Well, as this is not 100% sailing not sure if blog readers will be interested in this entry, but some of it is water related - so might appeal to those who want a shot or two of the French Canals?
We got our new mainsail sail from Hanse (more about that later), but as the sad UK weather took a sadder turn for the worse, the conditions led us to consider some alternatives to our orginal added week which we had proposed cruising Swagman down the UK south west coastline.
So the first of our two wees away was spent hiking and biking in far west Wales. The scenery off the Welsh Pembrokshire coast around St Davids head is craggy and beatuful - but as it faces the full fury of the Altantic Ocean when the weather gets bad - it is really BAD.
True to form, it looked marginal on the drive down with bikes strapped to the roof, but turned absolutely sh*te as we crossed into Wales proper.
But the small B&B we boooked into was cute, the scenery along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path around St Davids was awesome, and walking the narrow track along the cliff edge provided lots of needed exercise for us both.
Here are some of the wild ponies that are being reintroduced into the area. Pretty as, eh? You can just make out one small section of the Pembrokshire Coastal Path running along the cliff tops shown in the background. In total the path covers more than 200 miles - and lots or ramblers set aside a full week to do it all.
Not that we covered anything like that distance in our week - more like 10 miles to a pub, 3 pints of left arm exercises, and a slower hike back. With the windy roundy uppy downy way this path goes, I suspect each linear mile is closer to 3! It's not so much a stroll - but a slidey stagger in muddy conditions. With the steep cliffs and pounding ocean always just off to one side to remind you to remain upright.
But we both enjoyed the physical workout - despite Sue suffering from a very sore back. As we drove back to the New Forest by the weekend in still more pouring rain, we began to question the alternatives to our second weeks coastal cruise.
The forecast was for the bad weather to remain across southern UK - and we'd had enough of the rain.
So Saturday night and a vino fuelled conflab saw some last minute ideas being tossed around. We settled on a booking made early Sunday am, and Sunday arvo saw us packing our bags and sharing a roast English lunch with more pals before driving away down to Poole for a cross channel ferry to France.
Sue and I, perched alongside pals Paul and Patties in their nice shiny Land Rover Discovery, caught the Poole to Cherbourg overnight ferry complete with sleeper cabin to begin a canal cruising week in Burgundy.
We'd together booked a river / canal boat on the Canal du Niverais running alongside the River Loire between Nevers and Sancerre in central France.
Not the sweetest lines I've seen on a boat, and more than a few years old. But perfectly adequate for a week meandering up and down the Canal and the River.
After sharing that overnight ferry cabin we covered the 450 kms to the charter base at Decize in good time. It took some 6 hours with Paul driving the whole way, and by 5 pm Monday we'd completed our checking in and were off on the water entering our first lock.
We took turns each day to be family skipper and crew.
It resulted in a fabulous weeks vacation.
Canal traffic is limited to 6 knots and on average we only crossed paths with maybe 4 other boats each day. Despite this, we met a suprising number of Ozzie flagged boats and barges (3 others in one week) plus one Kiwi crewed crsuiser!
Most times we'd glide along serenely (if at times erratically) consuming amazing quantities of cold beer and chilled white wine, admiring the wildlife. Herons, water voles, ducks Swans and Falcons all gave us a show.
The limited outside communications whilst moving were usually a wave at at ramblers and cyclists on the canal paths.
Everyone - locals and other canal users - were amazingly friendly.
Even truckers and white van men crossing bridges managed to give us a toot and a smile. Suspect it was the girls more than Paul and I.
Evenings were a surprising gastronomic delight, with rarely a menu over 20 euros per person. And the quality and presentation had to be experienced to be believed. Really really good standards.
Admittedly it t'was not all haute cuisine. But that was at our choice. One night towards the end of the week when overfilled with rich fare, Paul and I persuaded one small food shack to cook us up ham eggs and chips. Wasn't sure how they'd take the request - but apart from us having to donate the eggs - they were pleased to do it for us. The Kiwi boat also parked close by even got into the evening by providing me with Cross and Blackwell Branston Pickle. Oh. So good.
Spent lotsa time simply joking or chatting with Paul and Patti (shown below). Mostly just putting the world to rights, but taking the p*ss unmercifully when Paul was stung on his lip by a bumble bee. He was repeatedly asked to say 'Lubberly' until it all went down 72 hours later.
