Mably to Roanne

7 kms, 1 lock, 1.25 hrs

The last leg and we are now back in our home port of Roanne.

Last lock

Looking across the huge port to the town

The small marina next to the Port Captain's office where we have a berth.

Warm and sultry today: 17C when we left Mably at 10.00, with intermittent sunshine, and 20 C when we stopped an hour and 15 minutes later with dark threatening clouds building overhead.  We squeezed into our allotted mooring, stern onto the dock because the wind was picking up and wanted to have our bow into the wind and current.  Just as I was starting to do a spot of deck, hull and fender cleaning the rain came down – for once it didn’t happen when we were in the lock! 

And that's it for 2019.  We have 3 days to winterise the boat then we head back home until next spring.

1n 5 weeks:

370 kms, mostly backwards and forwards across the same stretch of water between Decize and Vanneaux

83 locks

72.3 engine hours

Artaix to Mably

26 kms, 2 locks, 4 hours

We were up with the sparrows this morning and left the quay at 8.15.  The sun was just rising and the light was beautiful.  Only 10C when we set off, it turned into a stunning autumn day.

The church at Artaix

Mist on the water in the distance and diamond sharp reflections

As we passed through the marina at Briennon 

The old crane at the marina

Briennon marina

the restaurant barge was pulling away from its mooring and heading in the same direction as us.  Groan, they cruise really slowly and we didn’t fancy sharing a lock with it.  Actually, I’m not sure we would fit in a lock with it as I don’t know how long it is but I’m guessing about 25m.  However we were about 15 minutes early for our 10.30 booking at the lock so we hung well back and when the lock came into sight the barge was already inside with the gates closed.  Phew!

We have stopped at a wild mooring next to a micro-light club where a tiny fixed wing plane landed during the afternoon.

Chambilly to Artaix

3 kms, 2 locks, 1 hour

We had a late start today because we were not intending to move very far and the first lock was just a few hundred metres from the mooring.  

A whirlpool close to the gates of the lock.  Very difficult entry.

The quay at the Artaix halte, in a wide basin alongside the canal

By 10.45 we had cleared both locks and Ian decided to make a pit stop at the quay near Artaix, which has free water and electricity, so that he could continue working on Rust Fix project.   He did all the grinding on Tuesday while we were underway and when we stopped at Chambilly he applied a coat of rust stop stuff hoping to be able to put epoxy filler on yesterday but  it rained on and off all day.  Today he had to reapply the rust stop and get the filler done, hence the stop in Artaix.  We had a mixture of sun and clouds in the morning and then proper sunshine in the afternoon.  Job done for today.  Sanding, refilling, more sanding, priming and painting still to come.

Rust spots ground out and waiting for filler, on the fore deck...

... and the aft deck

I went for a walk to an aquaduct which will cross later and found an interesting story:

When the canal was built in 1832-38 an aquaduct was needed to cross the valley of the river Arçon, a tributary of the Loire. It was too narrow for the barges to pass each other and was widened at the end of the century.  This structure was of bricks and mortar. In February 1933, during a thaw, a 100m section of the aquaduct collapsed releasing all the water in the 18 km long section between locks 3 at Briennon and lock 4 near Artaix into the valley.  Many barges were stranded on the canal bottom, 1 person drowned and all the barges in the port at Roanne were cut off.  It took just 4 months to design and build a much stronger aquaduct of reinforced concrete.

Photo of the destroyed aquaduct in 1933...

... and as it is today

We were intending to travel to Melay, a further 4 kms, but the free electricity here is too much of a draw (very useful for drying wet shoes with a fan heater) so we stay for the night and will leave half an hour earlier tomorrow.

8th October Bonnand to Chambilly

10 kms, 2 locks, 1.75 hours

Please note, we are still alive after a meal of wild mushrooms last night!

After another grey and chilly start, 11C when we left Bonnand at 9.30, the day warmed up considerably and by late afternoon it was 22C and sunny.

It is beginning to look quite lush again

The 7.2m high lock Bourg le Comte, view from the bottom....

... and view from the top

With just a short run today we arrived at Chambilly well before the lock keeper’s lunch hour.  This is a delightful place to stop.  Again it has a new quay with the promise of water and electricity to come (although there is already a push tap for water).

Future water and electricity point

In the village there is a boulangerie and about 2 kms across the river there is a town with 2 supermarkets and a brico (DIY).

With the weather dry and warm, Ian got out the grinder and dremmel to tackle the ever increasing rust problem.  Tomorrow it is supposed to rain most of the day so we will stay here then cover the remaining 33 kms to Roanne in 3 short hops.

Oct 7th Pierrefitte to Bonnand (Canal Roanne Digoin)

26 kms, 5 locks, 5.25 hours including 1 hour lunch stop.

Even colder today, 11C when we set off at 9.15.  Before that I went to the “Epicerie du Paradis” grocery store to buy a baguette and 2 slices of their wonderful paté en croute (a chunky meaty paté with pastry around it), then I stopped at the little epicerie on the main square just to take a look because the last 2 times we have been here it has been closed.  It also had a good selection of interesting looking patés and, just because I wanted to support them, I asked for 2 thin slices of paté de compagne.  The friendly man who served me, chatting away about boats, struggled to cut 2 neat slices from the remains of what had been a large loaf of paté, weighed the 2 slices I had ordered then put the remains of the loaf on top saying “I give this to you”.  It was bigger than the 2 slices I had ordered!

