The Descent to Decize (23 - 28 April)
Saturday 23rd April
St George’s Day. Glyn takes an early morning (well not so early at 07.45) walk with the dogs to see the bridge at Mougny which is as low as 2.7 metres at some points. We took Tim’s flag mast and the rear deck canopy down for the tunnels. Do we need to take them down again for this bridge? We need to fly the French flag and we need the shade of the canopy. Glyn thinks we can easily do this bridge with both up, and indeed we do.
On the walk they pass a field of sheep and lambs with no real fence between them and the tow path. But Shady doesn’t take any interest, and Topsy after a few looks accepts the instruction to stay on the path. The pasture is lush here, and much wider than the other side, understandably mainly populated with cattle rather than sheep.
We cast off at 9.30 having told the lock keepers we will today go to Mont-et-Marré. There is a restaurant there and if possible we will overnight and go out for a meal after nearly a fortnight eating on the boat. We are not accompanied by any other boat this time and make good progress. The canal is wide, and lined with trees on either side. That would be great in the hot summer or afternoon sun, but this morning is overcast, there is quite a strong breeze in our faces. With the shadow of the trees it is actually quite cold. Can we please get into the sun?
We only have to pass six locks but in fact these comprise one three-step staircase and one two step, and these are almost joined, separated by a very small pound. So except for that combination it is really plain sailing. The staircases are easy and fun, with a very careful lockkeeper in control. As the second step of the three-step group empties, the first step behind us completely empties down to its bottom. And as it does dozens and dozens of little silver and white flat fish suddenly swim fast to try to get into the lower lock before the water runs dry. They all make it except for a few who are marooned in small pools at the bottom of the first step. But they all have water. When passing through locks one is rarely aware of all the fish life which is swimming around you.
We arrive at Mont-et-Marré and the sun comes to greet us. The mooring is easy and the lock keeper here has turned the cottage and garden into a veritable small holding, with everything for the “good life” including a beautiful setting. The bar-restaurant in the village is well sign-posted. This is a very quiet spot but maybe we will stay.
We walk up to the village. It is very quiet with two out of six properties on the short way up from the canal up for sale. The village seems lifeless. We see one man in his garden and ask the way to the bar. We get to it but it is closed. A neighbour says it was open yesterday and should open today. We are not totally inspired. A young family arrive at about 12.10 and go to the bar seemingly to open it. We realise we have no money on us. Shall we go back to the boat and come back for a drink? We get to the boat but decide actually we would prefer to push on to Chatillon en Bazois just 6 kms and three locks further on. The lock keeper does not know we want to move on, and we certainly do not want to disturb his idyllic lunch time. But by 1.30pm he checks and asks do we want to descend the lock now before two boats come up. So off we go. In search of a town rather than a village. Perhaps a little bourgeois after all.
It is getting warmer and the approach to Chatillon is very pleasant. The castle looks quite impressive up on its hill. The canal has to go around the castle and we do not realise how sharp the turn is, almost losing the boat into the sides. (Later we read one of our many books which clearly warns about this turn. Alas always after the event.) Our length does not help in situations like this, and no bow thruster for emergency help. With some sharp reversing action and smart movement of the tiller we just get round the bend without hitting anything, but then are becalmed against the port side wall, having difficulty getting the bow out without the stern pushing into the wall and holding the bow back. Alas some pole action is needed to get us off the bank.
For the last two locks we have travelled with le P’tit Coeur with some difficulty fitting both boats into the lock. We are behind them in the lock and Glyn is very sensitive of the sill at the back, which is not clearly marked but definitely there. Managing both boats together is difficult but our French colleagues are understanding. However they sped away from the last lock and we are sure they hoped to avoid sharing again. Alas as we reach the Lock at Chatillon they have been held back to use one lock for both our boats. But they are very good about it.
We both moor up for the night. As we leave the lock the keeper asks when we are next moving. Clearly they did not expect us to move this afternoon from Mont-et-Marré. So he asks very clearly when we are moving next. Not until Monday morning at 9.30am we say. He repeats very carefully in slow French, Monday morning at 9.30am? He opens the gate and as we pass him he again very slowly, loudly and clearly says, “and you are not wanting the next lock until 9.30am on Monday morning?” These are all really great guys (including the women who all seem to do the early morning turns), but clearly changing your mind on when you want to pass through the locks is something that disturbs them. They want to give an excellent service, and not knowing what you want does disturb them.
We moor alongside the far bank, and spot a pump-out machine. We go to the office near the port and ask whether they do pump-out. No they say. Yes, it is a pump-out machine but there is nothing inside it. As Steve told us at Chitry, they are installing them but not using them.
