The Hewitts barging in France 2010

After a lovely stay in Diou we headed north. The next potential stop was Beaulon. This is a very pretty little port, with free electricity, so is quite hard to get into. As we came through the lock we saw the port was full, so accelerated away - just as we were halfway through the port we saw people leaping up and down and yelling on one of the moored barges. This was Gill and Dave on Avontuur, some friends from Roanne, and they were telling us to come alongside them for the night as they planned to leave the next day. So after a quick bit of reverse we rafted on them. We all got together that night at one of the picnic tables with the other boats from the port, and over a bottle or 3 of wine had a fine old time.

We ended up staying for a few nights at Beaulon before heading off for Port St Leger in Decize. We had a lovely quai side mooring with electricity supplied on a smart card you get from the Marie at a very reasonable price. The port had the added benefit of being near the railway station, so I went back to Diou to get the car (this turned out to be about 150km by train - there was no direct link - and a 35 k drive back!)


St Leger des Vignes - decize

There are 3 supermarkets near the quay and we restocked the boat - we shall have to stop all this eating and drinking!

We stayed for over a week, taking the time to explore this area,including a number of outings to Nevers, and a visit to Autun, this was a very special town, lots of lovely old buildings including a very spectacular theatre. We were interested to see here one of the 'sleeping car' bustours...hadn't seen one for years. The bus tows a van that is divided into about 20 sleeping berths...all very cosy and heaven only knows what they do about washing etc. Would love to see the ones in the top 'slots' getting up there....and it appeared to be a 'golden oldies' tour...amazing.

We also visited some vide greniers on the weekends...this is the French idea of weekend heaven and there were some very large ones in such tiny towns....needless to say we bought nothing....one mans junk is well, another mans junk! However it does take you to tiny towns that one would normally bypass...but who could resist a vide grenier in the town of Brain?

Laurel had her birthday on a Sunday while we were here - every restaurant in Decize closes on Sunday nights - so we drove over to a hotel on Cercy La Tour - where we had a pleasant meal Although our host certainly gave the impression that he had been to the fawlty Towers training school...peace only reigned after a German couple pleaded with him to turn down his private TV...located just off the dining room..

The Birthday girl

We left Decize, on the Monday after yet another long weekend. The town had turned on a fun fair for the locals and we think everybody for about 20 kms turned up...only rain stopped play at about 10pm.
While we moored here we also took the time to check out the new Port...all very modern with mooring for about 100 boats...all bumpers of course.

This part of the journey is new territory for us...we had been up and past Decize before but heading up the Nivernais...now we are heading up the Canal Loire Lateral. After a very easy morning, hardly any locks we arrived at Fleury sur Loire. A nice little port with free electricity and water. Although there is little in the village ( a boulangere opens in the mooring) there is a snack bar right on the quai where we had arrived just in time for lunch!

When we were in Nevers we checked out the port and found it not too good - so we decided to bypass this and head onto Cours Les Barres. This would be a fairly long day as it is quite some distance. It turned out to be even longer! As we got through a lock the eclusier told us there was a commercial peniche behind us and it would have priority at the next set of double locks - it just so happened that this stretch was 20ks between locks. So rather than peer over our shoulder all afternoon we pulled over after the lock and had coffee until the peniche went past. After about 15 minutes it had cleared the lock - it was empty with the back heavily ballasted to keep the prop under the water. We waited for a quarter of an hour and then headed off ourselves. After about half an hour we caught it up. Now normally commercials go much faster than us - in this case because he was empty he had been speed restricted so was going really slowly. So we stopped for about 45 mins for lunch, and then caught him up again just before the double lock. This is a very special lock with is reached by going over a very long aqueduct...and so busy it has traffic lights!..So as we serenely sailed over the aqueduct we were able to see just how little water was in the Loire below. Many of the farmers are having trouble getting enough water and there seems to be a plan afoot to allow some to draw from the canal. It will be interesting to see...the canals are so regulated to keep them at just the right level, even a drop of about 6 inches could ground some boats especially sailing boats to and from the Med.

Anyway it was a long, long day..and as we came through the last lock another boat had caught up with us...so Andrew put the throttle forward and we leapt out and along the canal knowing that as we were so late chances of a mooring might be hard.- Arrived a Cour Les Barres at a bit before 7pm and hurrah got the last 'long' spot...no shame with the Hewitts..we were tired and irritated...the spot was ours!
And yes, beers were drunk!

Several more boats arrived and had to moor outside the Port...that is just the way it is some times.

Cours les Barres is one of the prettiest ports on the canal. We have been told that over 100 years ago it was a major stop for the barges...a place where the bargees could moor, rest their horses and eat and sleep in one of the many hotels in the area. Those day have long gone but as a tribute to its history the town has made a great area with landscaped gardens and a little artificial stream leading down to the quai. It has a small bakers, a cafe and an auberge.

Our friends Francis and Nellie (a french couple who we first met in Diou) kindly drove us to the supermarket as our fruit and veg were getting low. That night they joined us for drinks on deck followed by dinner.

They only live a few miles from the port, so the next afteroon they took us home for afternoon tea. It was strange to be in a real house again. After tea they took us for a drive to see someof the lovely countryside. We stopped at a number of closed small canals - the area is heavily wooded and last century these were used for transporting charcoal into the main canal network.