Friday 8th June 2018 Hautes-Rives to Summit above lock 12 16.6kms 8 locks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water into the canal from river Trezee below lk 8 Moulin Neuf

Lock lights at 9 Les Fees

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. 

Thursday 7th June 2018 Léré to Hautes-Rives 17.6kms 2 locks

Nuclear power station nr Belleville

14.6ºC Lots of clouds with sunny spells, hot again. A narrowboat went past heading uphill – its skipper just about managed to return our waves after Mike hit the horn button. Comes to something when the first nb we’ve seen moving in ages sticks his nose in the air! The UK replica DB set off before us, we left at 9.45am, 5kms to the first of only two locks. A British guy returning from the boulangerie with a pain stuffed under his arm paused to chat as we untied, his campervan was

Cornfield at Cheneviers

parked with others by the silo. Took photos of the steam rising from the twin cooling towers of the nuclear power plant at Neuvy-sur-Loire. Only one boat on the moorings at Sury (water and electric free). The canal was no longer hemmed in by trees with good views across the meadows and cornfields. Through Belleville, mowing machines working overtime to keep the grassy banks looking like striped lawns, lots of empty mooring and a slipway – just one moored boat, a British replica barge. The DB in front had just left lock 37

Notice on lockside at 39 Maimbray
forbidding the public access to the lock sides and gates

Belleville and a tjalk was about to come up. We hovered until the DB left the lock then the very pleasant chatty bearded keeper worked the lock for us – Mike shut one top end gate for him and opened a bottom end gate. Sunshade up as it was getting very hot again and there was only the slightest of light breezes. 3kms to our last downhill lock on the Latéral canal. Photo of a big cornfield and barns at Cheneviers. Should have taken a photo – our lock keeper at 38 Maimbray was thin,  white-

Old lock to the Loire at l'Etang

haired and bearded, wearing shorts and wellies (to guard against snakes??) and must have been in his eighties (we thought all VNF retired at 55 with a decent pension). He had a bit of a struggle to open a gate due to the flow of water that was running over a storm weir to our right. I don’t think he understood our French, but he smiled when we thanked him for working the lock for us and told him we were stopping before Briare and setting off again next day at 9.30am. It was 11.30am as we set off on the 19 kms long pound (what’s the opposite of a summit level?) which finishes on the far

Hotel boat Horizon II

side of famous Briare aqueduct. We’re not going that far today. The old chap had just shut the gate behind us and we’d been going for about five minutes when the next hireboat went past heading uphill, crew sitting out on the top deck under an awning, all waving. At Beaulieu there was an old silo with quay and weighbridge which didn’t look much used. In the town there were yet more moorings with free water and electric, again didn’t look much used. Passed a winding hole – which made us think – we haven’t seen

A heron about to take off

many of those on this canal. Then we saw a very welcome sight – the first moorhen we’d seen this year – but it quickly hid under the lower branches of an alder tree before Mike had even got the lens cap off the camera. Still going through Beaulieu when the next vessel went past, another cruiser. At the village of L’Etang there is branch to the Loire, a crossing that was in use until they built the aqueduct at Briare, a VNF sign said Navigation interompue – in other words it’s shut. Through a bridge with flood gates and into a narrower, tree-lined section of

Moored at Hautes-Rives

canal with stone walls along each bank and a long, repaired section of sloping concrete. A bit further on we were swatting clegs (small horseflies) as hotel boat Horizon II (a shortened converted péniche) went past, passengers and crew waving and shouting hello. Still following the old canal, which was below us as there were several locks down to the river, once past the concreted banks there were lots of places where the banks were badly eroded. Two VNF houses stood by another bridge with flood gates where the canal below us joined the Loire. There were moored boats on the old canal at the junction and Mike spotted there were water and electric posts. An Aussie-flagged cruiser went past which had just set off from the moorings in Chatillon. The moorings were choc-a-block, loads of boats including tjalk Miss Marple (seen years ago) and the new DB  and widebeam Waterman (sheeted up), plus there were now lots of parking places for campervans, most of them occupied, then the Le Boat hire base with only about half a dozen boats missing. On to an embankment and after a couple of bridges we moored at Les  Haute-Rives, site of the long-gone Berry Plaisance hire base. There were two permanent boats moored there, a DB (lived on by the looks of it) and a cruiser with a mailbox alongside it (not lived in, been left a long time by the looks of it). There were convenient rings to tie to. It was 1.30pm when we tied up. Mike got the shears out and trimmed the overhanging herbage to keep the marauding ants off the boat. Hot and getting hotter. 