Canal Lateral a la Loire on a grey rainy day

Crossing one of the many aquaducts

An artisinal brewery

At the turn into the Roanne Digoin canal, a poster advertising the delights of Roanne

It was a longish day and we got caught in the mandatory hour long “déjeuner” for the lock keepers, but by then we had turned onto the Roanne Digoin Canal, known as “the tranquil canal” and rightly so.  Now that autumn has come we have noticed lots of mushrooms sprouting in the fields.  Ian spoke to a woman and her child her were collecting them and she showed him which are good to eat and which must be avoided.  We resolved to go foraging!

A horse-pulled caravan, with its huge strong horse. 

The tranquil canal

We stopped at the new quay at Bonnand, which has the promise of water and electricity in the future with most of the infrastructure in place but not yet in service.  There is a tap for water (free) but you cannot connect a hose and it works on the push to flow system.

On a walk to the Loire river Ian saw a farmer tending his cows in a field full of mushrooms.  He dashed back to get me and in my most polite French I asked the farmer if the mushrooms are edible.

Mais oui, very good, do you want to collect some? And he showed Ian how to tie up the gate when we were finished so the cows wouldn’t get out.  How kind and trusting.  Truly I think the rural French are the nicest people.  We came home with 1.5 kg of mushrooms!  

Two bonuses today: paté and mushrooms.  I think we should by a lottery ticket.

October 6th Garnat to Pierrefitte

22 km, 6 locks, 4.75 hours including 45 min stop

It is much cooler now, round about 10C when we wake up and 13C when we left at 9.00am.  By the time we stopped when the locks close for lunch it was raining and when we stopped at the port in Pierrefitte at nearly 14.00 it was only 14.7C.  That’s as good as it got.

Old lock keeper's cottage, now owned by someone who loves purple

Interesting gazebo

The huge Abbey de Sept Fons.  Still a working abbey with 90 monks. They sell their produce including a wonderful cheese.

We stopped for the lunch break just above the Besbre lock where we have been intrigued by a display of dolls and, to be honest, what looks like a lot of gaudy rubbish.  

There are dolls on each post, mostly gaudy barby dolls.

I wanted to take photos close up but it was pouring with rain.  There is an old man living alongside the canal who takes care of the place, but seems to always be dressed as gnome (it is the third time we have seen him).  Distinctly odd.

A hire boat came through Besbre lock soon after us, and the lockie had told us that we would be sharing the next with a second boat.  They stopped for the lunch break in Diou.  When we passed them on the way to the lock at the end of the lunch break there was no sign of activity.  The rain was still tipping down and we wondered if they intended to quit for the day.  When we got to the lock we tied up at the back, ready to move forward if they appeared but the lockie closed the gates immediately and let us through all on our own. Smile. 

October 4th and 5th Decize - Vanneaux - Garnat

16 kms, 4 locks, 4.5 hours, including waiting time

Taken yesterday, exiting the port at Decize onto the Canal Lateral a la Loire.  Turn right to Nevers, turn left to Digoin

A swan family we saw in the spring, now all grown up

The Dude with Dreadlocks and bad attitude.  Please excuse bad focus!

8.30 we left Decize and were waiting at the Saulx lock a few minutes before 9.00.  15 minutes later there was still no sign of the lockie so I phoned.  The chap I spoke to was most surpised that we were still waiting and said he would send someone.  Over half an hour later the lockie ambled up, took an age to park his car, ambled around for 10 minutes, and eventually opened the lock gates for us.  He took our lines, pulled us right to the front of the lock and opened the sluices at full tilt so we bounced around as if we were white-water rafting!  It was the same Dude with Dreadlocks from the evening before, I guess he was annoyed with us for changing our plans.

Another rainy day, and so chilly that the hats and gloves came out.  Our kind of weather; we were more than happy!

Because of the hold up at the first lock we could not get to our destination before the locks close for lunch at 12.00 so we tied up at the small waiting quay just below Vannaeux lock just 5 minutes after the hour.  However, it was operated by a much friendlier and more co-operative lockie and he called us into the lock 10 minutes before the end of his lunch break.

It continued to rain on and off for the rest of the day.  A hire boat arrived late in the evening and had to be pulled out of the lock by the lock keeper and punters.  Soon afterwards a mechanic turned up and got the engine going.

 

12 kms, 2 locks, less than 2 hours

This morning, grey and drizzly again but not so cold.  The hire boat left just before us so we shared the 2 locks with them to Garnat, one of our favourite stops.  

A cornfield, not yet harvested, and dark forbidding clouds

A pretty lock

Leaves alongside the canal turning bright red

And fields that were bleached white 2 weeks ago are now turning bright green

We arrived at 11.30 and I paid a visit to the boulangerie just 300m away.  Then we cleaned the fenders, hull and deck till the rain drove us inside. In the afternoon we took a ride to the funny ProxiMarche with its huge DIY section.