Canal Lateral de la Loire and Canal Roanne

Plant sale at Arboretum Balaine, near Villeneuve sur Allier

When you leave the Nivernais you enter the Canal Lateral de la Loire at Decize and from the fully automatic lock at the new port head East or West.

We headed East towards the Canal du Centre, but before that we had a shortish stretch on the Canal Lateral de la Loire and we decided to take the short cruise down the Canal Roanne and back.

Before leaving Decize, as we had the car, we visited the absolutely beautiful Arboretum Balaine and were lucky enough to be there on a weekend when there was a heritage plant sale. Unfortunately it was overcast and drizzly.

Here are some highlights of the cruise from Decize to Digoine and the one to Paray le Monial taking in the canal Roanne on the way.

Romanesque Church on the hil at Iguerande

Iguerande Church Nave

Charolais cows drinking from canal Roanne

Bourbon Lancey - a town 10km from Canal Roanne.  We cycled there.

Church Bourbon Lancy.  Town Pretty deserted, many closed shops as always around here.

Another lovely cow looking at me on an evening walk from an attractive mooring at Lamenay-sur-Loire.

Industry and working barge in distance near Digoin

Canal bridge over River near Digoin.  But not the one over Loire at Digoine,

Cafe at Marcigny near Chambilly Canal Roanne.

Romanesque Church Chambilly

Second part of Nivernais. From Marigny sur Yonne

Chatillion en Bazois Chateau

The second part of the Nivernais, from Marigny to Decize took 5 days.  We cruised for about 4 or 5 hours each day and moved every day.  We needed to get to Decize where we were going to do our exam with Tam and Di Murrell. This has given us the qualification to cruise the German waterways. 

This part of the Nivernais Canal makes it's way through Nievre, the most rural part of Burgundy.  The landcape is attractive, but is so sparesly populated that the towns and villages are bereaved of life.

Decize is one such town, and the new marina is away from he main centre and is pretty uninspiring.  Not the place I would have chosen to spend 4 nights, but we had the course to do and we also collected the car with the help of Steve who runs the port at Marigny, and were able to leave in the car park by the capitaniere in Decize for the remainder of our trip.

The main interest in this part of the Nivernais is the Sardy staircase and the following series of tunnels.
Photos are below

Me outside Pottery at Ecluse No 2 of the Sardy lock staircase.

Port Brulee Lock Cottage.  Top of staircase.

Cafe/Art Ecluse at Sardy Staircase

Port Brule top of Sardy Staircase near water source.

Going through the cutting at La Colloncelle

Bridge over cutting

Vauban's Tower

We are moored with another boat at Sardy at the base of the Nivernais lock staircase.  16 locks in short succession.  We moored here at 4pm, had an early supper and then went on our bikes to look at Vauban's Tower. This is a prominent feature in the landscape, not visible from the canal but we have passed it many times by car and I wanted to take a closer look at the vestiges of the home of Vauban, before he moved to Chateau Bazolles near Corbigny.

Vauban's Tower - the place Vauban lived before he was famous.

Julian near entrance where owner has thoughtfully stick his postbox in front of the information sign - something tells me he doesn't really want visitors peering up his drive.

Scrubbling the boat and a walk

Julian's legs outside the bistro at our over wintering port Marigny-sur-Yonne

Here is Julian enjoying a well deserved doze after a morning washing and scrubbing down 6 months of grime and green slime off the boat. Thankfully not too many spiders decided to make Quercy their home over the winter, or maybe it's just too early for them to come out. In St Jean de Losne there were always many of two different kinds of boat spiders

Marigny showing the bistro and lock bridge in the background and cleaned Quercy on the far bank.  The cruiser in the foreground has seen better days.

At around 9am the sun was slowly burning through the layer of ice covering the boat and I was out there with my hand brush and bowl of lukewarm water scrubbing away at the accumulated grime that builds up after a winter unattended on the canal bank.

Julian appeared huffing and puffing at the thought of using non power tools and mumbling that next year we would definitely get a pressure washer. I told him that was quite unnecessary and that a little elbow grease and very little detergent was what was required.  He then proceeded to make up a mixture that seemed to be made up mostly of detergent and settled down to a lot more huffing and puffing, interspersed by groans.

In our separate ways we both managed to clean half the boat and the results seem rather similar.  As the bistro was open (and always in need of custom) we rewarded our efforts with lunch.  Julian got strange looks when he ordered smoked ham and goat's cheese salad without the smoked ham, and even stranger looks when he ordered 'deux biere' for himself, he really should have mastered numbers one and two in French by now.

We are going into a very remote part of Burgundy where there are no shops for the next few days. There are no local shops here, just a bread van twice a week, so we went into Corbigny to the ATAC.  Julian was happy to drive home with the shopping and I walked back finding a little path through the woods.

Old iron bridge over railway

I was delighted to find my way back from Corbigny to Marigny along this path, marked by the helpful yellow lines on convenient trees or telegraph poles. Aided also by my map.

Pollarded birch along the track into the woods

The train looking like a monster racing through the wood

Beetle on the path

A flower growing in profusion along with anemones in the damper parts of the wood.  Also many violets and cow parsley.

Practising portrait mode on Rachel's camera

Steve came in for a drink with us on Quercy. His little boat had been craned out awaiting some replating.  I had tea as I had had a kir at lunch (makes cheap wine very palatable) so I stuck to tea.

Our first day cruising and after a misty start the sun burst through and stayed with us all day. The trees are not in leaf but hawthorn blossom is in its prime, bright green hawthorn shooting everywhere and whilst there are not bluebells or wild daffodils, the cowslips grow in proffusion.

