Heading South

With some regret we headed South to the lovely little port of Ouzouere sur Treze (OZT).  It is interesting as we are starting to catch up with all the other Roanne boats heading south. We were delighted to find Nico and ianne already there in the terrific spacious new Barge Elaine. After a couple of days we were joined by Doug and Sutsan, and passed Pascal and Danielle on the way through.

We had been planning to go to the chateau at La Bussiere for some time, but had never quite made it.  As it is very close to OZT, we headed off after lunch.  It is a lovely, very livable chateau (It was lived in until recently, and the owner still lives on site). It has its own lake, and the owner was fishing mad - hence many of the displays are fishing related.  It has lovely gardens, including one where you can pick your own fruit. We got some lovely raspberries, which went down a treat with ice cream that night - Yum!

Just the right size with a moat and a fishing lake

The gardens here were terrific...flowers, fruit and vegetables

Onions, carrots and roses...perfect mix!

They scratch tiny words into the baby pumpkins and wait for them to grow.

The kitchens with the cool room and the water room at the rear.

This is a multi function oven....but not as we know it!

For reasons best known to the Tourist Office, a lot of paper mache 'art' was used to decorate the rooms,
making a stark contrast to the other displays.

We could have moved into this room right away!

Just how many did you eat?

Back to OZT to find that some Aussies had arrived on a bumper boat, so together with Doug and Sutsan we had drinks, and more drinks on a picnic table under the trees - a very boozy night - so the next few days were AFD's! (alcohol free days!). The Port was very busy but fortunately there was room for Alouette when Debbie and Randy arrived.


We left OZT bright and early a few days later and had a lovely run through Briare and across the famous Pont, saw some huge crane at the commercial Port being used to put a huge Peniche back? into the canal. We moored for the night at Beaulieu [hello to Doug and Sutsan again]. In the morning we set out for Lere...however when we arrived the power did not seem to work. So we turned around in the basin and went back about 1km to Sury.  We had a wonderful dinner at at Chez Fred - well worth a visit.

We were joined in Sury by Nico and Ianne ...one of the nicest things about the canals is the constant remeeting with friends..

I went down and checked out the power at Lere which now seemed to be working.  The only problem was how to get there as we were facing the wrong way. Nico and I got a piece of rope and stretched it across the canal and found it was about 1M too narrow for us to turnaround. We drove up and had a look for possible turning spots - the nearest was about 4km and 2 locks away.  So I decided to reverse back for about 1km.

For the boaties reading this you will know that barges do not reverse in a straight line.  Whilst I have reversed short distances I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn more about reversing.  So we set off about 8.30 before boats started coming up the canal. An hour later we got to Lere.  What did I learn? Not a lot!  The  rudder seems to have very little effect when the engine is running. You can put it into neutral and then the rudder works, so you can straighten up a bit.  The biggest effect seem to be the shape of the bottom of the canal.  Sometimes it would swing to the left, other times to the right.  If you get in the middle if the canal with the rudder over to counter prop walk at times you go back straight.

(Laurels comment: several times during this reversal we found ourselves not moving very far along...so much so that a lovely LOL who had been watching The Great Reversal popped her head out of her window and mimed that she would be happy to tow us back.....lol.]

So after my morning exercise we plugged in at Lere with no problems. Our previous port partners at Lere,  Andrew 2 and Jenny on Jef stopped for the night and it was lovely to catch up with them.

Captain Teddy and crew

Our friends Mark, Mary and Captain Teddy, had had major engine problems on their barge and were stuck near Nemours.  They weren't sure if they would be able to get back to Roanne for the winter. Fortunately a mechanic was able to solve the problem so they were hot footing it back.

We caught up with them at the lock after Lere for a chat with Captain Teddy and his crew.

First Mate Mary with Captain Teddie..how smart does the barge look!

Teddie is such a charmer we thiought a second look worth while

Chief Purser Mark also looking good!

Time for Teddie cuddles

Treat in mouth!

Mary managing the ropes with aplomb!

Funny what you can find at a lock! So that's one case of the Sancerre and one of the Poully Fume?

Final farewell to a great crew.

Lere to Digoin

After we had been in Lere for a day or so, Nico and Ianne pulled in and Debby and Randy moored at Sury [only about 800 metres away]. It was also my birthday so Randy and Debbie, Nico and Ianne joined us for drinks on board. Party hats all round...hip hip hooray!

Andrew and Nico sporting party hats

Ianne, unlike Debbie, managed to not wear a part hat!

The fab four ready to party!

When the greeting message is in French it takes a minute or two to work it out.

Nope, she doesnt understand it either.

He doesn't care what the message is....the wine is fine!

Birthday Boy at dinner at Chez Fred....the restaurant joined in the a chorus of "Happy Birthday" and mine host poured us a glass of hooch!

Miranda (our daughter) was joining us at the end of the month for a few days cruising. Our original plan was to take her from Diou to Paray le Monial, however due to lack of water the Canal du centre was closed in mid September. So we changed our plans to pick her up in Digoin and take her down to Roanne.  We thought it would be nice for her to see our home port.

There was a fair distance to go so we set off for a few fairly big days. We stopped at Chapelle Montlinard, and then on to a favorite port Cours Les Barres.  We had taken the car to Cours Les Barres when we dropped Randy's car off in Roanne. So we stopped here for a few nights, and took the opportunity to restock the larder.  Then off for a couple more longish days....stopping at Fleury, and Beaulon.  We stopped here for a couple of nights before our final trek to Digoin.  Fortunately the weather was lovely, and the cruising delightful.

