Les Vanneaux to Beaulon

14 kms, 3 locks, 2.75 hours

As we fired up the engine and pulled in the lines to leave the quay this morning, the boat immediately behind us did the same.  We suspected that they were waiting for us to leave first, and they definitely did not want to be at the front of the lock.  They made a real hash of entering the lock, hitting the gate on the way in, then hitting their bow on one side before hitting their stern on the other.  Oddly, they had their fenders down so low that they didn’t offer any protection to the hull at all!  Even though we were at the front we had bow and stern ropes on bollards reasonably well placed, and the lockies filled the locks “doucement” so we had no problems.  I think the boat behind us had more, there was quite a bit of shouting between husband and wife, engine revving and bow thrusting!

Not something you expect to see alongside the canals.  A dead car yard.  but what kind of car is this?

We had just remarked that this canal has no escape routes for animals that fall in.  Not 10 minutes later we saw a small deer (roe deer I think) swimming across the canal.  It tried to climb out but the steel clad sides were too high.  As we approached, it started swimming back across to the other side.  We could see it could not get out there either but a couple of hundred metres away we saw a piece of concrete siding sloping into the canal.   We slowed to a crawl, keeping behind the deer, so that it swam away from us towards the concrete. Finally, it found the opening, gained its footing on the concrete and clambered out.  Poor thing must have been exhausted.  

At last it is going in the right direction

Whew, safe and sound

We also saw a coypu today, which managed to climb up the steel siding.  We have seen quite a few and they really are cute with their short blunt noses.  I read that they were imported into Europe to provide furs for the fur trade and when that all fell apart many of them were released into the wild and have become quite a problem.

We arrived at the lovely halte nautique just below Beaulon lock, and 1 km from the village of Beaulon, at 11.15.  It has water and electricity, all free.  It is also a popular campervan stop.

In the afternoon I rode into the village, locked that bike and strolled around.  It is a pretty village with a beautiful chateau, still privately owned.