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...

Port de Plaisance, Chatillon sur Loire 'It's better than swimming' (long pause) 'Ma'am.' I'm nominating this as the new slogan for Qantas, the observation having been made to me 10 hours into a 13 hour flight by a senior (very) flight attendant. She was waiting for someone to let her into the crew rest room for a lie down (lucky her) whilst I was attempting to ward off DVT and stretch my cramped muscles. We'd met earlier in the flight when, on one of my regular circuits of the plane I'd paused at the galley and had the temerity to ask for a cup of tea, it having been some hours since our welcome aboard drink of cranberry and apple cordial (those 13 hours were going to be long ones).  She'd make some tea, she said, when she had time in her busy schedule of not handing out meals, snacks or drinks.  I'd come back in a bit, I said, thereby saving her the walk to my seat.  When I returned she barked out something that sounded like, 'Juh...

Wildlife at Aviemore, Scotland 'Due to industrial action by French air traffic controllers it is vital that we make our scheduled take off slot. Would passengers quickly make their way to their seats- and please move out of the aisle to let others past.' Our pilot was clearly anxious to be off and perhaps slightly irritated at those clogging up the boarding process by slowly removing and stowing the entire contents of their home wardrobe which they are wearing in order to avoid paying for checked baggage. It's a bit like a lengthy strip show performed by a chorus line of not particularly attractive people - thankfully they stop whilst still wearing a couple of layers. As our pilot reminded us, we were lucky to be flying. Many flights to France had been cancelled. The train disruption is apparently ongoing. We read in the English language newspaper  'Connexion' that the rail employees are attempting to retain their generous conditions including retiremnent...

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...