It's about a 4½ hour cruise from Rully to St. Leger, which is a popular turn-around point for the hotel boats; speaking of which, David & Juliet on their hotel boat "Jubliant"passed us at Rully. They had a charter with their 6 guests onboard, and David, who has recently had a brand new hydraulic wheelhouse roof fitted looked quite the business. He tells me he thinks he looks a bit like a 'tortoise', but I think the whole thing seems a great idea...
We caught up with them again in St. Leger and courtesy of David, Juliet and their very nice guests, we had drinks onboard with them and then dinner in the local restaurant.
Jean & Eric (friends from Melbourne) also stayed with us for a couple of days. They are enroute to their own boat in St Jean, namely ("Foreign Affair").
We have been travelling quite slowly over the last couple of weeks, so it is now time to get our skates on. We have to meet Adrian in Paray on next Saturday, so we have covered the trip from St Leger to Montchanin to Blanzy to Genelard to Paray in just 5 days.
This has been OK since it has been very hot here over the past week - I'm guessing around the mid 30's. Too hot to work, so a good sail in the morning and a good book in the afternoon has been the plan. (Occasionally with a few hours in the pm where we run the generator and put on the air-con!).
We arrived in Paray on Friday afternoon to find our friends Jim & Mary moored there on "Festina Tarde". It was a very hot day, but after keeping cool in the afternoon we caught up with them on their boat for dinner that night. It was, as usual with Jim & Mary, a great night. They have just completed a rebuild of their kitchen and salon - looks terrific.
On Saturday morning we got up for breakfast and heard a couple of very strong 'strine' voices calling to us from across the canal. They looked like a couple of vagabonds pushing a shopping trolley, but they had Australian accents so we just had to call them over to have a cup of coffee.
Their names were Sebastion (Seb) & Matty and it turned out they were on a charity walk for Camp Quality (a children's cancer charity). They are walking from Switzerland to the Atlantic coast of France; this being day 6 of 16.
(The math works out at about 40+ kilometres per day covered in about 10 hour of walking per day; 16 days of walking in total; around 650 kilometres to be covered to cross France from East to West. I should also mention that Seb has a web site called
www.100things.com.au which lists the 100 things he wants to do ... walk across a country being one of them! The country he and Matty have chosen is France, ... and so here we are on day six!)
The weather over the last week has been very hot; really - very hot! After six days of walking, ten hours per day, and sleeping rough at night (the boys have a sleeping bag each but no tent or sleeping mats!), we asked them if they would like to take a shower. They did.
They told us also that their preparation for the trip had not been pristine. Consequently they had raw feet from their shoes, sore legs from the walking, a few insect bites from sleeping on the ground (no sleep mats), and a strong desire that it not rain (no tent). They also had no map (but did have a Google Maps set of directions, street by street, from Switzerland to La Rochelle). They had been supplied the sleeping bags by the USA Marines at a base in Switzerland and had picked up the supermarket trolley enroute!
None-the-less, they were in good spirits and determined to complete the walk. It was terrific to see their attitude - true G&D!
We supplied them with copies of the appropriate pages from the Michelin Road Map we have (we offered the map but it was too heavy to carry). Pete also put into their trolley some water, some sandwiches and our boat's First Aid kit (the boys both had some blisters and the like that would need further treatment over the next few days) and they subsequently set off; still having another 8 hours of walking to do for the day.
These guys were really something. They just decided to something; then set off! They were also lovely guys; had that ANZAC spirit and that uniquely Australian "she'll be right mate" attitude.
Good on 'em! Makes you proud to be Australian.
(PS: If you want to contribute to their charity drive - their target is to raise $10,000 then you can find the details on Seb's website. I also should add, Matty is currently on a year's leave from the RAAF. Well done guys.)
After Seb & Matty left we walked up to the Station to pick up Adrian, who'll be with us for the next week.
That weekend we caught up again for dinner with Adrian and Jim & Mary, and also some drinks with their friends Graham & Natalie.
We arrived in Digion in time for Bastille Day, which of course means fireworks (and the locks being closed - July 14th is one of the few days during the year on which the locks don't operate).
