Decize to Nevers
32 km
7 locks
5 hours
After 31/2 months of
continuously cruising, it was crunch time. We had to make a decision about
where we were going to spend the next six weeks whilst VNF carried out
inspections and repairs to the locks and bridges on the canal.
After consulting our map, it appeared we
had two choices: either Decize or Nevers.
We didn’t know anything about either of
these towns but had three days to make our decision. Arriving firstly at Decize
we moored next to the VNF office and got chatting to the chaps there (when I
say chatting I mean miming and pointing). To have a comfortable existence we
needed a water tap, somewhere fairly nearby to buy supplies, a launderette and
somewhere to buy coal and gas.
We established that there was a supermarket
around the corner which also sold gas and diesel and bizarrely also had an
in-store launderette, coal on the other hand was to be found about 8km away (although
the VNF chaps implied they may deliver). Best of all there was a water tap next
to the boat. This all looked perfect, although
we were surrounded by high rise blocks of flats but we felt this was only
a small aesthetic matter.
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| Perfect mooring in Decize |
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| We didn't even mind the high rise flats at the back of us |
Then just as we thought we had cracked it,
the boss appeared and told us they would be draining this canal and if we wanted
to stay in Decize we would have to moor our boat at the port de plaisance
between the two automatic locks we had just come through. Now, if you think the
houses in Coronation Street are squeezed tightly together imagine being a
gunwale’s width away from your neighbour, window to window. Besides, the port
just looked a miserable, dark and gloomy place to stay.
Our only hope was to head to Nevers,
fingers crossed things were better there. We set off early the next morning. This
gave us an insight into French winter cruising, as it was wet and freezing cold.
After wrapping up in almost our entire wardrobe we turned the heater in the
wheelhouse to blasting. Nevers next stop.
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| The heater kept us toasty and stopped the windows steaming too much |
Eventually, after around five hours of cruising
like a pair of oversized woolly onions, we turned down a side arm and through
two automatic locks.
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| The last lock before the port at Nevers |
The sign on the lock house indicated there
were 1.5km to the port de plaisance. This short stretch of canal was truly
beautiful. Trees lined the poker straight canal right the way down to a bridge
which opened into a basin at the end. The basin contained the port de plaisance
in a semi-industrial setting and was not the prettiest place on the planet.
After mooring up at the port, we went to see the
captain. There were a group of men chatting in the foyer and we introduced ourselves and asked about mooring. Luckily for us, one of the chaps
in the group, Jean, spoke fluent English and stepped in acting as translator
between us and the captain.
Not wanting or needing to be in the port,
Jean negotiated on our behalf and agreed with the captain that we would moor
the other side of the bridge outside of the basin and port de plaisance, and
enter the port once a week to fill up with water. Jean was a godsend and a mine of information
and we soon found where we could get hold of all the other supplies we would
need.
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| No the bike is not steam-powered - all supplies had to be brought in by bike, even the new chimney. |
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| Choice in the supermarkets is unbelievable. |
We settled into our new home outside of the
port and over the next few days started to make friends with the dog walkers, joggers
and our only neighbours who lived in the cottage almost opposite the boat, Phillipe
and Christine. We waved and shouted ‘bonjour’ across to them and they invited
us over for a coffee. Armed with our French/English dictionary we were soon sat
in their cosy warm living room. In conversation we told them we loved the wines
in France and also admired the foliage in their garden. We waved goodbye to
them laden with white wine and cuttings from their plants. (lovely, lovely
people).
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Edith was one of the dog walkers we got
friendly with. A Dutch lady now living
in France who would pop in for a coffee on her morning stroll out with Gunievre
her gorgeous Weimaraner dog.
Generously, Edith would often bring bread
and croissants with her for us to share for breakfast. As we were not around one morning, she left
us a care package on the doorstep and sent a text saying ‘enjoy your breakfast,
with love from the king sized Dutch Barbie’.
The only problem was she had forgotten that she had a Dutch SIM card in
her phone and her text went to a random bloke in Holland who was bitterly
disappointed that the king sized Barbie with brekkie was nowhere to be found.
