We don’t seem to be able to escape from waterways for our stops, such is the proliferation of rivers and canals in this region. But it’s making for some very picturesque stays, walks and cycle rides. We’re meandering a little as we make our way towards Laon for the first weekend in June to meet some friends at a classic car event.
The canals and rivers give us the opportunity to appreciate some of the incredible engineering of the 19th century when rivers were vital transport routes or water was essential for certain industries and buildings. At Cosne-sur-Loire the water from the river that flowed into the canals in the town was essential to power the machinery and buildings of the former Royal Ironworks, famous for making anchors for large ships. One of the anchors manufactured here was discovered in the 1960s in the port of Rochefort in Charente-Maritime and restored to the town in the early 2000s. The town also has one of the largest Sunday markets we’ve seen for a while, a very popular and social affair.
At Chatillon-sur-Loire we made a stop alongside the Canal Lateral à La Loire built in the mid 1800s and which, unsuprisingly, runs parallel to the Loire and replaced the use of the Loire for navigation due to unreliability with water levels in the river. A short cycle away we found the Écluse de Mantelot, a now disused, but listed, lock and holding area for shipping that enabled boats to move from a canal on the left hand side of the river to another lock and on the right hand side, crossing the Loire via a reinforced channel.
At Gurgy our charming stopping point was on the Yonne river. When weirs were built here in the late 19th century to make river navigation less dangerous they presented a insurmountable barrier for salmon that had previously swum upriver to breed in the river Cure. The solution was to create a salmon ‘ladder’ in the centre of the weir to allow passage for the fish..
Our travels between these places have taken us to more excellent wine areas. Although we’ve both been there before, some years ago, we particularly wanted to revisit Sancerre, a lovely hilltop village. We followed a red line (or was it red wine?) up hill and down dale to see all the highlights of the village before sampling the produce in the square at the top.
Boating holidaymakers who travel along the canals we’ve visited need to be well provisioned before they set off as it’s rare to see cafés and restaurants along the canal side, let alone a supermarket or bakery at close hand. At Gurgy we had the rare treat of three wooden huts/stalls selling local wines, charcuterie and cheeses. Some Burgundy red, Petit-Chablis and a take-away platter of cheeses, including Tonnerre, Chaource and Semoutiers made for a very enjoyable light dinner.
One of the enterprising stall holders also operates a couple of ‘floating’ barbecues, inflatable motorised rings for 6 people with a gas bbq in the centre. Guests depart upriver for a couple of hours with all the necessary supplies. We saw a couple of parties go out and they seemed to have a good time, although the pair of swans with cygnets in tow, were determined to chase them off!
Your account reminded me of the trip I did a couple of years ago with Mary and another friend on the Canal Lateral de la Loire on a substantially larger boat than I had been used to. Unfortunately, I was the only one with boating experience so became the pilot for the whole of the trip. Suffice it to say we spent 3 nights stationary just below the village of Sancerre and took our time enjoying everything the area had to offer. Did you visit the viaduct (unbeknownst to us the longest in Europe) which led to a small town, Brieu or something similar I think, which was somewhat of a baptism of fire. Being all women we attracted quite a lot of attention from the gongoozlers enjoying a Saturday afternoon stroll along it – “Ou sont les hommes?” being the most frequent comment we heard!
Well there’s worse places to hole up than near to Sancerre! We didn’t visit a viaduct but did see a long curved one when we looked down from Sancerre – it may be the one you’re referring to. I can imagine that 3 women on a boat is not a common sight!