Roanne to Parey le Monial

After many days of rain, we shoved off under beautiful blue partly cloudy skies the morning of May 3rd, 2012.  Thanks to our friends Simon and Mae for the photos below:

We pulled into the port of Melay, about half way up the Canal Roanne a Digoin, and were joined a few hours later by our good friends Andrew and Laurel on Affleur D'O.

It was wonderful to finally be back on the canals after a long winter, and very rainy spring!  We enjoyed the lush scenery, green rolling hills, curious Charolais, blue herons, and wonderful songbirds along the way.


After a quiet night in the countryside, we moved on to an area outside the entrance to the Canal du Centre, just before the lock at Digoin.   We met up with our friends Brad and Nancy on Libellule, and while Brad and Randy did a little work on the boats and bikes, Nancy and I shoved off by car for a little shopping.  The skies were gray as we left, and while we were gone, a violent thunderstorm flared up, complete with hail.  I had just planted all of my flower boxes and herb boxes, and after years of living in Colorado, where you could be sure to have a hailstorm as soon as you planted your annuals, or as soon as the tomatoes set fruit, sure enough, this storm was a doozy, stripping the leaves off of the trees we were moored under.  Randy, my hero, got all of my flowers and herbs under the rear canopy and they were saved.  The boat was a mess, however, with shredded leaves and twigs everywhere.

Hail still coming down

Dimitri, checking out the size of the hailstones

We moved on to Parey Le Monial on Sunday, and spent a quiet afternoon washing down the boat.  We're still in a weather pattern with lots of rainy days followed by a day or two of sunshine.  We're glad we were able to get in a few days of painting in early April.  And even though its not as pleasant of a cruise in the rain (especially for me up on the bow handling the lines), we keep repeating the mantra . . . water for the canals . . . water for the canals.  There appears to be a lot of water, but this canal is scheduled to close on May 20th unless the reservoirs feeding it are full.  So we will push on ahead to the junction with the Saone River.  From there, the original plan is to hang a left and turn north towards Strasbourg, but then, we can always change our minds, hang a left and go south.  Cruising on slow time again!