Moret-sur-Loing, St Mammés, Nemours, Nèronville, Chateau Landon 3-9 May 2023 After leaving the Seine we travelled down the Canal du Loing which follows roughly the route of the river Loing which is a tributary of the Seine. Our mooring in Nemours We stayed in Moret-sur-Loing, our first stop on the Loing, for 3 nights. On the mooring next to us was another Australian couple on their boat Eureka. We invited them onto our boat for drinks on Tuesday and they returned the favour in Wednesday. Ken and Barbara Our mooring with Eureka in front of Moondance We had a bike ride on Tuesday. First to go a short way down the canal and have a look at the locks. We were surprised at how green the water in the canal looked. Then we went up to St Mammés, whch is on the Seine. On Wednesday morning I cycled around to get photos of Moret which is an old walled town and has many historic buildings, including a mill which is being restored. I also had a swim at the local pool in the morning, and Howard had a zoom call at noon. Then we were expecting Toni, the mechanic to come to look at our raw water pump. Unfortunately he ran out of time to visit us and so we delayed our exit so that he could see us on Friday morning. In the end Toni turned up in the afternoon and told us that the pump was fine and that there probably had been something blocking the raw water inlet. So we set off to go through the first 2 locks which are quite close together. At the first lock we had to wait for someone to come and open it for us, and to give us the controller which we can use to operate all the locks on the Loing. It was a short cruise, but at least we had gotten 2 locks out of the way and there would be no waiting for VNF personell in the morning. Saturday morning we set off for Nemours which was a nice cruise. It is quite a change going into Freycinet Locks which are just over 5m wide, after being on the big river with locks 12 or 16m wide. (We are 4.5 m wide so it is a bit of a squeeze.) We found a nice mooring on the canal which flows around the old town. Opposite is Euro Velo 3 - one of the major bike routes in Europe. In the afternoon we set off on the bikes to have a look around town. Our first stop was the Tourist Office who gave us a map to see the main sites. We didn't go far as my foot was quite sore, but we came back in the morning to see the rest and also have lunch in town. The main things in my mind were the castle, and the "Petit Foss", a small canal that runs through the island. There are quite a few boats moored on the canal near us, which we went by when we came in. An Aussie, Barry, who lives there permanently on his boat, came down to say hello as he'd seen our Australian Flag, and later a Kiwi, Peter, also came for a visit. Nice to have friendly neighbours. The next day was Monday and a public holiday (Labour Day). We had asked the VNF person at the first lock if the locks were open today and she had said that they would be. But our navigation software was telling us that they were closed. So I suggested that Howard cycle to the lock to check the lights, and if they were on (and therefore the locks were working) and he should call me and I'll start the motor to start warming it up. I was surprised that he took so long to call me as the nearest lock (behind us) was only about 300m away. But Howard had misunderstood and cycled to the next lock a couple of kms away. We had a good laugh, but the good news was that the locks were operating. We had a planned call with the people managing our house in Australia at 10am, and we decided to head out early and get through a couple of locks before stopping for breakfast and the call. We had a break of about an hour before setting off again, and reaching our planned stopping place in time for lunch which we had on the picnic table opposite across the cycle path from the mooring. In the afternoon Howard had a fish and I did some admin work including some planning for the Barge Association Rally in July. In the early evening we decided to set off to look at the nearby town of Chateau Landon. It was a nice 3.5km bike ride and quite a nice looking town perched on a hill. The old chateau is now a retirement home. I had a zoom meeting at 7:30 and so to save time we had kebabs at the place in the town which was quite nice, and also quite a change for us. I made it back to the boat with 10 minutes to spare before my call. Tuesday was forecast to rain all day, so we had a bit of a sleep-in and then decided that we would cruise. We completed the Canal du Loing at Cepoy, and then we were on the Canal de Briare, although there wasn't much difference. Howard went out into the rain at each lock and needed a hot shower when we finally moored up. We had a glimpse of the Canal d'Orléans (no longer navigable) as we left the first lock (Lock 36) on the Canal de Briare. We had a few options for moorings on the way, but none were satisfactory until we reached Montargis, so we have moored just before the town as we have been told that the port here is being redeveloped.
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AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
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