Up the Lateral a la Loire - May 6-10

 We’ve been up a down this section of canal 4 times, twice just last year, so we weren’t interested in dawdling. We’ve visited the small villages and stayed in many of the haltes along the way so we decided to just make some kilometers, although there was one stop we wanted to make. 

Last year we moored in the basin below the double lock at Guetin to make a return trip to the village of Apremont sur Allier and its chateau and garden. This year we stopped so we could spend the afternoon cycling over to the Beck d’Allier, where the Allier meets the Loire, and then on to the village of Cuffy. 

Along the way we saw a water tower that had been “repurposed.”

Stop me if you’ve heard this before but Cuffy is very old, originating in Gallo-Roman times with the usual 12th century church and old homes. While cycling through the village we say a sign for “medieval ruins” and followed it up the hill.

A track through the forest took off to the right.

Following it we came upon the ruins of the 14th century moat and fortifications, located on the highest point of ground around.

A message board showed what the fortification, surrounded by a moat, looked like in the 1400’s. Much of it is still there although in an advanced state of disrepair.

What started out as a beautiful day quickly turned stormy and we beat it back to the boat, only getting slightly wet in the process.

Friday was a long day; 42 kilometers and about 7 1/2 hours underway to get to a mooring we have used every time we’ve been by, just outside the Decize marina on the canal bank. There is a grocery store just a few minutes away and the wine and fresh vegetable stock was getting perilously low.

We pulled in just in front of a beautiful Dutch sailing tjalk, De Jonge Eva, and met the owners Jaap and Jennie. Shortly after, another, bigger tjalk pulled in. Three Dutch barges in a row! It turned out that Jaap and Jennie had sailed with the owners of Gerrigje 40 years ago and hadn’t seen them since.

Sunday morning the two tjalks left but we decided to stay another day and do some laundry and reconnect with Phillippe and Pierette on Dream’s Rivers. We met them in the H2O boatyard in 2015 while we were slaving away on Oldtimer’s underwater parts and they were completing work on their boat. We had seen them in passing last year but weren’t able to connect. Some wine was consumed and we practiced our French. Phillippe speaks pretty good English and Pierette understands most of it.

Monday morning we were off to our next stop, Beaulon; a nice basin 31 k away that we shared with several other boats and camping cars. We were also in constant communication with Roger and Carmen Dowling, Aussies on Beauregard who we haven’t seen since 2019 and were headed our way from Roanne. I think there’s another party in our future!

Underway, April 28-May 5

 Saturday was laundry day and Sunday, May Day, was a big vide grenier, when everybody gathers in the market square to sell their stuff, socialize, eat sausage with baguette and frites and drink beer and wine. The whole square was filled with sellers, buyers and lookers.

Monday morning at the crack of 9:30 we were off into our first lock of the year. Peter helpfully provided this picture of me doing my usual lock thing.

Our first stop was Bellville, just a little further than our usual Beaulieu stop. When we stopped there for the lunch closure last year we found a good boulangerie just steps from the mooring. Unfortunately it has closed and been replaced by one of those bread machines. We did not indulge.

Next stop was the goat farm, La Bête Noire, that we stopped at last year on the way back to Briare. A really nice quiet mooring and we get to stock up on the delicious crottins de chavinol. The have a very nice exhibit that describes the entire cheese making process from goat to store.

Part of the farm viewed from the mooring.

Not in the picture are the rabbits, chickens

and donkeys that live behind the fences.

Oldtimer on the mooring.

Milking goats

The good stuff in the drying room.

Right before we left, Cathy Jo hitched a ride with Peter and Sarah for the last grocery shopping. When she returned she remarked how the cooking oil isle was empty. The next day we read about the cooking oil shortage being caused by the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile in this area of France, vast fields of beautiful yellow flowers are on the French equivalent of canola, called colza. The seeds will be harvested and pressed for the oil.

Next stop was the very pretty mooring in the village of Cours les Barres. There is a good boulangerie just a few steps from the mooring. A young couple seem to be the bakers, always a good sign.

Thursday morning it was just a couple of hours and one lock to our next stop, the basin below the Guetin staircase locks. We got there early so we could do a little bike riding over to the Bec d’ Allier where the Allier meets the Loire and the beginning of the bike trail that leads from here to the sea.

Oh, and I realized I never posted a picture of Oldtimer’s newest addition.

Spring Has Sprung, April 20-28

 Wednesday the 20th was Take The Car Back To Paris Day. The drive north was much easier than the drive down; no rain or wind so the traffic was much more manageable.

We dropped off the car at the airport and proceeded to or least favorite chore, riding the RER, the suburban train, into Paris. It’s always packed, and I do mean packed, almost like those pics of the Japanese trains with the train attendants shoving people in so the doors will close. Luckily it wasn’t hot. That makes it even more unbearable.

We got off at the Chatelet metro stop and headed for the Marais. We needed lunch. Rue Rosiers might as well be known as fallafel street. There are several takeout fallafel restaurants in about 3 blocks and the lines are always epic but the food is good. We chose Mi-va-mi because our first choice, L’As du Fallafel, was closed for some reason. Our hunger sated, we headed for the Gare de Bercy where we would catch the train back to Briare.

