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May 23                       Tuesday

Painted black - 3 coats with 1 X 5 litre tin Bitumen.

Got well stuck into fenders - drill hole in boat steel, tap it (i.e. use special little tool to make threads in hole like a nut) with suitable size tap, then screw and bolt fender directly onto hull. Painless.

Bloody hot and exhausting - S did all the painting, to-day.

 

May 24                                            Wednesday

Marseilles les Aubigny to p.k. 131 just beyond Beff.

Happily touching up paint work - Hamerrite scarlet on transom, and continuing with fenders.

Yard workers on Miss Marples with crane lorry on our old mooring just outside dock when loud crash and Miss Marples rocked and rolled.

Don’t know what happened, except Miss M has to go back into dock, as she is still making water after a new bottom, and 3 dockings and checks.

Obviously serious, so offered to get out of dock after lunch - bitumen had 30 hours to dry and harden.

Offer jumped at, cleared up - bloody hot - and came out at 14.30.

Paid bill - no discount for shortened stay, but so glad bill was as quote that ............

Set off up canal straight away, after shopping at little shops by lock at top of Port.

Stopped off just beyond Beff

Boat running much cooler, but still temp mounts very slowly to about 81 - should stay at 76!

Boring.

 

May 25                                                         Thursday

Beff to le Grange - N. of Charitie sur Loire.

Long lie in - although we moored up just over the canal from main road.

Rain during night - not excessive.

Stopped at little P. de P. by bridge leading to Charitie sur Loire.

watered, and moored up on very dickey pontoon, folks very welcoming and pleasant, although very half-arsed place. Dry dock more expensive than Raimondo.

Bicycled into Charitie. (3 kms).

Lovely old world higgledy piggledie French town.

Wandered round - got some cash, then found a little auberge with Ffr 50 menu.

Rattling, so stopped and ate and had a drink.

Some confusion over ordering, with S. ordering 1 meal only. Almost a disaster, but fortunately us other French speakers saved situation. (i.e. English speaking girl at next table, and self).

Back to boat about 15.30, and wandered up to-wards Sancerre for wine, A&C, and supermarket.

Boat still running a bit warm, but otherwise really appreciating the deep canal.

Moored up 17.30 by la Grange (no-where in particular in the country, but could see the start of the Sancerre wine country vineyards on the slopes.

Sat in evening sun, slept off lunch, and had drinks.

Idiot creature (probably German) with thick bushy beard driving Norway, a full sized peniche, went past much too fast - really fast - and ripped all 4 of our pegs out, while asking us if we were "going across" - we were moored up!. First time ever we have lost all 4 - very boring!

This is the 2nd time we have seen this boat, and are of the opinion he is just an idiot with more money than sense who is fantasising that he is a Penichere, while swanning up and down the canal being a nuisance. Genuine Penichieres are reasonably courteous.

 

May 26                                             Friday

N. of Charitie sur Loire to St Thibault (Sancerre & St Saturr)

Up through wine country - low hills to East of river, canal and us covered in vines.

Weather blustery and angry between periods of "shall we put the brolly up - didn’t.

Into St Thibault, passed S.M. and made for P. de P. in connecting embrachement between canal and R. Loire.

Made straight back to S.M., moored to road opposite just by "no parking" sign (we are getting very French) and S. beetled over road to do enormous shop. Followed - got gas in buggy, but pulled by hand - reckoned cylinder MUST be nearly empty - it was so light when removed must have been right.

Joined S. in S.M. and bought booze - including 4 cases beer and numerous wines.

Back to P.de P. - much wind and rain, but reasonably pleasant spot in trees, but with a lot of permanently moored grot - did gang plank ties-up - sloping stone walls, enquired for diesel - "next week"! If we’d known would have got it at S.M. - maybe.

Remember Norway, the badly driven Peniche that made so cross last night? Found it in the P. de P. - it belonged to the Capitaine! Ignorant swine - all beard and brawn.

Bikes round villages in evening, but badly caught by rainstorm.

Heave wind and rain storms during night.

 

May 27                                             Saturday

St. Thibault up to Menetrau.

Checked water flow through oil cooler - totally clean!

A&C arrived - 2 black armoured, red mounted, helmeted Martian Beetles on red undercarriage.

S. had been off on bike getting bread, and arrived in grand style with loaf sticking up over shoulder. Definitely going native.

Sat around and much talk.

