Sunshine, painting and bread

Salut!

Hi, nice to see you here again.

Weather-wise it's been a fantastic week ☉ it's been dawn to dusk sushine and 26'C -  not that I'm trying to make you jealous or anything 😀  In fact it's been so sunny that we haven't needed to run the generator or be plugged in for electricity as the solar panels have been more than adequate and the solar water heating has given us 55'C water by lunchtime every day.

We moved to the Halte de la Croix Rouge at Chassenard on Wednesday and have been here ever since. We really like it here, it's peaceful with hardly any passing cars or boats and it's just perfect for painting the boat.

Roger has re-painted the front roof

rejuvenated "Charlie"

and turned our tatty rusty gunwale from this

to this - perfect non-slip

It hasn't been all work though and we took the 'new' bikes out for  spin on Saturday afternoon. In Chassenard village we came across our first bread vending machine. It's a shame that these are necessary as more and more small village boulangeries close down but I'm pleased to say that the bread itself was really quite good.

There have been a couple of lock closures on the Roanne à Digoin canal this week which probably accounts for the lack of moving boats. Thankfully we're on the right side of them and we're planning on setting off again tomorrow. The cupboards are bare so I need to find a supermarket and restock. Digoin here we come......

Bye for now, come back soon X

Chambilly and Marcigny market

Rebonjour,

We had another leisurely cruise on Sunday. The young lady lock keeper took us down the 3 locks from Artaix to Chambilly where we moored in the glorious sunshine. We like it here and it's been much nicer to be woken up by bird song rather than the sirens of the Sapeurs in Roanne. 

It was such a warm afternoon that we decided to try out our new gas BBQ. We'd had it shipped over from UK while we were still in port and even allowing for the postage charges it was 75% of the cost of one here in France. Apart from wine, everything is much more expensive here!

Yesterday (Monday) it was market day in the nearby town of Marcigny. It's a 3km walk but well worth the effort. It's one of the best markets that we've found so far and you can buy anything here.  Lots of people were buying ducklings and hens and taking them away in cardboard boxes.

They also had rabbits, turkeys, geese, quail and guinea fowl, or if you preferred something less edible you could buy a pet guinea pig, kitten, mouse or more exotique turtle doves and budgies

We'd arranged to meet some friends from Roanne and passed a very pleasant couple of hours having lunch and catching up on the gossip in the restaurant at the Bar du Marché. 4 courses including wine and coffee was only 13.50 euros so if you're passing this was it's definitely worth a visit.

The forecast for today is more sun so we've decided to stay another night and maybe start touching up the paintwork.

See you again soon 😀

We're free!

Hi, nice to see you here again.

Spring has really blossomed in Roanne and the town flower beds are in full bloom with daffodils and tulips.

The local cat rescue centre installed a little house in one of them, presumably as a shelter for the feral cats and kittens and food and water are changed daily.

We had our final lunch out on Wednesday as we were due to leave port on Thursday.

The food was superb as always. Le Tordion has to be the best restaurant we've found in Roanne, and believe me we've tried a few 😀

Our escape plans were delayed by a day when a parcel failed to arrive on Wedesday but we eventually managed to get away on Friday morning and all our new friends came down to the lock to wave us off.

The weather was glorious, perfect for cruising.

I hadn't seen this stretch of canal before, as I was in bed with flu when we arrived back at the beginning of November. Once we got past the gypsy camp and the prison on the outskirts of town it was beautiful countryside, complete with the compulsory chateau.

We didn't go very far for our first journey and moored for the night at the village of Iguerande. The mooring itself is nothing fancy and the water and electricity have long since been removed, but the view from the boat was spectacular.

That's the village of Iguerande across the river Loire which flows alongside the canal. After lunch we took Chico out for his daily constitutional and walked up to the old Roman church at the top of the hill. I can't tell you how much we all enjoyed being out of port, it's just so good to be FREE..... 😎

It's school holidays here and this family walked past us on their rambling/camping holiday. All their gear is carried by the donkey! It's not my cup of tea, but they seemed to be having a great time.

That's all for now. See you again soon X