“Are you going to moor there?” we suddenly hear behind us. The lady is not happy that we are mooring on the public provision. “People have to pay for moorings, you know, you can’t just stay there.” She is clearly not happy with us. Her French is deep, part swallowed and quite thickly accented. We can’t catch every word but the intention is quite clear. “You can’t stay three weeks. You can only stay overnight.” Quite irritated ourselves now, as these are public moorings, we reply that we are staying until Monday morning. Then suddenly her mood changes. “Oh that’s alright, as long as you are not staying three weeks.”
We are moored behind the P’tit Coeur, but cannot get too close to the bank because of the rocks along the bank and have to set up some quite steep gang planks. This is not ideal, but it will work. The P’tit Coeur help us moor up. We go into town. A reasonable small town, a little like Malmesbury, except the Chateau is clearly more set aside from the town than the Abbey at Malmesbury, which makes it less picturesque. Like Malmesbury however a good number of the shop fronts are closed up and for let. But there is a good boulangerie, and excellent Maison de la Presse, and we find an Auchun Maxi Marché around the back where we can get all our needed provisions. There is also a Logis, which we check out and finally book a table to eat out tonight.
We take the dogs for another walk. We shower and change. (It’s nice now and again to get a change of clothes and get that “boat smell” off you.) And go out for the evening. The meal is very reasonable, but a 6.5 / 7 rather than the 8.5/9.5s in Germany and Villiers sur Suize. A very enjoyable evening, before we go back and take the dogs for their final very late night walk in the near dark.
The Chateau behind Us at Chatillon-en-Bazois
Sunday 24th April (Easter Day)
No “Christ the Lord is risen today” to wake us up this morning! Religious or not it is odd how some things you get to expect and enjoy, and almost need. A bird scarer has been going off all night and Topsy hates these, so she is a little nervy this morning. We give both girls lots of cuddles before setting off for a late walk at 8.00am. There is a grassy path on the other side of the canal, but the beginnings of the Aron river are in between. Despite a long walk around we fail to find the access to it.
A lazy restful morning, fiddling with this and that, and above all catching up with emails as we have had no real Internet access really since the 18th at Clamecy, though we managed a little at Chitry. (Glyn also desperately needs the Cardiff v. QPR and the Norwich v. Ipswich results.) Besides having breakfast what have we done before it is 11.00am? We take the dogs for another walk, and then Glyn goes into town to get some more Serie Bleue maps. The Maison de la Presse has a great selection except for the area in which we are. We’ll have to stay with canal walks today then. But we do get those for Cercy, Decize, Imphy and Nevers, the next four sections we will cover.
The P’tit Coeur has moved on, so we decide to move up to her space where we can get on and off the boat more easily. Ahead of the P’tit Coeur is the Blanche Hermine. This intriguingly is a Dutch barge with a British SSR number flying the Gwen-ar-Du (the Breton flag) with a 34 Herault motorbike parked alongside. Glyn notes the complication of all this to the guy on board and says he is confused! The couple, from Paris, now live permanently on the boat, there are benefits (it appears) of being British registered; his lady originates from Finisterre and is proud of her origins; and for formal reasons the bike is registered to an official address in the Herault. They are relaxed about our cheeky enquiry and happy that we move up alongside them, but do suggest an even better mooring the other side of them. However we stay in the P’tit Coeur’s place, are able to plug in for electricity but our water hose is not quite long enough to reach the water.
A sandwich lunch, and then we read or do some more work on the blog. Suddenly we realise that the boat is seriously sloping. We look outside. One side is some 9-10 inches (sorry, 22-25cms) more out of the water than the other. The front of the boat has drifted up the side bank. Oops this is not such a good idea after all. We decide to move in front of the Blanche Hermine, as they had suggested, and they help us move, so now we can settle down again. Do some household chores like preparing supper, hanging the washing out, re-fixing some window catches which have come off, and fitting a knob and varnishing the insect screen which Tim has made for us, as it is clear now we are going to need this soon.
Paint drying, reading indoors. Some faint rolls of thunder. Then suddenly some drops of rain. Get the drying in. Also it is cooler now so time again to take the girls for a walk. For the first time since we arrived we get an umbrella out. It is not needed. Those drops of rain were just that – maybe ten drops.
So back to finishing off the chores and supper. And then walk the dogs again. It may seem a lot of walks but they can’t get much exercise on the boat, though they are both good as gold on it, except when they growl over food.