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Herry to Léré 32kms 6 locks

An elderly Dawncraft with added wheelhouse
We had one of those once upon a time in the dim and distant past.

16.2ºC After heavy rain in the night it was grey and damp when we set off, more heavy rain later. A hireboat moored just below lock 30 (behind us) hurried to get untied and set off as Mike was getting ready to untie. (In the UK we have seen boaters throw ropes still attached to their mooring pins on board as we have come into view behind them).  We set off at 9.30am. 3kms to lock 31 Prée. The lock was ready with one gate open. The lady keeper

Sancerre

worked the lock one-handed as she was chatting on her phone all the time we were in her lock. 5kms to the next. The towpath was a jungle with lots of young trees along the edge. One hireboat went past heading uphill. Took a photo of an old Dawncraft cruiser moored by Champalais bridge that had a wheelhouse added which, unusually, looked OK (normally adding a wheelhouse to a cruiser ruins the lines of the boat)

The arm leading from St Satur to St Thibault

Lock 32 Grange was empty with one boat in it waiting for another to arrive. Another lady keeper and as this lock is mechanised she worked it from controls in a cabin on the lockside. The two hireboats came up and left then we went down. It was 11.15am, the locks close for lunch from 12 – 1.00pm and the next was 5.2kms, which at our

Boats moored at Ménétréol

normal speed of 6kph would have taken a little over 50 minutes, so we would have to waste a full hour –  we burned a bit of extra diesel by upping the speed to a dizzy 8kph. An uphill hireboat went past at St Bouize and another went past 1.5kms before the lock. We arrived at lock 33 Thauvenay just in time, Mike closed a gate (all manually operated, wonder why only 32 was modernised?) for the male keeper and we left on the 9.5kms pound smack on midday. A Dutch cruiser had

Railway viaduct near St Satur

just arrived below the lock but was out of time, the keeper had gone for his lunch. Took photos of Sancerre on its hill and lots of hireboats paused for lunch in Ménétréol and the railway viaduct that Mike would have liked to walk. More photos, the arm at St Satur which had a dry dock at the St Thibault end and a mooring that it calls a port-de-plaisance. Past the big

Church at Bannay

grain silos at St Satur and a long line of very smart houses by the road that runs out of St Satur alongside the canal. Noticed that the towpath was now a metalled cycle path, but there were no bikes in evidence today. Mike took several pictures of the church at Bannay and we had lunch on the move. Lock 34 Bannay was ready. We had a short shower of rain as we went through the lock. It stopped, but not for long as it poured down and didn’t

Moored at Léré

stop until we were tied up. 4kms to lock 35 Peseau which was ready and was half empty when a Canalous hireboat arrived and the keeper refilled the lock, the hireboat joined us in the chamber, not very often that we have gone up a lock backwards! Mike closed a top end gate and the skipper off the hireboat helped wind paddles and open a bottom end gate. The keeper was having trouble with his phone – he kept shouting "Allo! Allo!" at it, loudly! 4 kms to the next lock 36 Houards, where we gained another hireboat, which had set off to join us. The next keeper (with a red brolly) was very careful that there was enough room for the third boat before he wound paddles to empty the lock. He kept muttering to himself,  "I was only told there were two of you". The little Canalous boat stayed behind us but the other one decided to overtake – and once past our stern became stuck on the bow wave and couldn't get past – its steerer staring ahead, never looking left or right, didn’t say a word, and a bridge was looming. We hadn't altered our speed at all. Stop teasing the idiot! OK we slowed off and let him get past and through the bridge, no backwards glance, no wave of the hand, we were tying up just beyond the bridge anyway. We headed for the moorings at Léré and so did the little Canalous boat behind. The other hireboat managed to do a Timothy West and smacked into the piled bank on the bend beyond the moorings! What was that about? It didn’t stop. Mike had a look at the moorings, there was a high hedge of clipped beech between the mooring and a road plus the council depot. There was free water and electricity at the other end of the mooring so we untied and went back to a slot further back down the mooring to save having to run out two cables. It was 4.25pm. Time to get dried out.

