A nice (but cold) morning here in the lovely ‘port’ near to the town.

We’ll be going through the lock you can just see in the distance down to the River Yonne shortly.

A bit of a dull day today weather wise, but the forecast rain held off, which was a bonus.

The lock keepers also seemed a bit more organised today, and whilst we had to wait occasionally, there were no long delays.

The canal scenery is getting nicer by the mile; forested hills are the norm.

The usual collection of locks, including one double lock. And more lift bridges.

At one lock, the keeper had a very friendly dog:

We’re now moored in a quiet quay just outside Clamecy (with WiFi) and are assured that there will be some restaurants open tonight – France seems to shut down on Sundays and Mondays.

21Km, 11 locks and 2 lift bridges today. And a swing bridge, but that was open so doesn’t count!

Slow progress this afternoon as well…

A bit of excitement though when the lock keeper left the top paddle open – all of a sudden the boat shot across the lock diagonally and I struggled to hold it. Didn’t even apologise!

We encountered the first of many lift bridges on this canal. They’re electric, which saves some work, but you still have to get off to open and close them.

One interesting aspect of these locks is the lack of a bywash, which means that even with the bottom gates open, water is still pouring over the top gates.

Despite being a bit cooler today, it was still very pleasant, and some nice canal sections.

A total of 18Km, 19 locks and 3 bridges today.

A cold start to today – we had to put the boat heating on for a bit… It soon warmed up though.

We’re continuing downwards, with a mere 8 locks this morning.

We’ve stopped at a boatyard to get some more fuel – 112 litres used so far! We also took the opportunity to fill up with water – it’s been difficult to find any for the last few days.

There’s also reasonable WiFi here, which is a bonus.

A rather exciting day today. We spent the morning doing 11 locks up to the summit. This included two double locks and one triple lock – the wash from this was rather fierce for our little boat!

Then this afternoon, we had three tunnels, 758m, 268m and 212m long, though these were wider than most UK ones, and had traffic lights so there was no need to pass other boats.

Between each tunnel was a deep cutting reminiscent of UK canals.

Following the tunnels, there seemed to have been a breakdown in communication between lock keepers, and we had to wait for an hour attached to a very dubious bollard…

But finally, we were on our way down, and spent the afternoon doing 16 locks in 4Km!

A busy day – a mere 19Km but 27 locks and 3 tunnels today!

Another fine day in paradise, though a bit misty to start:

Having had a couple of ‘light’ days, we decided to push on in earnest today.

The morning was a bit slow waiting for other boats to get their act together in the locks, but good progress this afternoon, and we were both able to help with the locks, which sped things up when there was only one lock keeper.

The canal became very wiggly this afternoon, a bit like parts of the Oxford Canal but with many more locks!

Yet again, we’ve found a quiet spot to moor for the night.

A total of 43Km and 17 locks today – we’ve earned ourselves a beer!

We left the Canal Latéral á la Loire, dropping down through an automated lock to Decize, where there was a hypermarket nearby; ideal for restocking the food and beer.

One more lock took us onto the River Loire, and we stopped at nice moorings by the town for lunch.

Lunch was excellent, even if we were not quite sure what we were eating!

After a look around Decize, we joined the Canal du Nivernais for our journey north.

This canal is a bit smaller than the other canals we’ve used, and so far, we’ve yet to meet another boat.

Yet again, we’re now moored in the middle of nowhere!

17Km and 6 locks today.

A little bit cooler today, though still got a bit too hot this afternoon.

Another uneventful day, apart from leaving our hose adaptors behind – at least with a small boat and a wide canal, you can turn around almost anywhere!

We’re now moored up, yet again, in the middle of nowhere. We’ll be heading into Decize tomorrow, and from there onto the Canal du Nivernais, which is good as we’ve got a bit bored with the Canal latéral á la Loire…

27Km and 5 locks today.

An exciting start to the day, with a 9.8m double lock then the aqueduct.

Then it was a long section without locks until we took the branch to Nevers.

These were activated by pulling on a rope

All fairly straightforward…

We then moored at the end of the branch and walked across the River Loire into Nevers.

We visited the cathedral (bombed during the war and rebuilt), which had lovely contemporary stained glass:

Then it was time for lunch and an explore of the town.

We’re now back on the main canal, moored in a quiet spot in the middle of nowhere…

15Km and 6 locks today.

This is the aqueduct and River l’Allier that we’ll be traveling over tomorrow morning:

Certainly impressive on foot!