Chitry-Les-Mines, Corbigny, Flex-Cuzy, Tannay, Asnois, Clamecy, Chevroches FR 25 June - 1 July Howard and I were now cruising again without any extra crew, and although we'd completed the lock staircase, there were still many locks on our route. We thought it was interesting that we had taken 5 days to travel what Steve did in 2 hours on the bike (but we did stop alot !) We left our mooring at Sardy on Sunday morning after Steve left. There was cattle at one lock, and at another the gates needed to be pushed to be opened. As usual Howard jumped off to help the lock keeper. We stayed for 2 nights at Chitry-Les-Mines / Chaumont, where there is a nice marina. On Monday Howard had a fish in the morning, and was happy to catch his first tench of the year. Later we cycled into Corbigny, and after a look around the town had lunch in a local restaurant. After a trip to the supermarket we headed home, with a stop off in the town of Chitry-Les-Mines on the way through. In the evening we invited some other kiwi boaties over for drinks. Jennifer owned the ex-rental boat and she had her crew of Kevin and Sue. Jennifer, Sue and Kevin The next day we were off to Flez-Cuzy. This was the first time we had had to deal with manual lift bridges which need to be operated from on shore. Kev and Sue cycled up to watch us go through the first lock and he opened and closed the first bridge for us. But after that we had to manage it ourselves. We decided that Howard would get off, open the bridge, then he would spot the port side of the boat from the bridge while I drove through and then I would pick him up on the other side after he closed the bridge. But at the next lift bridge, which was open, but not open enough for us, there were fishermen settled on the waiting quay. In the end I dropped off Howard before the quay and then he fully opened the bridge. Unfortunately once I was through he found that the bridge wouldn't fully close so he couldn't get to the waiting quay which was on the other side of the canal. I had to therefore negotiate into a small bay to pick him up, however it all worked fine in the end. Out second last lift bridge of the day (4th of 5) was at St Dider which had been out of action early because of a fallen wall. We realised that the fallen wall was in the old lock which lead up to the bridge. One of the benefits of the lift bridges was that Howard could take photos of Moondance as it went past, something we don't usually get to do. On Wednesday morning we rode from our mooring in Flez-Cuzy to Tannay to have a look around and visit the supermarket. The town was historic with most buildings at least partially quite old, and most well looked after. After lunch we went out again, firstly over the canal to the small town of Flez-Cuzy. From there we headed dowstream along the canal towards Asnois. We came across the next lock which was a double lock, and there were people working on the lock door. I spoke to the lock keeper and he said that one of the boats had hit the door and damaged the sluice, which now wouldn't close. As this may mean that we would be held up the next day we got his phone number so that we could call at the end of the day. We continued on to Asnois where we had been told about an interesting brocante store in an old church. Asnois was up the hill from the canal and we easily found the brocante, which was more of a junk yard with most things out in the open getting weathered or rusty. Howard did manage to find couple more beer glasses to add to the collection. On the way home we passed 2 boats who were heading towards the double lock from upstream. Howard closed a bridge for them. When we got to the lock they were still working on the sluice mechanism, and with a bit of help from a sledge hammer, they got it working again. The upper lock was empty and had to be refilled, so the boats were only delayed a short time, and we got the thumbs up from the lock keeper that we would be OK in the morning. I was interested to see that they seemed to be using a pitchfork to hold the gate closed so I took a photo. I few minutes later the pitchfork handle broke off the pitchfork. On Thursday we set off for Clamecy. We got through the double lock without problem. At the next lock we had to wait for boats coming in the other direction and were joined by another boat who had been moored at Flez-Cuzy. We let him pass us immediately after the lock, but travelled with him all the way until lunch. At one of the locks there was a family of ducks, which all of us tried to encourage to move to the front of the lock so that they could get out without being crushed by the boats. We stopped for lunch at Villiers and then set off by ourselves at 1pm, getting into Clamecy at 3:40pm. We decided to spend 2 full days at Clamecy which gave us the oportunity to get some jobs done in the morning as well as a bit of fishing for Howard. After lunch we headed off to have a look around the town. But the VNF had told us that a hotel barge was coming, and asked the boat in front of us to move so that the hotel barge could turn around. So we started our tour of the town with the short cycle down the canal to see the cruise ship arrive. After that we headed up the hill of the town to the tourist information and started a tour of the historic town. After that we did a second tour "Clamecy by the waterside". After that we headed back to the boat, to listen to the cricket and have a quiet evening. On Saurday morning there was intermittent misty rain but we visited the Clamecy market anyway, which we were delighted to find was mostly in a covered market hall. It was quite popular and seemed to be mostly locals. After lunch back on the boat we headed off to Chevroches, which we had seen as we passed. The rain was mostly finished by then. It was lovely little village which had been orignally based around a quarry. The next day we planned to set off for Chatel Censoir.
2 Comments
Caesar Paul
4/7/2023 09:54:41 pm
Deb,
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Deb
11/7/2023 09:44:28 am
Hi
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