2008

BACK TO CALENDAR 2008

 

1.7  4 May to 10 May 2008

 

Last fiddled with 03 January 2009 and should be on axmw44

 

To the Map on the Contents Page Just click on the words.

 

 

4 May 2008              Sunday              Chatillon en Bazois to Baie       Canal du Nivernais

 

Usual panics - bread, etc, then off accompanied by an obviously recently bought ex hire boat.

Embarrassing - they kept stopping, tying to the bank, and going walk-about.   As we were going up hill I wasn't prepared to go in the front of the lock if they were coming, so had to wait!   L.K.s peevish.

 

Weather superb - hot sun through the day, cool clear mornings and evenings.

 

The country is superb - the Nivernais is really living up to it's reputation.

 

It appears that spring has taken a running jump, is accelerating itself, and we are coming through the canal at exactly the right time.

Everywhere green meadows, just like we always imagine - incorrectly - England to be when we are abroad.   Little fields of lush green grass, surrounded by rough cut hedges, grass full of wild flowers - sheets of buttercups everywhere, and lots of dandelions  (I know - dents des lions) in flower, or already entering their puffball stage.   

Lots of cattle in meadows with grass up to their bellies.

The bigger trees, except for the oaks which are still yellow, are putting out leaf growth fast, so forest turning green fast.

The spaces through the bush and hedges alongside the canal are closing in.

 

Finished up at the top of the canal - Baie - mooring to the wall between the canal and the big lake, having booked to-morrow's tunnel passage on for 0900.

5 May 2008              Monday              Baie to Sardy                         Canal du Nivernais

 

Again, a glorious morning, and pleasurably off at 0900 for the "hard work" length of this canal, with no other boats in sight..

 

Through the tunnels, and down through the 16 locks of the forest flight.  Great on my own - 1 gate in and out all the way, and no hassles at all.

Even less hassle at lunch time, when took 2 hours, and received a social visit from Bazole.   Usual embarrassing situation on these occasions - cannot carry enough food, nor do I have the facilities or skills to lunch guests on a narrow boat!   So drinks only the order of the day.

There seems to be any amount of water in the canal.   Most gates were overflowing heavily.    But after the recent rains and floods, not surprising.

Into Sardy early afternoon, but felt that enough was enough, so tied up on usual place on the grass and earth verge.

A very pleasant and unstressful day.

Masses of birdsong in the forest - really quite noisy when out of ear-shot of the overflowing water..

 

 

6 May 2008              Tuesday             Sardy to Marigny                    Canal du Nivernais

 

Bread van passed moorings early - great relief.   This section of the canal is not all that easy for one's small daily shoppings.

 

L.K.s still battling to open lower gates against the strong overflow from the top gate, and by the same token not always easy to do a 1 gate exit accurately with a following current.

Country still superb, except for the dreadful bit through the gravel quarries near the start.  Big new signs which I understood to mean the works are extending to or by 86 hectares.

Stopped off at the Locaboat base moorings at les Granges.   Water taps all carefully stripped of their tops to prevent use - what is it with these people?   Cannot believe the odd fill of water is going to bankrupt Locaboats.

On to Marigny, where there is a small hire base serving Burgundy Cruisers, run by an English guy living in a narrow boat.   Electricity, water, etc!   Most impressed with a party of hirers in one of those floating bricks who did a handbrake turn (put rudder almost right over and run the engine/propeller fastish to drive the stern round - virtually spinning the boat)

He stopped exactly on his mooring with no adjustment except last minute reverse.   Believe those boats are pigs to drive, as well.

7 May 2008              Wednesday         Marigny to Villiers-sur-Yonne  Canal du Nivernais

 

On this stretch met the well known Nivernais bugbear - lift bridges that have to be wound up, driven through, and wound down again after passing through.    We all know about these bridges - it is no good complaining - and it has to be said that the mechanics of all of the actual bridges were in good order.   

