L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

We are, once again, in the port de plaisance at Nevers. We last visited here almost 2 years ago when it was a little colder but not by much. Then we watched stonemasons working on the restoration of the cathedral tower and we can now see the completed result. It is quite beautiful. Nevers is the capital of the Nivernais region of Burgundy but has been an important city since Roman times. Its position on the opposite bank of the Loire makes it similar to the other lovely old cities we've  visited this year ie a long trek across a busy bridge. It is also at the end of the Loire Velo route. There have been lots of exhausted but happy looking cyclists passing us over the past few days. Despite having visited before we are always happy to wander through the narrow winding streets of ancient buildings marvelling that people have been living and working in some of them for 5 or 600 years. Some are grander than others of course. This is the Ducal Palace. We stop...

La Charité-sur-Loire I'd be fairly confident that many, if not most, of you reading this would be able to ask for a glass of  rosé in a French bistro without first running it through Google translate. For a start rosé is a French word so you've only got to come up with 'please' which surely everyone knows even if they skived off every single French lesson at school and 'a glass' which you'll likely see scrawled on a blackboard somewhere in the bar but could be dispensed with altogether. Having spent quite a few months in France over the past 5 years and quite a few more dollars on French classes I was mortified at the following exchange last night. (To lessen the confusion I'll give the English version but the conversation was in French). Waiter: Good evening. Me: Good evening. A glass of  rosé and a beer please. (I did ask for a 'pression' which is a beer on tap. The pression wasn't the problem) Waiter (looking at me) : A glass...

Bannay - lavoir and waterwheel Some people love cycling. Many whizz past us every day on the Loire Velo Trail. They've chosen a couple of weeks pounding the pedals rather than a relaxing swim or lounge on a beach sipping cocktails and good luck to them.  I'm not exactly an enthusiast although the  trail seems lovely .The scenery is beautiful, the bits we've been on are separate from the road traffic and best of all it's flat. The cycle trail and the canal run along the same side of the Loire river. Before the advent of the canal and the railway the river was an important trading route and thus there are large and once important port cities along its banks. They are all on the opposite bank to the canal so visiting them entails crossing the wide river and flood plain over lengthy bridges carrying heavy traffic. Given a busy road and an empty pavement I'll choose the pavement but this isn't usually possible over a bridge. The pedestrian walkways are too ...

River Loire Since leaving Chatillon over a week ago we've been passed by cyclists of all ages and from all over the world. They are riding the Loire Velo Trail which follows the Loire river for 800km from Nantes on the west coast as far as Nevers. Some ride just short sections  (I suppose even I could be included in this group), some are on bike/barge tours where they cycle part of the day and cruise the remainder (I could be in this too) but others cycle the whole distance. It is possible to camp en route but mostly riders stay in hotels or guest houses along the way. We spoke to a couple yesterday who'd cycled 600 km in the same time as it's taken us to travel 25 by boat.( Mind you we have both done one or two shortish cycling side trips in that time during which we both managed to  have punctures. I wonder how many you'd have over 800km.) Our extraordinarily slow progress hasn't been entirely of our own doing. We've just spent 3 days sitting below a br...

Belleville sur Loire I am writing this to the strains of 4 speedo* clad, portly, middle aged Germans from the next boat along the quay raucously singing variations on 'Roll Out The Barrel' to the accompaniment of an accordion and viola (and beer). They are having a very jolly time. One of the delights of boating is the people you meet and because many of them are on holiday they are usually happy - particularly if the sun is shining and the beer flowing, which it is at the moment. We have been in the small town of Belleville for a couple of days. Once again, the commune has provided us with a shady, grassy mooring, electricity and wifi - and all for free. 100m along the canal bank is a bar tabac/brasserie, next door to that is the baker and there's a supermarket nearby. Almost everything we would normally need. Missing is one of the 3 shops you are virtually guaranteed to find in any French sizeable village. As previously mentioned we have a boulangerie (b...

Chatillon sur Loire Leaving Chatillon was a difficult business. Several days were needed to scour 7 months of grime from the outside of the boat. A pity that paint doesn't adhere as well as dirt. We now have an embarrassingly patchy deck screaming 'paint me' every time we look at it. L'Avenir may be requiring a bit of an exterior make over but she has a good heart. After de-winterising, her engine kicked into life first time and so far we've had no problems. Mind you, she hasn't exactly been put to the test. We are excelling ourselves this year. So far, we've travelled 11km and passed through one lock. Even by our sloth-like standards that's pretty relaxed progress. Removing dirt (and paint) with the pressure hose at Beaulieu We had been ready to leave port by Sunday but suddenly remembered our port captain had the spare boat key. She reminded us (through the window of her boat) that Sundays are days of rest and we'd have to wait until of...