Canal Lateral a la Loire

Friday 15^th to Monday 18^th June

Canal Lateral a la Loire

Digoin to Decize

Digoin is where three waterways meet – Canal du Centre, Canal de Roanne a Digoin and the Canal Lateral a la Loire.

We set out from Digoin, now heading down the Canal Lateral a la Loire, at about 09.30 on the Friday and finally tied in the Decize marina at 10.30 on the Monday morning. We had overnighted at Pierfitte-sur-Loire, Pont de Garnat and a wild stop at PK (Kilometre Post) 67 just outside Decize.

Both Pierfitte and Garnat were typical beautiful old French villages, though not a lot happening. In Pierfitte we found a cute little café cum bistro cum shop where we bought some fresh produce, and saw a beautiful chateau.

In Garnat we visited a church with some lovely paintings and stained-glass windows.

 

All our stops so far have been free, but of course no electricity of water of wifi. This stretch of the Canal Lateral a la Loire is very peaceful and the trip was uneventful. Friendly and helpful lockies – mostly youngsters and even some students. Not sure whether my imagination, but there seem to be a lot more tweeting birds than I remembered – possibly time of year.

We did see the usual cranes, one eagle, and for the first time seen water rats. Which of course immediately reminded me of the opening line to the blog – that quote from Wind in the Willows – “messing about in boats…..”. Another first was seeing storks nesting high up on poles! Which it seems is what storks do. I managed to take a photo of a crane in flight, but not of the storks.

Also, it is soccer world cup time with the French heading for the finals, so French flags abound!

The guy from Boatshed yacht brokerage duly came down while we were at Pierfitte. MMmmm… although he had a lot of valid points, I got the impression he was out for a quick sale and happy to give the boat away.

Bon voyage!

Have a look at Karen’s blog for her take on our boating travels!