Sept 17th and 18th Vanneaux

Just chilling.  

Not entirely true seeing Ian continued with his sanding and varnishing mission, and I made a heap of tomato sauce, which is now in the freezer, and did some cleaning of decks, fenders and windows.  Unfortunately, the deck is speckled with strange pinky/orange stains which just will not budge, not even with bleach.  It looks as if they have been caused by pollen or something similar falling onto the deck during the summer in Roanne.

We took a ride into the countryside along long straight roads between huge fields of 6 foot high corn.  We were surprised, and somewhat shocked, to notice that the water level in the canal downstream of the Vanneaux lock is now 50 cm lower than normal.  We had noticed that the sluices in the locks are left open at night running water through all the way from the Roanne canal to raise water levels further down.  Yesterday morning the Vanneaux lock was closed while a VNF team did some work on it, so no water was allowed to run through.  Could this possibly have caused such a dramatic drop in the water level downstream?

Ian has noticed some water in the bilge, not a great deal but you have to find out where it’s coming from, and the fresh water pump has been acting a bit strangely so that’s where he started.  Sure enough, a rubber o-ring on the inlet side was leaking and we don’t have the right size spare on board.  So off he went to the boatyard just 100m away, Entente Marine, which is run by an Englishman.  They chatted for ages!  Didn’t have the right size o-ring but he got a new plug in connector complete with o-ring for just €1.

I went for a ride into the village to visit the boulangerie (bought a baguette) and the epicerie/bar/restaurant where I bought a piece of cheese (Saint Nectaire, fermier).

And thank goodness it is cooler at last.

In the shade and sun screens in place, almost bare-able

Looking for a business opportunity? This VNF owned restaurant is up for tender to new management for just €2000 per year.  Excellent location, lots of passing traffic in boats, campervans and on bicycles

This was a pretty park in the spring, now the grass is non-existant

Les Vanneaux

It almost feels like autumn, and the leaves are falling thick and fast