10th, Belleville to Thuvenay across l'Allier double lock - 10m total drop/rise, going "down" canal.   Started with one of those silly squabbles at exit lock from Belleville - lock keeper wanted to crowd 2 hire boats - crewed by Germans who had clearly "drink taken" - into lock with Albert.   There just wasn't room - there never is, but this was, apparently, my fault.   
Otherwise` pleasant run.

11th,  Thuvenay to Cours les Barres.   Very long day - one of those days/afternoons when one wants to stop, but the decision making process seems to be on hold, and by the time one considered a likely place, it is far behind.   Very hot - sticky thundery sort of heat.   Arrived Coures les Barres at about 1800, somewhat weary, and pulled in behind a hotel boat.  

12th, Cours les Barres to Jaugenay, just after St Sancerre, canalside.    Comfortable mooring on revetts - for first 10 minutes, that is, until attention drawn to the fact we were 100 metres from an open silage dump.   Flies took life over till dusk.

13th, Jaugenay to Fleury-sur-Loire.   Arrived too late to go through lock before lunch.   After lunch wandered through onto small mooring to find Redquest already there.   Great to see them again - even more so, as this was the exact spot we met last year - same time, same place, also completely by coincidence.  

14th  Fleury   Bastille day, total public holiday - not even the lock keepers work on Bastille Day.   Spent it quietly gossiping and fiddling with boat.

15th Fleury to Decize - know this section well, by now!   Wide deep canal, largely forested, but pleasant open farm land (agribusiness) between.

16th to 21st  Decize.   
Intend to do maintenance on boat, bike, clothes, self, etc.    All slightly shabby.
Poor little Brompton is giving the inevitable trouble brought about by overuse and lack of servicing and t.l.c.   The rear brake cable is pulling itself through the brake handle, rather than pulling the brake pads and stopping the bike, spokes are intermittently breaking in the back wheel, and the front one is not round.
Filled Albert right up with diesel, when found that the saving in price between the supermarket and hire-base did not begin to justify the enormous effort involved in lugging 6 to 8 jerricans in little Brompton trailer between nearest S/M and Albert.
Spent 2 days partly on the internet,  and partly at the railway stations sorting out trip to England next month. 
My internet gadget - an SFR dongle - is only working intermittently and is proving a proper snare and delusion.   There is some sort of internal "to-day is not a working day for SFR gadgets" problem, it is not just the poor mobile phone coverage in this area - there is still something very wrong with said gadget. 

22nd Decize to Champvert - intention being a placid wander up the Nivernais, preparatory to going home for a couple of weeks next month.  Exchanged usual idiot horn signals - as do most passing boaters - with the resident 2 houses down from the moorings who blows a great long mouth powered brass horn/trumpet thing at all the passing boats.

23rd Champvert to Cercy la Tour - our "residence" during last year's floods on the Loire.   Pleasant runs, and fond of Cercy - except electrics are toned down so they pop out when try washing machine.

24th Cercy la Tour to canalside 5 km short of Chatillon in the forest and the rain.

25th canalside below Chatillon to Chatillon - early start to catch bread!   

26th.  Morning - Chatillon for engine oil, bread, etc in the morning.
Left after lunch, and went up to and through 1st double lock.  Slept over canalside on the lock mooring bollards.   Small boys' fishing party being thoroughly and noisily enjoyed by small boys and their sisters - few of either gender were in fact fishing, but good fun being had by all and everyone was very wet.

27th.  Double lock to top of canal at Baie.   Moored up on the wall.   Virtually no-body there when we arrived, but plenty boats arrived afternoon and evening, and as is always the case, they all crammed up to-gether with existing moorers, leaving half the length of the wall empty, and the other half nose to tail.   Discovered that little cafe/bar is a "depot de pain" in the summer, very convenient.   Always got it from Bazolles before - bike ride away.

28th.  Turned back at Baie.  Down to pk58 (bush mooring - super)   Spent morning and lunch with Pete and Christine, who did their best to sort out internet problems - now exacerbated by SFR refusing to accept Bank Card for payment of internet time.   Possibly justified - Lloyds blocked my first payment, for reasons as yet uncertain (yes, I had warned them I would be in France on that date!).   SFR say they do not accept any type of English card - bank or credit, and are singularly unhelpful.

29th.  PK58 to Chatillon - onto "my mooring" in the corner, being coming here and always seemed to get same mooring for years.   Water not very jolly here in the corner - presumably there is no current to change it, and hot weather and last winter's drainage have left it a bit like soup.    Thought of turning the boat and putting back end in the corner and running engine/propeller,  but know there is a heap of building rubble somewhere just below the surface there, waiting to trap unwary props.

0th.   Chatillon to shade just below Pannecot.   Pannecot moorings charge in the summer, and have sloping banks so square sided boats like Albert cannot moor up close to the bank.   However, just below the guard lock and winding pond there is a length of steel revetts and deep enough water under some enormous overhanging trees.  Short period of sun in the early evening, but on the whole not a bad spot.   Canal is a bit narrow, vital to moor up well.   Have stopped there 3 or 4 times, now.

31st.    Pannecot to picnic sites - at p.k.18/19 quite reasonable site with shade up-canal from it, tables, etc out in the open.   Found hordes of boys on some sort of organised camp, poling rafts down the mud river beside the canal, then doing something collective in the site itself.  Well behaved and quiet, but there did seem rather a lot of them - in addition fishermen - also pleasant and good neibours -but all a bit busy.   Moved on to site we knew well at p.k. 10.   Really an autumn/spring site - absolutely no shade for boat - but shade for chairs quite close.  Quiet, comfortable, secure and pleasant spot.

In General.
The runs down the Lateral a la Loire from the East, and up the Nivernais to the summit at Baie were both good trips, and much enjoyed.   It seems to be getting ever more fun visiting places known from previous runs.
By the end "train fever" was rearing it's ugly head, and silly worries about not getting back to Decize in time to take up train bookings to UK were surfacing    
Weather was hot to very hot - but what else in July in France?   
On the whole the waterways seemed quieter than previous years, but that is very anecdotal when observed by a single boater, on his own, and may just be the outcome of knowing where to go, when to start, and - usually - when and where to stop.
Albert behaved beautifully, the cockpit bimini being the most popular addition to the boat ever, closely followed by a little 230 volt fan that fell to pieces some years in the past, and lay in a drawer without it's guards, and then as a temporary measure  was resurrected to be placed in a corner naked and unashamed where it moved enormous quantities of air apparently using less current that the computer, and just needing a periodical meal of 3 in 1 or WD 40 !   Haven't run it all night on the batteries yet, but have run it for many hours evening and early nights.     I cannot and would not recommend using a fan without it's guard - indeed it is as very stupid thing to do - but the increase in efficiency - and hence comfort and low battery use - is unbelievable.  Long term, I am sure common sense will rear it's ugly head, but meantime.................ii is also astonishingly effective at drying the output of the washing machine in the cabin on "non drying" days.

     Lateral a la Loinge

     Through a hedge darkly








       Nivernais Country






     
   Overnighter - Nivernais








           Nivernais barn









        Nivernais Country








      Approach to C la T





            

           D

       Tour de France ?.....