Decided against evening meal out in Auberge overlooking Loire and move up canal, leap frogging boat and bike from bridge to bridge.

Nice trip - weather still not over kind.

Stopped at p.k. 172 (total distance run 12 kms - 7.2 miles) where canalside road left us for a bit.

Sat out talking for a while - drinks - but a bit cold, so crowded into boat.

Supper more talking - bed more talking.

Yet another heavy wind storm during night.

May 28                                                 Sunday

Menetrau to Belleville.

Sunday get up and breakfast.

Much more talk.

A&C left about mid-day - duly girded about in fearsome clothes and hats to return to the strange planet from whence they erupted.

Moved on up to Lere, and found the village had a petrol station open and within 50 metres of the canal along a tar road, and a d.b. with money in it.

Filled 2 pairs of jerricans into boat, and re-filled jerricans as spare.

total diesel put in 80 litres - @ Ffr5.6 per litre. (Very expensive, but whole operation is indescribably filthy, tiring and messy; one has to attack it on the few occasions all the factors such as money, enthusiasm, available fuel, road, and propinquity slot into place and one is dancing up and down delighted to get it over. (We use 1 to 1.25 galls per day - 4.5 to 5.5 litres)

Had dropped a bagful of oily kitchen towel into canal, whence it took off in wind. Chased it in boat to other side, but in recovering it got too close to very rough concrete canal revetment, hit it with new fender, and ripped it (the fender) off.

Sheered 3 bolts, pulled 4th plus big "penny" washer through rubber, which sank, boring.

Picked up bag of waste, but enthusiasm for the environment at that moment was nil.

Went on to Lere and had lunch - cold and windy.

Continued after lunch looking for low bit of canal where we could replace fender.

No joy, but found nice grassy village moorings at Belleville 2 kms from nuclear power station, with water, bollards, low revetments, and neatly cut grass right down to water’s edge. Really very nice moorings indeed, except just below lock, so level kept changing, resulting in Albert describing foreshortened figures of eight, like a wild west horse tied up too tight.

Found English owned Stilson boat Modestine, made contact, but no more - on their way to "Watsons" to park up while they go back to UK.

Turned so we could do fender - but decided to leave it till to-morrow.

Tried to upload corrected web, but poor reception meant having to leave mobile outside front door. Too cold, so gave it up.

 

May 29                                             Monday

Belleville to Mainbray Lock.

This must be an all time record for day’s run - quite 3 kms.

Decided that as Belleville was a nice mooring for working on boat from, and as yesterday’s damage to fenders was totally careless and incompetent, we would give the morning over to replacing it.

Did.

Quite hard work, dangling over side - even though it was low - and much cursing, especially as level and current round Albert changed each time someone came down through lock.

Bolted - with more and bigger bolts, replacement fender, and hope this will last.

Had lunch - late - and pushed off about 14.30.

2 kms up, at first lock of day, gaggle of G.W.W. and German M.D.s charging around organising everybody because there were "problems". (Interesting that the word is universal in all languages.

The "problem" was a peniche stuck half in and half out of the lock on the way up.

The L.K., poor fellow, was slightly mentally retarded, and walked around the lock in shoes whose heels he had comp0ressed downwards so they were like sabots, and a sweat shirt that he must have put open in 1997.

3 hours of huffing and puffing whilst large numbers of people - hirers and private - discussed sills (cills?) learnedly, and what the VNF should do, ads he - the penichere - was a nuisance, and had been since Paris.

Eventually - 18.30, they knock off at 1900, and this time is sacred - they got a tractor and towed the creature into the lock.

Reckon he was not grounded on sill (Cill?) at entrance to lock, but was so deeply laden he didn’t have the power to force himself into the lock against all the water that has to rush out.

Got him out at 1900, but we were nicely moored up at nice spot so decided to stay for night.

Sundry G.W.W. unmoored too quickly when the peniche exited the lock, complete with tidal wave and mis-directed sense of humour, and ended up wandering around canal with vociferous M.D.s trying to control them with bits of blue rope whilst ramming or being rammed. Good giggle.

Quiet evening followed, only disturbed by fridge failing. My nice new voltmeter has suddenly taken to over-registering by about 3 volts, so when I thought we had all the power in the world, we didn’t. How I miss the gadget I obtained from Sapekoe, that has lasted 20 odd years, and whose hand fell of last year.

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