L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

Here we are once more; the end of summer. Time to tie up, clean up, pack up, pay up and say goodbye to l'Avenir for 2014. I've made my phone call to order the taxi for tomorrow which hopefully will turn up without any misunderstanding. If nothing else I have gained confidence this year in calling people on the phone and the VHF radio. The past couple of weeks have been everything that cruising should be. Having rushed south from the Somme we found we had more time than we expected at the end enabling us to have a very leisurely trip down the canal de Briare. The weather over the past couple of weeks has been perfect;often a misty start but clearing to sunny, warm days. It is most definitely autumn now - the leaves are beginning to fall and as we waited for locks we collected walnuts and hazelnuts to add to our breakfast muesli. Canal de Briare Ouzouer Geese 'having a gander' as we go through a lock Baguette for breakfast (a coypu) The cruising se...

There are lots of Chatillons in France - a medieval castle once stood in each.  The Donjon dating from 1190 still stands in Chatillon Coligny and many medieval buildings remain in the narrow winding streets within the walls of this ancient fortified town. The town could not be more welcoming to boaters providing great moorings with electricity, water, showers, toilets and wifi and all for free! We always try to give back to any community that provides a mooring by spending some money in the local shops. Chatillon Coligny's facilities are so good that they merited a bit more than the normal day to day shopping and so we decided to go out for dinner at the upmarket restaurant. It was still light when we left the boat. Even although it was Saturday night these small country towns close down fairly early. There were a few people and some traffic around but the shops were shut and the bar owners were busy washing down their floors and stacking the tables and chairs. The restaurant ...

Over the years we have been to several towns describing themselves as 'the Venice of ____'  (complete as appropriate). I have never actually been to the real Venice (it's on the list) so I admit I am  perhaps not best qualified to comment but I have a suspicion that those coming up with what they obviously thought was a clever, original, marketing slogan hadn't been there either. The two things all these places have in common are, of course, canals and bridges. Other than that they bear little or no resemblance to each other at all. Anyway, as Venices go, Montargis, where we have been moored for a couple of days, is a rather pleasant one. With 131 bridges, a river, a lake, a navigable canal, a network of smaller canals and the remnants of ancient moats you are never far from the water. The town is also a Ville Fleurie so most of the bridges have beautiful floral displays and there are dinghies filled with flowers moored in many of the little waterways running through...