July 21 - 23. Decize to Coulanges

 July 21, 2023 – Friday - Decize to Vanneaux 

Michael & Joan
Returning from the market

Up at 7am, quick cup of coffee and off to the Decize Street Market at 8:30am with Ali and Charl. Small market, picked up some fruit, goat cheese and green beans. On way back to the boat picked up really good croissants, baguette and quiche. Had the croissants and quiche with final cup of coffee. Yummm. 

 

                                

Said goodbye to Ali and Charl, they are going down the Canal lateral á la Loire while we are going up. It was really nice buddy boating with them for 7 or 8 days. With so few boats out we may have been on our for many of those nights. 

Charl & Ali
Returning from the market

 

Just as we were untying Juniper to take off, a fish was flopping wildly a couple slips away. We thought it was stuck in the milfoil, but turns out another fish had grabbed it in the middle of its stomach and killed it.

Picture taken while coming up in an écluse

 Today was 16km and five écluses. We left Decize at 10:45am, had short stop for lunch, and arrived at the Commune de Gannay sur Loire by 3pm. Along the way we had four and five km between locks, that was a nice change from lock after lock after lock. We also saw what we believe were stork nests. We remembered seeing them last year going the other direction. A couple big storks, but didn’t see babies. 

 

Tied up past the camp area (moorage and RV spots) and boatyard and still had power!! There were chains through the metal canal wall that we tied to so didn’t have to drive stakes. Two more boats actually came in after us. One was Vivante, another NW boat, they left Decize just after us. Turns out they are the new owners, bought the boat with a partner from Tom and Carol. The other boat is a very nice couple, not sure where they’re from but I think French. Live music at the camp area, we could hear it down at the boat. We walked up there, but they must have been on break. Then we heard them again later from the boat. Nice music so we didn’t mind it. J 

 

Nice quiet spot and dark. Just the way I like it for sleeping!!! 

 

 

July 22, 2023 – Saturday - Vanneaux to Beulon 

Off at 9am. Five écluses and about 15km. Shared a couple locks with a small sailboat that had a young couple onboard. Still finding it weird to have so many kilometers between locks! 

 

Beulon is nice. Had power and access to water. Campers grabbed our lines when we arrived, which was very nice. We in turn, grabbed lines for a boat that was next to us the night before and had helped in then. Very nice French couple with a dog. Later a Locaboat with what looked like a dad and older son arrived so we and the French couple moved to make room for them. A number of RVs were also at the camp. Again, no fee and had water and electricity. 

Moorage at Beulon - Looks like a lot of boats, but only three of us were actually there.

 

Went for a stroll towards town in the evening after dinner, but having worn my sandals, didn’t go too far. The lock is right next to the camp and we were told the éclusier had to open the last lock we went through at 9am so we would be closer to 9:30 going through. 

 

July 23, 2023 – Sunday – Beulon to Coulanges 

Up, showered and ready for 9am lock, just in case. Good thing, as we saw the éclusier arrive a few minutes before 9am. He took us through our first and second écluses. A change from what we’d heard yesterday, but worked for us! 

 

Six écluses and 22.5km. Shared a couple locks with a Locaboat. Saw three day tour boats used for a party. Just not much traffic on the canals for being July. Unfortunately there is a lot of weeds which slow us down because it gets caught in the prop. Then the engine temp goes up and we have reverse the engine to try and break it loose. It’s a drag (pun intended). 

 

Morning was comfortable with cloud cover. Afternoon got hot and muggy – 85 and no breeze. Predicting thunderstorms through 12am Tuesday and 60% chance of rain tomorrow. Feels like it. 

 

Got to Coulonges around 2:30 – 3pm. Water and electricity is available using a CC at the terminal. Hoping it works! We only have hot water when we’re plugged in. When they replaced our hot water heater they did something wrong and it caused the boat to overheat until they removed the hot water heater from the engine cooling system.

 

Peaceful night by ourselves at Coulanges

Looks like no other boats sharing moorage with us tonight. Just a quay along the wall with bollards in a small quiet town. Had one small boat come tie up for a short bit, then left and went the same way they had come from. Very different from buddy boating with Old Harry.