Digoin is situated on the Loire river, and in fact the canal crosses the river by way of a bridge (pont-canal). As we crossed we found that one side of the bridge was closed to foot-traffic so that the company in charge of the fireworks could set up for the Bastille Day display.
The weather has been beautiful, warm and sunny, and so we found a very nice mooring, just over the pont-canal, and took it very easy on Bastille Day (some of us took it easier than others). Love a man who can follow instructions!
After a good 'holiday' rest we moved on, up the canal, to a wild mooring (PK44). There had been a terrific storm the previous evening and quite a few trees were down. A few had fallen across the canal and for a while I was worried we'd be delayed waiting for the forestry workers, who were out in force cleaning up, to get to the tree that was holding us up. Fortunately the four trees we did come across, that had fallen across the waterway, didn't quite block the whole of the canal and we were able to manoeuvre around them.
We were able, however, to make fairly good progress, despite having to slow down a little to get around some of the underwater branches.
Our afternoon stop should have led into a pleasant and relaxing evening, but the new BBQ charcoal we'd picked up in Digoin seemed to be the of the 'highly inflammable' type with a mind of its own! ... no matter what I did the bloody stuff burst into flames. Never-the-less, it was a good BBQ - the sausages were just as I like them; charred with plenty of sauce. The rest of the meat was, I'm happy to say, excellent!
We arrived in Decize on Friday night and visited the town; we just walked around a little, had a drink and bought some food and wine. We then returned to the boat. By this stage of the week it was noted that we had eaten out a couple of times, Adrian had cooked a meal - an excellent 'spag-bog', I had cooked three meals (BBQ's, admittedly) but Pete was trailing miserably on the meal count ... Consequently she took the reigns for the evening and we ate onboard. Excellent.
On Saturday morning we caught a cab to Nevers and Adrian picked up a hire car (he is visiting family in Switzerland after he leaves us, and the train service from this part of France to Switzerland demands a number of changes of train; Adrian has decided to drive to Basel and catch a direct train from there).
This of course means we have a car for the weekend. We took a drive on Saturday to the pottery factory in Gien and bought some more crockery (I didn't even realise we were short until we got there), after which we had a great lunch at a restaurant called la Canarderie (in Coullons - just S-W of Briare) ... Pete was quite tired after all the shopping and cooking for the week !!
In the afternoon we visited Sancerre. There was a Jazz Festival on there over the weekend and we were able to wander around and listen to a jazz band, take a glass of wine at the cafe at the summit, and pick up a couple of bottles for the rest of the weekend.
On Sunday we drove to the town of Moulins, which is only about 30 kilometres S-W of Decize. None of us had been there before so it was good to get a chance to make the visit. It's a great place with a terrific history and very interesting architecture, some of it dating back to the early middle ages.
Adrian left us on Monday morning to drive to Switzerland and we spent the day, which was again very hot, just taking it easy. We did some shopping (food at the local supermarket), some reading and ... well, just, as the kids would say, chilling.
We leave now for Nevers. We need to be there by Friday (Greg will arrive there on Saturday and will visit with us for a few days). Its about a two day trip. Two easy days, so we've stopped at a wild mooring along the way - at PK 97.
It is a very nice little country mooring, isolated and quiet, at which we had thought to do some much needed painting. I'm not sure if the Gods are smiling upon us or not, but as soon as we were about to break out the paint brushes it started raining. It looks like it has set in for a few days, but who knows. We have certainly had a great stretch of very hot and sunny weather, so I guess we need, and have to expect, some rain sometime.
We were lucky to get into a large mooring in the port at Nevers. We've stayed there before; there is plenty of space across from the port, but the mooring in the port has electricity and since we are going to be here for a few days, it is a good opportunity to get the batteries into float again for a couple of days.
We caught up with a couple from Perth, Ian & Sue, on their 14 metre tjalk called "Wobbe". We'd met before in the Strasbourg area, but only for a drink. Since we had more time together we managed both a drink and a nice dinner. It's good to catch up with other Australians once in a while - easier to talk politics and local Aussie stuff, without having to explain anything.
