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!
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| Canal Lateral a la Loire on a grey rainy day |
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| Crossing one of the many aquaducts |
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| An artisinal brewery |
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| 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!
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| A horse-pulled caravan, with its huge strong horse. |
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| 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.
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