St Satur, Herry, Beffes, Le Guétin, Apresmont-sur-Allier, Nevers FR 30 May - 7 June We had planned to leave St Satur on the Thursday, but I woke up with a really bad cold, so we deferred our departure for 2 days. Le Guétin Howard was able to use the time at St Satur to prepare, prime and paint the wheel-house roof as well as get in a bit of fishing, while I mostly slept to recover. We finally left for Herry on the Thursday. I was totaly exhausted after the cruise so returned to bed, and didn't really see anything in Herry, even though we stayed an extra day to give me time to get over my cold. We left for Beffes on Saturday. I was feeling a little better, but I lay down for each of the longer sections between locks. We were having a little bit of trouble with weed getting caught in the propeller, so we occassionally had to reverse to get the weed out. The mooring in Beffes was very impressive, with finger pontoons for smaller boats and a couple of larger quays for larger boats. The first night there was only one other boat there but there were 3 other boats there on Sunday. I was feeling a little better each day so was able to do a small cycle into town on Sunday and then we set off for Le Guétin on Monday. One of the hire boats from the mooring followed us into the first lock, so we made space for them to over- take after we left the lock, but they didn't want to pass. The next 2 locks were close together followed by a big wide harbour - an ideal place to pass. Howard asked them via sign language if they wanted to pass, but no, so we continued on. When we reached the narrow canal again we met a boat going in the other direction, who passed us easily - only then did the hire boat decide to pass us. Very strange. The next lock was almost 8kms away and we knew that it would be close for us to arrive before lunch. I got up from a rest as we approached the lock, and as we came in sight of the lock we saw the VNF car start to drive away. But kindy she returned and prepared the lock for us which we entered at 11:59. As we got closer to Le Guétin we came across a trip boat that was turning around. We waited and then followed him. The skipper came out the back to offer to move over to let us pass. So we were able to overtake a boat - quite an unusual occurrence for us. In the afternoon we did a small trip on our bikes up to the lock, which is a double lock which gives access to the pont canal (aquaduct) over the Allier river. It was lovely pleasant evening. I was really pleased that by Monday I was able to do a longer bike trip. Our first stop was the Ëcluse des Lorrains which is a round lock on the Embrachement de Givry which is a branch of the canal no longer in use. From there we went to the very beautiful village of Apremont-sur-Allier which is right on the river Allier. This town is one of the "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France" (the most beautiful villages of France). It was picture perfect and manicured and maintained to within an inch, and it seemed almost fake. In fact one man had purchased most of the houses and restored them to "medieval" times. We had a nice look around and then had an OK pancake lunch overlooking the river at the only restaurant open that day. After lunch we headed back to the boat. We saw an old barge pass through and later found out that it was being taken to Sete in the south to be converted into a restaurant. The next morning as we were preparing to start the motor to warm up the engine the VNF lock keeper dropped by the boat to let us know that there was a problem with the middle door of the lock, so there would be a delay - possible only 30 minutes. We warmed up the engine and Howard watched with interest through the binoculars. It seemed that something was obstructing the doors and he was poking around trying to fix the problem. Obviously he did well as we were able to see the green light and start off at only 9:10. This double lock is 9.2 m tall. As the first basin is sloped so that people and bikes can go up the side, we decided that Howard would tie up at the back, so we didn't need an extra long rope. We spoke to the lock keeper and he said that he thinks the big commercial that went through the day before stirred up the bottom and something got stuck in the door, which he had to lever out. After the lock we were straight onto the Pont Canal over the Allier river. The canal here was only 6m wide. Howard was able to take a few photos but I was concentrating hard. He also took a couple looking back - including the light to stop people entering the pont canal when someone was already on their way up in the locks. From there it was straight forward trip to the Nevers turn off. We did pass Proper Job, and had a chat with our friends on her as we passed. From the turn off there were 2 automatic locks which were activated by us pulling on a rope suspended over the river. It was a hot day so we put up the canopy and side screens and had a quiet time listening to cricket. In the evening we went to the restaurant across on the other side of the harbour and we had a nice sunset as we got home. I was pleased to be somewhat recovered from my cold as our next guests were arriving the next day.
2 Comments
rachelle taylor
11/6/2023 01:57:57 am
Glad to hear you’re feeling better. Thanks for sharing your incredible adventures. France looks magnifque!
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Steve Hugo
14/6/2023 11:23:20 am
Some pretty impressive fish there young Howard.
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