Slow Boating

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 broken down lock. We were the lucky ones. An unfortunate group of French holidaymakers on a hireboat was stuck inside the lock. If we'd been a few minutes earlier arriving at the lock it would have been us. They made the best of the first few hours in the usual French fashion of eating and drinking and playing petanque on the tow path whilst various employees of the VNF (the waterways authority) stood around and scratched their heads. Being a Sunday that was pretty much all anyone was prepared to do. My question of 'how long?' was rewarded with the first shrug of this year. I have come to realise that there is a whole repertoire of shrugs with various nuances. They can be dismissive, rude, apologetic, genuinely don't know or of the good natured 'c'est la vie' type. This was the latter.

Pondering the damage - Bannay lock

The French holiday makers eventually abandoned their boat in the late afternoon when it was clear it was going nowhere. They must have taken their belongings as the boat stayed inside the lock for the next few days. Work began the next morning but the damage to the lock was quite severe with the hinge of one of the top gates having broken away from the concrete. We swithered about turning back but were assured it was fixable, albeit in 2 or 3 days, so we decided to stay put for the duration and do a bit of painting (the boat that is) and cycling.

Our impromtu morring at Bannay