We come back and find we can programme the TV to French tele. Do we need a French TV licence? Any way we watch the news (has anything really changed since we left), see a short clip of Midsomer Murders dubbed in French, and above all see the Meteo, Linda’s most favourite TV show!!
This actually has been a great day, doing not very much in a very lovely town. We must have more of this. But tomorrow we promised the lock keepers 9.30am. So off to bed.
Monday 25th April
We plan to move down to the Ecluse de Fleury near the village of Brienne today. It is only 13 kms and 5 locks. We think we can do it in a morning. However this time we clearly indicate to the lockkeeper that we may move on after lunch. He is relaxed, and tells where we can find him after lunch if we do want to move further.
As we leave Chatillon there are three or four people photographing or video-ing us. We (well the boat and the dogs) must have been photographed on this trip more times than in the rest of our lives.
We pass an old milestone (well, kilometre marker) saying we are 50 kms from the Loire. The countryside is now somewhat wider when we break out of the tree-lined avenues which follow the canal. Essentially this is wide pasture land though after a hundred metres or so from the canal it starts climb significantly. We are following alongside the River Aron as it twists in its early descent from the plateau, so the canal is very bendy and we make slower progress. The pasture is lush, but also adorned with buttercups, campion both white and pink, and nestling in the canal banks are beautiful clumps of fabulously blue forget-me-nots.
Although we are making good progress it is slower than we thought. Can we make the Ecluse de Fleury before midday when the eclusier (lockkeeper) has his lunch hour, noting also that for everyone else this is a national holiday in France? He says we will make it, so not to worry. He does indeed get us there, but without finishing before 12.15. We don’t get his name but he is a really nice guy.
There is really lovely restaurant at Fleury in the converted lockkeeper’s cottage. It really looks very good and was advertising special Easter meals in Chatillon. Also now (Easter Monday of course) the local French are flocking to it, so it can’t be bad. We agree we will stay here definitely overnight and tell the lockkeeper. We moor up then pop up to the restaurant to book a table for the evening and have a refreshing beer. (We need to help these places flourish on the canals so will just have to treat ourselves to another night out tonight.)
We then walk the dogs and have a quiet sandwich lunch. Glyn is feeling tired (why who knows; he hasn’t done very much). He takes a siesta and has a deep sleep until 3.330pm while Linda does all the chores.
At 3.30 he wakes up as the dogs also take off. Some deep thunder and then suddenly, wow, the heavens open. For 20 minutes it just pours down. Luckily we get everything necessary inside and batten down the hatches and windows without too much damage.
After that we take umbrellas while we walk the dogs, as well as when we go to the restaurant just 30 metres away. They aren’t needed.
The evening meal is very good except for sadly two flaws. It would have been an 8 really but with these flaws it is probably just 6. We are also beginning to appreciate our Yonne lockkeeper’s wine again, as with some breathing it matches easily what we get in restaurants. And so to bed after yet another dog walk.
Tuesday 26th April
We want to get to Panneçot by lunchtime and then Cercy la Tour by evening today. After yesterday’s race to Fleury we arrange with the lockkeeper to be at the first lock by 9am, so set off at 8.40 as it is about a mile away. There are 3 locks and 8 kms to Panneçot and then 5 locks and 14 kms to Cercy. In fact the run to Panneçot is very quick and easy and we get there by 11am. We arrange to be at the next lock by 1.15pm.
The run to Panneçot (and indeed now all the way to Decize) is in very straight and reasonably long sections (2 miles / 3 kms rather than just 1km). We are finally getting an idea of what speed we go at. We cruise normally at 1400 revs and this leads to just under 5mph / 8 kms which is the speed limit. Allowing for slowing for bridges, bends and boats (the number of which appear in a ratio of 3:2:1 in that order) we are doing about 4 mph / 6.5 kms which is quite reasonable speed.
We arrive at Panneçot knowing we have a very sharp turn in some tricky waters to avoid the junction with the river. We are going quite slow but the turn in is not marked and we see it only just in time. But we are able to manoeuvre just about adequately.
It is a nice little “port” a little like Chitry but without the liveliness of Chitry. In fact it is a camping and caravan park with associated facilities but including moorings, electricity and water for boats. It is very quiet and pleasant. The only people around are three workmen building a quite smart complex of presumably new facilities. Then a lady appears about 11.45 who starts fishing with a rod, but she has disappeared by 12.30.
We take the girls for a walk and find a beautiful wooded area they can run free in, though alas this turns out to be no more than 150m long.
