Canal du Centre – Genelard

Friday 27th and 28th July

Montceau to Genelard

We had arranged with the VNF for an 0900 start, as there were three bridges that needed to be raised for us to get going. All went well and we were through the three bridges by 0915.

And all the locks were set in our favour so we had an easy pleasant trip, with Karen’s friend Anne helping on the foredeck. We covered a whole 16 kms, locking down through 7 locks, a total drop of 15.5 metres, and arrived at Genelard at about 12.40. On the way we passed a house flying the South African flag!

Genelard

Genelard turned out to be a lovely spot. Free mooring with electricity but no water. The toilets were adequate – including some ‘French’ style toilets! It was quite a lagre basin, with boats tied up all over. And as is often the case, a camper van parking area was next to it and we chatted to several other travellers.

One of the things we love about France is finding foraging and finding lovely fruit growing wild. As we came through the last lock there was a plum tree bursting with fruit as well as masses of fruit already on the ground. As soon as we had tied up we walked back and collected a whole lot. Made the basis for the next mornings smoothie!

That afternoon, we explored the town and a very interesting museum and art exhibition. The exhibition was of the artist JP Chaillou, and what was so different – in each painting his signature formed a part of the picture, always somewhere different and it was often a challenge to find it.

There was no wifi at the marina, but we found a lovely hotel come tearoom with very good wifi and settled in there a while to catch up on comms. The interior of the hotel was indeed colourful and fun.

That evening, back at the boat we set up our little barbeque on the bank. We cooked tofu skewers along with potatoes and veggies done in foil. Anther lovely evening aboard.

Have a look at Karen’s blog here to get her take on our travels.

Next – carrying on to Paray-le-Monial.