Monday 4th June 2018 Cours-les-Barres to Herry 23.3kms 6 locks

A swimming rat.

13.5ºC Very hot with hazy cloud first thing then blue skies. Light rain late evening. The boats in front and one behind left before we did at 9.30am. One hireboat remaining on the quay. A pénichette went past heading uphill. Mike took a photo of a rat swimming unusually slowly. The hireboat from Cours caught us up as we arrived at Marseilles-les-Aubigny and we went down lock 25 Aubigny with it and also 25 Aubois (both mechanically operated, press buttons) – the chatty lock keeper cycling between the two. Mike asked if it was the same VNF

Boats moored at Marseilles-les-Aubginy

bike that was in use when we first came through in 1994, he replied that he had no idea as he’d only been doing the job for five years! An empty péniche called Anarka from Dunkerque aproached heading uphill, the hireboat slowed right down and Mike shouted Allez Allez! – you can’t do that when passing boats you’ll lose steerage! The two men and a woman on the peniche were all smiling and waving as they went past. (First commercial since the Saône). The hirebase below Aubois was

Empty commercial Anarka below Aubois lock

now just moorings, several DBs and cruisers and a DB on the dry dock. 2.8kms to the next and the hireboat found the “go” button and was soon in the far distance. Past the concrete works – still working. When we arrived at 27 Beffes the hireboat was on his way down in the lock and then two more came up. There were two VNF men working the lock, one got in a van and drove off leaving one to work us through. The hireboat we’d locked with was moored by the restaurant below the lock. 4.7kms to the next. I made a cuppa. A hireboat

Boats moored at Beffes

appeared behind us as we arrived at lock 28 Argenvières which had one gate open, so we went in and I made lunch as it was 12.20pm, still lunchtime. The hireboat stopped above the lock and the crew went in the bar/restaurant. When the VNF man in a van arrived at 1.00pm  Mike closed the gate behind us and the keeper emptied the lock, no sign of the hire crew. The keeper also did the next one 29 Rousseaux which was only 2.5kms further on. Another man in a van arrived. We set off on the 7.4kms pound, passing the slowest hireboat ever, which was

Boats moored at La Chapelle Montlinard

trundling along at about 2kph and far too close to the bank. As we passed the silos at La Chapelle Montlinard a small British replica DB went past heading uphill with a hireboat behind it. The moorings by the dry dock were filled with hireboats and ex-hireboats, plus two DBs and a cruiser outside the dry dock (which looked disused - we used that dock once in the dim and distant past). Mike took a photo of Chateau Gaillard in La Chapelle. Two uphill boats went past, a cruiser and a hireboat and we could see

Chateau Gaillard at Chapelle Montlinard

another hireboat in the distance behind us. Lock 30 Herry was ready for us with one gate open, so we went in and a new keeper worked the lock for us, Mike opened a bottom end gate for him as there was a Dutch cruiser waiting below. As we left we could see the hireboat was waiting above lock 30. We moored to bollards on the quay at Herry behind a very smart hotel boat called Colibri, click here for their website. Shortly after three hireboats came down the lock and went past. It was really hot. Put the electric fan on and dozed off. As the sun sank we shut the side doors and we could see

Moored at Herry

mayflies skimming past and the fish feasting on the ones that got too low.

Friday 1st June 2018 below Guétin to Cours-les-Barres

Bridges - new on left and on right old canal to river crossing
before the lock and aqueduct were built

14.1ºC Overnight rain, grey skies, much cooler. Set off at 9.55am knowing we weren’t going far and wanting to arrive after the boats moored at our destination had left (we’d been for a drive to Cours the night before and there were two hireboats and an ex-hireboat there). No one else on the long quay at Guétin save the permanent moorers. 5 kms to our one lock of the day. The first hireboat from Cours went past just after we’d set off. Took photos of the old route to cross the Loire before they built the

