The English impressionist painter Sisley, good friend of Monet, lived here for 20 years. The scenes he painted here in the 19th century are still much the same today.
We visited some of Moret's unusual museums including the Barley Sugar museum above and a Bicycle museum. It was a lovely change of pace after Paris. It also had a twice weekly market, plus Lidl, Carrefour and Intermarche supermarkets all within walking/ cycling distance! Very important and exciting when you are on a boat and are car less. Oh how times have changed! We are fitter for it though and we don't feel so guilty after indulging in all that bread and cheese ( oh and wine, cakes......)!
But after a few days, as we sit on the deck watching boats coming and going through the lock, we feel the need to move on again. We book the lock for 9am on Monday morning and slip away from our mooring. We soon find out that we have picked the week that the Canal de Loing begins using the brand new automated lock system, costing hundreds of thousands of euros, and we are the guinea pigs. The lock keeper gives me a remote control and explains what to do as we go through the 19 locks of this 49 km canal. Surprise, surprise at the next lock the remote would not open the gates for us. Eventually they came out and operated the lock manually and gave us a new remote. Off we go again. Next lock, nothing happening. I ring up only to be told the lock was at lunch! Silly me, it was 12 o clock and even an automatic lock has an hour lunch break in France! Bang on the dot of 1pm the gates opened. After that things went more smoothly although a VNF van then appeared at every lock ahead of us just to make sure.
The scenery cruising the Loing canal was beautiful as the river ran alongside it.
Towards the end of the canal we spent an unexpected night "wild mooring" between locks 3 and 2. We had to stop at lunchtime between the 12 to 1 shutdown and then realised that the other boat we could see moored just downstream was Winedown, our friends from New Zealand. The lock keeper had recommended the bar/ restaurant Le Martin Pecheur back at the lock and they suggested we stop and join them there for the evening. It turned out to be a Scottish pub in the middle of nowhere in the middle of France! From the outside it looked like a French taverna but inside just like a country pub back home complete with pool table, skittles and darts, and of course plenty of draught Scottish ale!
Despite feeling a bit fragile the next morning we set off to complete the last few kilometres of the Loing Canal to the pretty town of Montargis. It is known as "little Venice" as it is criss crossed with little canals and flower bedecked bridges. Great shops here too including the wonderful Mazet Praline shop which is like stepping into the 17th century when the first pralines were created here. The French really do love their sweets.
Leaving Montargis we entered the Briare canal, 54km long. We had been cruising every day Monday to Friday since leaving Moret (like being at work!) so we moored up at Rogny les Sept Ecluses for the weekend. The canal climbs to its highest point here before beginning the descent towards the Loire. The original staircase of 7 locks is registered as a historical monument. The boats used to be hauled up by men wearing collars and yokes. Fortunately times have changed and the locks were replaced at the end of the 19th century!
This made us feel better, even the hotel barges go aground sometimes, a few G and Ts spilt perhaps.
We came to the end of the Briare Canal just as we entered the town of Briare and were then at the start of the 195 km Canal Lateral a La Loire. We left Briare on the famous aqueduct constructed by Gustav Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame to take the canal over the river Loire. The obelisks at each end are the same as those on the Pont Alexander III which we recently passed under on the Seine in Paris.
We arrived at Chatillon sur Loire just before lunch and as the map book said it was market day I jumped off the boat with my basket and hurried off before they started closing up. There were posters up in town showing events on all over the weekend. We ended up staying for 4 nights. We had a good night out listening to a band on Saturday. On Sunday there was a huge brocante all over town and in the square and we spent a good few hours wandering round looking for bargains.
There are great cycle tracks along the river Loire, considered to be the last untamed river in Europe.
And cycling back to the boat we came across our Kiwi friends on Winedown who had just moored up and had the wine and nibbles out already!
We went on our way next morning, put in a long day and made it to the village of Menetreol sous Sancerre, just squeezing in at the end of the quay. This is a popular stop being so close to Sancerre. At the last lock the lock keeper asked if we were interested in buying some local wines. Chris was off the boat like a shot. Bottles of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume for 7 euros each, bargain! The hilltop town of Sancerre was 3.5 km from our mooring. I had been wanting to go there and Chris had promised me a special lunch as we hadn't quite made it there for my birthday. So next morning we set off up the hill. The climb was a steep one but we were rewarded by stunning views of the Loire Valley.
And an amazing lunch experience in the Michelin star La Tour Restaurant. We were there for nearly 3 hours, at least it was downhill all the way home!
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