Briare to St Mammes, Canal de Briare et Canal du Loing.
Tuesday 26 June. Very strong SW wind gusts and rain squalls over night. Watered up and did laundry and sight-seeing in the morning. Under way at 10:45, entered the main canal at 11:45 and stopped for lunch at lock 5 Vernon. From this point it is known as the Canal de Briare and a chain of 8 rising locks and 6 descending locks took us to Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses (Rogny of the 7 locks because the old Briare canal had a staircase of 7 locks which are preserved as a national monument.) Our speed through this section was extremely limited because we were following a hotel barge, the “Bon Vivant” which could only just fit through the locks and motored very slowly between them. We took care to moor down steam of this barge and planned to leave ahead of it the next morning. We dinned out at the Auberge des 7 Ecluses which was very enjoyable after a hard day of pushing the boat in the rain through 18 km and 17 locks.
Location for Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses. N47º44.825’ E002º52.832’ Altitude 148 metres.
Wednesday 27 June. Morning cloudy, calm and cool. Under way at 8:00 to make sure we were ahead of the Bon Vivant which we had been advised was planning to get to the first lock at 9:30. We waited at the first lock and passed through at 9:00 with a small local boat. Smooth cruising under cloudy skies with a lunch stop at lock 29, Montbouy. After lunch there were some sunny spells and also rain threatened but did not eventuate. The canal ran alongside the Loing river and there were many ponds, streams and old mills to be seen on the starboard side with thick woods or fields of grain on the port side. We moored at Montargis for the night at 17:00, first stopping near some grain silos before we found the last berth before the lock with some friendly boaters nearby: Dutch and South African. As the night was fine we decided to have a BBQ, which was not without incident. First a French guy tried to cadge a glass of wine off us, then someone called the Pompiers (Fire Brigade) - presumably they did not like our BBQ smoke - but we acted innocent and they went away.
Run for the day, 33 km and 14 locks.
Location for Montargis. N47º59.583’ E002º44.078’ Altitude 96 metres.
Thursday 28 June. Spent the morning in Montargis sight seeing and shopping. Found a Cyber Café but it was closed due to a flood in the shop. We were watered up and ready to start after lunch at 13:00, but the young lady lock keeper (probably a student) held us up for 30 minutes while 2 boats came up through the 2 locks in the town. Finally we cleared the locks and passed through the town which has a lot of small branch canals, then through an industrial area and out into the country again. At lock 36, Buges, the Canal de Briare ended and became the Canal de Loing. We continued through a wide canal and forest until mooring for the night at Nargis. This is a small, still alive village with a general store and bakery and a very old church with a strangely shaped dome mounted on top of a square Norman tower.
Run for the afternoon, 15 km and 9 locks.
Location for Nargis. N48º06.780’ E002º45.454’ Altitude 48 metres.
Friday 29 June. Morning fine but cool with moderate southerly wind. Under way at 8:45 and moored at Nemours lock at 12:30 for lunch. Our restart was delayed until 13:45 while the lock keeper attended to boats at the locks up-stream. We intended to moor at the port shown in the guide in an old branch of the river just below the lock, but as we emerged from the lock there was some confusion about which side of a bridge pylon we were supposed to go and then we found that the serviced mooring site did not actually exist. One side of the river was all private landings and the other side was just grassy banks under the trees of a park. All most stressful and frustrating, so we returned to the main canal determined to find a decent serviced mooring as we were going to need water at least: the next chance is at Moret-sur-Loing.
At Moret-sur-Loing we were told by the lockkeeper, when in the lock, that there was no space at the Moret port and that we would have to continue to St Mammes. During subsequent discussions a rope jammed on the bollard and had to be cut off. Eventually we passed on down toward the Seine looking for a suitable spot amongst the rusting barges and other boats moored long-term. At last we spotted a power and water box on the right bank near an old disused lock, did a U-turn and moored up only to find no water and no power available. So after a long, frustrating and stressful day we all had a drink and settled in with the hope of a better day tomorrow. While dinner was cooking Denis decided to go for a walk down to the junction with the Seine and found that there was a vacant berth at the St Mammes port for €10 per night. After his sprint back to the boat we decided to take advantage of this berth and by 19:15 we were safely moored with power and water connected. A luxury hotel boat, the “Bonne Humeur”, was moored along side, protecting us from the worst of the wash from the river traffic. Even better, when Judy went to talk to the Capitaine she discovered that there was to be a “Fete de l’Eau” to be held over the weekend, with stalls, music, dancing and displays of various aquatic activities including scuba diving, jet-skis, kayaks, rowing, water jousting and peniches, so it looked like we had struck it lucky at last.
Run for the day, 40km and 12 locks.
Location for St Mammes. N48º23.312’ E002º48.357’ Altitude 46 metres.
(There’s definitely something funny with the GPS altitude readings!)