We are moored with another boat at Sardy at the base of the Nivernais lock staircase.  16 locks in short succession.  We moored here at 4pm, had an early spper and then went to look at Vaubaun's Tower. This is a prominent feature in the landscape, not visible from the canal but we have passed it many times by car and I wanted to take a closer look at the vestiges of the home of Vauban, before he moved to Chateau Bazolles near Corbigny.

Spring, and our first trip to Quercy, is nearly upon us

Over the winter here in Moretonhampstead we have been enjoying Dartmoor and our surroundings

We had Rachel here for a month before she went to Berlin.  Here is Rachel, Coronel and Pumpkin! Lucy's horses.  Coronel is a beauty - an Andalucian stallion. Pumpkin a Shetland.  Pumkin is the boss in this field!

Our new fireplance and Tigger

Spare bedroom decorated with Colefax & Fowler wallpaper, and one of my quilts.

Seeing our lovely grandchild Sophie

Test firing lustre glazes in the kin.  I've finally cracked it.  760 degrees C is hit enough to make the gold lustre fuse to the glaze.


Plus visiting mum in Green Tree Court and crocheting together her lovely knitted squares to make tunics etc.
Here she instisted on trying on Rachel's skating helmet.

Simon came to visit.  We have almost finished the porch on our house.  Maggie will stay in it and look after the place and

Tigger while we are away.

Julian Winterising Quercy

Quercy sitting on mud at Marigny-sur-Yonne, next to Mornington Croissant!

Julian has made the trip by train to Burgundy to winterise the boat.  He took a tarpauline to put over the wheelhouse.  When he got there he fixed the a faulty pump by removing the built in fridge freezer and clearing out 6 years of gunge from around the filling hole of the grey water tank (after that is worked perfectly)  He then removed the starter motor ready for that to go and be repaired (that broke last time we were there, resulting in us being stuck in a lock and having to pull ourselves out amongst other things)  Then the central heating system packed up.  So having a barge is not all plain sailing!  Julian has also developed  bad cold en-route, so he has had to deal with this in between coughing and sneezing.  Meanwhile back in England, I developed a bad case of food poisoning whilst in Corfe Mullen with our friends Liz and Steve, who were quite worried and brilliant nurses.  Back home now with Tigger who was VERY pleased to see me.

Tarpaulin over Quercy

The lifting bridges of the Nivernais and general cruising the Nivernais

Whenever I see one of the lifting bridges on the Nivernais, I always think of the film 'The bridges of Maddison County' which is illogical as they look totally different, the Maddison County ones do not lift but are covered, and Julian and I are certainly no Meryl Streep or Clint Eastwood - he hasn't got enough hair!

Me manually lifting a bridge as the hydraulic controls were not working

Burgundy countryside near Marigny sur Yonne where we have left our boat for the winter

House with interesting shaped roof just up the road from where Quercy is moored for Winter

This is what our navigation charts look like

The beautiful Chateau Faulin by Lucy sur Yonne.  Not open during our time there unfortunately.

A picturesque lock and lock keepers cottage + cat.  Two lovely 'tortoise shell' collies not in photo.

Viewed from the other way

Clamecy

Top of Roches de Basseville near Clamecy with rock climber almost at the top on left.  Fortified farm below in valley beyond canal.

Clamecy one of the backwater canals and sluice

Clamecy is another of those medium sized French towns that thrived in a previous era, grew to a substantial size and then it's population began to contract.  That said if you squint and look at some of the bridges and waterways that surround and bisect the town (and ignore the dead flower troughs, dilapidated houses and plastic bottles and beer cans in the water), you could almost be in Venice on a quiet day - very quiet.

Quercy right, Luciole left

We are arrived here yesterday (Saturday) and found 3 lovely hotel barges, Luciole, Elizabeth II and Randle awaiting guests.  They don't hang around for long, even though this is the most substantial and historic town for a good many miles and certainly until you get to Auxerre. Elizabeth looked splendid as she departed this morning with their 6 American guests (all guests on hotel barges are American)  They arrived from Paris around 6pm yesterday, when after a sunny week it unfortunately decided to rain.  Not good when you have paid over $???? dollars per person for a 6 day cruise.  Anyhow they soon cracked out the champers and stood around chatting with the crew Peter and Sheena and their helpers under the graceful awning that Elizabeth has instead of a wheelhouse. A bit later we saw 4 guests brave a walk around Clamecy.  It was they only chance they would have to see it as at 8.30am this morning Elizabeth slipped her moorings and they were off.  At about the same time I noticed the owner of Randle arrive with a large bunch of flowers which were soon arranged in his wheelhouse - that was the clue that he had passengers this week too.  By the time we returned from our bike ride today Randle had disappeared.

Clamecy lock and swing bridge with Quercy in background

That left just Luciole whose crew had a night off last night and the boat to themselves (although I'm sure they had had a busy day preparing for their guests).  We can now see the 12 guests seated around the dining table and they will no doubt be keeping the 6 crew busy.  All the hotel barges, except Randle, will be headed north up towards Auxerre - only Randle is small enough to cruise further down the Nivernais canal (where we are headed) the locks become smaller and narrower and the bridges lower.

Quercy provided an attractive backdrop as the only other traditional 'barge' shaped boat in the slightly shabby (not chic) port area, surrounded by the ultra modern sleek plastic 'le boat' rental cruisers who were either moored beside us, or who toed and froed through the lock and swing bridge, with varying degrees of driving accuracy (I can talk!)

We have had a delightful cycle ride today back along the stretch of canal we passed through yesterday which is very attractive.  We walked up to Les Roches de Basseville from where there are spectacular views over the valley to the wooded hills beyond and to the canal beside which is a beautiful and impressive fortified farm near Pousseaux.

Fortified Farm Pousseaux

The cliffs themselves where extremely interesting shapes. A man and a bird.

Roches de Basseville

Roches de Basseville