Ever (Soggily) Onward, May 21-30

There were a couple other boats leaving on Saturday morning so we didn’t make it into our first lock until 10. About 4 1/2 hours and 3 locks later we were secure in a very picturesque halte in the village of Artaix; a couple of boats and camping cars. It was warm and one of the few times this year we were able to have dinner on the “terrace.” 

Sunday started out nice but it began to cloud up, with thunderheads building in the distance. At 4 pm we left the Canal Roanne a Digoin and staked ourselves to the bank on the Canal Lateral a la Loire just in time for a huge thunderstorm with high winds, drenching rain and a little hail. There were whitecaps on the canal! This began the periods of off and on rain that would plague France until the big downpours at the very end of the month flooded most of the central part of the country and turned our plans to jello.

We had a couple of days in Gannay sur Loire where a couple of British guys have opened a “retirement project” boatyard. We wanted to check into replacing some of our fixed windows with openers and, since the municipal tie-up offers water and electricity, we could get some laundry done. For one day, the weather cooperated. From there we slowly made our way to Nevers. Our friend Ines would be joining us on the 1st (we thought) and that bigger town offered good train connections to Brussels where this leg of her journey would start.