Wednesday
2nd September
Digoin
to Bourg-le-Comte
Canal
de Roanne à Digoin
22km
5 locks 6 hours
We
woke up to fog. We’d arranged to go
through the first lock on the Canal Latéral à la Loire at 9am. As we left the lock to go along a short, wide
stretch of the canal Latéral à la Loire, the fog was really thick, we could
hardly see the cruiser that was in front of us. The sun soon broke through and we had a great trip to Bourg-le-Comte.
We arrived at the deep lock (7.20 metres) at Boug-le-Comte at 1.15pm, we had
to wait for a boat to come down the lock and we were through by 1.50pm. We moored up just after the lock and had a
quiet night in a rural mooring.
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| A bit foggy as we went over the river Loire |
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| VERY foggy after we exited the Digoin lock |
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| The fog cleared enough for us to see the entrance to the Roanne to Digoin canal on our left |
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| It is difficult to see if the deep lock Bourg-le-Comte is ready for us or not......it wasn't....we had to wait for a boat to come down |
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| Only the lower part of the lock opens for boats to go in and out |
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| Leaky lock gates. The lock fills nice and gently from underneath |
Thursday 3rd September
We moved the boat 3km to Chambilly where we stayed until Saturday. On Friday 4th September we cycled into Marcigny to have lunch in the town, we did some food shopping and went to the Emile Henry Cookware shop to have to look around.
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| Departing from the nice mooring just after the deep lock at Bourg le Comte |
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| Quite a nice mooring at Chambilly Boulangerie was closed for holidays! |
Saturday 5th September
Chambilly to Artaix
3km 3 locks 1hour 20mins
We are taking our time to get to Roanne at the end of this canal, so when we see a mooring we stop. The mooring at Artaix is another rural mooring, nice and quiet.
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| There is electric at this mooring but quite a way from our mooring spot |
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| Artaix Its a nice quiet place to moor |
Artaix to Melay
4km 0 locks 40 mins
We were lucky to find a mooring spot on the quay at Melay. We are really enjoying our slow trip along this canal.
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| Melay |
Tuesday 8th September
Melay to Briennon
11km 0 locks 1 ¾ hrs
There was a lot more space at Briennon this year as a big commercial boat has now gone from the quay. So that’s good but whats not so good is the church clock that was broken last year is fixed, so it rings on the hour x 2, so at midday and midnight you hear 24 bongs!! Plus it rings on the half hour too.
We walk to the Briennon lock to book it for 9am tomorrow and our trip to Roanne.
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| Briennon Electric and water for 7 euros |
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| After we had moored we noticed that there was plenty more space in the port as a big commercial barge had gone that was moored there last year |
Wednesday 9th September
Briennon to Roanne
15km 3 locks 3 hours
We set off at 8.45am and arrived at our mooring in Roanne just before 12 noon.
The canal de Roanne á Digoin is a beautiful canal, with great views of the countryside as you travel along it. The locks are very gentle; the only downside is that in front of some of the locks there is a strong flow of water (especially on lock 5 Montgraillloux) which makes entry to the lock very tricky, Kev did a fab job of not hitting the lock walls as we entered. The bow thruster comes in very handy!
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| Kev helping the lock keepers opening the lock gates |
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| Entering Roanne port home for Rangali for the winter |
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| The large port is about 1 mile in circumference which makes for a nice stroll in the evening |
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| The view from the bridge at Roanne over looking the river Loire |
We’ve already been off for a weekend to Grenoble and the Alps (by car), and we had a lovely time. We’ve also been socialising with the people who are moored up at Roanne, it’s a very friendly place.
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| Grenoble cable car |
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| View going up in the cable car |
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| Beautiful view from the top |
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| Grenoble |
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| We drove to Chambery and came back to Grenoble over the mountains |
This will be the last blog of the year as we have reached our final destination. We are really looking forward to having Roanne as a winter base for Rangali and we intend to visit the boat more regularly during the winter.
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