L'Avenir - Cruising Europe's Inland Waterways

Remontee du Saumon  A step back in time. The annual re-enactment of the old working sailing boats travelling (at high speed due to the fierce current) on the Loire. In the old days the boats had sails. These intrepid re-enactors have cleverly concealed outboards. 'Les Valeureux Mariniers' exiting the ancient Mantelot lock onto the River Loire at Chatillon Until such time as 'Tardis Travel' eventuates, getting from here to there, when 'there' is on the other side of the planet, is never going to be anywhere near the top of my list of fun things to do. I recognise, however, that we are lucky to be able to travel at all and to whinge about its drawbacks seems churlish in the extreme. So, I am not complaining. Just making some observations on what I learned/was reminded of on our latest long haul in the hope that it makes your next journey more pleasant. when you book, look at the plane as well as the price. We had 2 legs on a 777 and one on an A3...

Lavoir  (wash house) -Chatillon This spring morning I woke very early (jetlag) and went out to buy a baguette for breakfast. The sun was beginning to clear the mist over the canal and as I walked the air was full of birdsong although the birds themsevles remained hidden in the lush trees and shrubs. It was as if the trees themselves were singing. There weren't many people about but each of those I did meet nodded and said, 'Bonjour Madame.' As it was such a lovely morning I kept walking, past the baker's and on into town where the weekly market was just setting up. Each of the stallholder's bid me good morning and I spent 10 minutes chatting with one lady who was most excited to hear I was from Australia. Did I know that an Australian family lived in town with their young children? Just around the corner in fact. If it hadn't been quite so early I think she may have rushed me there and introduced me. After buying some strawberries from the veg stall I stop...

Restored round lock at Apremont. Now unused this lock once allowed barges to navigate between  the river Loire and the canal system The taxi to the station is booked for tomorrow morning. At least I hope it is. Conducting a phone conversation in a foreign language is just about the most excruciatingly difficult task you can put yourself through when travelling and best avoided if possible. Those finely honed miming skills are completely useless and if you can’t see the baffled look on the person you’re talking to how can you tell if you’re speaking complete gibberish? Anyway, I hope the taxi will arrive here at 10.30 and take us to the station. But did I tell him to pick us up at Chatillon sur Loire or Chatillon sur Saone? I meant the former but I’m worried that I got a bit confused. Unfortunately for both of us the two places are nowhere near each other. I should really phone him back and check but somehow I’d rather miss the train than go through all that again. In the...

Mural in Chatillon sur Loire. Figure on right is Robert Louis Stevenson (Chatillon is on RL Stevenson Trail) With 2 days to go we are finally tied up for the winter. Right up until this afternoon we were worrying that we might have to make an expensive last minute change to our flights and head south to a different mooring at speed – well, 6kph. Uncertainty has been something we’ve had to get used to this summer and normally our plans are so vague that we barely notice if they have to be adjusted but changing the date of our flight home is an organisational step too far. Now, we just have to get on with the cleaning, packing and winterising of the boat. L’Avenir’s home for the next few months is the port of Chatillon sur Loire, not far from Briare. The Tourist Office window has a notice which caught my eye. A happy, bouncing kangaroo is shouting ‘G’Day!’ The town, according to the poster, considers itself ‘Australie sur Loire’ with further information to be found on their...

Boating in France is not all about lazing on deck sipping wine in the sunshine as you may be aware if you've followed this blog for any length of time. There are times, like now, when the view from the window, if indeed you could see it through the rain lashed glass, is unrelentingly grey. The weather has steadily deteriorated over the past week as have our moods. One of us was even heard to wonder, this morning, if it would be possible to change the date of our flights home. Things could be worse though. We could be one of those (not all holidaymakers) camped in tents on the banks of the River Loire. At least we are in a port with access to electricity and have the luxury of huddling around a fan heater with our mugs of tea. I saw one of the campers this morning vainly attempting to keep his campfire alight. Not that it is all that cold - just depressing. The weather was still dry- just- when we visited Sancerre, the famous wine producing area of the Loire. The town is situa...

Briare Aqueduct Now cruising another jauntily named waterway - the Canal Lateral a la Loire. As the name says it runs alongside the River Loire. At over 1000 km in length this is the longest river in France although the canal is only 196km. The part of the river we are cruising alongside at the moment is extremely wide with the channel meandering and splitting around islands and large sand banks. These islands are an important conservation area and habitat for many types of birds. River Loire from Briare Aqueduct River Loire from Briare Aqueduct We arrived at the Loire at the small town of Briare. Once waterborne traffic had to make a difficult and dangerous river crossing in this stretch but now we can soar over the wide river on a most impressive aqueduct which opened in 1896. Until 2003 this was the longest aqueduct in the world. The lovely ornamental columns at either end and elegant cast iron lamps the length of the broad towpaths which run each side of the 6m wide ...

Le Train Bleu, Paris Here we are once more. 40 hours from door to door via car, 2 buses, 2 planes, 2 trains, a taxi. and now, finally, our boat. I feel exhausted just writing that. Quite a lot of those long hours were spent waiting for connections in airports and railway stations. When, on touchdown in Paris, our pilot cheerfully announced that we'd made good time and arrived early it was good news for everyone- almost - we now had even more than 7 hours to kill before our train to Dijon. Should we leave our bags in left luggage and go sight seeing? When the automatic doors of the airport swished open and we were blasted with freezing wind and rain we decided that no, we had neither the energy nor will to drag our leaden feet anywhere, not even Paris. So, after an hour on the Air France bus ( the memory of last year's rush hour experience on the Metro still brings me out in a cold sweat) we found ourselves in the vast and draughty confines of the Gare de Lyon.We had ...