A week on the French canals

[tagh]

Not the Canal du Midi but Nivernais, Centrale and a bit of the southern Loire, just for a week. Reinforces my impressions of the sheer beauty of France but leaves other impressions too; the canal system is strictly controlled and some lock keepers can be right Hitlers, there are few boats on some sections and an abundance of herons, some storks and beautiful curves in the land, colours in the fields. 

But, boy, was it hot, touching 37degrees at times in a boat with no clim and little breeze sometimes. The search for shady spots to moor was constant. 

Some canals are seriously in need of repair with huge bits of bank reinforcing steel poking out into the channel, sharp enough to rip the bottom out of a boat. But there is not enough money to do more than a very small part of the repairs. What will happen to the canals in the long term is anybody’s guess.

Many small towns but only a few are beautiful, too many closed factories and few signs of industrial regeneration.

Towards the end  I had to take a train to get back to my car, just beautiful, then a cross country idyll in a largely empty France full of windy roads and hidden places,  with the clim FULL ON!

A week was enough for me.

[Char]

Sounds lovely, but a bit on the warm side.

[L Austin France]

Somebody called woolybanana posted this on another forum .

[tagh]

My alter ego.

And yes, far too hot.

[RobertArthur]

Canal du Nivernais, slow lanes, left and right, no need for speed.

[tagh]

Oh yes, it is beautiful but 37 degrees tends to pall after a while. Plus a lot of Charolais cattle and an egret every 100 metres ( well, so it seemed.) And if ypu have a loada locks to do it is boring.