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| Workmen replacing the painted railings |
14.7ºC Sunny and very hot 35ºC outside but a
cool breeze made it feel less. Set off at 9.35am. More of the bank had been
repaired with concrete edging. The first boat past was a small Dutch cruiser at 10.10am. Workmen were replacing the ornate fencing along the aqueduct
which must have been taken away for painting, sprucing up one of Eiffel’s great masterpieces the Briare aqueduct. Loads of boats were moored in Briare along the canal (and no
doubt many more down
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| Painted railing and temporary barrier |
the three locks into the town (the canal that was built before
the aqueduct) as it’s a very popular historic town. As we went past the top
lock of the flight down into the town, the keeper came out to wave “which
direction” – we indicated that we were going straight on, not visiting the town
by boat today. At the junction with the old canal ours changed from the Latèral
à la Loire to the canal de Briare. Now tree lined both sides it was cooler and
the water had turned a deep peaty brown. Lock 5 Vernon was
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| Briare church from the aqueduct |
automatic - but worked
for us by a very chatty young lady. We started off well – she was holding a
pole with a hook on it on the right hand side of the chamber for our rope, but Mike went up the
disgustingly muddy ladder on the left with our centre rope. The rods to
activate the lock were on the right and also on the box at the top there were buttons, red
and green, to press instead of lifting the rods. She pressed the green, (red is
the emergency stop button, equivalent of the red rod). Water came bubbling up
from the bottom of the chamber, initially on the right but as the lock filled it changed to the left and the boat moved over to the right. There had been no useful
bollards on the left and, as the boat changed sides, Mike slung
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The old canal built before the aqueduct
which took boats down to cross the Loire |
the rope across
and walked round. She said she would carry on in her car to the next, 6
Courenvaux, which was only 1.5kms further on. It was ready when we arrived and
this time she took the rope and put it around a bollard for us – but in totally the wrong
place as there wasn’t one opposite where the centre rope was attached. Talking
to the keeper she said that lots of people don’t bother with ropes. OK we’ll do
the same, it’s not really doing anything, just complying with the
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The Briare aqueduct - note that the
decorated column on the right is missing its green bits |
regulations.
It was 11.50am when we left the lock and she said she’d see us at the next
after lunch at 1pm. 2kms into Ouzouer-sur-Trezée where there was a pleasant
mooring next to a car park. We tied up and had some lunch. There was a large
cruiser moored there too, German we thought, but no signs of life when we set
off into lock 7 Ouzouer at 1pm. We rose ropless, effortlessly. The little river
Trezée was right alongside on our left, separated from the canal by a stone
wall. The girl set the lock working (she said she has to work the lock as they
have to maintain a flow using a feed
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| Lock 5 Vernon |
paddle at this lock) A man in a van
arrived and set off up the towpath. 1.8kms to lock 8 Moulin Neuf – first one
that we worked ourselves, I went to the bows and lifted a muddy green rod (well
the top bit was green, everything below the water level when the lock was full
was a dark brown shade of mud) Up 3.6m ropeless. Less than 1km to the next,
lock 9 Les Fées (the fairies!) Our man in a van hit the button for us before he
drove off to the next. Up another 3.4m and only 300m to lock 10 Notre
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| Weir into the river Trezee below lk 8 Moulin Neuf |
Dame.
Again, the keeper pressed the button for us. This one was deeper at 3.9m. The
keeper gave us a thumbs up and we went on to lock 11 Challoy and I lifted the
rod. The river alongside had been turned into a beautiful large lake – now a
feature of this area. The keeper was at the top lock 12 Gazonne and worked the
lock for us. Told him we were going to stay for the weekend on the summit pound
and go down the locks on Monday. We tied up by the lakes just beyond lock 12 at
2.45pm. It was very hot (max at
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| Water into the canal from river Trezee below lk 8 Moulin Neuf |
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| Lock lights at 9 Les Fees |
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| Moored on the summit abv lk 12 Gazonne |
37 degrees outside - a bit cooler in the cabin) and we were glad to finish putting stuff away and
setting up the TV dish and be in the cabin with a fan recirculating the air.
Four boats came past heading for lock 12 and went down two at a time.
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