The Charolais Canal

Our first port of call on the Canal du Centre was Paray le Monial. The town has been a religious centre for many years, in 973AD a Benedictine priory was established here that became the home of the Cluny monks until 1789. It is still a major centre and there are always gatherings of church groups in a “tent city” adjacent to the town.

We found the town interesting – apart from its religious connections. This old tower – part of a church in the past is used as an art gallery and houses various exhibitions. This time we saw a display of modern mosaics in black and white.

Even to this rendition of the periodic table.

Way out of place, we found this english phone box. We should have checked if calls to London were charged as local.

Our next stop was Montceau-les-Mines. In its time the port was one of the busiest ports on the French canal system. Coal was the primary reason with over 2.7 million tons leaving the town during the first World War.

Today the port is a very comfortable stop over on our trip even though at least half of its area is now a car park.

A few days later we crested the hill that the canal goes over and the view above opened before us. This view is from the first ecluse downhill, on the way to the Saone.

At the small village of Saint-Leger-sur-Dheune we met two of the hotel barges that we have got to know well. Hirondelle in front of us and Adrienne behind. We have seen these boats in many places and are on talking terms with their crews. We are moored here in their reserved area – with their permission and using their power and facilities. We stopped here for a few days and took the opportunity to do some little jobs on Matilda and generally chill out.

Marg found a jigsaw and spent many relaxing hours getting it together.

We were in Burgundy now, Pinot Noir country and the vineyards were appearing everywhere. We wandered into Santenay looking for something for lunch and although the town looked prosperous and pretty, we found it un-welcoming. So we were off to Chagny, two hours away. We planned to stay there for a few days.

We were visited by a young man who offered to take us to his family vineyard just out of town to sample his wines.

This we did and after a very pleasant few hours we returned to Matilda with some of his produce. A very enterprising young man.

 

While in Chagny we foraged and found some sloes. A couple of kilos were picked and made into sloe gin and conserves.

Our next stop found us near Rully, another historic wine producing village.

The village is dominated by the Chateau Rully. We cycled around  but once again found the village not appealing  to individual tourists. We think more oriented to the groups, arriving by coach and given organised tours.

The Canal du Centre was originally known as the Canal du Charolais and herds of these beef cows seem to be everywhere. Marg finds them interesting as they are really chunky beef carriers right from birth. Peter finds their meat tough and rather tasteless.  Bring on Christmas and good Aussie steaks!

We were soon on the Saone River heading upstream. We must report to those that know, the Pirate Chick at Gergy has been carried away but the restaurant was operating and our meal was very good.

We arrived in Saint-Jean-de-Losne to find all moorings occupied so we asked the skipper of Walhall if we could raft up. He agreed and we noticed that his vessel is in absolutely pristine condition. Walhall is the first commercial barge we passed on our initial outing with Matilda. It seems a long time ago.

Tomorrow we head to Auxonne. Helen and Peter are joining us on the 2^nd of September for a while. There will be more to tell so we will keep in touch.

Midsummer madness

June 21^st is a special day in France. It is the summer solstice which since ancient times has had a special place in the lives of all French people. The pagan rites of the past have given way in these modern times to a day and night devoted to festive music and dance.

Last year we were in Dole and the whole town was filled with various groups singing and dancing through to dawn. This year we are on the canal lateral to the Loire at a small village, Cours-les-Barres. The locals made us very welcome at the town quay with free mooring for about eight boats. The only festivities were canalside and finished at 11pm.

The young musicians above are playing local folk instruments while people performed jigs and other traditional dances on a temporary dance floor.

The local ladies provided a pleasant variety of food and drinks.

We continued on and just after Cuffy, the canal crosses the Allier River. We are lifted over 9 metres in a lock that opens to the  pont canal du Guetin. At an  impressive 235 metres long , this beautiful stone water bridge sits on 11 pylons across the river.

Next day we decided to call in to Nevers. The town is reached via a branch canal that in the past allowed river boats access to the canal but today the river locks have been dismantled and there is a swimming pool complex in their place. Built probably 30 years ago, this complex is already past its “use-by” date and is currently derelict. But the 8 metre high 100 year old lock gates on to the river still keep flood waters out of parts of the town.

Like many old European towns, Nevers has a very long history.  The gate house to the left was the 14^th century replacement for the one below which is purported to be from the 10^th. 

      








The history of the town can be traced through the pottery it is famous for. From Italian origins, this heavily patterned china depicts scenes from the ancient régimes, to the Revolution in miniatures and on plates and ornaments. The Montagnon factory, Du Bout du Monde, founded in 1648, still carries on the traditions of generations. Unfortunately we were unwilling to take photos in their showrooms.

Here, the Loire is crossed  by this beautiful old stone Bridge. There are the remains of at least three other older bridges in the vicinity. 

