None shall pass. Never. Nay!

Auxerre to Decize

174 km

111 locks

Lift bridges – numerous, we didn’t count them!

50 hours

With Gandalf’s warning whispering in our ears with every breath of wind, we set off.  Our quest began at lock number one of the 110 locks which make up the 174km of the Canal du Nivernais.

It was 28 October, the canal was due to close on the 10 November. We didn’t have long and with this canal closing for three and a half months, we knew we had to get through. “Well, fortune favours the brave” Tracy piped up, and not relishing the thought of going back on the rivers just yet, we went for it. A gamble, but with more rain forecast, we felt desperate to get off the river.

What great relief it was to have the first lock on the Nivernais behind us. We were told that the canal was like a millpond and I’m sure that in the height of the season it is. Well… It was and it wasn’t!

Within yards, we were moving up river yet again, and our speed was noticeably reduced. In fact, the Nivernais, it turns out for the most part, is just the River Yonne canalized in parts. (“Thou shalt not pass” shut up Gandalf).

Fortunately, the current was slower and the distances shorter. “She can’t take much more of this Jim” I said to myself as I pushed the accelerator to warp speed. With a whole one mile an hour extra, in minutes we were within the next lock. It was then I remembered Peter saying to us that hopping from one lock to another across rivers would be the turn of events right up until Clamecy.

Worryingly the weirs were unmarked and only feet away from the cruising channel

Weir is it?

You wouldn't want to lose concentration or cruise at night

So fueled with anxiety we waited each morning at the gates of every lock for the staff to begin their shift at 9am, only stopping for lunch when forced to. The French, unlike most English people, sensibly do stop for lunch. Neither of us wanted to stop (something you get used to being British maybe) but we were always grateful afterwards. I do admire the French for their laid back attitude towards life.

Just a few of the 110 locks we encountered on the Nivernais

Sharing the lock with a cyclist

This is one of the staircase locks

A cosy hobbit hole we came across on the final upward flight of 16 locks

Gliding beautifully from lock to lock

And also a few lift bridges along the way

Tracy struggling to operate the lift bridge while trying to converse in French with a passerby

And me doing my fair share of donkey work

The Nivernais was truly magical and we were blessed, for the most part, with sunshine. In all our 15 years of boating, this was the most beautiful canal we had been on. It felt like we were thumbing through the pages of a wonderfully illustrated children’s book. Up and up we went lock-river-lock something we had done all the way from Paris, I almost expected to see Pearly lock gates with angels either side at some point.

Me practising pilates in our lunch break

Oddjob wiping his arse on the mayor's lawn - cheeky sod

Painted by the legend who is Johnny Ball

As we were leaving the last lock of our second day, disaster struck. We were informed the lock just before Clamecy had been forced to close as the water levels were now dangerously high. Was the curse of Gandalf upon us?

That night I barely slept a wink.  We consulted our maps and made the decision to wait a couple of days and then head back to Auxerre if the situation didn’t change. The trouble was, the lock keepers didn’t always know the most up to date information regarding lock closures and we didn’t want to be stuck in Auxerre on the ferocious river for months on end.

With the aid of iTranslate on the iPhone (and inspiration from Joe Strummer the late lead singer with the Clash) we came up with a list of questions to ask the first lock keeper of the day:

1.            Devrais-je rester ou devrai-je aller maintenant?

2.            Si je reste va y avoir due grabuge?

3.            Ou si je pars ce sera double?

4.            Alors, venez et laissez-moi savoir, devrais-je rester ou devrai-je aller?

Jumping off the boat the next morning wielding our list of questions we were met by a lovely smiley lock lady. Before we could attempt to mangle the French language she said in perfect English. “Don’t worry about the river, we are going to build a barrage across the weir to get you safely across”.

By the time we reached the dodgy section, we had been given a thorough briefing of what to expect and how to approach the crossing. 

“You will see the lock open in front of you and may even think that you can cross safely, whatever you do you must wait for our direction. If you try to cross on your own you will be sucked over the weir”.

We arranged to meet up directly after lunch and sure enough we entered the stop gates and could see the open lock a short distance away. All looked as flat as a puddle of pish.

“I bet I could easily make that” I remarked to Tracy.

“No” she shouted. “Remember the warning from the lock keeper”.  For once in my life, I listened to her.

The river flowed directly across a narrow section of the Nivernais and over a high weir just before the lock entrance.

