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!

You're never too old for bunny ears!

Laurel, Deb & Randy

Waiting for the Bastille Day fireworks in Briare - Bram Hewitt, Andrew and Laurel's son, visiting from Melbourne, Australia, surprised me with a set of my own flashing bunny ears! I promised I would wear them with great pride forever, though I don't know where, but a promise is a promise.

Here are a few shots of Andrew and Laurel with Bram on board, crossing the Loire River on the Briare viaduct. A cloudy and rainy day, but a beautiful sight nonetheless!

Laurel and Bram, with Andrew in the wheelhouse (well, someone has to drive!)

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.

20th Anniversary: A trip to Lyon and a surprising discovery at a Bistro!

I had the good fortune of spending my 60th birthday - I prefer to think of it as the 20th anniversary of my 40th birthday - on November 2nd on the boat in Roanne.  Randy referred to it as my "all-star-gala-birthday-week" which got underway early on board  Harry and Marion's boat,  Driftwood, with Bob and Lynn from Tracker in attendance. My favorite, a "death by chocolate" cake and night of Kalooki - an addictive card game.  More chocolate cake on the actual day - a surprise from Lynn and Bob, who decorated the rails of Alouette with Happy Birthday streamers - followed up a few days later by a road trip to the beautiful city of Lyon.

Our friends Andrew and Laurel on Affleur D'O had spent some time in Lyon and were ready to do a road trip in their new car, so guided by Andrew's Tom Tom with the voice of  actor John Clease directing the way, we set off for the second largest city in France, Lyon.  The weather was overcast and misty, not the best day to see the city, but the leaves were turning and even on an overcast day, Lyon is beautiful.  Laurel had some shopping to do but had mapped out a quick morning sightseeing tour for Randy and me while she and Andrew shopped.  We would rendezvous in Place Bellecour, a large plaza, and find a place for lunch.

Randy and I took the funicular up the hill to the Basilique Norte-Dame de Fourviere, very ornate, the construction started in 1872 and was finished by World War I.

 

The view of Lyon from the Basilica is spectacular:

A short walk away are the remains of the ancient Roman Theatres - which are still used today in the summer for open air concerts and festivals.  Lyon (Lugdunum in latin) was founded in A.D. 43, was an important transportation hub for Roman Gaul (the River Saone meets the Rhone at Lyon), and it still is an important transportation hub today.

We took the funicular back down into the heart of old Lyon.  This section has the best concentration of Renaissance buildings in France, with narrow, cobblestone passageways, lovely loggias, delicate archways.

We crossed took the passarelle (pedestrian bridge) across the River Saone and met Andrew and Laurel in Place Bellecour, which was being re-landscaped, but has a commanding view of the Basilica and hills overlooking Lyon:

The tower off to the right - La Tour Metallique - was finished just before WWI.  It was an observation tower but now functions as a TV tower.

To be continued. . . .