Kerr Barging Blogs

Old Lavoir at Chateau Landon

We had only one more step along this network of Canals before we reached the Seine River: The Canal du Loing. The Canal, which always runs close to the  Loing River is about 50 kilometres long with 19 locks which are all now automatic and work very well. In fact, we would give this canal the prize for the most reliable automatic locks we have used. It was completed in 1723 by the Duke of Orleans to connect his Canal going to Orleans with the Seine. It was sold to the State in 1860. There were several commercial barges on this Canal. While it was good to see them, we were pleased not to get caught behind any going along, as their normal speed here is 4 kilometres an hour. They are of necessity very low entering and exiting locks because they fit into the lock completely without any space to spare. If the driver doesn't steer straight there would be quite a mess- but they are so skilful that accidents are not common. 
The countryside is mainly rural, with forest areas along the way. We had travelled the canal four years ago and did not remember these forests, then realised that was in mid- April when the mainly deciduous trees would have been quite bare. Now we were travelling in the height of summer and the  foliage dense providing very attractive views.

The old Abbey
We cycled to the old fortified town of Chateau Landon. The main attraction is an 11th Century abbey now appropriately used as a retirement home. The views from its rooms must be magnificent as it is perched on a spot overlooking the surrounding valley.

Looking up to the town through 100 narrow stepsFete National, July 14th was looming so we wanted to find a suitable town to experience the celebrations. We found that Bagneaux sur Loing was celebrating with fireworks so headed there. The mooring is alongside a factory that dominates the town but seemed to be closed. We got talking to a local who frequently walked his dog along the canal, and he filled us in one the  history of this town and of the factory itself.

The huge and historic glass & Pyrex factory on site of the first glassmaking
Sand ideal for glassmaking is found in this area. As a result, Bagneaux has had glass works dating back to 1750 when the royal glass works were established on the site next to our mooring. The factory near us had for the last 100 years been owned by Corning to produce Pyrex glass. There have been two other glass works also owned by Corning and one partly owned by that company, producing a variety of specialist products such as ceramic glass for cook tops and high quality optical glass for products such as telescopes. Specialist glass workers were attracted to live in Bagneaux and most of the population of 4,500 were employed in that industry, attracting support organisations such as a welfare society to take care of their special health and other support needs.

The glassblowers
Then two things happened: the special sand started to run out; and in January 2014 Corning reorganised its operations and closed those factories in the town which it fully owned; the final factory was able to be kept running because there was a different majority owner. It employs 400 people making ceramic cook tops and similar products. It is the biggest in Europe and one of the largest in the world (it has three factories worldwide). The town population is currently half what it was, but the Mairie next January is re- opening the huge main factory area for smaller businesses.

The Mairie
The townspeople are still being well looked after by a very active Mairie which incidentally is housed in the most magnificent building we have seen for a town of this size. The fireworks are an example of their active involvement and of the town's response. The venue was a large area of parkland near the Canal, starting with food on sale at 7pm and culminating in the fireworks at 11.30. From about 6.30 there was a steady stream of families passing the boat with picnic rugs, chairs and hampers. A second wave started about 9pm, presumably of those who had eaten at home, so we decided to go along at 10.15 to get a good spot. The whole area was covered by people from tiny babies to the elderly and there must have been at least 10,000, several times the population of the town.  The fireworks were certainly worth waiting for, half an hour of really spectacular action, enhanced by the very pretty setting.  

The crowd building towards a final 10,000

After this very informative National Day stop, we continued along the Canal du Loing to its end where it joins the Seine at St Mammes.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Pont Canal at Briare (canal 60+ metres over the Loire River)

The Canal Lateral to the Loire ends at Briare with the crossing of the Loire River on a magnificent Pont Canal, 663 metres long, decorated at each end with imposing spires and lined with elegant lightposts, all designed by Eiffel, of Tower fame.

This commercial barge had only 5mm gap each side!From here we travel on the ancient Briare Canal, begun in 1604 during the reign of Henry IV, delayed following his assassination in 1610 and finally completed in 1642. At two points along the Canal it is possible to inspect the original staircase locks which changed levels very rapidly at Rogny and Dammerie. It is only 57 kms long with 35 locks, joining the Canal lateral to the Loire to the Canal du Loing, and so part of the continuous route from the Seine River to the Saone River thus from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

The old 7 lock staircase of Henry IV
The Canal was moderately busy with one or two commercial barges (of Freycinet size) and a few rental craft, but mainly with privately owned boats like Anja. There are several very attractive and very old towns along the way and good provision of moorings.

The Briare Canal at Dammarie

The less-known but equally ancient 4 lock staircase at Dammarie

In Montbouy we came across a 2nd Century Roman Amphitheatre. This was a real surprise and this large Amphitheatre had some unique features in how the stones were held together. It was very large and we could not fit it in one photo, so here is a part of it.

