Ménetréol-sous-Sancerre and Sancerre

Hello again,

After Beffes our next decent mooring was at Ménetréol-sous-Sancerre. Free mooring but quite expensive for water and electric so it was a good job that we didn't need either 😀

It's a medieval village with lots of decrepit buildings, some of which are being renovated like this one but you'd need a bottomless wallet to take on something like this surely?

There's a signposted walk around the village with information boards at all the places of interest like this old tobacco drying shed. Tobacco was grown from 1945 to supplement the income of the vine growers after the war. The shed was built in a sunny but windy spot so that the tobacco could be hung on racks inside and dried by the warm breeze coming in through the slats. They stopped growing it in 1985 but the shed has been kept in good condition .

We had another superb lunch at the Hotel Florione which is just beside the mooring. 4 course set menu with no choice but possibly the best steak we've had so far, and including a litre bottle of red wine which was plonked on the table, all for the bargain price of 13.80 euros

Next day the lock keepers were on strike so the canal was closed. We got the bikes out and rode up the hill to Sancerre.

Roger had googled the cycle route to Sancerre but it had shown him the mountain bike route through the vineyards!  It was too difficult for us and we ended up pushing the bikes

It was hard work but gave us some spectacular views and let us get close up the the vines

We eventually found our way up the the town at the top of the hill, recovered our breath and took shelter in the Hotel de Rampart where we enjoyed another great menu du jour. We were eating on the terrace and could hear the rumble of thunder getting closer and closer. Half way through our meal we had to up sticks and carry our food indoors as the heavens opened and the storm broke overhead. By the time we'd had coffee it had passed and we free-wheeled all the way back down to the moorings. Another very pleasant day to add to the memories 😀

After the strike there was a back-log of hire boats so we had our first ever queues at the locks. We pulled into the first decent mooring which was at  Léré and I caught up with the laundry.

Every day the temperature rose another degree and by Friday it was up to 30'C 😎. We stopped at Bellville-sur-Loire for the weekend and Roger watched the Grand Prix. In between programmes we got the bikes out and went exploring.

One of the lock-keepers was a stone carver and was selling these little statues

One of the most famous places on the French canal system is the town of Briare, also known as "Little Britain". People rave about it and it's a very popular place to moor for the winter.  We found it to be very expensive and totally underwhelming when we cycled in for a look around. The only remarkable thing was the Pont Canal, aqueduct, which is having  major face-lift at the moment.

We decided to stay on a rough mooring just outside the town and had a flock? herd? of gorgeous Alpacas in the field beside us. The baby was so cute!

We arrived at the first lock after Briare at 11.00 but there were no lights on and we thought that it was possibly another strike. I phoned the control office and was told that it was a power cut. A car had crashed into a local substation and all power had gone off in the neighbourhood. They anticipated that it wouldn't be repaired until that evening so we roped up to the fence and settled in as best we could.  At 12 o'clock the huge hotel boat Horizon 2 arrived. They hadn't been notified of the stoppage so we moved out of the way to let them moor up and we fastened alongside them.

Because they cruise to a schedule the captain decided he couldn't wait and phoned the boss of the whole canal who sent a team of men out to manually work the lock to let them continue on their way. They managed to get into and up the lock but the top gates wouldn't open and they were stuck there for almost 2 hours while the VNF men worked out how to by-pass the electrically controlled hydraulic gate rams. Us being mere pleasure boaters, we had to wait until the power was restored but that suited us just fine. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful spot and I got talking to  couple of old guys who were fishing in the stream just across the towpath from us. They really wanted to chat, but unfortunately for me the chattiest one was over 80, continuously puffing on a fat cigar and dressed only in a pair of black "budgie smugglers" and as his "budgies" were just at my eye level that rather put me off practicing my French 😞 The electrics were finally repaired at about 9pm and we continued on our travels as soon as the lock re-opened the next morning.

Time for another coffee.......back soon X

Le Bec d'Allier and Apremont

Hello again,

We haven't gone very far since leaving Nevers as the weather has been dreadful. It's been 12'C and very wet, quite a shock to the system after the glorious sunshine of the past few weeks.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we arrived at Le Guétin just before noon and had to wait an hour while the eclusier had his lunch before we could cross the Pont du Canal (aqueduct) which is controlled by traffic lights

and descend the double staircase locks, which we shared with a hire boat. It's 2 locks each 5m deep one straight after the other......it's a long way down!

After mooring up and having our lunch we walked back for a better look. The eclusier must have the patience of a saint, as these 2 huge hire boats didn't have a clue what to do and it took him well over 10 minutes to get them roped up and safe. The crews were much more interested in taking selfies and videos than in passing him their ropes.

We unpacked the new bikes and went exploring. This is the now disused unusual round lock (Ecluse des Lorrains) which used to link the canal to the River Loire and is at the end of a disused branch of the canal

A couple of kilometers further on we came to the very picturesque village of Apremont.

It's famous for it's floral gardens and although the wisteria has now finished blooming there were plenty of other trees in full flower, like this chestnut tree

I thought someone was having a laugh with this sign hanging outside their shop

until we turned the corner of the building and met the said ninjas "guarding" the public toilets 😀 

Today we rode to Bec d'Allier which is a small village famous for it's views of the confluence of the rivers Loire and Allier.  This is what it's supposed to look like

but with all the rain we've had recently both rivers are in flood so the view was a bit different!

We'll carry on cruising again tomorrow and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye for now 😀

A quick catch-up

Finally!  I have enough signal to upload some photos 😀

We're still travelling slowly and have stopped at some really nice mooring places. Many moorings are free and are shared with touring camper vans, whose occupants are always fascinated both by the boat and by our life-style. 

It seems to be peak "wisteria" season at the moment and these gorgeous bushes are everywhere.

The scent is overpowering when the sun shines on them

The next two photos are for my readers boating in the UK. We used to regularly come across abandoned or continuously moored boats that had "Section 8" notices on them. Basically, a notice to move or be moved.

Well it's just the same here in France, although I must admit that this is the first one we've come across. The notice tells the owner to move the boat within 6 months or it will be removed and destroyed.

British boaters are also used to the dreadful state of the towpaths and of having to share them with speeding cyclists. Here in France they actively promote cycling along the canals and are installing newtworks of wide tarmaced towpath/cycle tracks that run alongside the canals. This makes it much nicer for boaters and walkers alike as there is plenty of room for the cyclists to pass.

They also provide toilets every 10km or so

and places like this air and repair station

There's just one last photo I'd like to show you........our stoways
This pair of wasps were building a very intricate nest inside the lid of one of our storage lockers.  They were fast workers as the nest hadn't been there 6 hours earlier.  Unfortuntely they had to be evicted and we moved shortly afterwards so they couldn't try and get back in. 

We're currently moored in a very peaceful spot in the middle of nowhere, just outside the next major town of Nevers where we're hoping to stay for a few days and do some sightseeing.

We had intended getting the bikes out and going for  ride, but it's 27'C out so I think we'll wait a couple of hours until it's cooled down a bit.

Bye for now, have fun
See you soon 😀