We notice they have a pump-out machine. (Readers must be very fed up with this theme by now so it is the last mention we will make.) However it gives us a chance naughtily to investigate the hose and nozzle with no-one watching us. To see what exactly the French fitting is. We have also the fitting into our own waste chamber from the manual Lee pump. We discover this will clip into the French nozzle perfectly, although it clips onto the thread that screws back into the manual pump. Not a serious problem as we can always get another end like this, or also just tape over it to protect the thread. For us this a major find. From now on we stop worrying about pump-out.
We enjoy our stay at Panneçot. It is easy and restful, and we have time to make an internet connection, send off the first instalment of our boring log, and even have time to check the football results. Good win for Cardiff. We know we stuffed Derby a few weeks ago (apologies to Adrian Alsop) but why oh why did they have to give a 96th minute goal away to Norwich.
Any way, times up. Off we go on the 14 kms to Cercy. This is an easy run. The valley is flattening out now. The canal is Napoleonically straight (makes a Roman road look twisted). Unfortunately we have a strong Westerly breeze, almost notching up to a real wind, hitting us broadside. On the whole it is not too difficult to manage but at one lock we have to wait for two boats to come up (the first other boats we have seen today by the way) and holding the boat steady at rest and then turning her into the lock is not easy. As she goes in the lock she gusts to port side when we should have been starboard. The lockkeeper is fine though. “C’est tres difficile au vent avec une flute comme ça” he smiles (or at least something like that). So he sees our boat as a flute!
We pass the milestone saying 20 kilometres to the Loire.
We arrive in Cercy about 4pm. Other than the wind it has been easy run. Mooring up on pontoons is easy, with once again free electricity. We are at a park on the edge of town and so the girls can go for a quick spin.
Afterwards we wander off to find the town. We don’t really find it. This is interesting as our guide book seems to make more of Cercy than Chatillon. We think the Chatillonais should protest. There is one very long street in Cercy, about the length of Brinkworth, but none of the shops are inspiring or providing what we want. This is disappointing, but we must be positive as they are giving free electricity.
Cercy-la-Tour - Moored in the Mist
So a quiet night in Cercy, with a good homemade chicken curry, a few chores, a last walk with the dogs. Tomorrow we get to St Leger-des-Vignes, Decize and the Loire. We are both excited and saddened. We will have done the Nivernais. But do we really want to leave it behind. We have adopted a new refrain. When you leave a lock the eclusiers say either “a la prochaine” if they are working the next lock with you, or “au revoir” if that is the end of their stint. When they say “au revoir” we say “au retour”.
Wednesday 27th April
We set off early, 8.30am after all the usual early morning chores, to make sure that we can make St Leger-des-Vignes by 12 noon. We get to the first lock (after 7.7 kms) just after 9.30am as we advised the eclusiers yesterday. Unfortunately a hire boat is coming up stream and we are asked to wait five minutes, but this a French five minutes. 40 minutes later we get through the lock.
The countryside is widening out again, and changing. For the first time we see a fair amount of arable land, various greens of cereals we cannot identify, amid the lurid yellow of rape. But it does look pretty.
We see a heron which accompanies us for several kilometres. This is only the second heron we have seen.
We pass through Champvert which seems a very pretty village, but then actually more like a well-to-do satellite suburb, which is what it is. And after Champvert again a change, a sudden change, into a very industrial scenery with a massive factory probably over a kilometre long. We could now be on an English canal. We realise we are coming to the end of the Nivernais.
Just before St Leger proper we moor up just at 12 noon alongside a massive out-of-town shopping centre including a Carrefour, Lidl and Leclerc all with easy access from the canal. This has to be a restocking stop, which indeed it is, and we also manage to get a decent caddy to help us move some of the heavier shopping like dog food and beer.
After lunch we walk the dogs along the canal into St Leger proper. We find the cale seche (dry dock) which might be useful in the future but it unattended and looks forlorn. We meet various boats and boat-owners and chat about the different canals, but all but one are English.
At 3.30pm we have nominated to take the last lock out of the canal into the Loire proper in order to cross to the Canal Laterale de la Loire. This one of the very few places where you can actually get on the Loire proper. But the canal surface is three quarters covered with some form of weed. One of the boat-owners had earlier worried about the danger of weed around the propeller. It does not look a serious risk but nevertheless we proceed to the last lock very slowly. The last thing we want is to lose our propeller function on the Loire section.
We slip out of the lock and say a very sad goodbye to the Nivernais. This time it is “au revoir”. We will indeed come back again, and soon, and do it more slowly, and see Vermenton, and feast upon the gorge to the summit.
