The Canal Latéral à la Loire Part 3

When we last met I was prisoner on a pontoon. There was a locked gate between me and dry land. The nice German (Swiss?) couple in a hire boat, legitimately using the moorings, had a key but it was for the gate to the other pontoon. It was dinner time. I couldn't face another tin of something French for dinner.  Google Maps told us there was a pizza takeaway within 400 metres. What would save me?

The answer, as so often, was Igor's ingenuity. He inflated the paddleboard and wedged it between the gated area and the side of the canal. Gingerly I crawled over it, my phone safely in a waterproof casing. I know what to do on a paddleboard if I'm moving but this was a whole new adventure. We were free!

The pizza place also sold kebabs and I was tempted, but their hygiene standards didn't look the greatest. I wouldn't trust those guys to wash the salad but I know a pizza oven is hot enough to kill most things. I'm probably being very unfair.  

We got back to the mooring bearing two huge pizza boxes, an Orangina in each of my jacket pockets. Igor ran across the paddleboard with the grace of a young gazelle. I crawled, convinced I was going to fall into the (foot or so of) water, but I didn't.

The pizzas were worth the wait and we had enough left over for lunch next day. Result!

Monday 15th May 2023

We planned to leave early, before the staff for the hire boat moorings arrived, as we knew we shouldn't really be there. The weather had other plans. It was very foggy first thing, you couldn't see to the other side of the pontoon when we woke up. We had breakfast and got dressed and it started to clear. About 8.30 there was a knock on the boat. A young guy with a suntanned face and a blond ponytail asked when we were leaving as it was 'interdit' to be there. I assured him we would leave 'vite' and he seemed to understand. He was very polite about it.

We said goodbye to the German (Swiss?) couple who were heading home today and they kindly took our photo (see above). Makes a change from selfies. They waved goodbye and so did M. le Ponytail, who looked happy we'd left without a fuss.

Leaving was simple.  We'd effectively done our first 'Med mooring', having put fenders on the transom of the boat and reversed so that we were resting against the pontoon.  The boat was held in place with two lines at the back. In tidal conditions or when there is a current you need lines fore and aft and what are called breasting lines to and from the middle to hold you in place. Of course we had all the extra lines as well, just to be on the safe side, but we were able to safely release them all before we left, then reversed the boat so it was pressed against the pontoon to release the aft lines, then go.  You can only do this in non tidal conditions, the boat wouldn't be secure like this with any sort of water flow across your bows.  

We were away by 9.15. Around 9.30 I noticed a white stone by the canal path with '100' written on it. This was the original 100 kilometre mark. Subsequent work on the canal has changed how the pointes kilometrique are measured, though not by much. This was roughly the halfway point for the Canal Lateral.

The next lock, 20 Jaugenay, was a long way, around 12-13 km from our starting point at Plagny.  The canal was comparatively clear of weeds but we took it slowly, arriving at the lock just after 11.00. A strapping young lock keeper, ginger hair, ginger beard, sunglasses, was there to take our rope. He said that another boat would be joining us so we had to wait. He (and the other boat) was there at the next lock too, 19 Uxeloup.  This lock felt pretty deep, nearly 4m. Although we arrived at 11.54, just before lunchtime, he let us go through, which must have knocked 10 minutes off his lunchbreak. We were grateful, as hanging around waiting for locks to open is no fun.

It was only about 5 kms to the next lock, 18 Fleury, but we made very slow progress.  It was clogged with waterweed, and we had to stop every few hundred metres for Igor to clear the rudders. It was also shallow.  Thanks to our small draft we have a margin for error, but steering involved constant checking of the depth sounder to try and gain a few extra centimetres.  

The canal widened into a basin, even shallower and more weedy. We slowed right down as we approached its exit. It almost felt as if we were grounded thanks to all the impediments around our rudders especially with the sounded depth being only 1m. We needed time to assess the best way to move forward.

