Along the Lateral a la Loire

We've been slowly making our way up the Lateral a la Loire, the canal that follows the Loire River, flowing all the way to the Atlantic.  We are now in Decize, a medieval village at the confluence of the Loire, the River Aron, the Canal Lateral a la Loire, and the Canal du Nivernais.  Decize actually sits on an island in the Loire, and here and there, you can see the ramparts of the medieval town.  We hadn't planned to stay a week, but when we arrived, the lock keeper told us that the locks would be closed over the weekend because of the international canoe and kayak competition hosted here.  But what we discovered was this is a great place to re-provision, and a very nice town as well.

On our voyage along this canal, we've enjoyed the scenery of rural France - small towns, Charolais cattle, little "hobby" farms selling their own goat cheese.  One morning as we inched our way into a lock, I saw a tiny aluminum kayak in the lock, waiting for us to arrive.  Panic set in -  we will crunch that thing before anyone even knows what is happening. I yelled out to Randy - THERE IS AN ALUMINUM KAYAK IN THE LOCK IN FRONT OF US!! But the lock keeper winked at me - and the kayaker, a not so young man, smiled and held his craft sturdy against the lock wall (with a piece of twine, not barge dock lines) as we tied off.  Instantly I was emotionally transported back to our home in Colorado, where every closet and garage is full of bikes, kayaks, climbing equipment, backpacking equipment, snow shoes, cross country skis, downhill skis, snowboards and (forgive me if I've left anything out) anything else you can find in REI.  So, I asked our intrepid kayaker where he was headed - "Orleans" was the reply.  Orleans - several hundred kilometers farther down the Loire.  I looked into the kayak as we tied off.  A tiny package of clothes, a small parcel of foodstuffs.  I didn't see a tent, or sleeping bag, change of clothes, or any other sign of backpacking creature comforts.  He was truly roughing it,  a voyage into the wilderness.  I was humbled as we ascended the lock, the two of us mindful to keep his boat safe from the rush of water and the possible consequenc of a 70 ton barge bouncing off an aluminum kayak.

This was probably the only time we've set out without having the digital camera handy, so the scenes in the lock will remain in my memory.  But when the lock opened, and he headed out in front of us, I ran down below and frantically searched for the camera.  We passed him along the canal, and caught a picture of him as he waved.  Orleans - indeed - Bon Voyage, Bon Navigation!

Listening to the music

Tonight is the celebration of Fete de la Musique - the 30th year of a tradition, on the summer solstice, June 21st, of music in every nook and cranny of France.  It is an event supported by the government, with both amateur and professional musicians donating their services to a festival enjoyed by the entire country, celebrating music!  Music in every concert hall, venue, plaza and street corner in France.  We were moored in the town of Gannay-sur-Loire for a few days - a sweet little town along the Canal Lateral a la Loire, and yesterday there was a lot of activity setting up a tent for the town's participation in the Fete.  Should we stay or should we leave?  We decided to shove off for Decize, a medieval town built on an island in the Loire River.  Along the way we saw our first stork!  But what about the music?  Well, we are tied off tonight on bollards in a rural spot on the canal.  We are listening to the sounds of the warblers and doves singing, and instead of dancing in the streets of Decize tonight, we are calling, one by one, our family members, to hear the melody of their voices.  Bon Fete!

On the way to somewhere

We did finally set sail on Friday June 3rd.  The first day we made it to the village of Melay, which has a small but nice quai and a few campsights for the caravans (motor coaches) so popular here in Europe.

We're slowing down this year and spending at least a few nights in each spot, and its wonderful to be on slow time on the canals.

My back deck garden

After a hot, dry April, the weather has turned cooler and wetter, much more average for this time of year.  We spent 3 nights in Melay, then headed north up and out of the Canal de Roanne a Digoin.  We spent two nights on bollards off the grid outside of Digoin and turned onto the Canal Lateral a la Loire, where we are cruising our way northwest, perhaps to Paris this summer.  There is a drought in northern France now, and its possible that some of the canals will close to traffic in order to provide more irrigation water if necessary.  Here along the Lateral Loire, we may be asked to move through the locks in convoys.  So we'll see how far we go, but its been raining in this part of the country off and on for over 2 weeks now, so we're hoping that's a good sign.
Our first stop along the Lateral Loire was in the tiny town of Diou.  There is a nicely maintained bike path along the canal between Digoin and Diou, so we rode our bikes up and back the day before we moved the boat.  It was my first day out for a long bike ride - not long by our old century ride standards, but long enough for me to have sore buns and knees.  It was great to finally get on the bikes in the countryside and enjoy the scenery.  There are cherry trees all along the bike path, and some of those cherries made it home to the boat with us for dessert that night.
Diou is a pretty, small town typical of rural France.  The town provides a small quai, this one with water but no electricity, just off the main square, with a few shops within walking distance, including one of the best boulangeries we've found so far.  Diou is also near the spa town of Bourbon-Lancy, and our friends Andrew and Laurel on Affleur D'O picked us up in their car for a night out in Bourbon-Lancy.  I'll post some pictures of that beautiful spot separately.
We're now tied up along the quai near the village of Beaulon.  Just so you realize its not all fun and games on a barge, here are some pictures of Randy chipping paint.  There's always lots of maintenance work on a big steel barge, and we're taking advantage of a nice spot along the canal to both relax, and get some work done. 

Just in case you're concerned I'm a lounge lizard while Randy's working away, I spent the day yesterday sewing tiebacks for the draperies we had made for the boat in Tucson.  We're very disappointed with the workmanship of the draperies, which arrived late, hours before we left, and if we had the time to thoroughly inspect them before we left, we would never have accepted them.  But, here we are and we're making the best of it though they are so poorly sewn we will more than likely replace them this winter.  So I bought a second hand sewing machine and am dressing them up a bit.

How to water your flowers

Drive barge into deep, descending lock.
At the bottom, ease back on the dock lines while the gates are being opened.
Drift back into the spray of water near the back gates.
Voila, the flowers are watered.

Under Way

Shoved off on Friday morning, arrived at Melay that afternoon, spent the weekend here in the countryside and will move up the Canal de Roanne a Digoin into the Canal lateral a la Loire tomorrow!