Old lock house at 24 Laubray

aqueduct and Guétin staircase. Mike phoned the next lock, no reply so he had to leave a message. When lock 24 Laubray came into view we could see there was a young lady keeper working it – it was empty so she was filling it. Charming and chatty, she said she’d hadn’t had Mike’s message but knew we were coming as the keeper at Guétin had seen us set off and phoned her. She said there was another boat to come uphill so it was a toss-up as to who would arrive first. The second hireboat appeared as the lock was almost empty, so Mike hopped off (the

Top lock of the Givry branch (closed)

lock only had a 1.4m drop and there was a convenient ladder anyway) and gave her a hand by winding one gate open. Only 4kms to the mooring. Trees were still wet from the overnight rain and occasionally we had views to the east between them of the little hills of the Cote de Nivernais. An ex-hireboat with an Aussie flag called Joie de Vie went past heading uphill. Shortly after we arrived at the quay, one ex-hireboat, then a big gap with signs saying that the space was reserved for a boat called Anna-Maria IV who had regular four-

Moored at Cours-les-Barres

day stops on the quay – but the next was not until the 7th June and we’ll be gone on Monday. At the far end there were three “dead” boats. It was midday as we tied up. A campervan crossing the bridge behind us came to a stop and drove down on to the towpath then its crew came over to chat with Mike – they were Czech from Prague and delighted to see a narrowboat. Lunch then Mike decided to collect the car from Guétin while it’s not raining and in case we fancy a trip out over the weekend.  A sign on the bank

Prohibition notice at Cours

Flowers on the boat roof

forbids any DIY, no painting, drilling, etc, etc. Mike connected our power cable as there is free electricity and water here – might be able to catch up with the washing and the batteries are in dire need of a full charge. 

Tuesday 29th May 2018 Chevenon to below Guétin 17.5kms 1 staircase (2-rise) lock

Top lock of the Nevers branch

19.9ºC Sunny with hazy clouds, muggy, thunderstorm and torrential rain around 4.30pm. Mike turned the boat using ropes and the slight flow, then we set off at 10.55am to do the remaining 17kms of the 21kms pound. The cycle path was busy, as was the minor road on the left of the canal. The road went over a bridge to our right and was beyond the cycle path and therefore a bit quieter. Fed up with the amount of insect bites we’d had over the last few days, so we resorted to applying insect

Hireboat at the junction with the Nevers branch

repellent. It works very well and although the bugs still try to land they don’t like the smell and buzz off! Otherwise it was a good day for insects – ladybirds, black bees, and a bee hawkmoth took a fancy to the flowers on our pigeon box. We were overtaken by a Le Boat hire boat, first overtaking boat since leaving base. Ten minutes later we passed it circling round in the junction where the two lock branch descends to Nevers and the Loire (the river is inaccessible as it is un-navigable these days).

New VNF signs - not in kms now -
 it tells hireboaters how many days!

There is a suspended pole to pull to operate the locks but as it didn’t seem to be working and it was 12.10pm we suspected that they would be stuck there until after lunch at 1pm. We took photos as we passed them. Under the motorway and there was an overpowering stink as we passed a field that had recently been sprayed with muck. Just beyond was the mooring at Plagny and people were sitting at picnic tables, eating lunch and ignoring the pong. One Nichols hire boat was moored at the corner of the layby, all of its ropes around one bollard, boat deserted, crew off to lunch. Looked like most of the Nichols boats were at base at the other end of the layby. An old yacht with a red hull was moored under walnut trees before the two bridges at Challuy. A DB was coming towards us so Mike slowed off for it to come through the far bridge as it was péniche width bridge, then we passed him in the wider railway bridge closest to us. It had a very smoky engine and a skipper who didn't seem too pleased at us passing under a bridge! Bags of room. Not often seen alongside canals, there was a large vehicle breakers yard at Le Pont Carreau. Several cars and vans were red rusty after being burned out. There was a roving bridge at Gimouille where the towpath changed sides. A large square-fronted hotel boat called Deborah went past, its

Old crane at Gimouille

steerer on the roof (must have to duck when they go under bridges – Mike said he thought it had a hydraulic wheelhouse). A DB was moored in the layby at Gimouille and a replica Loire sailing boat. Part of the layby was reserved for hotel boats. The water in the very wide section that followed was going every which way after the slow hotel boat had churned its way through it. Posts marked the fact that it was silting up. A sharp right turn, under a bridge and back to standard canal width leading to an aqueduct over the river Allier, a big tributary of the Loire, at the end of which is the deep staircase two-rise of Le Guétin. The light on the end of the aqueduct went to red. We hovered a short while, got a green and went slowly over the aqueduct by which time the lock was full and the keeper pressed the button to open the gates and we went into the top chamber. He asked where we were going – in the layby below, hoping the weather will be good enough to finish off our painting – he gave Mike the phone number for the next lock when we’re ready to move on. A man in a suit was

Aqueduct over the river Allier

taking photos of my roses! Rope on to go down the first chamber but the sloping walls on the lower chamber had no recessed bollards and neither of us felt we ought to climb the shiny new ladders, so we dropped down with a stern rope on the ladder,  no problems. Waved Au’voir to our lock keeper. There was a trip boat waiting to go up as we left. We moored as far from the busy road bridge over the tail end of the staircase as possible (noisy) passing the DB from Southampton which had been moored in front of us a couple of days earlier. Three cruisers were moored in front. It was

River Allier from the aqueduct

2.20pm. I helped Mike get the bike off and he went to collect the car from Decize. 

In the bottom chamber of Guetin 2-rise

In the bottom chamber of Guetin 2-rise

Ready to leave the lower chamber
 - trip boat waiting to go up

Moored below Guetin staircase lock

Monday 28th May 2018 Decize to Chevenon 25kms 5 locks

Canalside restaurant at Fleury

13.9ºC Grey clouds a few light showers of rain. Sunny after we’d tied up. The boat was still wet from overnight rain when we set off at 9.45am. 6kms left to do of the 8kms pound. Mike phoned at 10.20am to tell the keeper at the first lock that we were coming – his phone was on voicemail. Mike left a message. The keeper has the two locks, 16 Acolin and 17 Abron, which are only 1km apart. Noted that there was a sensor powered by a solar panel at the last bridge before lock 16. When we arrived the lock was empty with one

Bridge near Jaugenay

bottom end gate open, so we sat in the aqueduct over the river Acolin that leads to the lock and waited. Mike rang the keeper again – he was on his way, bringing two boats up, a cruiser and an Irish barge. They cleared the lock and we went down, dropping 2.3m. Short distance to the next 17 Abron and descended a further 3.4m, the keeper set feed paddles as we set off on a 4.7kms long pound. Through Avril-sur-Loire, mostly invisible from the canal and on to Fleury. We arrived at lock 18 Fleury at 12.40pm. No one at the

Piling in a sorry state nr Jaugenay

lock and all the gates were closed so Mike attached a stern rope to a bit of bramble – no bollards anywhere – to wait for the keeper to arrive. He was resident (we assume) and came out of the lock house at 1pm and worked us through the lock, a tiny wee baby girl toddler and a grey kitten were playing outside the house but safely secured from the lockside by a fence. The lock keeper took photos of my roses and our Buckby can – Mike explained to him its original use. Down 2.25m and on

Solar powered sensors

to another 5kms pound.  Long open fields of wheat made a change from grazing cattle (and all the flies they attract, not to mention the horseflies). A French cruiser went past heading uphill and not long after a Le Boat hireboat with its skipper on the roof videoing. Lock 19 Uxeloup was ready with both gates open. A pleasant, chatty VNF man in a van was there to work the lock for us. A cat walked past and a chicken was scratching for food on the lockside. Down 3.9m and just

Moored in Chevenon

3.9kms to our last lock for today. Honeysuckle was blooming among the reeds and brambles along the offside piled bank. Into lock 20 Jaugenay, a shallow one with only a 1.4m drop, but the locksides were high when the lock was full. Said Au’voir to our VNF man and set off on the 21kms pound. A moored pénichette had a for sale sign on it and its owner was on board, we chatted as we went past. Winded at Chevenon (just enough width and depth in the canal to do it with an 18m boat) so we would have the side doors on the wet side. An old loading

Moored in Chevenon

quay with rings, 80m long on one side of the run off weir and 40m on the other side. It was 3.45pm. A bird scarer was booming in the distance and a cruiser went past heading uphill just after we’d tied up. The towpath was busy in the evening with dog walkers.