“Stay hard over to the left with plenty of power” the lock keeper shouted.

Plenty of power! Oh my we are going to die.

“And don’t approach until I give the signal” he stressed.

He then fitted the barrage against the weir to redirect the current towards us, thus easing the side flow. I angled the bow almost full into the river’s side flow and turned the power to 11 and then crawled like a snail on sedatives towards the open lock. (I’m not listening Gandalf. Fingers in my ears, la la la, la la la).

Then all of a sudden the boat sped up and we shot into the lock. With big sighs of relief all around from both us and the lock keeper, who also let out a cheer, we had made it.

The last river on this canal was now behind us, or so we thought (again) and although this was a whistle stop tour as we still had the deadline, we began to feel relaxed.

Clamecy was gorgeous and we both wished we had more time to spend there. The locals were lovely and in fact one gentleman was surprised at our leaving so soon and looked genuinely disappointed to see us leave. Onward and up up upward we went.

Clemacy was a lovely stopping point

The mooring was reserved just for us

Tracy camouflaging herself

At the start of the Nivernais we were handing out bottles of beers to the lock keepers, but this felt more like an insult than a gift. Their demeanor said “Not one of them cheap bottles of beer again.”

There were plenty of mouths to quench so consequently the stacks of beers ran dry. There was only one thing left to give, hard cash. I rustled up five euros and handed it to the lock keeper of the moment. I may as well have spat in his hand from the look of disappointment he gave me.

So, as hard as it was, we held back on the tips from then on, right up until an elderly lady was assigned to work the lock for us. At the end of the shift we handed her a bottle of red wine, she read the label out loud and huffed in perfect English “That will have to do”. Bloody cheek.

“That’s it” I said to Tracy “They can bugger off tomorrow”.

The next day it was raining heavily and we noticed the towpath was under water. Our lock keeper for the day was the same elderly lady from the day before.

“This is bad” she kept saying, pointing at the water “A problem for you”.

Gandalf, I felt had dipped his staff and stirred the waters. With the threat of being shipwrecked at any moment, we moved on.

Flippers and snorkel required for walking

At the final lock on the Nivernais, our lock lady arrived to assist us soaked to the skin. Seeing her there manually working the locks like an extra from ‘The Perfect Storm’ my soft arse personality got the better of me and I handed her €10, how could I not? Besides by the end of the last day I had grown rather fond of her. I’d have also given her a big hug if she hadn’t been so wet.

Finally, we were off the Nivernais and just had a short jaunt across the River Loire to an automatic lock to take us up on to the Canal Lateral a la Loire. The lock light was red and we could see the rope to open the gates a short distance in front of the boat. Tracy was positioned on the bow with her arms outstretched to grab and pull the rope when only feet away the light suddenly went out.

Quick, turn the lights out and pretend we are not home

It was 12 O’clock and the automatic lock had gone off for its lunch.  Fortunately, the VNF had thoughtfully provided a rusty nail on the lock doors for us to tie to while we waited for metal mickey to finish his sandwiches.

The rusty nail, the only thing keeping us from being sucked over the weir

Moorings on the Canal du Nivernais

Cravant

Cost: Free

Facilities: Water and electricity both free.

Location: Very small village with a limited number of shops but we couldn’t find a boulangerie.

Get these moorings sorted Cravant! Even with a 2ft draft we couldn't get near and a plank was needed

Châtel-Censoir

Cost: Free

Facilities: None, although there was a cruiser hire opposite.

Location: We didn’t investigate.

Clemacy

Cost: Free

Facilities: Water and electricity both free.

Location: Right in the middle of the town centre with a good selection of shops, bars and restaurants available.

Dirol

Cost: Free

Facilities: None available.

Location: Next to a cruiser hire which was shut for the winter.

Sardy-les-Epiry

Cost: Free

Facilities: None

Location: Out in the sticks, no shops .

Baye

Cost: Free

Facilities: None

Location: Tiny village with one shop and restaurant.

360 degree view or good parking!

The only way Tracy could get off the boat on the high wall was to roll off - here mid-roll

Chatillon-en-Bazois

Cost: Free

Facilities: Water and electricity both free

Location: Five minute walk to town centre, similar to Royston Vasey from Leage of Gentlemen.

Cercy-la-Tour

Cost: Free

Facilities: Water and electricity both free.

Location: We didn’t investigate but passed a bar and everyone waved to us.

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