May 14
A bit surprised at all the free moorings with electricity, we expected the Loire to be 'fashionable' meaning expensive. So far (6 weeks) we have spent about €30 on moorings in total. Our cruising pattern has deteriorated so we are only moving on the dry days!
After leaving Ménetreol we tied up on a rough bank so we could shop at the adjacent Colruyt supermarché (and put 60 litres of diesel in the tank) dodging cars on the road - then on to Léré a nice town and just enough mod cons eg a pharmacy for Angie's sun rash (not sure how she got that)! The two things you can guarantee in a French village are a Pharmacy and a Hairdresser - Alimentation or Boulangerie nowadays not so certain.
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| Léré washhouse (first good one since the Midi) |
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| Beaulieu well |
We were running parallel with the Loire all the way. We wanted to stop in Chatillon sur Loire but it was a hire boat base and a few hotel boats were taking all the other spaces so we temporarily green banked and went exploring. A lot of the lockside buildings en route had had large paintings of insects on the side eg cicadas but never a camera to hand, but quite a lot in Chatillon of medieval figures.
Chatillon sur Loire is where the canal originally crossed the River Loire into the old Canal de Briare so dodging rain drops..
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| small lock down to the Loire |
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| the Loire was semi canalised so the barges could cross |
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| there is a lock entrance there somewhere! |
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| up to the old Briare canal - note the small entrance and no boat engine! |
Then it was off to Briare in the rain where we green banked (nothing stingy about us).
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| Briare aqueduct (new canal) |
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| Briare |
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| Briare Port |
Trapped in a Bar by rain we drank a few Leffé Grande before giving up the sightseeing. We were now on the Canal de Briare - very pretty - lift bridges at a lot of the ecluses and we green banked at the 'top' of the canal by the water storage lakes (etangs)
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| requiring some renovation equals £200k in England |
We were paralleling the old (pre Freycinet) canal so lots of derelict ecluses.
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| Rogney les Sept Ecluses |
Les Bruhle Muhle (canals side by side) |
Then into Chátillon Coligny, a thriving town and nice mooring and good market. Lots of cleaning , some gardening (lots of pots of marigolds) and Angie finally got some sunbathing in (and Arsenal won the Cup)!!! Kes enjoyed the stop too.
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Did someone call?
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