That drama apart - along with Sues continuing bad back - we struck lucky most days.
Hired bikes were carried, so when we were not navigating some of the locks (which came up every 10 miles or so) we got away visiting some some amazingly beautiful villages in striking distance.
Even one day passed a hotel barge with Dutch cyclists. They go out for a 30 mile ride each day and arrive back at a new location - where the barge is waiting with cold beers, an evening meal and soft beds.
The variations one could put together on one of these trips is amazing - if you (as we do) like both boating and biking.
Heres one of those villages. How's that for hedges eh?
The canal we were on ran adjacent to the River Loire, and we learnt it was developed as a major good carrying route in the 16th to 18th century. The Loire itself is not fast flowing in summer months, so it did not lend itself to being devellped with locks like you see on other rivers like the Seine. The Loire tends to be shallow, wide with lots of sand banks and shoals.
Ideal for fishing and bathing as you can see it behind us in this picture.
Whilst typing this, forgive me for making a plug for one of the Aubergs we enjoyed.
This place is a little off the beaten track so few of you would find it without guidance. But if you are even close to this area, please go seek it out and try it. The atmosphere, the food, the wine - all fantastic. The Auberge du Poids de Fer, 18320 Jouet-Sur-L'Aubois, tel 02 48764185. Brigit speaks good English. Pierre gives it a go.
The Auberge, built 1625, is run by a couple of crazy young Frenchies, Pierre and Brigit, and Friday night they gave us an evening to truly remember. Even driving us home to the boat after to save our little legs.
Their place is set 1 km east of the Canal, so if you are travelling on a boat you can stop and bang in some metal spikes and moor up on the canal bank and wander along - they open at 6.30 each evening - but close the kitchen at 8.30 pm.
The bridge is the one immediately below a town called M****illes-les-Aubigny. Of course, this Yot Grot spell checker won't allow me to type the full title as part is recognised as another word for b*m. But I'm hopeful you can all work it out and don't stop at the wrong place.
Anyway, once you've found the bridge and moored up on the canal bank, simply walk east along the lane for maybe 1 km, until it bends up north towards the town of M****illes. At that bend you cleverly don't go north, but turn south. Around 200 yards and you'll find them.
I guarantee you won't be dissappointed with what you find. Our meal which I'd rate against the best I've had anywhere in the world and my dad was a chef..... so my judgements not too wonky.....
Have to say despite previously having Italy as my EU favorite food place, we found top top table food served here all on a 24 euro menu.
Even our wines hovered around 15 / 18 euros per bottle. The atmoshere was great. Highly highly recommended - and if people don't start to use it - we might all loose it.
And that's the reason for my plug. As despite being so superb, these guys only had 4 of their 15 tables occupied, and this is a Friday in August! So please if you are in the area, give them a go.
Overall, our whole week was lotsa fun.
Navigating locks gave us some physical exercise - albeit limited. The bikes were better. The locks were interesting. For Patti and Paul this was something they'd done many times before in the UK, but for Sue and I it was all new. However even as newbies we got proficient in 5 minutes and as the boats are built and fendered to be treated like bumper boats, who apart from an anally retentive moi, cares if you touch a bank or lock side?
But combine all this with some stunning scenery, the lazy pace of life, and spice it up with some lovely female students assuming lock keeper roles happy to flirt with two old sadsters (just to keep the balance with the guys the girls flirted with also), it proved to be a vacation I'd recommend to anyone.
Here's a shot of us crawling across and aqueduct on the canal that crosses the Loire River.
And heres one of those multiple locks we are about to decend into. This one more beautifully adorned with flower beds than the photo shows.
Our holiday trip only lasted a week, and despite picking a spot that should have been below the bad weather over Europe, our weather proved iffy.
We got two days of glorious sunshine. Even burnt me back. But also got two days torrential rain. Not so much fun. Especially as the lower deck driving postion was so far offset I comitted the cardinal sin (for me) of clonking a bridge bank at full power as we went under during one downpour. Sacre blu.
Our remaining days were not cold, just overcast, and usually we got some sun at some time in a day, so a super delightful and not (when sharing costs) over expensive holiday - leaving us hopefully relaxed and ready at least for some interim work before embarking on a planned September break in Scotland!
Nice one.
JOHN
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