Ambling down the Loire

5th May, 2011 (Sally)

Two weeks of cruising and we covered 100kms, not a record for slow travelling on the canals of France but certainly a new record for us. The weather has been superb, day after day of cloudless skies with unseasonable warmth giving us plenty of excuses for lingering at pleasant canal-side stops and opportunities for bike rides along tow paths or more adventurous rides through the hills and villages on our motorbikes.

The final social function at Artaix with our port friends was well attended, about 60 people sat down to an extended lunch under the shade of the trees. French, English, American and of course Australian picnic and barbecue food was on offer, all washed down with various wines ranging from the four gallon fill-your-own cask to some delightful bottles produced from the cave of Thierry, our french friend who is renowned among the port people for the quality of his cellar and the hospitality with which he shares it. By a dent of manouvering I managed to find myself sitting next to him and was rewarded with several samples from his never ending supply. Next morning all the other boats had left and the spot was too peaceful to leave plus it was close to Marcigny which has a very lively Monday morning market. A whole aisle of live animals, chickens, day-old and fully grown, quail, ducks, pigeons and rabbits all competing for space and for attention from the dozens of kids wanting to pet them. We thought some of our grandchildren would have bought them just to set them free.

The vegetable stalls are always where we make our purchases, spring produce just coming into the markets now. Strawberries in huge quantities. The smell wafts in the air and draws one towards the stands; white asparagus, the first of the season; lettuce, three for a euro, every sort of tomato and huge bunches of green globe artichokes at a euro each. This year's goal: conquer artichokes. We came out with too much food,[whats new] and then stopped just for a look at the Emile Henri factory outlet. Oh Wow! Stand after stand of cookware. I counted twelve displays, each one laden with different colours and designs. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Sable is so well stocked that I really do not need or have room for another thing but with a little help via requests from some family members I was able to satisfy my craving to indulge in some retail therapy. The only stipulation to them is: I buy it, you get it home. The countryside behind Marcigny, the Brionnais,is an area known for the wealth of Romanesque churches all built in the 11th and 12th century. An inventory of more than 90 chapels or churches in this style in such a confined area tells of the religious history that blossomed from the mother church at Cluny. We took our motorbikes and did just some of the Romanesque Road through villages with names such as Semur en Brionnais, St Didier en B, Varenne, St Chrisotphe en B, and St Foy. Lovely rolling farmland with one product, Charolais cattle. Everywhere you look is a field of cows with small white calves at foot.

From the Roanne à Digoin Canal into the Loire Lateral Canal, all familiar ground to us as this is our fourth time over this particular stretch, but we usually have been in a hurry to leave port or else racing the winter home, so once again a chance to tarry and to explore further. Bourbon Lancy is a town that promises much but sadly failed to deliver. It is an old spa town with numerous Victorian-age hotels in which one resides to "take the waters." They sit firmly along the Aire de Therme like a group of disapproving dowager ladies sniffing their disdain at the modern world. We paused in town for a wander around the medieval heart but were not encouraged to stay. Vichy, the other Spa town in the vicinity, has clearly reinvented itself and stolen all the business as the waters are designated "medical treatment" only and one needs a doctor's prescription and a three month reservation to find a place,

At Gannay sur Loire we joined a small flotilla of British boats, and settled in for three nights giving us a chance to watch the "Wedding" live and in good company. The BBC did an excellent coverage. Why the rest of the world needed to send 8,500 press to do the same thing makes one wonder. We enjoyed it all but my one defining moment was a short clip, after it was all over, of a young verger doing cartwheels down the red carpet in the abbey. It was like "Thank goodness that went off without a hitch." Gannay brought back some memories for us, as it was here, almost four years ago we tried with our almost non-existent french to buy some herbs to grow on the boat. They tried to sell us currant bushes and grape vines if I remember rightly. Now of course with my lovely pots of persil, menthe, estragon and ciboulette I feel at least we are making some progress. Gannay also had another claim to fame, the tree of Sully, which is 500 years old and sat at the junction of three regions. When we last saw it more than three years ago it was a sad relic of its former glory, a shell of the trunk with a concrete core, capped with a conical slate roof. Today it is a collapsed heap of rubble, sadly the tree of Sully is no more.

We have now turned off the Loire, at Decize, and are climbing the Nivernais up to the summit at Baye where the sixteen lock ladder down the other side awaits. However that is still several days away and as long as this wonderful Spring weather continues we will slowly, ever so slowly, continue this wonderful journey.