We had mentioned to Jean that we were
looking to take French lessons while we were moored up and he introduced us to
Ivonne, an American lady living on a boat in the port, who was a language
teacher. We signed up for French lessons twice a week.
All seemed perfect. Then VNF dropped the
bombshell. The bridge at the entrance to
the port was to be closed the next day threatening to cut off our water supply until the end
of December. What were we going to do?
We were left with no choice but to move
into the marina. Managing to position ourselves at the end of the first staging
next to an empty boat, this at least gave us a gnat’s garter’s worth of privacy.
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| Entering the port |
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| Genie's Wish just visible at the end of the walkway |
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| The lighting at this time of year was beautiful - these were all taken from the port |
Bizarrely, the majority of the residents
(like us) hailed from the North of England. It was truly an ‘ee-bye-gum’
enclave in the middle of France. We even managed to get some suet off one
couple, Albert and Anita, and were able to make a steak pudding (heaven).
Edith introduced us to the ‘mouse-house’ (http://www.emmaus-france.org/) which
was like a gigantic indoor car boot sale. Tracy was highly delighted to be able
to rescue an Andy and Fergie mug she found languishing at the back of a cupboard
(sad to think it lasted longer than their marriage).
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| We had to save Andy and Fergie from languishing in the mouse-house |
The scenery around Nevers is stunning and
with the weather turning icy cold with bright blue skies, cycling and walking
has become fresh and crisp. One beauty spot, le Bec D’Allier, a 15km bike ride
away has a fantastic auberge at the end where three courses and a bottle of
wine can be had for a tuppence halfpenny (very good too).
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| We bumped into Edith and her husband Michel on the way to Le Bec D'Allier, they took this picture of the three of us (Oddjob looking embarrassed in the jumper Tracy knitted for him, or was he just embarrassed to be seen with us?) |
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| The auberge at Le Bec D'Allier |
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| At Le Bec D'Allier |
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| And other pictures around Nevers |
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| Most trees were covered with mistletoe |
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| This was an old lock off the River Loire which has now been converted into a college and skate park |
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| Tracy and Karen (one of our neighbours from the port) off to the brocante (or car-boot sale as we say in English) |
The 2 December, our 25th wedding
anniversary and the canal froze. We decided to go out for a romantic meal for
two, as it turned out we had an alarming dinner for three as a cockroach scurried
on the table to join us. I placed a glass over it and the waitress removed it
unfazed with not so much as an apology. Needless to say, we won’t be going back
to that particular Chinese restaurant again.
The second week of December finally saw
Christmas arrive to Nevers (and probably the rest of France). Nevers lit up the
town decorations and held a fete over a number of days. This was very jolly
with the wine tasting going down a treat.
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| The Port de Paris in Nevers |
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| The Christmas elves even had a snow machine |
Christmas turned out to be a very quiet
affair, we went out for a very long walk across frozen fields with only cows
for company, in fact we did not see another soul out and about all morning.
Returning later that day Tracy had put a spicy leg of lamb on the stove to slow
cook and we ate it with home made samosas for a starter and I out-did myself
with a rum and raison spotted dick using the last of the suet we had
acquired. All washed down with a €4
bottle of sparkling wine that tasted as good as any bottle of Champagne we have
ever drunk. After tuning in the
satellite dish we settled down to watch Christmas TV and, as with every year,
it wasn’t long before we were switching it back off again and rifling our box
sets for something to watch.
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| The bridge finally opened just before Christmas |
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| We did manage to get the tree and decorations up |
New Year’s eve was a hoot, quite literally
as I gave a couple of long toots on the horn to welcome in the new year to
resounding silence. I think I could hear a church bell a few miles out in the
distance and a piece of frozen tumbleweed hit me in the face. We found out the next day, everybody else in
the port had been in bed by 9pm and hadn’t heard a thing.
Hope all our friends reading this had a
more exciting Christmas and New Year than we did – all the best everyone.
Moorings in Nevers
Cost: €195 for mooring and €20 tourist tax for six weeks
Facilities: Electricity €45 for six weeks
Location: Nevers centre was approximately 1km away across the Loire. All types of shops and restaurants available.
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