Canal du Nivernais: Clamecy to Mailly-le-Ville – Back on the move again.

6 to 12 September 2017. 32.2 kilometers, 15 locks.

Wednesday 6 September 2017: Clamecy to Châtel-Censoir – 19 kilometers, 5 locks, 1 lifting bridge. 5 hours, 15 minutes (including 1 hour 20 minutes in delays and lunchtime).

Clamecy is a lovely town and when Lynn arrived back exhausted on Saturday the second she slept for more than a couple of hours and when she had recovered we took to exploring and people watching and chatting to other boaters. Luvverly!

The big and the smaller.

Collegiate St Martin.

The Mairie and old market place.

A typical French square.

Roofs of Clamecy

The weather is definitely cooling down but the daytime temperatures make for ideal cruising conditions and this part of the Nivernais is very pretty.

The lock leaving Clamecy

The road ahead.

A lockkeepers entertainment area.

Friendly lockie-dog.

In what seemed like no time at all we were in Châtel-Censoir where we moored opposite Lazy Notes and, after a walk through the very small town center (described in our guide as “The big village of Châtel-Censoir…”), returned to Elle to be entertained by a group of Icelanders on a big Le Boat

– they had obviously had a couple on their way from whence they had come and were full of cheer – by evening they were full of cheering and singing but nothing obtrusive and we enjoyed their merriment.

The next day was the morning market and after purchasing a baguette, some cuisses, veggies, figs and some assorted sweeties,

One of the Icelanders at the War Memorial

And two of the ladies.

we set off on the bikes up a steep hill to the old city wall which enclosed the old Church of St Potentien which in turn contains a relic of the Saint. Old and a bit dilapidated but lovely in its simplicity.

The old walled entrance.

The last remaining castle tower.

Spiral stair to the choir.

The crypt.

The Relic - a bone from St Potentien

15thC or 16thC popular style crucifix.

The village down below.

After a cup of coffee in the square and some more people watching,

Typical mid-morning cafe scene.

and back in port the Icelanders place had been taken by a smart Linsson hireboat with two Aussies with UK citizenship but resident in Doha, Qatar, on board. Ron and Janice seemed besotted with the lifestyle which they were enjoying so we invited them aboard for a drink and a look around and chatted boating life for a while – they set off on the last leg of their journey to Vermenton at two o’clock leaving us to watch and assist with the comings and goings in the port and to be hugely entertained by our chatty port captain who had us in stitches with his imitation of the various French accents he has come across; English-French, German-French, Canadian-French, East Coast USA-French and even South of France-French – he battles with Californian-French and Icelandic-French was just too much for him!

A lovely stay in a lovely little village.

Friday 8 September 2017: Châtel-Censoir to Mailly-le-Chateâu – 9 kilometers, 4 locks.

The short cruise to Mailly-le-Château was a delight and when we arrived at the small, deserted basin where there were widely spaced bollards, despite what our two guides had said, there was electricity and water, all free.

Lock operating instructions.

The small pontoon at PK137

One of a pair who had locked through without a lockkeeper - much to his annoyance.

Soon after we had arrived.

The next morning.

A lovely forested setting but the wind had really picked up and even the Weber flame was blown out despite our very effective wind deflector. By evening the basin was almost full and the wind howled and the rain poured for most of the night - quite dramatic!

The morning dawned cloudy but still and quite chilly at 8C and our boat and the little glen were sodden. By ten o’clock the bikes were unloaded and we set off up the steep hill to ‘upper’ Mailly-le-Château where we found a pretty but almost deserted little village – the tiny boulangerie was packed however and we had seen a pretty constant stream of baguettes passing by so we enjoined the habit.

Looking up at the chateau.

The town square -  almost deserted.

The 12thC church with 14thC tower.

Joan of Arc.

The tiny boulangerie.

The village down below.

We're moored between the trees and the brown field.

Next it was the long downhill to Mailly-le-Ville, another charming little village with three very good thirty metre pontoons equipped with electricity and water; Lazy Notes was there but we did not stay for a chat as Bob was in the process of serving his friends a bacon and eggs breakfast. The only other boat was one called Nivernais – all locked up and looking like it had been there for a while taking advantage of the free services (they were plugged in) and totally ignoring the 48 hour maximum mooring sign. And they were moored right in the middle of the pontoon.

After buying some butter and a bottle of ‘Matthieu Antunes, Bourgogne, Collage la Vineuse’ wine (should be interesting) at the tiny shop in ‘town’ and taking a small ‘pression’ (250ml of tap beer – in this case Pelforth) at the snack bar on the river, we trundled down the cycle path, made arrangements with the lockkeeper for a 9.30am start at the first lock the next morning and waved to passing Welsh flag flying Rowan with whom we had chatted in Châtel-Censoir and who had just left Mailly-le-Chateau. Back at port we struck up a conversation with Trevor and Christine from Allez Cats who had spent a couple of days cruising in the company of Rory and Jenny on Paula.

Allez Cats

Trevor and Christine.

On board for lunch it was snails as entrée and a ham and cheese omelette main course - delicious!

More rain and wind during the night but not as much as previously.

Sunday 10 September 2017: Mailly-le-Chateâu to Mailly-le-Ville – 4 kilometers, 2 locks.

After trying to catch up with the blog and drying off the decks we were on our way again in lovely cool and calm conditions down the short distance to Mailly-le-Ville. A twenty five minute wait in the second lock produced a new lockkeeper and in no time we were tied up one pontoon down from Lazy Notes; we had thought Bob might need a little space after a week with two friends aboard and with Penny returning with a friend to stay after they had spent a week in Norway.

Waiting in the lock above Mailly-le-Ville.

The statue guarding the lock.

Nivernais on the left, Le Boat waiting for us to exit the lock, Lazy Notes.

A quiet day spent housekeeping, reading, braaing and just relaxing in the cool weather.

The hypermarket.

Monday morning, 8.15am. BANG! We get hit astern by a Le Boat hire boat. Blaming the wind (which was on his nose, as was the current) the captain had dropped his crew off onto the pontoon and then, leaving the boat in gear, had jumped off to help him with the lines. Fortunately no damage done. And no apology forthcoming either…

We had Bob and Penni and Penni’s long-time friend from Wyoming, Shelby, over for a curry and hanepoot wine lunch

and then it was all about watching the antics of the many hire boats, some of which powered past rocking us about, some slowing down politely as they passed the moorings and a whole lot who ended up mooring here for the night.

The mooring area this morning - packed.

This morning (Tuesday) we will make a decision as to whether to move on to Vincelles with its apparently dubious mooring or stay here instead and sit out the blow forecast for tomorrow. We were going to be dropping into our winter port of Vermenton before going on to Auxerre but we have heard that is is very full with double banked boats everywhere.

Auxerre weather forecast - gusting to 72kph tomorrow night.