Greg arrived on Saturday from Paris; we picked him up from the station and made our way back to the boat in the port (a couple of kms). It was good to have family back on board again.
(It must be a family thing - Greg rivals Deb in his capacity to take photos; though Deb still has the track record for breaking the most glasses onboard).
We had a good cruise from Nevers, taking us over the pont-canal (where the canal crosses the river Allier) and into the double lock at le Guetin (9.23 metres deep).
The weather has changed once more - it became hot again in Nevers but showers this morning and a cooler more pleasant day.
Back to good weather, despite Greg's constant prediction of rain.
We have stopped at the mooring at Pouilly before, but have never walked into town from the canal. It's about a 4 kilometre walk but quite flat and interesting countryside; also you have to cross over the Loire to get there (there is a bridge!).
It's a nice village with a new tourist information centre (one week old), which we visited. They have a tour which includes a great movie on the wine region (in English) and at the end a wine tasting. This meant, of course, the purchase of a few more bottles of wine which we had to carry back. A BBQ dinner!
(I need to mention here that Greg, having impressed us so far with his mild behavior and manners and a modest and moderate demeanor, for some inexplicable reason seemed to develop a severe case of 'smash-everything-clumsiness'; breaking several plates and glasses... at this point in his stay he was definitely topping Deb in both categories: photography and crockery!
I don't think it was the wine ... but ...)
From Pouilly, famous for its Pouilly Fume wine, we moved on to Menetreol which is at the foot of Sancerre (equally famous for it's wines, particularly its whites).
We arrived on Tuesday and had a relaxing day (reading). In the evening we ate at the cafe at the side of the canal (thank you Greg) and had a very pleasant evening.
The following day we planned to walk up the hill to Sancerre ... fortunately we were stopped just as we left the boat by a very kind woman who offered to drive us up to the summit. Just as a point of co-incidence, her daughter had just returned from Australia (Sydney) where she was studying for the year.
We did another wine tasting (where the women doing the tasting gave a great explanation of the different effects of the soil and location on the taste of the wine), bought some Sancerre this time, and had lunch just off the main square at the summit. We also climbed the old stone tower for a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside.
Unfortunately Greg left us in Sancerre (he took an early morning train to Paris and then flew home). It was a good visit!
We left Sancerre and have made our way to Briare where we will wait for Helen & Iain to arrive in a few days.
It was good to get here early as it gave us the opportunity to catch the train from Briare to Gien - where there is a porcelain factory (one of Pete's favourite places ... the second visit this year).
This time however, I have to admit, it wasn't just down to Pete wanting to visit the shop again; our visit was mandatory. We had to replace all the crockery and glasses that Greg broke!
See right for a small sample of what had to be replaced.
You can click here to go directly to the August 2010 web page ... click here for August 2010
Enroute to Paray-le-Monial: Monday 05/06/2010 to Friday 09/07/2010:
Paray-le-Monial: Saturday 10/07/2010 to Monday 12/07/2010:
Digoin: Tuesday 13/07/2010 to Wednesday 14/07/2010:
PK44: Thursday 15/07/2010:
It was quite a storm!
Decize (with visits by car to Sancerre and Moulins): Friday 16/07/2010 to Monday 19/07/2010:
PK 97: Tuesday 20/07/2010 to Wednesday 21/07/2010:
Nevers: Thursday 22/07/2010 to Saturday 24/07/2010:
Le Guetin to Cours-les-Barres: Sunday 25/07/2010:
Second Gate
First Gate
Pouilly-sur-Loire: Monday 26/07/2010:
Menetreol & Sancerre: Tuesday 27/07/2010 to Wednesday 28/07/2010:
Briare: Thursday 29/07/2010 to Saturday 31/07/2010:
This is an interesting place, as the pont-canal here that crosses the Loire river was designed by Eiffel (the tower man!).
PS: Greg - you should have signed the book!
or here to go back to the June 2010 web page ... click here for June 2010.
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