Pretty Lavoir at Montbouy (anja in the background)

The Canal ends at Montargis, sometimes called "Little Venice" because of the many small canals dotted through the town. It is beautifully decorated with flowers on the many bridges and even in tiny boats on the small canals, and thoroughly deserves its status as a "four flower town", the top flower rating- Paray le Monial is similarly ranked.

Montargis
From Montargis it was convenient to visit Orleans, 60 kilometres away, the largest city in this area. The bus trip took a little over an hour and cost 2.40 euros a person, so was a very good way to make the trip.  It was very popular. It was full to capacity and left about 10 potential passengers behind on the return trip to catch the next bus an hour later.

The magnificient Cathedral at Orleans
Orleans was a most attractive and interesting city, set on a very broad stretch of the Loire River. It seems to welcome visitors with excellent tourist information throughout and very reasonably priced and beautifully presented attractions. The Cathedral is magnificent. The Art Gallery displays some stunning paintings and we were very excited by the bronze objects from the second century BC  displayed in the Museum of Antiquities. These were found buried close to Orleans and are in amazing condition.
The breaking of the siege of Orleans was one of St Joan of Arc's major triumphs, so she is widely remembered. We were also pleased to find a plaque to acknowledge the contribution of Australian and other Allied forces to the defence of France.

Magnificent bronze horse from 200BC

 Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Old paddle-wheeler on the Loire at Orleans

Old Orleans street

Continuing along the Canal we have enjoyed the hospitality of a number of towns which clearly welcome the pleasure boats and their crew and make excellent provision for us, including very attractive gardens and free electricity and water. We have enjoyed Beffes, Herry, Cours les Barres, Lere  and Belleville.

Attractive Halte at Cours les BarresMost of these towns trace their history to the times of the Gauls and probably beyond. The excellent cycle track of the Valley of the Loire is well promoted and we made good use of it to explore the area.

Pouilly sur Loire. Home of the famous wine- Pouilly Fumee One day we stopped for lunch on our way home and found ourselves in a farm courtyard where the tables and chairs were set out under shady trees. It was a delicious lunch made even more interesting by the wildlife: two pigs, a baby alpaca one week old, peacocks, roosters, hens and their chickens as well as a gaggle of geese- all wandering around among the tables.

Another ride took us to the Belleville Nuclear Power station with its two reactors and an interesting description of the French electricity system including wind, hydro and coal/oil/gas fired power.

Belleville ("Beautiful town") now has these at its front door
Another highlight was a trip to Sancerre, an interesting ancient fortified town, with excellent wines. With the day forecast to be 38 degrees we set off early, up hill as is often the case with fortified towns. The town itself is 2 kilometres away from our starting point, as the crow flies, but 160 metres higher. The cycleway was a bit more gradual and took 3.5 kms to make the climb. The reward was a fantastic view over the Loire Valley and a rewarding tour of an interesting town. Sancerre is one of those excellent towns which present their important history in an accessible way, with a red line painted on the road to follow and clear descriptions of the historic buildings as the route reaches them. We stopped off to visit the Maison des Sancerre with its history of wine making in the region including very personal recollections from many of the vignerons and finished off with an excellent lunch in the main square. By then the day was getting quite hot and we were pleased to be able to free- wheel almost all the way back to the boat, a just reward for our earlier hard pedalling.

View from SancerreThe vineyards
Now the hot weather has really set in with a forecast over 35 degrees for 16 consecutive days. We seek good shade for our moorings and so far have been quite successful, currently well placed on a grassy bank under a thick grove of trees. Mornings have been moderate, about 28 degrees, with the afternoons heating up quickly to reach a peak about 6pm and cooling very slowly, with the sun finally setting at 10pm. The water in the canal has been reaching 32 degrees though it drops late at night to about 28 so we can eventually get to sleep. It takes us back to our many months in the tropics where a water temperature similarly of 28 degrees provided routinely warm nights. It is amazing what you can get used to. Still, if we choose to aim for summer all year round, we must expect hot weather!   
The towns along the Loire suffered in World War II. Lere was bombed by the Germans during the June 1940 offensive and several townspeople lost their lives. Other towns in the same area suffered either bombing or ground attacks at that time. The saddest memorial was in the town of Neuvy sur Loire. By July 1944 just as everyone was breathing a sigh of relief that the war was almost over and they had come through fairly unscathed this tiny town was bombarded by hundreds of bombs from American liberators on three separate days, not at night, July 17th and August 2nd and 7th. Of the population of 1,000 people 129 were killed and over 300 injured. Ninety per cent of the buildings in the town were damaged, 70 completely destroyed. The toll would have been greater if the people still uninjured had not abandoned the town after the second bombing- the first was put down to error. To this day, no-one there knows why this little town was targeted. This was no stray bomb dropped by mistake. Certainly there were bridges over the Loire near the town and a railway track which was carrying German troops, but these were successfully target bombed and the town was unaffected. The main bombing fell on the town itself.
The town was awarded a Croix de Guerre after the war but this was small comfort for the people of the town who had lost so many men, women and children for no apparent reason. Yet another tragedy of war. 

