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| Lunch on the top deck under the umbrella was a treat each day. |
A
long session of flights brought us into Paris - on Sept 11.
I am not overly superstitious, but must confess the echoes of
that date were playing around in my mind. Well - no problems.
Transport via the excellent French train system then took us
south of Paris about 100 miles. We met up with Jim and Pat and
LARGO in a tiny town along the Nivernais Canal close to Corbingny.
And so more fun and adventures began.
The
Nivernais Canal is reported to be one of the most beautiful
in France. We've nothing to compare, but I would agree. It was
very rural, with vibrant green fields and drifts of wooded areas
flowing gently up and over the rounded hills. The fields were
dotted with herds of white Charolais cattle (cheese or veal?),
flocks of sheep (sweaters on the hoof), and a few horses now
and then. Farms looked HUGE - not the houses so much as the
whole collection of barns and out buildings that would surround
them. And we could see small villages - their presence advertised
with church towers or steeples, nestled into this pastoral scene
here and there. Big oaks, poplars, and willows lined the banks
of the canal. The hedge row fences were full of blackberry brambles.
Well practiced in "hunting and gathering" from our
recent Chagos experience, we did our share of picking and always
had berries for cereal and enough for dessert with cream too.
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| LARGO in a lock infront of one of the lovely lock keepers cottages with gardens all around us. |
The
canal was quite narrow. The locks and bridges even more so!
It took real concentration to do the driving as this boat is
very flat on the bottom and tends to slide all over the place.
Our first day with LARGO we did 12 locks - quite an introduction!
The most we had in one day was 16, and our easiest day there
were only 3 locks to pass through. You can do it with 2 persons,
but it is less stressful to have 3 or 4. The lock keepers were
friendly and helpful; they would close the lock gates - either
with a crank or just a hefty pushing on a lever beam - and operate
the sluice gates for the water to flow in or out. It is courtesy
to give them a hand however, so whoever was ashore with the
lines usually helped close lock gates and anything else they
asked. Most of the tenders did a series of 3 locks and would
bicycle, motor bike, or drive between them.
This
canal dates from around the 1830s. Many of the lock keepers'
houses had dates in the stone work from that era. The houses
were small but had gardens surrounding the locks that overflowed
with flowers; it looked like the keepers were almost in competition
for the most attractive lock house. Then again, sometimes the
house had an odd assortment of embellishments - like an over
large baby doll suspended atop the chimmney at one. Huh? There
was a pottery display at one house, a neuveaux art collection
at another, 4 dogs and uncountable cats at the next!
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| Meeting with LARGO in the Nivernais Canal, France. Farm buildings behind. |
Our
weather was terrific. The mornings were cool with perhaps some
ground fog, but most always sunny by noon and for the rest of
the day. The 2 times it did rain was during the night - complete
with thunder and lightning too! We were up early, and our job
was to go for the daily bread. If we weren't in a small town,
we could usually bicycle to a boulangerie nearby. For a few
days there was a bread delivery van that followed the canal
"tow path" road beside the canal selling baguettes,
croissants, and area specialties. The French MUST have fresh
bread daily; they eat it for every meal. We usually just ate
it with our lunches.
The
locks close between 12 and 1pm. We would find a tie up point
(many along the route) or drive some iron stakes into the grassy
banks to tie to. We ate lunch on the top deck - great views.
We typically ate salad, pate or ham or sausage, and a variety
of cheeses with our fresh baguette bread, usually fresh fruit
for dessert. All with a nice rose wine, and on Sunday there
was champagne! Pat did great dinners - veal, fish, rabbit, and
I did a couple of chicken stir frys and a pork roast to lighten
her load. I think LARGO was the best restaurant on the canal!
The Nivernais Canal ended in the town of Decise, and there we passed through automated locks into the Canal Lateral du Loire. Jim had thought that this would be a more industrialized section of canal, but no - back to the picture postcard views of farmland and forests once more. This canal was wider, had fewer locks, but lots of bridges, and we had more boat traffic to contend with. Most of the other pleasure boats were from several charter fleets of canal boats. Many of them had just a week; I don't think you could really do much in just that short amount of time. At least not at our pace: one day only 7K; the most was 21K.
We spent a day and a half in Nevers sightseeing and shopping. This is where we left the Parsnips to travel onward. We had such a tremendous time with them - Jim and Pat are terrific hosts and wonderful friends to have. Time with good friends like that is rare and we all made the most of it without squabbles. Hard to squabble when you are laughing so much! We thoroughly enjoyed this different form of cruising too. Certainly would do it all again - and maybe we will.
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