Canalling In France (2012) The Low Road Home – Where No Others Dare (5-24 September)

So 5^th September arrives.  All works done.  Boat absolutely Bristol fashion.  Yesterday Maurice and Cosette moored alongside also wanted to make almost the same journey as us, back to Chatillon-sur-Loire but they had to check whether the beautiful southern route over the Nivernais could take them.  Alas they draw 90cm and one pound (bief) on the Nivernais near Coulanges can only take 80cm.  They will have to go North via the Seine and the EDF Power Station.

We check for ourselves.  No, if you only draw 60cm they say you can get through.  It will be tight and slow but you can get through.  “We guarantee it” says the VNF lady.  “Really guarantee” we query? Well almost, she says.

So on Wednesday afternoon we set off – the quieter Low road, up the River Yonne to Auxerre, and then one more journey up the beloved Nivernais.  We only leave after lunch and moor up at Gurgy on the river, just north of Auxerre.  This is a beautiful little village and excellent mooring on the open river.

The next day will be a long one.  We will go straight through Auxerre and up the Nivernais to Vincelles, 22 kms and 13 locks in all.  It is lovely day and again we make good progress. The skyline in Auxerre is always wonderful, but on we go.

Auxerre Cathedral on the Skyline

Alas at the first lock into the Nivernais no-one is to be seen or heard.  We hoped to be through before midday but it takes 20 minutes to raise the lock-keeper and then he is only letting two boats downstream.  We will have to wait until 1pm, and then share with the trip boat from Auxerre.  An auspicious welcome.

The boat trip arrives right on time.  We are 18.3 metres and she is 20.  The lock is 38.5.  But you can both fit in, says the lock-keeper.  He is right, if you like being squeezed against lock gates and another boat.  We do it, but the rear gates won’t close.  It is not our lengths but a piece of timber jammed jamming on the gates.  30 minutes later we are able to get through.

The trip boat, with passengers taking lunch, was meant to get to Vaux.  We share 4 locks with it, great fun, and then she turns back.  We pass through Vaux, sad to lose them as we hoot our goodbyes, but pleased to have a bit more space.  The waterfront at Vaux looks beautiful.

The Waterfront at Vaux

We cruise on down.  Did we notice this area so much on our very first voyage in France, or were we more focussed on the boat.  This is wonderful scenery as we approach the hills at Bailly.

The Hillsides at Bailly

Beneath these hillsides are the most wondrous wine caverns.  Alas we have been here several times, but always near lunchtime when they are not open, as when we visited last week.  And now we do not have hours to spare.  Other boaters keep telling us what we have missed, though the cellars at St Bris up in the hills, where the wine comes from, are also interesting.

The Caves at Bailly

We moor up at Vincelles.  This is a nice village with good facilities, and Vincelottes on the opposite bank of the river adds to the glory.  Both well worth a visit by car, bike or boat.  And walking the dogs here is a pleasure

Morning Mist at Vincelottes

The next day our target is Chatel Censoir.  We want to get to and past where the breach in the canal is as soon as we can.  If we have to turn back, the better we know the sooner.  We miss out the beautiful turn up the Curé to Vermenton, which we visited last week, and head straight on.  We remind ourselves again how lovely this valley is.  Essentially the canal here is really a navigation, constantly intertwining with the upper reaches of the river Yonne.  The different pounds each had a flavour of their own, and the locks all have a charm of their own.  One even has a mermaid to greet us. (Morverc’h is the Breton for mermaid.)

The Mermaid Greets Us -  But is It to Land or Sea?

On the way the messages about getting through the pound at Crain-Coulanges get direr.  We pass an Australian who says he only draws 60cm but has been turned back.  Then a young lock-keeper assures us nothing can get through.  We telephone the VNF lady at Corbigny again.  Her name is Marie. No you can get through she says.  But wait, I’ll call Eric at Clamecy to be absolutely sure.  Eric comes on the phone.  How wide are they, he asks.  OK, at 60cm and 3m wide they can get through, he assures.  So we tell the young lock-keeper, who is still not sure.  Be it on our heads!

Should he have said that?  For next we see a lovely lady enjoying the sun and – believe it – knitting on the canal bank.  Is the Tricoteuse a good or bad sign in France!!??

