Canal de Briare: Briare – Ouzouer-sur-Trézéé – Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses

23 April to 29 April 2019 – 18 kilometers, 17 locks.

23 to 27 April 2019 – Busy, busy.

After what seemed an interminable time in the company of Emirates Air we finally landed in Paris, hopped on a taxi to Paris Bercy station and ensconced ourselves in a first-class carriage bound for Briare. Our B&B lady was there to meet us and, hastily dropping off the suitcases, we walked back to Elle so that the bimini (I suppose dodger-bimini would be a more accurate description) could be erected while the weather was still good.

Oldtimer on the left, Elle way down the pontoon.

By 8.30pm we were finally back at the gites and it did not take long to get to sleep!

The next day the weather was wet so we got on with winterizing inside; unpacking suitcases, connecting water pipes, filling up with water, connecting electricity, collecting parcels from the capitainerie, dusting, scrubbing mouldy decks (best done in the rain…) until it was time for the moment of most apprehension – starting the engines. Keys in, switch on, warm up the glow plugs for fifty seconds, and without a moment’s hesitation, both engines purred into life!

Don and Cathy from Oldtimer

Oldtimer

kindly invited us across for sundowners after which we partook of a lasagna dish at the restaurant across the road before falling exhaustedly asleep.

Unfortunately, we had acquired a pet on our swim platform...

...and unfortunately, they had to go.

Friday was spent stocking up at the market

'Vrou Soek 'n Boer' Lynn doing her farming bit.

and generally slowing down the pace a bit. Similarly, on Saturday we did two bicycle trips to the Carrefour for non-perishables and a bottle or two of wine – and some beer.

Sad wine rack.

Getting better all the time...

...so much better!

Sunday 28 April – Briare to Ouzouer-sur-Trézéé. 7.2 kilometers, 6 locks, 1 hour 55 minutes.

Despite the port engine having a sulk and struggling to get out of bed, we eventually found out how the lockkeeper contact-system worked, and by ten o’clock were a half hour behind Oldtimer and heading up the first six of our (‘uphill’) locks of the season; although the port of Briare was great, we found little to recommend the new port captain…

Deja vu

Being back on the canals was as if we had never been away and in less than two hours we were moored in front of La Poule d’Eau, a boat belonging to the erstwhile Briare port captain, now a boat broker, and behind Oldtimer.

And then things started going pear-shaped.

We have always used a South African water disinfectant with no problems at all and, having confirmed the dilution percentages with the manufacturers, we duly mixed in enough for three hundred liters, opened the taps, and were summarily engulfed in frothy foam.

After many dilutions.

So we topped up with another three hundred and fifty liters without any further additive but nothing much changed. Hmmm. So we showered, washed decks, ran taps and, by the time we reached Ouzouer, we had used a record four hundred liters of water leaving only two hundred and fifty in the tanks. Hosepipe attached to the tap at the port and in due course the tanks were brimful again with unadulterated water. Lynn fills the kettle for coffee, the kettle boils, foam and hot water flood the countertop shorting the 220V plugs and tripping all four electricity bournes including the one with the plug attached to La Poule d’Eau whose owner was away.

To cut a long story short, the rest of the afternoon was spent tracking down the distribution board for the four bournes, resetting the switches, plugging in La Poule d’Eau’s plug, resetting the DB switch, pulling out lengths of cable, moving La Poule d’Eau’s plug to another working bourn, resetting the switches and so on until I hoped I had found a solution to La Poule d’Eau’s problem but leaving us without electricity. Luckily, the lady from the municipal office came around to do a boat count and she was duly informed of the problem – a technician would be around in the morning to sort out the problem. And by then it was five thirty and Don and Cathy arrived for sundowners and by the time they left it was dark and we had not had a chance to explore the tiny town. Life on the waterways!

Monday 29 April – Ouzouer-sur-Trézéé to Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses. 10 kilometers, 12 locks, 3 hours 15 minutes.

Having booked the lock for nine o’clock, we cast lines on a misty, cool (5C when I got out of bed) morning, waved goodbye to Don on Oldtimer and, with the port engine sulking again proceeded to the first of the six uphill locks we had to finish before summiting and then sliding downhill to Rogny.

At nine sharp the lock system started (and so did Port Engine) and, in ever improving weather, we were on our way. Pretty countryside with trees bursting their buds and spring flowers showing shyly from the winter grasses saw us finally pass the seven disused locks

before arriving at Rogny, a delightful little village topped by a small church.

Dating from Roman times, the town was once surrounded by vineyards which were destroyed in the Phylloxera disaster of the nineteenth century but it's best known tourist attraction are the seven disused locks. The mind boggles that they constructed a whole new adjacent staircase solely so that the ‘biefs’ (stretches between locks) could be widened to allow two barges to pass each other – it just illustrates how busy the commercial traffic must have been in those days that the expense of building a new ‘staircase’ was cheaper than the cost of delaying a barge whilst it waited for another to ascend or descend.

And a bit of a leg-stretch around the village ended the day.

The hill up to the church is pretty steep!

A very old fresco uncovered.

The dirt road upper right follows the old canal staircase.

Chatting to Cathy and Don in my de-winterising outfit.

Spring has sprung.