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!