The Tricoteuse – Hopefully not a Sign for Mme Guillotine

We pass through Merry and the beautiful rocks at Saussois.  Two coach loads of German tourists are enjoying the scene.

The Rocks for Climbers at Saussois

But others merely want to bathe their weary feet!

Dangling Toes Below the Rocks

We reach Chatel Censoir in good time and find a good mooring.  This little port is seething with boats, but alas many which cannot now go any further south.

In the morning walking dogs we meet Terry from the Renaissance – another English-style Widebeam, though he is 12 ft wide.  He saw us arrive yesterday and wonders if we too are planning to attempt the pound at Crain. Yes, we say, and we have double- and treble-checked it is OK.  We agree to go together.

At the first lock prior to the troublesome pound we meet the student teacher who was the eclusieuse last Sunday when we came to make a recce visit.  She is pleased to see us, or really to see the dogs again.  And excited that we are going to try to get through. Then she is joined by a more experienced eclusieuse who will see us through the Bezy-Crain pound.  She is cheerful, funny and hearty, and pleased to see some boats to make the journey.  She’ll watch us carefully, she says.  But go very slowly even if it takes an hour (to do 1.4kms!) and stay in the middle of the pound!

We enter the pound.  The water is really low.  It should be at the tops of the wooden fence but is well below the bottom.

With This Little Water, Will We Reach Coulanges?

Straight and Narrow, but Long Way to Go

If We Can Make That Bridge We’ve Done It!

It takes half an hour.  We touch nothing, though at one point it feels like rolling a stone uphill, and we get through.  The flowers at the lavoir in Coulanges are a welcome sight.

The Flowered Lavoir at Coulanges

From Coulanges the Renaissance takes the lead and we follow her back down on the river (Yonne) to head into Clamecy, one of the most beautiful towns in the Nievre.  Heading up the river to the lock was a delight, with the relief that we had passed Coulanges and did not have to go all the way back to the northern route via the Seine.

Following the Renaissance into Clamecy

In the harbour another wonderful surprise, we are moored alongside a group of folk singers and dancers who practise continuously on the top deck.  Others may get bored with this.  To us it is a delight.  The leader (cap backwards) is a Breton, but now based at Marseilles.

Dancing the Bourée On Board Ship

We spend two nights in Clamecy, just relaxing.  The second day is a book fair.  That afternoon / evening Jeremy, Corine and Agnes drive over from Chatillon-sur-Loire.  We look around the the book fair and the town. We had not been in the cathedral before – small but beautiful.  Returning one of the book fair stallholders has had her electric cable trapped under a car and she cannot pack up.  She gives a lesson in French expletives we do not alas need, but Corine certainly wishes we were not hearing.  But Glyn’s language would be as bad if it was happening to him.  Then we have an excellent meal and discover two local wines –Tannay (white) and Irancy (red) which were extremely good.  We say goodbye at 2300 and Agnes who is “Sam” now has over an hour’s drive back to the Loire.  But it was beautiful evening with them.

And next morning we are off to Corbigny.  The passage is an interesting mixture of primary industries – forestry and extraction – and beautiful countryside.  Judge for yourself which you prefer!

Hills as they used to be in the Welsh valleys

Cattle grazing in the meadows

Just look at those trees

We pass through Chitry where there is no mooring and moor the night at les Granges outside Corbigny.  It is a ghost town.  One old hulk of a tanker and nothing else at all.  It is a Locaboat base.  We can only assume that with the canal effectively closed above Clamecy they have closed early for the season.  Glyn cycles the 4kms into Corbigny which is a spritely little town, and gets all that is necessary.

Next day (12 September already) we head for the summit.  The gorge is again wonderful, though not as beautiful as in May last year.  We think it’s more the time of year than the second time around – but it is still beautiful. The trees are still wonderful, and then we reach the summit to go through the tunnels over to Baye.  The flags are out – but nothing Welsh, Cornish or Breton!

Trees adorn the gorge to the summit

The Flags are Out

And then we pass through the tunnels to the wide lake at Baye.