A strong wind has whipped up. It has been in our faces. As we turn into the Loire it adds to the complexities of handling the boat. But that is the minor part. The flow of the Vieille Loire coming from one side and the main Loire from the other make a real challenge to our turn. We now are turning upstream and hadn’t quite realised how strong the flow of the Loire was this far inland. We have moved up to 1400 revs but are not making much impact, though we are just about still going forward. We ramp the revs up to 2000. We start to travel. We master the flow from the Vieille Loire and now the wind behind us it assists rather than delays us. A relatively easy if speedy passage across the front in Decize, under the Loire bridge and then cross channel to the entrance lock into the port basin. The channel to and under the Loire bridge is well marked. The channel after that is not marked at all. But the physical features make it fairly obvious. Just less than fifteen minutes and we are “pulling the chord” to go into the lock.
This really does work like clockwork. The lights switch from red to red and green, the lock gates open, the lights go full green and we can sail in. This lock is deep. Deeper than any we have done before (certainly going up stream), including the Thames lock at Limehouse. The water rise is 4 m and there is probably 3m of wall above that. No question of climbing the lock walls. Riser bars are inside the lock into which warps (mooring ropes) can be slotted to help control as the water seeps in and the boat rises. The lockkeeper is superbly helpful.
We enter the basin. We had wanted to find Crown Blue Line here for you-know-what. The wind however is even stronger and very squally in this wide open basin, and it is harder to control the boat here than on the Loire. We should not have bothered with that manoeuvre as Crown Boats don’t have what we want and we need to go into the exit lock to the Canal Laterale. With the wind gusting broadsides, getting back to that line is fun. However the lockkeeper hails us in so that we do not need to go back to “the chord”. We are in and out of the lock in 10 minutes and turn to moor on the canal.
There is really nothing here except a mooring. The port itself was itself was also bleak in the middle of new development which seemed well behind that at Briare, and likely to be bare with not too much character when finished. Also it is a good way from the town with no shops etc of its own.
We moor up and there is another boat next to us. Of course as so often the Egret out of Scarborough is English owned and English crewed. They think Decize is a great place. This is only our second visit and we haven’t got past the g-r in “great” yet, so we’ll have to give it a better try tomorrow. Meanwhile more exploration of footways with our four-legged friends.
Thursday 28th April
A quiet day. The dogs get a nice long walk and then we have a leisurely breakfast. There is a boat festival here in Decize at the end of July and we are thinking of coming down then, after the Malmesbury Twinning visit to Gien. We pop into the VNF office right next to our mooring to see if they have information. They are extremely helpful but we need to go to the CCNS (Conseil des Communautés de Nievre Sud). So we will go into town, which is a mile walk there and the same to return, investigate the festival and explore the town for ourselves.
The CCNS are very helpful. However they are not organising the programme. We need to visit the Tourist Office for that, and they show us where that is. Yes but they are making bookings for mooring reservations but only in the Port, and only for boats up to 15m long (we are 18.3m). No, reservations for boats over 15m will not be possible, though moorings in the Loire, on the Laterale or at St Leger on the Nivernais should be easy to make. Well at least we know we can’t reserve a mooring.
We go on the Tourist Office. Sadly they are out of programmes for the festival and there won’t be a reprint before June. Well at least we know the known unknowns!
We decide to visit the Town Centre. The centre itself is very nice and alive with small shops, though the approaches are quite sad in parts. There seem to be several excellent charcutiers. We buy some homemade moussaka (not usually found in France) for our evening meal. It turns out to be very good with a particular soft spicy taste we can’t quite identify but is very good.
Decize is worth a visit, but we are not raving. We walk back to the boat. We cannot identify any of the Roman Decetia. Perhaps Jean-Michel could show us the tell-tale signs if he were here.
We have told the VNF we have decided to move again this afternoon, not wait until tomorrow, and will be at next lock between 13.30 and 14.00. No problem they say. “Of course, you don’t want to travel tomorrow, you will want to watch the marriage” they say with a twinkle in their eyes. “What marriage?” we ask with a similar twinkle. “Well the marriage in England which everyone in France will be watching” they say. “But this is Republican France” we say. We all have a good laugh, and make our goodbyes.
We doubt we’ll see much of the marriage tomorrow. We don’t have a French TV licence!! But we do wish them well. Whatever one’s views of monarchy they seem a very nice and well-suited couple.
Well, au revoir Decize. We are now on the Laterale. The last stretch. Homeward Bound to Briare.
No comments:
Post a Comment