Entering the double lock at LeGuertin...two locks are joined together to raise the barge about 30 metres onto a huge aquaduct that takes the Canal over the Allier river.

Crossing the Aquaduct at Le Guertin

Not a lot of 'wiggle' room on the aquaduct. The Captain needs a steady hand on the wheel.

Our months holiday in Montargis

Montargis is a very pretty town, and we had decided to end our run North and turnaround here. The Port is very nicely placed  and a few minutes walk has us in the middle of the town.We decided to stay for a while and do some exploring in the surrounding countryside and visit Paris which is not too far away.

As the monthly port fees were half those of the daily rate we handed over our Euros and paid for the month.


 Randy and Debbie joined us on Allouette and we drove back to pick up their car.   We are now all set up for our months holiday!

We had lots of outings planned and one of our first was to the pretty town of Sens.

Sens

Sens and our lunch spot

On the weekends of course it was off to Vide Greniers - I had been looking for a suitable barometer for quite a while. I found a nice one and then the next weekend found a nicer one, and then at the next one found one mounted in an anchor! We are now the proud owners of 3 Barometers!

Our next big outing with Randy and Debbie was to Moret sur Loing, where our friends Mark and Mary were berthed. We joined them for lunch and arranged to meet later for a tour of Fountainbleau. However we are not called the 'Ferme Exceptionalle Hewitts" without due cause.

Moret sur Loing

Moret sur Loing

We also caught up with Andrew and Jenny who were having some work done on their boat Jef in Moret.
Over lunch Mark and Mary introduced us to the wonderful Mr Teddy who charmed us all - it has turned out he is quite an emailer, and we have been chatting to him since we left!

Mr Teddy

All eight of us arrived at Fontainbleau - to discover it is closed on Tuesdays (as are most french museums and Chateaus). The gardens were open so we had a lovely walk around and took a coach trip through the park.It gave us a real sense of the pace of life back then as the horses and wagon slowly trundled along the many wide avenues of the garden,

After ice creams and coffee and a stroll through the town we headed for home...we had hopes of meeting with the delightful Mr Teddie in the near future.
Somehow the days in Montargis just drifted by...a favourite pastime was watching all the many dogs doing their daily walk around the Port....all with owners in tow.

Feeling rather Chateau deprived we set off for another adventue.  This timelunch and retail therapy in Orleans, and then on to one of the most spectacular chateaus in France - Chambord. Whilst very elaborate and massive, it has a rather unusual history, in that it has never really been lived in - each owner extended it, but only visited for a couple of weeks....apparently it was so cold that no one could settle there. Although it has massive rooms only a few are furnished.

Cordelia visited us for a week arriving by Eurostar in Paris about 10pm.  As there was no train to Montargis that she could catch we decided to drive up and spend the day in Paris.  You may think that parking in Paris is expensive - usually yes - but in August it is free as all the parking meter people go on holiday - where else but France!

We had a lovely day wandering around Paris seeing the sights. Laurel also indulged in some retail therapy and found some very interesting things

'Books" that look as if they have been around forever...actually cardboards cutouts.

Ditto Dogs....the pet that keeps life simple!

comfy seats

So much for 'always white sheets' mantra...so many colours.

Part of an amazing range of modern lighting.....many really rather bizarre.

Awesome shirts! Ditto the 'plain white' mantra

We dined in style having the most delicious Asian for lunch and finished the day with a wonderful curry with crisp light Nans! Ah it is nice to be back in a big city!

We picked up Cordelia and headed home - next morning Randy and Debbie brought us a lovely breakfast tray with Croissants, and Pain au Raisin - lovely!

We had decided to do a few outings with Cordelia, and visited Pithiviers, (home of the famous Pithiviers Almond tart, and a producer of Saffron).  We had a lovely lunch at a small bistro and returned home for dinner and drinks. On the weekend we introduced Cordelia to the wonders of French vide Greniers, where she managed to find some very cheap Sephora cosmetics.

Every 7 years Montargis has an Agicultural show - the comice agricole.  It is a lovely little event, with a show with animals and tractors, and local produce in the park and a big parade on the sunday. All very local and cute.A part of the procession includes mature aged ladies throwing hanfuls ofconfetti at the crowds...we were vacuuming confetti out of the barge for over a week. The whole town turns out to watch the Parade...it reminds me of the Royal melbourne Show of the 1960's...charming.

The Winner is "Miss Montargis"

 All to soon it was time for Cordelia to head back to London. We decided to drop her off at the Fontainbleau train station and to [finally]visit the chateau (after the excitement of the Agricutural show) we thought we should add some culture.  The interiors are magnificent, and very ornate.We were very taken with the ceilings...see Cordelia's Facebook pics. And they had an excellent Napolean Museum.

So after a lovely day we had a simple dinner, stopped at a supermarket for Cordelia to buy a 4 litre cask of red for a princely 4 euros, we bade her adieu! Of course she was stopped at the Gare du Nord to explain just why her bag held a 4 litre cask..."Je suis Australian" ..was enough for them to quickly usher her through.

Les filles

Now for todays flower arrangement...bring a ladder!

M for Miranda

These were minature formal chairs for children...stunning!

The library...not a paperback or Kindle in sight!

The Queens Bed...the bench seats are for the ladies in waiting..who sit and wait for Her Highness to wake...simples!

So in a flurry of Vide Greniers, drinks on deck, walks through the many pretty streets of Montargis, it was  with regret our month in lovely Montargis came to an end. It somehow seemed like the end of a holiday. And we set off to head south and for Roanne.