 

Nevers cathedral has a long and remarkable history. It has had a series of church buildings on the site since the 5^th century. They have been pillaged, burnt down, replaced and collapsed since then. The present structure has parts constructed in the 11^th century and the last devastation was some accidental direct hits in a bombing raid by the allies in 1944. They were aiming for the railway yards. All the windows were blown out and in our opinion, their modern replacements do not do the historic building justice.  

We had planned to visit Roanne this trip so after travelling down the canal de Roanne a Digion for two days we entered Roanne harbour. We have met many boaters who frequent the town, specifically as a winter mooring so we thought we had better check it out.

In the past, a very busy port, this is the upstream end of the canals lateral to the Loire river. It is now a very spacious port for pleasure craft. We were surprised to see the Australian flag flying on the first pole on entering the port.

We spent some time here, Peter had some new glasses made, we refueled Matilda from a tanker, (1028 litres so we will be will be right for the rest of the season), we explored the area and spent some time with old and new friends met here.

We were here for Robert’s birthday and the town entertained everyone with a great fireworks display.

By the way, the French call his birthday, Quatorzieme de Juillet (Bastille Day!)

Another thing the French are known for is their skills in tromp l’oeil and Roanne has some brilliant examples of the art.

This scene is almost too big to photograph. See if you can find the real doorway.

No prizes, there is not one in the scene.

A little further away is this square. There is a doorway in this one. And the odd real window.

We left Roanne on July 22^nd to wander down the Canal du Centre and on to the Saone River.

There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch.

The Loire valley

This page starts with what could be some pretty boring historical facts. You will be excused if you skip the lesson and go straight to the pictures.

The Briare Canal is one of the oldest canals in France. It was the first attempt to connect the Loire river to the Seine. Design and construction were begun in 1610 but it was not till 1642 that the first barge went through. Until the opening of the Orleans canal, it was one of the most successful canals in the French system . However the Orleans canal was closed in the 1950s and the Briare is still working. It’s success is mainly due to the canalisation of the Loire river upstream to Digoin and south to Roanne as well as the extension to the Saone river along the canal du Centre.

Briare is famous for having, until 2003, the longest pont canal or canal bridge in Europe. It is 662 metres long . This wonderful piece of 19th century engineering is actually part of the lateral a la Loire canal and connects it to the Briare.

It was surpassed by the completion of the Magdeburg aqueduct in central Germany which was begun in1905 and completed in 2003. It is 918 metres long (and twice as wide and twice as deep as the Briare).

Until the pont du Briare was opened, canal traffic to and from towns like Roanne, Digoin, Paray-le-Monial and Montceau-les-Mines had to cross through the Loire river before Briare. Here, the Loire is wide with many sand banks when dry,  and could flood to many metres deep.

This photo was taken from the river lock on the left bank, upstream. Looking downstream under the road bridge you can see a stone structure on the other bank. This is the lock where the canal from Briare entered the river a kilometre away. The barges had to navigate this gap to continue in either direction. They used a variety of methods, horses, manpower, oxen teams and even a steam tug that pulled its way on a chain.

From the last picture Peter took, he turned around and took the next one.

The flood mark Marg is pointing to is more than nine metres above the river level that day. The worrying fact is that the lock was empty, the stone bottom had no water in it at all.

The structures are absolutely massive and have lasted in this extreme environment for so many years. They are in scale with the Briare aqueduct that made them redundant. 

As we continued up the Loire canal we passed this current-day structure at Belleville-sur-Loire. One of France’s many nuclear power stations. We just hoped that it would be in as good condition as those river locks in another 200 years.

We have been this route before and missed a lot of the history of the canal. This time we are travelling slower and taking more in.

We had a delightful stop at Menetreol-sous-Sancerre where we taxied to the ancient village of Sancerre, an old fortified village perched on the top of a hill and looking over the Loire valley. Sancere has produced wines since Roman times. Late in the 19^th century havoc was caused by the phylloxera epidemic and most vines were lost.  Gamay, the most common grape was replaced with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

The old village has a wonderful charm and the views from the top are spectatular.

Walking back (downhill) to the canal we came across a disused railway track and walked across this massive viaduct behind the village where we were moored.

This water pump was on the top of an old well – probably still works.

We found this dramatic chalet at La Chapelle Montlinard. It has had a lot of history but now owned by some Americans who intend to rejuvenate it. They started by clearing the trees around it. They would have been pretty big.

The port of Marseilles-les-Aubigny was a disappointment. At the junction of the canal du Berry and the Loire, it is full of old hulks and they are becoming a real problem. Rather than stop here we decided to go to Nevers. This town is on the Loire at the end of a short  branch canal. Originally this branch had access to the Loire.

There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch