to the lock, and then a second boat moors double alongside them. There could be competition for the lock tomorrow.
Saturday 30 July - The Endearing Fraternity of the Canals
Wake up early and get everything done. Go over and speak to the Belgian boat moored at the lock and explain we need to get to Decize by midday, and is there any possibility of our going through the lock before them. No, no. We have booked it for 9am they say. Yes, we have too, we explain, but is there any chance we could go first? No, we are ready to go, they explain. There seems to be an understanding difficulty. So we give up and decide life is too short to fight over it. But with luck we may still make it to Decize by 12.
Both boats line up for the lock so we just wait, and then form a queue behind them so that the lockkeeper knows too that we want to get through.
In fact he signals to us to enter, he thinks he can get all three in. The second boat is quite short. We are doubtful but it is nice of him to try. And in fact we are all three just a fraction too long, so as last in we reverse out. Linda gets off to help the lockkeeper with all the gates, so at least we speed things up.
We keep up our speed so follow the boats ahead through both the next two locks. Linda every time helps the lockkeeper with the preceding boats to speed things up. They are actually not going that fast, but not slow enough that we could overtake them. At the third lock an upstream boat also further slows us up a little.
We reach the last lock. The two boats ahead are just exiting, and it’s only 8 minutes to 12. Up to now the lockkeepers have always let us through at this time, so....
Not this time. It’s Saturday and it looks like wife or girlfriend has already made lunch. Crossed arms. No way through this lock until after 1pm.
C’est la vie. We reverse back to the mooring bollards for the lock. They are not easy to access, and the water here is shallow. But we manage to moor, and can get off with a gangplank. We can have lunch and the girls can have a walk. Shady is not too sure of the gangplank however, and takes a dip in the canal. Not too serious.
After lunch we get ready for the lock. A Dutch barge is coming up behind us. It’s Tony and Rose in the Anfra. Can we both get in the lock? They are 20 metres and we 18. The locks are 38m long. With a bit of diagonalling we might. We go into the lock and as we enter we explain that we are 18 and the boat behind 20; we might both get in. Long intake of breath. I don’t think so, he says, and signals to the Anfra to stand back. Isn’t it interesting that at the first lock the keeper was willing to try, but here he plays it straight by the book.
We won’t see Tony and Rose at Decize as they are going up the Nivernais, so we wave our goodbyes.
Arrive at Decize. Our two predecessor friends have moored up on the port side, and are having their lunch. Nothing more. We have to admit we seethe a bit. Maybe it was a linguistic misunderstanding. Best to believe that than think he was just standing on his dignity.
Anyway, we do some shopping, use the launderette to dry our washing, and get on with life. And we have moored on the far side of the canal, so the girls can wander freely. We know there are bollards there. We’ll just have to find bollards or rings all the way to Briare.
No comments:
Post a Comment