However, the bits of bank supposedly set aside with bollards for mooring to before and after going through, were, for the most part, in bad nick, and one or two were, frankly, dangerous.

The canal water depth was invariably too shallow to ensure getting close enough in to moor safely -  necessitating wild jumps into long grass that completely hid the bollards and nasties, or worse still, hollows and holes.   Indeed, there is one bridge with no mooring at all, and several have had planks laid out on the ground to act as jetties that are loose and treacherous.

However, the canal still goes through lovely country, and there is no question, I have the time of year exactly right, and the trip is great..

What fun!

Round the corner into Villiers-sur-Yonne.   First indication that Clamecy has abandoned it's many year policy of free moorings - a hotel boat tied up painting himself taking up most of the mooring, and the electricity.   Should imagine the village will tumble to this next year, and one more nice free mooring will be lost to us.

Nice mooring this - a bank divides the canal from the river, and one can sit on the bank and face which ever way appropriate and watch the world go by.

Got a nasty shock when trimming the grass around the hatch - a duck exploded up and out right under the sheers.   

Villiers was the last place the traveling lock keepers looked after us - from here on each lock had it's own stationary L.K.

 

 

8 May 2008              Thursday            Villiers-sur-Yonne to Pousseaux  Canal du Nivernais.

 

Calmly unmooring under a lovely sunny morning when last night's duck did a repeat after burner take off right under my mooring ropes, again scaring me witless like last night.   Still didn't see the - presumed - nest, but refrained from poking around.   When I left she was swimming around in the basin, and if her body language was anything to go by, she was in a foul mood.   Trust she returned - although I would think her prognosis of a tranquil motherhood is bad nesting in a place like that.

 

Passed the new very high powered looking marina complex that has been under construction for the last 5 years, just before Clamecy.   Large dug and dredged basin, hotel type establishment and apartments waterside, circular capitaine's tower and fancy entrance, pontoons piled up on shore, general look of no sparing of money in the construction, but not a sign of life, and grass growing apace.   All shut and empty.

Bimbled gently into Clamecy - quite a major town and centre - very fond of Clamecy - to find the moorings horribly empty, the L.K. from the last 9 years not there, and an air of abandonment all pervading.

Probably unfair - to-day was one of the string of public holidays during May, and the regular L.K. was probably only being replaced 

for his day off, and no one was doing anything because of the holiday.   However, always in the past it has been busy, with hotel boats, a small independent hire base (most peculiar boats) and lots of people moored up.

Moored up, connected up - being happy to pay the new charges - believed to be 6E all inclusive - but found the S.M. closed for the holiday, and felt there was no point in tying up to concrete in a thoroughly urban area just to while the day away.

 

Left for Pousseaux after lunch - we stopped there in the past.   Not the be all and end all of moorings - no facilities and water only just deep enough for Albert to moor alongside, but grass and adequate rings and bollards.

Countryside still super "Nivernais type" but flattening out and losing it's "ruralness".  The canal acts unusually by crossing the Yonne River at the same water levels, and at right angles, with a normal manned lock to drop the canal level to river level on one side, and a guard lock on the other.  

Moored up at empty Pousseaux comfortably, but found there was what looked like a council building programme going on just above and behind the hedge.   Never quite understood this spot - moorings on a big expanse of rough cut grass, and a big - apparently unused - stadium type affair at the back.   Also a sanitary type establishment with loos, shower, but no water!   Come to think of it, that is not fair - it had no water last time we were here, but didn't explore this time!   From a distance the establishment looked neat and cared for.

Hire boat arrived with some 10 people on board, plus a further mob on bikes.   Moored up 3 metres from Albert's bows, although plenty of room behind and in front of us!    It started to rain, so there was their saloon stuffed with people watching me from 5 feet away prepare and eat my supper, undress, shower and go to bed.   Albert has never had curtains for the 2 windows in the front doors.   When I remember, hang a towel up!

