Canal du Nivernais, travel-report 2003: fifth day

Our appointment for today with the lockkeeper of the first lock is established one hour later as usual: ten o'clock. As we are far ahead of our schedule, we can easily manage the delay. Besides that, I have to make a stiff ride with my bike to the bakery in Corbigny. I have to make a climb a hill to get there. But I am rewarded, the breads are still warm as I get them of the baker.

As we are having breakfast the lockkeeper stops at our boat to ask again at what time we leave. He tells us an other boat is navigating with us: a couple of French with two children.

The French children soon appeared to be just as fond of managing the locks and bridges as ours. Pepijn had to allow that the work is divided. It's no problem. We navigate on to the village Dirol. It looks wonderful with two bridges just after each other: one made of wood and one made of iron. We also see grain barns in the form of little towers. After Dirol follows Monceau-le-Compte. In Monceau is a large saw-mill and I smell the typical sense of sawed wood as we pass.

I want to moor at the mooring place in Monceau for lunch. I have to tank water. We are moored next to a wood using factory which keeps his wood wet with large sprinklers. Because of the wind there isn't one spot where you don't get wet. We tank water because it's two days ago since we tanked but leave immediately after that. We moor just like the French, in a narrow section of the canal. It's one-way traffic but we (and the French) have the canal for ourselves. We are moored between two dikes and so the wind isn't blowing nasty here. We eat outside. I can recommend the bakery in Corbigny to everybody. He makes fine bread. As I tanked Marga went to a little characteristic shop in the village and bought some strawberries. So we are eating strawberries on our bread.

We are passing a lot of counterpoise bridges today. They are opened by the French and us by turn. Just before the pont-levis de Curiot the Frenchman goes to the bank to deliver his son to shore but he can't get away after that. He is stranded. I pass by and see him pushing with his hook and later on pushing the boat standing ashore, but the boat stays were it is. I turn our boat carefully and see some mud clouds in the water after us. It isn't very deep here. I pass the Frenchman and turn again. We give him a rope at a hook and he fixes it to his boat. The rope rolls out slowly and when it's fastened I give gas. We pull him out of the mud without any problem.

We moor in the afternoon in a village called Asnois. We should find an exposition about the floating timber men on the Yonne in 'la grange de Mimile'. The barn appears to be opened only in the weekend. The owner lives elsewhere during the week. His daughter however runs a antique shop (brocante) in the village. In the brocante we find an enormous quantity of old mess. However, the daughter doesn't want to help us seeing the exposition.

We walk back to our boat. On our way back I discover an old wash-house and the children find a pony in a meadow. They feed him with fresh grass.

Marga and I make a bike-trip from Asnois towards Tannay. It is a tough ride: the first two kilometers on a shingle towpath and then another two kilometers upwards a steep hill. Tannay is a nice place but on Monday afternoon all shops are closed. We do have a beautiful view from there at the valley of the Yonne. We cycle back to our boat by the opposite side of the Yonne.

During the time that Marga and I had our bike-trip, Pepijn and Maarten had a swim. They are still under the shower as we came back.

Because I don't like to climb to Tannay another time for the bakery we navigate two kilometer until the next lock. We can find another bakery in a village three kilometers from here. It spares me the climb tomorrow morning.

We have a wonderful view from our new mooring place at the Yonne and the village Brèves. In a meadow between the canal and the Yonne Pepijn and Maarten play football in the evening. The birds are singing loudly again. They even sing during the night.