Canal de Briare/Canal du Loing

Monday 18th June

23.8km/Briare Aqueduct/2 locks/3hrs 10 mins

Beaulieu PK184 still on the canal Lateral a Loire

We left Beaulieu at 8.40am and had a very easy trip to the Briare Aquaduct.  We decided not to stay at Briare and carry onto Ouzouer-sur-Trézée PK7.8.  We encountered our first 'up' locks this year.  Amazing to think we've been going down since Roanne.  We only have 8 up locks on the canal de Briare and then its all downhill to Paris which makes things very easy. 

Briare Aqueduct

A lovely view of Briare from the Aqueduct

Our first UP lock of the season

A very nice 'free' mooring at Ouzouer-sur-Trézée
Free electric and water and a boulangerie in the town

Tuesday 19th June
21km/18 locks/7hrs 15 mins inc 1 hour for lunch
Ouzouer-sur-Trézée PK 7.8 to Châtillon-Coligny PK29

We left at 9.00am and had a long day to arrive at Châtillon-Coligny at 4pm.  We had thought we'd moor at Danmarie-sur-Loing PK23 as we'd moored there 5 years ago and liked it but the lock keeper who took us down the chain of locks to Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses said there was a big boat moored there.  When we'd actually got there there was space for us, no sign of a large boat but the lock keepers were waiting for us with a cruiser already in the next lock so we thought we should carry on.  We were pleased as we really liked the mooring at Châtillon-Coligny, so much so we stayed 5 days.  We had ordered a new socket for our shore-power cable as it was broken and we were able to get it delivered to the port office which was handy.

There was work being done on upgrading the cycleway, it was just about finished so you will be able to cycle all the way from Briare to Montargis.  It's great for my running which I've been able to keep up due to the fantastic cycleways along the canals and rivers.

A very nice mooring at Châtillon-Coligny
Free mooring with electric and water

Chatillon-Coligny had some nice old parts of the town to wander around

Delivery of our spare plug for our shore power cable

Monday 24th June
Châtillon-Coligny PK29 to Montbouy PK35
6km/2 locks/1.5hrs

A short trip to Montbouy.  The mooring is free but you need to buy jetons for electric and water which are available to purchase from the grocers or boulangerie in the village.

Montbouy

Tuesday 26th June
Montbouy PK35 to Montargis PK52
17km/6 locks/3 45 mins hours

We left Montbouy at 8.55am and had a beautiful trip to Montargis arriving at 12.40pm.  We had our fingers crossed we could moor at the town moorings, but luckily there was plenty of space for us, so we were very pleased.

Montargis is a nice town to visit, and we also enjoyed walking near the river where there was a lovely park to walk around.

A beautiful canal

Montargis is called Little Venice due to the small canals that go through the town.
All very pretty with the flowers in the ornamental boats.

We moored at the port which was nice
but we had to be gone by Friday morning as a hotel boat was arriving

Lovely flowers everywhere at Montargis

Friday 29th June
Montargis PK52 to Nargis PK10
15km/9 locks/4 hours

This commercial arrived at 8.30am and he waited until 9am for the lock to open pipping us to the post

We were happy to leave Montargis as there was work going on
by the side of the canal, a generator and noisy piling all day.

We left Montargis at 9.30am.  We liked it at Montargis but there was a lot of noise from work going on to do with piling by the side of the canal and the road nearby was only a dusty track so our boat got covered in a grey dust so we were happy to leave.  We had booked the lock for 9am but a large, empty commercial barge came through at 8.30am and waited infront of the lock to open at 9am, so we had to wait until that had gone through.  Luckily he only went down 2 locks to the port du commerce so we weren't held up by him.  We are now on the Canal du Loing and we have been given a control box to use for the locks, so no need for eclusiers.  When we came this way 5 years ago (our first year in France) we were rushing through as they were closing the canal to automate the locks.  It's great having the control box as it means we can leave when we decide on the day rather than informing the lock keepers of when we are departing.

Nargis was quite a nice mooring, no facilities but quiet.  But the boulangerie in the village had closed down which was a shame.

Sunday 1st July
Nargis PK10.4 to Madeleine-sur-Loing PK21
10.5km/3 locks/2 hours

We thought we might stop at Souppes-sur-Loing, but there wasn't any space for us, but we didn't like to look of the mooring anyway, a very tatty, commercial looking mooring.  It's popular because of the free electric but not a big enough incentive for us to stop there.  We thought we'd try a mooring we've got information on in our DBA guides at PK21.  Just as we arrived at our planned mooring we encountered a large. empty commercial.  All was fine, but if we'd been 5 minutes earlier we would nave been happily moored up!

Just our luck we came across this commercial in a narrow section.
We crossed over the left of the canal to help give him space for the next corner
but his wife indicated for us to cross back to the right of the canal, so at least we knew he'd seen us!

A nice mooring in front of lock 9 at PK21

Monday 2nd July
PK21 to Nemours PK29
8km/3locks/1 hr 20mins

We moored at Nemours before the official port du plaisance PK29
no facilities but nice and quiet

A quiet mooring at Nemours

Nemours is an attractive town.  The town moorings are nice if there is space and has electric and water.

Wednesday 4th July
Nemours PK29 to Moret-sur-Loing PK48
19km/7 locks/3 hrs 50 mins

We had a great trip to Moret-sur-Loing.  We'd rung up and booked a mooring so we knew there was a space for us which makes for a relaxing cruise.  So we are at the end of the Loing Canal, next step is the Seine which will be completely different to the type of cruising we've done so far this year.

Moret-sur-Loing is a very nice town, worth staying a few days

Moret is very attractive with its bridges and weirs.
As it was hot weather, youngsters were swimming/paddling in the river.

Our mooring at Moret

A different view of our mooring, we felt very secure here.

While we were at Moret we caught a bus to Fountainbleu.  We thoroughly enjoyed looking around the beautiful chateau and the town is well worth visiting too, very vibrant and busy with lots of restaurants to choose from.

Another view of the mooring at Moret, the non floating pontoons are set at an angle, facing up-stream.
We felt secure even though half the boat was hanging off the end!