The heatwave has continued with day after day of lovely sunshine and hot nights. The boat stays cool during the day but as the steel heats up it stays hot during the night. We are tempted to sleep on deck at times but teak is as not as comfortable as an inner sprung mattress.
We motored slowly along the Canal d Briare stopping at Rogny les Sept Ecluses (Rogny of the 7 locks) where there is a 1600s staircase of 7 locks built in the time of Henry IV.
They have been bypassed in the last 200 years but preserved as a National Monument. The canal is stunningly beautiful at the summit with lots of lakes and extremely rural with no sign of civilization except the occasional lock house. The canal connects the valleys of the Seine and Loire. From the summit it was downhill to the junction with the River Loire at Briare. Taking the canal across the Loire (as the Loire is not navigable) is a majestic aqueduct built by Gustav Eiffel (of the tower fame). Built in steel and over 600m long it is a work of art.
The Loire at this point is nowhere near the great Chateaux. That is some 200km down stream. The Loire is not navigable except for the first 100km from the sea and it was always too dry in summer and too fast flowing in the winter. So a Lateral Canal was built that follows the valley of the Loire and it is this canal that passes over the the aqueduct.
We passed slowly along the canal, the heat forcing us to stop early to find shade under a tree. Just before the wine town of Sancerre an enterprising lockkeeper was selling Sancerre wine at good prices so we bought a dozen. Sure beats carrying it back to the boat! The wine is Sauvignon Blanc based but a world away from the NZ Marlborough Savvy. Excellent, as is the nearby Pouilly Fume. We took a taxi to Sancerre which is on top of a high hill nearby.
And so we continued from small town to small town. Nothing remarkable about each but each with character and usually lovely moorings like where we are now at Coure-les-Barres with a hotel boat passing us by.
This week we continue following the River Loire up to Roanne. More next week. For those of you following our maps below, you will have realised that we are on a completely different route. For a variety of reasons we decided to change the route substantially.
