I chose our stops along the route due to the fact that our barge is advertised as having a back up generator. Ours instead comes with back up batteries but despite that there was no hot water for our showers. After an icy start to the day Dave and I walked to the Artisan Boulanger and bought a baguette tradition for lunch, croissants for morning tea, and pain au chocolat for after breakfast.
After breakfast the lock keeper came to ask what time we wanted to get going so Dave told him 10:00 giving us only enough time to get to the market and back. We bought strawberries and headed for the 1st lock, only to have to wait. The Australian group behind us closed the doors so when the lock keeper arrived it didn’t take long to fill up. They are short staffed and waiting was going to be the key word for the day. It was also raining making everything wet and there is a lot of water flowing downstream.
The second lock was open and once we went through we chose not to stop at Cravant. There is electricity and water here which might have made for a better stop last night.
The 3rd lock was open and at it we were asked where we were heading. We decided to take the detour to Vermenton along the Canal d’Accolay.
The lock keeper told us we would have to wait at the next lock until after lunch which was a pain. We tied up in the lock, leaving the doors open as you are meant to, at 11:40. We had our croissants and lunch and then had to wait until 13:30 for the Australian’s!
As the next lock was closed the lock keeper asked us to go slow. He didn’t take long to prepare it for us and we tied up in Vermenton, which has a guard lock, at 14:15. However, the barge that said they were leaving at 15:30 and we were meant to go down with, left as we arrived.
We walked through the town, past the Lavoir de la Grande Fontaine and into Centre Ville.
Everything was closed so we headed straight for the Atac, did our shopping and walked back to the barge. At 15:25 we cast off only to find the next lock closed. The lock keeper arrived at 16:00 with 2 barges coming up. Within 10 minutes we were heading down and as the next lock was already prepared for us we had an easy run down.
We turned back into the Canal du Nivernais at 17:05 and the next two locks going up were both open.
Deciding to forego electricity we tied up just past the guard lock in Prégilbert at 17:55. It took us 8 hours to do 9 locks.
We had drinks and bruschetta on the deck and managed to just get done when the rain came. When it cleared Dave went for a short walk and then made supper.
By 21:00 I was exhausted and shortly after that we went to bed to read. I walked 12267 steps with a distance of 6.40km.
France 