Shut out extraneouses from council the houses behind and hire boat mob, retired into shell and all was well.

Rained most of the night - should imagine some of the people on the hire boat had meant to sleep on the top deck.  

 

 

9 May 2008                Friday               Pousseaux     to Chatel Sensoir   Canal du Nivernais  

Out of Pousseaux, and up to yet 1 more lift bridge.   Waiting mooring for this one appeared to be the village wash house fronting on the canal.   A lot better than most of them - firm, safe mooring on stonework, and short grass.   Far side not so good.

Went into Coulanges - mooring with all facilities - to see what was what.   On a wide canalside.   Tried it all unwittingly some years ago and got very nastily stuck on rocks and mud right in fairway, so have never been back.

Entered gently, and seemed better - as it should be, with the canal running 3 to 4 inches over the gates.    Still kicked up a lot of mud, so got out quickly, picked up a hire boat in the lock, and went on.

Into Chatel Sensoir just after lunch.   Object in stopping here was to see if the 2 narrow boat fenders I left tied to the sides 18 months ago were still there - stranger things have happened!   They weren't.

Pulled in to find narrow boat "Otter" - Jean Daniou, a Frenchman - occupying the position she ha been in on at least our last 2 visits to Chatel Sensoir - maybe more, and Sue in N.B."Krells"(??), still living on and sailing around the system single handed.   Good fun, great re-meeting them.

Chatel Sensoir is a hire base - Connoisseur? - and half the base is taken up, naturally with their business.   The other half belongs to the commune, and is free public mooring - good moorings, but the hire base supply electricity and water at E4 per 24 hours for electricity, and E3 for a fill of water.   The water charge is iniquitous, but no one minds paying E4 a night for a good mooring with electricity - even if one has to trek over to the office and find someone to pay it too.   However, somehow one seems to resent paying exactly the same money for a public mooring with electricity charged as an extra, as for a private mooring all facilities included - strange!   A little doubtful over the charges - receipts are not offered or given, payment is in cash to the hire base office.  No records of payments appear to be kept.

 

 

10 May  2008             Saturday            Chatel Sensoir to Mailley la Ville,   Canal du Nivernais

Weather glorious.

Lovely gentle run to river pontoons at Mailly la Ville.

Nivernais still living up to it's name - it is a beautiful canal - or rather it does run through lovely country - especially at this time of year in fine weather.

Also, at this end of the canal, banks, moorings, locks, all seem in good order - not that I remember much being wrong at the bottom end.

Depth of water, this year, has been good, except for usual bug-bear of shallow sloping sides that do not suit Albert's square hull cross-section.

Top pontoon at Mailly partially occupied, and seem to remember the electricity and water here didn't work, so went on for the bottom one.

Bottom one also occupied, but half a boats length available at the top end of it.    Current quite strong necessitating U turn in river so mooring facing up-stream.

Committed exactly the same error as last time - about 5 years ago.   Miss judged width of river, came into pontoon at too broad a angle, and clouted the pontoon corner in exactly the same spot, as last time with Albert's stern.   Position vis-a-vis other boats, and vacant part of pontoon, however, exactly right.

Not enough of pontoon free for a comfortable mooring, so went back up to other one, and boats there-on shifted to give me room.

Found electricity points destroyed, but was assured the ones on the lower pontoon were fine.   In due course, as it emptied, went back down, and moored up nicely, but those electricity points also mashed and no-operational.   Filled water from press button taps with handkerchief and string tie-down.

Dozens of floating bricks arrived in the evening - some sort of Isle of Wight rally or bandobast.   Smelly barbecues on the pontoon, but still quite fun - and quiet.  Glad to have sound comfortable mooring - they were everywhere.

 

 

Pictures    Click on for full size.

Top right                         On the Wall at Baie - the summit

top left                            Sardy

second right                    not all the Nivernais is perfect - the quarry

second left                      Villiers-sur-Yonne

third left and right.        Rural Yonne Valley