These were by a lock at Briare. The concrete is speckled with many colours.
Strange sculptures
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
French Canals – Friday Morning
We had an early start so that we could get to the boatyard for some more fuel this morning.
All was well though the first automatic lock, but when we got to the second one, the gates didn’t open. After a while, the lock keeper appeared, pushed some buttons and all was fine. It turned out that another boat had snuck in front of us and had taken our place…
We continued down to Briare with no further problems until we got to the last set of automatic locks at 1150. As it was his lunchtime in 10 minutes, the lock keeper made us wait for an hour – he would only have needed to push one button…
Still we got here in the end, only to be told we didn’t need any more fuel anyway!
French Canals – Friday Morning
We had an early start so that we could get to the boatyard for some more fuel this morning.
All was well though the first automatic lock, but when we got to the second one, the gates didn’t open. After a while, the lock keeper appeared, pushed some buttons and all was fine. It turned out that another boat had snuck in front of us and had taken our place…
We continued down to Briare with no further problems until we got to the last set of automatic locks at 1150. As it was his lunchtime in 10 minutes, the lock keeper made us wait for an hour – he would only have needed to push one button…
Still we got here in the end, only to be told we didn’t need any more fuel anyway!
Meanwhile, indoors…
For those of you interested in domestic matters, here’s the living area on the boat, complete with typical Wheeler mess. There are supposedly enough beds for five, but the living would be snug. The tap over the loo basin cunningly converts into a shower. At the back is a comfy double bedroom.
The view from the windows keeps, changing, of course. There’s some bloke out there this evening…
French Canals – Thursday Afternoon
We had a nice lunch in Châtillon-Coligny, then set off on the final climb of the Canal de Briare.
12 locks later, we’re moored in the middle of nowhere just south of Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses. But there are now only 7 locks in the town, so it should really be called Rogny-les-Six-Ecluses!
25Km and 14 locks today.
French Canals – Thursday morning
Just two locks this morning, both deep but with helpful lock keepers, so no delays whilst we got our act together!
We’ve now moored at a Halte Fluviale at Châtillon Coligny where we’ve filled up with water and are taking advantage of the free WiFi.
French Canals – Beer
With the hot weather we’ve been having, beer has been a major part of our days here. We found quite a reasonable selection of beers in the shops, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The French manage to produce some very reasonable Beer Blanche (what we assume to be wheat beer), a far cry from years ago when it was lager or water!
Favourite so far is Saint Omer Blanche, which I think is better than Hoegarden…
French Canals – Wednesday
Another nice day on the canals. Not as cold this morning as it was yesterday, and soon warmed up to 30C or so. It seems strange being in this temperature with the trees starting to look quite autumnal.
We completed the Canal du Loing, with the remote control locks, and passed onto the Canal de Briare, which has a mixture of manual (with a lock keeper) and automatic locks.
One was particularly deep at 9.8m:
Luckily the lock keeper had a rope with a hook on the end to reach our mooring lines!
We’re now moored at Montpresson, a sleepy village south of Montgargis.
And enjoying a beer!
33Km and 18 locks today.
Berges dangereuses
Some of the more obscure phrases in the guide book are not translated, including this one.
We wondered if berges meant weeds after Phil found this lot wound round the propellor. Actually, it means banks.
He was glad he asked where the prop hatch was!
French Canals – Tuesday
It’s been a glorious day today, weather wise. And with an occasional breeze which is nice except when trying to manoeuvre at slow speed!
We’re still traveling up the Canal du Loing, and joined the River Loing for a while.
We did meet a few barges this morning, but south of Nemours, there has been very little other traffic.
We stopped at Souppes-sur-Loing for supplies, and are now moored for the night in a quiet spot a bit further on.
24Km and 6 locks today. And 2 geocaches!