On the way we made a stop in the famous Place de Vosges and found that, since it was Spring Break and the weather was fine, it was very busy.

The square is surrounded by an arcade filled with shops and restaurants but we just sat on a bench for awhile and took in the scene.

After another brief stop at a cafe for a little liquid refreshment it was off to the station.

Ah, the French trains. Bercy is the station specifically for the lines headed for Burgundy and the Loire River Valley so the first stop isn’t for about 45 minutes, but there’s nothing quite like shooting smoothly through the spring French countryside at 90 mph.

Back to the boat about 7:30 pm we settled into the cruising routine with transportation now sans voiture.

Friday was Cathy Jo’s birthday so we celebrated with a delicious dinner at the nearby Le Petit Saint Trop, where we have enjoyed many great meals.

Foi gras for Cathy Jo and escargot for me for starters. Yum.

Cathy Jo also received several Happy Birthday wishes. She says “Thanks!”

Spring has sprung here in Central France and the long days lead to a riot of growth. You can almost see the leaves and flowers popping out.

There was a picture of these trees off the stern of the boat in the first posting. 

Compare and contrast. Discuss.

A flowering fruit tree we spotted on one of our walks.

This display at the city hall is in the colors of the Ukranian flag. 

There’s also a big blue and yellow flag hanging on the building.

Cathy Jo among the wildflowers alongside one of the many waterways

 that crisscross the area.

Late in the week there was a spell of much cooler weather with some rain. It was kind of cold and damp so we fired up the stove.

The new solar panels are installed and making electrons, Market Day is tomorrow, Saturday is laundry day, there’s a big vide grenier on Sunday (May Day. A big thing here in France. The canals are closed.) and we think we’ll be getting underway on Monday. Southern France here we come!

Joyeux Paque!, Tuesday, April 19

After Storm Diego blew through the weather gradually improved with warm, sunny days and chilly nights. Flowers are blooming, trees have started to bud and the tourists have appeared. Spring has sprung.

Easter is a big deal for France’s patissiers and chocolatiers. The displays of their wares are like small (or in some cases, not so small!) works of art.

Last week, after a visit to our favorite pouilly fumé winemaker, Sebastian Truillet near Sancerre, we made a stop at Mason Pinard, in San Satur. We stumbled across this place several years ago and have managed to return several times. Their Easter displays are epic.

This chocolate rabbit is about 2 1/2 feet tall

and costs 200 euros

Elegant Mr. Eggheads

It’s hard to see but this is an underwater display

with all kinds of fish and other sea creatures

We bought a couple of small things, a rabbit, an egg, some candies and this chicken.

It’s in two parts and when the ribbon is taken off, the goodies inside reveal themselves.

The goodies inside the chicken

 salted caramel and more chocolate.

I mentioned projects in the last posting…

Last year our always balky generator finally gave up the ghost. The two year Covid layoff did it no favors and we didn’t use it that much anyway. Rather  than spend the thousands of euros to replace it we decided to go the “green” route and greatly increase our solar panel capacity. The new panels are supposed to be delivered today and after their installation we should be ready to head off. In the meantime, Cathy Jo has been catching up on some painting projects.

It was very quiet in the marina when we arrived; even the office wasn’t open yet. After a couple of days the other boaters started to trickle in. Klaus and June on Doris Pickel, Pete and Sarah on Mariana, Maggie and Charlie on Proper Job  and Debrah and Bob on Paradoxe have all appeared. The parties have begun.

Midway through writing this, the truck carrying the solar panel arrived. Tomorrow we return the car to the Paris airport, wander around Paris for awhile to find some lunch and then take the train back to Briare. It’s bicycles from now on!

Welcome to France, Tuesday, April 12

 Yes, we made it!

Wednesday, April 6 about 3:30 pm we began winging our way across North America and the Atlantic to Paris via Air France. It was a very nice flight; the staff was very attentive (back to their pre-Covid ways) and the food was the best we’ve ever had on a flight; well prepared lamb chops with a fine Burgundy with armanac for digestif. 

We landed at 11 am local time on Thursday just in time to be greeted by Storm Diego. They all have to have names now, you know. Heavy showers and strong winds were the order for the next couple of days. The drive to Briare in the rental car was exciting! By Friday afternoon the temperature dropped and we gave the radiators and wood stove a good workout. 

Rain is coming!

Luckily, by Sunday, reasonable weather had returned with high temps in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s, perfect conditions for outside boat cleaning. We’ve only been away from Oldtimer six months this time so the boat was in pretty good shape. We did have to clean off a bunch a Sahara dust, though. We’d always wondered why the boat was covered in red dirt (mud) after the winter.

We’re also earlier to the boat than we have been in the past. The trees are just starting to leaf out although is seems like we can see them growing.

This is the grove on the island viewed from our back deck.

 In their usual fashion, the city has been very attentive to their spring gardens, especially this bed in the port, although the flowers on the bridges are not in place yet.