The main reason we are travelling via the canals to the Med is that there have been constant reports of orcas attacking sailing boats like ours off the coast of Portugal, while crossing the Bay of Biscay. Little did we know that we weren't immune to attack from the local wildlife!

We saw a swan approaching. It obviously had something wrong with it as its neck was resting on its back and its wings were raised. It wasn't pleased to see us. It swam as fast as it could and attacked our fenders repeatedly. We weren't in a position to move as our rudders needed to be freed.  Echoes of warnings along the lines of 'They can break your legs!' resounded. The attacks didn't stop until we were able to move on to deeper water in the canal ahead, leaving the swan hissing its 'goodbye and good riddance' to us.

My theory was that there was a nest somewhere that it was protecting, which would explain the absence of its partner if they were sitting on eggs or had cygnets. Igor thought that maybe boaters had previously shown aggression towards it. It didn't look either well or happy.

We had intended stopping for the day at Fleury but it was only just gone 1.30 pm, a little early to be turning in. Several lock keepers had mentioned a good restaurant within walking distance of the mooring place but it yet again we'd be going past it.

The lock keeper was very chatty.  He had worked in a bar in the City of London for a couple of years and spoke excellent English. He asked us about the boat, and when he heard it was a Pogo he started reminiscing about punk back in the day. He told us that it had got to the stage where he hated his job and decided to go back to France. As he was waiting to tell his boss the news he heard The Clash's 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' playing in the background.

He also told an anecdote about someone he met when working in the Caribbean. They were doing the washing up off the back of the boat and a shark was attracted to their shiny silver pan. It swam up and bit all the poor person's fingers off. Note to self: if we get to shark country buy a plastic basin.

He said he'd tell the next lock keeper, at 17 Abron, that we were on our way and heading to Decize.  The next guy wasn't chatty at all.  The lock was pretty though, with a small aqueduct over a little river as we left. A young goat was bleating loudly. Maybe he was mates with the swan.

Nearly every lock has a lock keeper's cottage which typically has a sign giving the lock's name and number, and maybe distances to the next one in either direction and to both ends of the canal.  Some of these are purely functional, some look derelict, others seem to be lived in. Lock 16 L'Acolin had probably the best garden of all of them.

As we approached there was a topiary hedge spelling out ACOLIN. (they missed the L').  

A gardener was busy planting a bush in the immaculate lawn and flowers bloomed in well kept beds. It was lovely. When the time came to open the gates the gardener helped the lock keeper.

The weed problem eased a bit here, though not entirely, but the canal was still shallow. We reached the turning for Decize. It was around 4pm so it would have been a good time to stop, but the old guide book was very dismissive of the town. Its recommendation was to skip it and proceed 15 km further to Gannay which was much nicer.

We only made the decision to continue after we left L'Acolin so we didn't have a phone number to warn the lock keeper at 15 Saulx that we were on our way. When we arrived the lock gates were closed. We moored to a waiting pontoon. I tried calling the last number I had for VNF. The woman who answered didn't have the number for this lock either but gave me contact details for Guetin Lock and suggested I ask them to help.  I called it but no reply.

The only thing to do was to walk to the lock and see if there was a number on the door. I jumped off the boat and started walking towards it, only to see a man opening the left hand gate. Maybe she found the number and called him? Whatever, it was a relief to be moving again.

Thanks to the delay we didn't leave the lock until around 4.40pm. We had 3 more locks and about 18 km to cover and we needed to do it by 7pm as that's when everything stops for the day. Igor increased the revs on the engine.

We've been cruising very slowly as we're not in a hurry and this saves an awful lot of fuel. Today was different.  We passed 14 Motte at 5.39 pm and 13 Huilerie at 6.21pm. Only 6 km to go.  Full steam ahead. We were outside our destination, Lock 12 Vanneaux, at 6.57. The gates were closed even though it was 3 minutes before the official stopping time.

(insert swearwords of your own choice. I did).

Another night by the canal side.  Mind you, the 'marina' left a lot to be desired so actually the lock keeper saved us a few euros by knocking off early.  I'll tell you more next time.

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