Unexcused Absences

Sunday morning very little was happening in Ouzouer-sur-Trézée, and in any case the weather was something only a Londoner or Pacific-northwesterner could love, so we topped our water tank (free water and electric on the quai!) and took off. We would like to come back some day and see the town, it looked lovely, but the cold rain discouraged us from straying too far from the not-as-warm-as-it-should-be interior of Après Ski. The heater was on the fritz again, but a Le Boat base was not too far ahead, so fingers crossed we pushed off southwestward towards Briare.

The main square in Briare

Briare is home to a very large, half-mile-long pont canal (canal bridge) over the river Loire built in the late 19th century. It’s a big iron trough that caries the canal many dozens of feet above the Loire river, and is one of the main tourist attractions of the area. There are a handful of big excursion boats that load up with tourists and take people out and back over the bridge. It’s slightly surreal to be in a boat suspended way up in the air crossing a river. Briare was also a major stop for cargo barges back in the day, small barges suitable for the Loire would transfer their loads to the bigger canal barges for the trip to Paris.

Crossing the Loire River on the "pont canal"

Monday morning was still chilly, although the rain had mostly let up. I had hoped to get a time lapse video of us crossing the canal bridge, but just as I was setting up the camera on deck one final rain shower passed through and scotched those plans, so the video will have to wait until next time we pass through. We cruised forty minutes to the Le Boat base in Châtillon-sur-Loire, and thank goodness there’s always a native-English-speaking mechanic at these Le Boat bases because the forecast for later this week had nightly lows close to freezing, and Heather put me on notice that my position as favorite handyman would be withdrawn, with little hope of renewal, if I did not get the heater working.

A better - but less portable - source of heat than our Webasto HL-32

I am happy to report that after close to five hours of continuous troubleshooting Pete and I got the heater (Webasto model HL-32) working again. I’ll spare the gory details, but during the troubleshooting efforts I replaced the glow plug, flame sensor, control box, and fuel pump, and never quite figured out exactly why it didn’t work, but that’s a project for another day, because in the nick of time we now had heat! For all I know it might just have been an air bubble in the fuel line. Argh.

Tuesday we were aiming for the mooring at Léré, but got a recommendation from our lock-keeper that we should try the mooring at Sury-près-Léré, two kilometers to the north, instead. Great tip! We had free water and electric, a beautiful new bulkhead to tie to, and a nice town for an afternoon stroll. The best part was to come, later that evening.

Nice fall colors on a cold autumn day

The free mooring seemed to be “sponsored” by the only local restaurant, Chez Fred. We figured we’d thank them for the nice mooring by patronizing their restaurant that evening. From the entrance it looked like a bar / pizza joint, which was ok since my pizza light was on low. But when we showed up and asked for seats for dinner, they led us through the back of the bar and into a nice dining room with soft light, a proper menu, and a wine list the size of a small phone book. We were still thinking “pizza”, but the 11 euro fixed price menu looked tempting, so we opted for that, and boy, did we make out. The food was first class, Heather’s chicken with creamy mushroom sauce was out of this world, and I had some kind of cured chicken thigh casserole thing that was also delicious. The appetizers were of equal quality, and we finished off with panecotta and a cheese course. Wine was a delicious local white that cost 8 euors! So for 30 euros we got a meal that should have cost more like 70. A fantastic value, and if you ever pass through Sury-près-Léré, do yourself a favor and give Chez Fred a try. Oh, and they are also the town’s depot de pain (bread station); you place your order for bread the night before, and then they order a 7am delivery for the next morning. It is typical in towns too small to support their own boulangerie for the local bar/tabac/cafe to offer the depot de pain service.

Bike as terrarium

One other note about Sury-près-Léré, the translation means “Sury near Léré,” but with no other towns around called “Sury”, why do they need to add the “near Léré” part? I mean, Sury is actually near Léré, but they don’t need to mention their neighbor. In our humble opinion, Sury is a lovely enough town to stand on its own, pres Léré or not. And the next morning when we drove by the mooring at Léré, sure enough, the lockkeeper was right, the one in Sury was nicer. Score one for local knowledge!

Parked at Carrefour Supermarché, most convenient provisioning ever

Ok, on to the real reason to travel the Loire Canal; Sancerre. We arrived at noon and had time to tie up outside the Carrefour Supermarché just south of St-Satur for a quick provisions run. Sancerre is actually on a hilltop a couple kilometers from the canal, so boats can stay in either St-Satur or Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre, and we chose the latter. It’s a much more attractive spot to park, and the mooring itself is free, although water and electric are each 4 euros per night. We opted for electric only as we had filled up the day before in Sury-près-Léré. And speaking of Sury-near-Léré, we were now moored in Ménétréol-under-Sancerre. Don’t get me started again on the whole “this town near or under that one” naming convention. Once again, we think Ménétréol is lovely enough to rest on its own merits.