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

On this route, one canal ends and another begins without much fanfare. So it was when the Canal du Centre became the Canal Lateral to the Loire, in the town of Digoin. There is no clear end/ start point, but there is a clear difference in how they are managed. Whereas only the entry lock onto the Canal du Centre was manned, every lock on the Canal Lateral to the Loire is worked by a lock- keeper, usually manually though there are a few locks where the keeper can press a button instead or winding a handle. We do enjoy the contact with the keepers who are almost invariably welcoming and cheerful. As well, manual locks are quicker and less prone to breakdown than the remote- control automatic ones.

Pont Canal at Digoin
The Canal Lateral to the Loire was competed in 1838 to provide a navigable alternative to the Loire River which always presented navigational difficulties and was becoming silted in places. It connects the Briare Canal (our next stage) to the Canal du Centre (our previous one) to provide a route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Importantly, this canal also provides a good route to Paris and in its early days 75% of its traffic was bound to or from Paris. It was then a very busy waterway, with 21,000 barges travelling through one particular lock in 1896. It was necessary to keep the locks open night and day to manage the heavy traffic.

Tree lines Canal Lateral
One advantage of this canal is its moderate drop. 97 metres over a distance of 196 kilometres with 37 locks, so on average one lock about every 5 kilometres compared with about one per kilometre on the Burgundy Canal. It also seems a bit wider than several of the other canals. The scenery is as usual mostly agricultural and beef, with few large towns. One great advantage is that the Loire River is never far away.

This Canal begins and ends with long aqueducts, called "pont canals" or canal bridges. The first aqueduct at Digoin is 240 metres, the last at Briare is 663 metres, both over the Loire River. There are many others in between.
At the town of Decize we left the main canal to join the Loire River where we took advantage of some beautiful summer weather to pump up our inflatable kayak and go for a paddle on the Loire. It was a great way to explore  shallow and winding parts of this great river, the fourth largest in Europe with a length of over 1,000 kilometres. This is a very important river for salmon and special jumps are installed to make sure that they can travel up it (and its tributaries such as the Allier) to spawn. It is illegal to catch salmon here.The fines are huge.

The Loire at Decize- great for our kayak
We enjoyed re- visiting Nevers, the main city of this area especially as our stay coincided with the annual Fete de la Musique.

Beside the old Loire branch at Decize
An interesting excursion was a walk through a national park to the Bec (Beak) d'Allier where the Allier River, itself a major waterway, joins the Loire. It was amazing to see the huge confluence of these two rivers, regarded as the last two untamed rivers of France and also to find how the landscape changes in flood times as they penetrate the surrounding countryside.  

The Bec d'Aliier
The weather is really heating up with several days over 30 degrees and 38 predicted for next week. We will need to find somewhere cool where we can launch our kayak or have a swim. Water water everywhere, but the Canal is not really a place to swim, at least for us more mature people. A group of French teenagers had a great time just near us yesterday, starting off with the time- honoured process of throwing in one of the girls, then all jumping in themselves. They were most impressive neighbours, no smoking, no alcohol and every bit of their rubbish cleared away before they went home on the dot of 7pm, French dinner hour after five hours of noisy fun.

 A small boat crosses the pont-canal at Le Guetin

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

In France the time of the Summer Solstice is celebrated with a "Fete de la Musique" in most towns and villages. The actual events differ. One year we went to an early evening concert in the town square where local performers such as students at the local school and the town band performed while families brought picnic tea or purchased sausages and drinks. Another year we were in a slightly larger town, St John de Losne, where various groups performed near cafes and restaurants. Some seemed to be professional, others definitely amateur. This year we were in the City of Nevers so the celebration was on a larger scale.

One of the many different bands
Nevers has about 40,000 people, is the capital of the Burgundy Department of Nievre and has a thriving cultural life, including a Conservatorium of Music. The Fete was spread over the whole weekend with events from Saturday morning on. All the streets in the centre of town were closed to cars on Saturday night and on Sunday afternoon until early Monday morning. There were over forty events, all free, in the streets, parks, squares, Churches and cafes.

Nevers Cathedral for the Organ Concert
It seemed that all the cafes, restaurants and brassieres were open that night, spreading their tables our into the closed- off streets and offering special menus to tempt the hundreds of people wandering around the lively streets. We chose an excellent three course meal for less than 20 euros, very good value for a Saturday night out.
Fortunately the weather was fine and mild so on Saturday night when we went to town families were drawn towards the strains of music they favoured. Bedtime seemed to be pushed well back that night even for the little ones.

The streets were all decorated
The offerings ranged from dance, rock, hip hop, country dance, choral music, orchestral performances and organ recitals. We wandered back to the boat quite late to find a Celtic music group performing in the cafe opposite.They included Waltzing Matilda in their repertoire, a bit of a puzzle, but it was a very pleasant finish to our night of music.  

 Chapelle Ste Marie- another venue

Best Regards,

Penny and David

Knitting is the theme in Nevers this summer. So there are giant knitting needles and wool everywhere.