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
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| Weir is it? |
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| 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
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| Sharing the lock with a cyclist |
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| This is one of the staircase locks |
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| A cosy hobbit hole we came across on the final upward flight of 16 locks |
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| Gliding beautifully from lock to lock |
And also a few lift bridges along the way
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| Tracy struggling to operate the lift bridge while trying to converse in French with a passerby |
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| 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.
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| Me practising pilates in our lunch break |
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| Oddjob wiping his arse on the mayor's lawn - cheeky sod |
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| 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
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| The mooring was reserved just for us |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Get these moorings sorted Cravant! Even with a 2ft draft we couldn't get near and a plank was needed |
Chรขtel-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.
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| 360 degree view or good parking! |
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| 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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