Sancerre on the hilltop, Ménétréol on the canal

St-Satur

Sancerre grapes, ready to go

The abandoned railway bridge above Ménétréol

But back to Sancerre (maybe it should be Sancerre-sur-colline, or Sancerre-on-hill). This place makes scenic towns look, um, less scenic. It is a photographer’s dream, which makes this week a particularly excellent time for the planned obsolescence of my Canon to kick in (see my post from last week), the camera is now in pretty tough shape, and it’s a long and draining process with the manual settings and a tripod to get a passable photo. We had lunch on the boat and then rode and walked up the winding road, through the vineyards, past the wall of the chateau, and into the center of the old village. The town has been severely tourist-ified, with lots of over-decorated wine caves selling overpriced wine, but that does not detract from the physical beauty of the place. We enjoyed a nice stroll through town and then coasted back downhill on our bikes.

Grapes grapes grapes

The port in Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre

Grapes (again)

We spent two nights moored in Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre, and during the day just relaxed and read and took a couple bike rides around town and through the vineyards and even found a nice bike path along the Loire River, and followed it to the next town (St-Thibault). We also searched (unsuccessfully) for a goat farm that sold cheese, and after much searching I found a way to the top of the abandoned railway bridge north of Ménétréol, where I camped out with my tripod and waited for the clouds to clear. The main restaurant in Ménétréol looked fun, so we gave it a go at lunchtime. The cuisine was simple, country-style French, and while it wasn’t bad it was nothing to write home about either – although I’m sort of “writing home” about it now.

Morning mist in la Chapelle-Montlinard

Friday we lingered in Ménétréol until lunchtime, then met our lockkeeper for our 1pm appointment at the Thauvenay lock to continue our journey south. The countryside is quite scenic, lots of white cattle and big green fields in the Loire floodplain to the east and some wooded hills alternating with vineyards to the west. We moored for the night in la Chapelle-Montlinard, on a nondescript quai under an old grain elevator, but the mooring was just a short bike ride from the historic and beautiful town of la Charité-sur-Loire.

Rugby World Cup, France vs. Wales

La Charité is home to the basilica of St-Croix-Notre-Dame, which in its day was one of the biggest churches in the whole country. It was an equal opportunity military target, being sacked at various points in history by the Sarrasins, the Protestants, and the Catholics, and was even besieged by Joan of Arc (unsuccessfully) after it fell into the hands of the English. Its bridge over the Loire has been in place since 1535. We also timed things right as Saturday morning was la Charité’s weekly street market, so we enjoyed a stroll through the stalls and then found a cafe to watch the French eke out a narrow victory over Wales in the Rugby World Cup semifinals. This means it’s France vs. New Zealand for the world title next Sunday, October 23. Game starts at 4am Eastern Time!

Crossing a canal bridge near Nevers

Church in La Charité

We timed our departure perfectly Saturday afternoon and made it all the way to the outskirts of Nevers by the time the locks closed, covering almost 30 kilometers in six hours. And that included a one hour stop in Marseilles-lès-Aubigny to walk around the old commercial barge port. Saturday evening we camped out in Gimouille, above a field that slowly filled with fog as the sun set.

The past two weeks on the Loing, Briare and now Loire canals have exceeded expectations. We have heard live-aboards and even some guidebooks dismiss this stretch as not very interesting, but for us it has been a very pleasant, scenic, tranquil cruise. There are definitely a few canal-side grain elevators and even a cement factory, but hey, the canals were built to transport bulk goods, oui?

La Charité-sur-Loire

Finally, an update on our part-time pet, thought to be escar-gone, but merely escar-missing. He (or she) finally reappeared Wednesday afternoon, crawling down from one of the flower pots. We decided he (or she) was probably unprepared for life on a canal boat, and placed him (or her) in a large planter in Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre, where we hope he (or she) does not fall prey to a passing Frenchman (or woman), since they are known to have a fondness for slimy things baked in garlic and butter.

This coming week is the final full week of the season for us, and just in time, as the weather is taking on distinctly wintery properties (although with beautiful blue skies). We’ll continue south, “up” the Loire to Decize, then enter the Nivernais Canal from the southern end and proceed back to our winter parking spot in Baye, completing the circuit we started on September 10.

Fall 2011 Week 5 Numbers:

• Kilometers: 95
• Locks: 19
• Engine Hours: 18
• Cost of Moorings: 8 euros

Fall 2011 Total Numbers:

• Kilometers: 429
• Locks: 179
• Engine Hours: 97
• Cost of Moorings: 79.30 euros

The big church in Briare

Canal north of Ménétréol

Grape vines

Ménétréol, and the Loire valley in the distance

Sancerre

Fall 2011 Week 5 History