We're Afloat

Week 4 – September 15th to September 22nd (Tony) 

It’s hard to believe we have been a week in our barge, cruising. And every day, the weather has been absolutely glorious. We slipped out of Roanne sharp on 9 o’clock Saturday. New friends came down to see us through the first lock, after that we were on our own. From Roanne to Digoin the canal is fairly ordinary, by comparison with others, and as we will repeat the run  up and down this section a few times we put in a couple of longish days in order to allow us more time to slow down and enjoy the countryside further on. This is Charolais country, gentle rolling hills and lots of trees, and green, green fields.

Roanne is at the very end of the major canal system in France. To go further south, it is necessary to enter the Saône and then the Rhone Rivers to the Camargue, then one can easily move via canal again into the Canal de Midi, which effectively links the Mediterranean to the Atlantic (at Bordeaux). We’re not bold enough yet to take on the Rhone — it’s a very big river but it is not beyond our boat’s capabilities, just ours for the moment.

Digoin is a junction point. The canal north goes up to meet the Saône at Chalon sur Saône which is another major junction for several canals, to Burgundy, Champagne, and the river itself. We have opted to head west along the Canal Lateral à la Loire to Décize then up the Canal du Nivernais. We did a section of about half this canal in 1996 with the Stentons, Overells and Woodhouses. We will reminisce those happy times as we pass through.

So, we are heading for a little town called Vermenton, about 158 kms up the Canal du Nivernais from Digoin where the British proprietor of a hire-boat company based there is going to put us through the necessary training and evaluation procedure for us to obtain our ICC (International Certificate of Competency), in other words boat licence. You are supposed to have it, although everyone says it is only required for insurance, and Bob said he was only asked twice in ten years (both times in Paris) to show any papers at all. However, we’ll feel ever so much more comfortable having done the course. I’m sure by the time we get to Vermenton we’ll be quite confident. We’ve done bloody well thus far, negotiating dozens of locks and narrow bridges with only a couple of very minor “touches”. And Sally has got the hang of the ropes, pretty well to perfection. A 47 tonne ship, 20 m long, in locks that are barely a metre wider than the barge is heavy work. And there’s more than 100 locks to go!

As soon as we have achieved our competency qualifications, we will continue on to Auxerre, the home of Chardonnay (they call it Chablis) where we expect Sally’s sister Myra will join us, having just completed a mammoth trip through China, Mongolia, Bhutan, the silk road, Pakistan and various other …stans that I can’t spell let alone identify on the globe. She’ll be ready for some restful cruising I’m sure.

After that, we hope to join back up with the Loire near Fontainbleau and return down the Canal Briare back to Décize and so on back to Roanne before the canal locks are closed for winter on 1stNovember.

Sally has enjoyed getting back into the kitchen and cooking up delicious meals. It is pleasing to be no longer spending hundreds of euros a day on hotels and meals. In fact the last three days we have spent a mere handful of coins buying essentials — croissants, cheese, paté etc. I’ll overlook the cost of topping the tanks with 600 litres of diesel, that’s an occasional occupational necessity! Actually, Sable is very economical to run. And everywhere there is water and electricity, sometimes free, but usually no more than €8 a night.