We’ve made our first trip to the garden store for flowers and herbs and this afternoon we’ll be driving down to the area around Sancerre for a supply of our favorite pouilly fumé.

We do have a couple of major tasks to complete before we head south (more details later) but our hope is to be underway sometime around the beginning of May.

And in a new tradition inspired by the Family Midge (Fading Memories) we found this at the neighborhood Lidl.

Final Days, Sept 19-29

 Now it was time for the final clean up, painting and winterizing.

Sunday it started to rain and continued, heavy at times, for a couple of days, It rained enough to put our sandy beaches on the river underwater and close the crossing of the Loire onto the Canal du Nivernais due to fast current. Luckily, later in the week it cleared up so we could complete our outside chores. 

We also had two replies for winter berths, one from Castelnaudry on the Midi and the other from Castelsarrasin on the Garrone lateral canal so, assuming we can make it south next year we’ll have a place to put the boat for the winter. We would be pretty happy with either place.

Monday the 27th, after a mighty struggle with our car navigation system we returned the car to the airport and, after a struggle finding a taxi, made it to our hotel room. The taxi driver told us that since there’s so little passenger traffic at the international terminal, the taxis have all gone elsewhere. 

Tuesday, Air France got in on the fun. A malfunction of the aircraft required us to change planes after we’d already pushed back from the gate. Our departure was delayed by 5 hours, but luckily our rental car was waiting for us in Los Angeles. We finally made it to our Ventura home about 9 pm, a 24 hour journey.

Here’s a map of this years trip. The colored line are the “out” portion and the place markers are where we stayed on the “back” part. Hopefully next years map will be a little more interesting!

As always, you can expand the map to get a better picture of where we went.

And the numbers-

407 kilometers traveled

118 locks

84 1/2 hours underway on 21 travel days

See you next year!

In the South, Part 2

 Wednesday when we drove from Beziers to Saint Nicholas Grave we passed through the spectacular Parc régional du Haut-Languedoc. The road climbs up through some really twisty passes and down into the village of Castres. I wish there were pictures but unfortunately it was pouring down rain and we weren’t able to stop. We wouldn’t have been able to see anything if we had.

We hit the road Thursday morning for Moissac, just about 10 minutes away from our chambres de hote in Saint Nicholas. After visiting the marina and talking with the Capitaine, Bruno, we headed off to inspect the town.

The biggest attraction is the Saint-Pierre Abbey, it’s cloister and the tympanum, the stonework around the main entrance. The building is well preserved considering the first stones were laid in the 12th century.

This is a detail of the carvings to the left of the entrance.

There is also a supposedly beautiful cloister attached to the Abbey, one of the most well preserved in the world. We’ll visit that when we return for a visit, hopefully next year

After Moissac it was on to Buzet sur Baise, where the Baize River meets the Garonne with the Lot nearby. An English couple, Kevin and Sarah, own a small cafe there with moorings. The scene reminded us of the old days at Bourgogne Marine near Saint Jean de Losne. It seems like one of those places you can just show up and they’ll find a space for you. You may be outside other boats but there will be a space. We had a nice lunch there, too!

Thursday night we managed to find a meal at the only cafe in Saint Nicholas. Unfortunately some big group was having a meal there too. Very odd as all the men were at one table and the women at another. There were more than 30 people in all. It was crowded, noisy and a little chaotic but we did get our dinner.

Friday we were off to our last stop, L’Oustal del Barry in the village of Najac. We followed the Gorges of the Aveyron and the weather was much better. On the way we stopped in two beautiful medieval villages, Saint Antonin Noble Val and Cordes sur Ciel.

Looking down one of Cordes streets.

More Cordes

Entering Saint Antonin Noble Val on the bridge across the Aveyron.

In the afternoon we arrived at our last stop, the village of Najac and its picturesque tower. 

We had a little time before the hotel opened its doors so we wandered about the streets of the village.

When we checked in our room was on the third floor (there’s an elevator!) giving us a great view over the valley of the Lot River and a look down on the kitchen garden of the hotel.

The hotel is on the villages second hill and is very nice. Plus we had a great dinner. The meal was a a fixed menu; lobster ravioli to start, followed by a roasted quail dish, local roquefort cheese and apple crumble for the cheese course and a fruit compote and ice cream desert. All were paired with wines from their cellar. When we informed our server, Sarah, that we were unfamiliar with wines from the region she substituted the main course burgundy with a gaillac, a blend of syrah, merlot and a local grape, duras, that knocked our socks off. We’ll definitely be getting more of that!

We woke up Saturday morning to a fog bank on the Lot river out our window.

We rolled out of Najac on Saturday morning for the 6 hour drive back to Briare, mission accomplished. We got a good look at the marinas along the waterways and made contact with the ones we might be interested in staying in next year if our plans work out. We also saw some beautiful scenery and wonderful old villages. Our appetites are wetted for next year!

One last shot. The village of Martel on the Dordogne River.

By 5 pm we were back to Oldtimer ready to start getting her ready for winter.