A New Adventure in France

Over recent years on any holiday I (Joe) have tried to incorporate a little boat trip. This could be in a canoe, a self-drive hire or tourist pleasure cruise. This has been quite successful, even managing a rowing boat ride in a salt lake at the bottom of a salt mine in Romania on a motorbike trip trip with fellow biker Andy. This gives us a different perspective of what you would see from land. Cable car trips also offer another view, the most memorable being a ride over the animals in Sydney Zoo and the cable car in Werfen, Austria where the well-known scene from ‘Where Eagles Dare’ was filmed.

Before even thinking of a long stay in this area we did discuss hiring a self-drive boat for a week and navigating the Lot. That idea got overtaken by our subsequent plans. On one of our recent walks along the riverbank we were interested to find a boat lock with a small two-berth cruiser just about to pull in.

We stood by to watch the procedure but that wasn’t an option as we were soon press-ganged into service by the French husband and wife crew. They were headed downstream so the lock water level had to change about 5’ to allow the lower gate to open. There were lots of beautifully engineered and well-greased cogs, sprockets and crank handles to turn in a specific order to achieve this. Monsieur stayed on board holding two ropes over bollards on the lock side whilst Madame and the two of us sweated whilst turning crank handles in the heat.

The whole operation took about 20 minutes. A slight hitch, as always where boats are involved, as previous users had not returned one set of sluice gates to their closed position so water was free flowing in one end and out the other for a few minutes causing consternation for Monsieur trying to hold the boat still. This was soon sorted by the crew and press-ganged mates. An adjacent field of sunflowers watched with heads hung in disapproval.

When we were staying on the Cher river at the start of our trip we passed a number of riverside houses next to locks, all built in the same style. In fact the houses are two identical semi-detached dwellings, one which was for the lock-keeper (éclusier) and his family, and the second for the ´barragiste’, the person who managed the weir or ‘needle dams’. Both were decently paid jobs at that time. The buildings are now private dwellings and some have been restored and are rented out as gîtes through ‘Gîtes de France’. They certainly have great views of the river.

Bicycles

When we bought the campervan it came with a bike rack. We had no bicycles at the time and didn’t think we’d really make use of the rack as we’re more into walking and tended to choose locations where we could easily walk into town or to a pub. So the bike rack was removed and carefully stored with a view to selling it. On one of our first stays in France in Normandy, it would have been useful to have bikes although we walked everywhere we needed to. So on return we started to look into buying bikes. We’re no great cyclists and didn’t expect to use them much, if at all, around home so just wanted something practical without huge outlay. We settled on Muddyfox bikes, very low budget and low-tech, but functional (with Joe’s being the more upmarket version of course). We were able to test them for the first time on a weekend away in Cheltenham last year and they worked well despite a puncture on Claire’s on the first outing. Further outings at Henley and Pett Level in Sussex also went well.

Although we had the bike rack, we also had to consider if we would be able to use it and tow Joe’s motorbike without the bike rack hitting its windscreen when we went round corners. After much scientific measuring involving broom handles we calculated it would be possible if the bike rack was reduced from a 4-bike carrier to a 2-bike carrier. Joe was able to carry out the necessary adaptations at work and we tested all the angles with the motorbike on the road at home, although our first real test was only when we set off on this trip. The bikes have really come into their own and we are enjoying trips on them as well as our walking (including cycling to the start of some walks) and we’re certainly managing hills much better. Here in Cahors they are particularly useful for getting into town in a matter of 4-5 minutes rather than a hot 15 minute walk.

Another use for the bikes is stocking up at the supermarket if we don’t go out in the camper van or on the motorbike. Claire was taken with the idea of bike panniers for carrying picnics on days out, popping out to buy a baguette, etc., and eagerly bought a set on a EBay which have proved extremely useful. Funny how Joe didn’t also feel the need for a set and must be chuckling to himself every time the panniers are loaded up on Claire’s bike! But who is working harder…..?