Emerging from the Tunnels

The Wide Expanse at Baye

We don’t like mooring at Baye – too open and exposed, and the mooring at Bazolles we used last year just below the summit is now definitely “private”.  We are getting stuck for somewhere to moor, and dusk is coming in on us.  We finally find somewhere we can moor up, even if a long way off the bank, just before the locks at Chavance, and it turns out to be an ideal spot to walk the dogs.   And tomorrow we are off early down to Chatillon-en-Bazois.  Now take this slowly.  The bend into the town is ferocious, and we don’t want to hit the bridge again.

We moor in the town just beside the chateau.  We are staying two nights as Kevin and Kelly are passing through on their way from the Midi back to the Channel (Manche).  We have an excellent evening but why is it we do not take pictures when friends are with us (neither here nor at Clamecy)?  Must do better next time.

The Chatillon at Chatillon (en Bazois)

And so on down to Decize.  After Chatillon the countryside is pleasant but less interesting.  We moor overnight at Panneçot, which is lovely spot and then on down to Cercy where we pass horse trekkers gently enjoying the canal just like us.  From Chatillon we have locked together with Tom and Jo – two Californians who try everything to escape America.  They have sailed the world, and now have to resort to little boats down the beautiful canals of France.

Lock keepers do keep lovely gardens

The peaceful marina at Panneçot

A horse is as a good as a boat

But they prefer their freedom

Cercy-la-Tour – one of the best kept locks

Guarded by the White Madonna

And so we go on down to the Loire at St Leger and Decize.  Now it’s cows on the towpath, but they are much worried than we.  At St Leger we moor outside the enormous Carrefour and do all the re-provisioning.  Glyn has to find a Labo for tomorrow but is the other side of town, so on the second day we decide to cross the Loire and moor on the Canal Lateral. We go out on to the river with Tom and Jo in front of us.  Is it that their boat is low powered, that they just like slow sailing, or are just sight-seeing?  

Any way they go very, very slowly.  As we turn broadside on to the flow of the river with the weir just downstream from us (OK – a hundred metres) Glyn is very keen to complete his turn and get his bow facing upstream, but Tom is just very relaxed in front of us.  After five minutes we are heading upstream, they are meandering along the banks into town.  We wave a long goodbye and head for the lock into the canal.  Here another long wait as we try to operate the automatic pull to close the gates.  But all in all it’s only half an hour.

Finally heading upstream on the Loire

Next day at 0815 Glyn heads off on his bike to find the Labo in Decize.  Blood tests in France are such fun.  But when he gets there it has moved.  A friendly neighbour explains the complicated route on bike (with shortcuts up one-way streets).  Not too far on bike – about 3kms or 2 miles.  With one more stop to check the route he finally gets there at 0915.  The new Labo is exactly opposite where we moored at St Leger.  And now 5 kms back and 10 more back and fro for the results this evening.  Ah! Well. It’s all good exercise even if rather urban and traffic congested.  But the people in the Labo are excellent and extremely helpful. 

Decize is a lovely town which is growing on us.  It is also the birthplace of Louis Antoine St Just –  not Glyn’s most favourite French revolutionary, who he feels led Robespierre astray.  But nobody wants a history lesson.

So now (18 September) we are on the home canal and back to Briare.  We won’t say too much.  We’ve done this several times before.  But we love Fleury and Cours-les-Barres, and the approach to Sancerre.  

Photo:  059 One again the approach to Sancerre.

And finally on our way “home” to Briare for the winter.  At Hautes Rives between Chatillon (sur Loire) and Briare, as if to complete the circle, we bump into Maurice and Cosette who had to come the northern route from Migennes as they had too much draught for that waterless pound at Crain.  And they are with Jacques Mougeot, also winterising his boat, who with Denise once stayed with once in England in the late 90s, and perhaps was part of re-stimulating our interest to canal in France.  We stop and have lunch with them.  What a fitting end to the year.

Back at Briare we winterise the boat, see lots of friends around Gien, Coullons, Briare etc., and finally we get together for a "going away" dinner with various boater friends who winter at Briare -Greg and Celia (on the Vrouwe Catharina) who did all the organising, Charlie and Marianne (Moondance), ourselves, Steve and Marie (Eos), Peter and Linda (Elsie May) and John and Judy (Vivienne) from Queensland whom we had not met before.  Also a colleague who worked for the BBC passing through by car to his boat in the Midi.  Then off to Mortagne-au-Perche, Ouistreham and England.  Autumn and Winter in England can be lovely too. Well, normally!  See you next year.