Thursday 19th July 2007
Day's Progress: 20kms : 5 locks (Total 263kms : 140 locks)
We spent the morning in Nevers and left for Cours-les-Barres at 14hoo.
Steve was not feeling well – probably the rich meal of the night before and we had been pushing it quite a bit on the canals. We cycled into town to do a bit of sight seeing – the town is quite big and very old. Beautiful old buildings and a lot of restoration work happening – I am not sure who pays for all this – the town? It must cost a fortune but at least they are preserving all this wonderful history. We left our bikes chained up outside the cathedral and then spent the next 2 hours walking around trying to find a bank that would cash travellers cheques. Eventually we went to the Post Office and they cashed them! The walk was nice and we got to do some sight seeing…
The building on the cathedral was begun in 800 c and over time this building has grown and grown – it is huge. Currently, there is quite a bit of restoration work being done. Apparently during WW2 the RAF dropped a load of bombs on it by mistake. Not only was there damage to the structure it looks like most of the stained glass windows popped out. Apparently they have been working on the restoration ever since WW2. The new windows have a modern design, a lot of them abstract, and have beautiful colours like lilac, pinks greens and pale blue. There are similar windows in some of the old churches in Paris – I quite like the idea of not trying to re-create the old style. The new designs don’t detract from the remaining windows – they rather enhance them.
Nevers is the granddaddy town of ceramics in France and we went into a couple of shops to have a look. They mostly use terra cotta clay. At bisque stage a white opaque glaze is laid and the design painted on using different coloured underglazes. They get a fantastic finish and the work is very detailed. It is quite expensive – 18 euros for a little egg cup! I really liked the ceramics and would liked to have bought a few bits and pieces.
Back at the boat I tidied up whilst Steve prepared the boat to leave and we set off at about 14h00. Back through the beautiful avenue of trees and left at the “T Junction” onto the river.
It was quite a bit cooler today and a fairly easy ride to the next town. Just after we left the outskirts of Nevers the cycle paths dissolved into a single track path – just as I was getting used to the bike! No riding this afternoon. There was small arched bridge over the canal and a handful of youngsters were dive-bombing off it into the canal. They were having a great time and when we were about 10 metres from the bridge 2 of the young boys pulled their pants down and “mooned” us as we went past – hahahahaha Very funny. They were jumping up and down and whooping and thought the whole things very amusing.
We went through a biggest, deepest lock (double lock) and it was in fact the deepest one on the whole trip. When we approached the locks there were spectators lining the side – it was quite intimidating and when I got off the boat to have a look at the other side of the lock gates my stomach turned. It was really deep. The lock keeper was very serious and made sure everything was 100% ship shape before he started the process. I watched Steve disappearing downwards with the boat and when he was safely at the bottom I ran down the metal staircase for him to pick me up on the side. I would like to think that the crowds cheered because it was a very impressive lock and process. I jumped on the boat, gave the crown a wave and off we went!
We moored at Cours-les-Barres late afternoon. The town is at the top of a little hill so we cant see it from the canal. There are fantastic facilities for the boat people; water, electricity and toilet and showers. There is a nice garden and everything is spotless. Some of the boat people look quite settled and happy. This is the first time I have seen so many pets on the boats – cats and dogs. The animals are well socialised and behaved. There is an enormous cat being taken for a walk by its mother and I will see if I can touch it later – I am suffering from cat withdrawal at the moment!
On day 12 of the trip we have now covered just over half the mileage so that gives us a bit of time to take it easy a bit. We are now at 270m and at 18:38 the temperature is 31 deg inside! It is quite humid and we have just had a little shower.
Day's Progress: 20kms : 5 locks (Total 263kms : 140 locks)
We spent the morning in Nevers and left for Cours-les-Barres at 14hoo.
Steve was not feeling well – probably the rich meal of the night before and we had been pushing it quite a bit on the canals. We cycled into town to do a bit of sight seeing – the town is quite big and very old. Beautiful old buildings and a lot of restoration work happening – I am not sure who pays for all this – the town? It must cost a fortune but at least they are preserving all this wonderful history. We left our bikes chained up outside the cathedral and then spent the next 2 hours walking around trying to find a bank that would cash travellers cheques. Eventually we went to the Post Office and they cashed them! The walk was nice and we got to do some sight seeing…
The building on the cathedral was begun in 800 c and over time this building has grown and grown – it is huge. Currently, there is quite a bit of restoration work being done. Apparently during WW2 the RAF dropped a load of bombs on it by mistake. Not only was there damage to the structure it looks like most of the stained glass windows popped out. Apparently they have been working on the restoration ever since WW2. The new windows have a modern design, a lot of them abstract, and have beautiful colours like lilac, pinks greens and pale blue. There are similar windows in some of the old churches in Paris – I quite like the idea of not trying to re-create the old style. The new designs don’t detract from the remaining windows – they rather enhance them.
Nevers is the granddaddy town of ceramics in France and we went into a couple of shops to have a look. They mostly use terra cotta clay. At bisque stage a white opaque glaze is laid and the design painted on using different coloured underglazes. They get a fantastic finish and the work is very detailed. It is quite expensive – 18 euros for a little egg cup! I really liked the ceramics and would liked to have bought a few bits and pieces.
Back at the boat I tidied up whilst Steve prepared the boat to leave and we set off at about 14h00. Back through the beautiful avenue of trees and left at the “T Junction” onto the river.
It was quite a bit cooler today and a fairly easy ride to the next town. Just after we left the outskirts of Nevers the cycle paths dissolved into a single track path – just as I was getting used to the bike! No riding this afternoon. There was small arched bridge over the canal and a handful of youngsters were dive-bombing off it into the canal. They were having a great time and when we were about 10 metres from the bridge 2 of the young boys pulled their pants down and “mooned” us as we went past – hahahahaha Very funny. They were jumping up and down and whooping and thought the whole things very amusing.
We went through a biggest, deepest lock (double lock) and it was in fact the deepest one on the whole trip. When we approached the locks there were spectators lining the side – it was quite intimidating and when I got off the boat to have a look at the other side of the lock gates my stomach turned. It was really deep. The lock keeper was very serious and made sure everything was 100% ship shape before he started the process. I watched Steve disappearing downwards with the boat and when he was safely at the bottom I ran down the metal staircase for him to pick me up on the side. I would like to think that the crowds cheered because it was a very impressive lock and process. I jumped on the boat, gave the crown a wave and off we went!
We moored at Cours-les-Barres late afternoon. The town is at the top of a little hill so we cant see it from the canal. There are fantastic facilities for the boat people; water, electricity and toilet and showers. There is a nice garden and everything is spotless. Some of the boat people look quite settled and happy. This is the first time I have seen so many pets on the boats – cats and dogs. The animals are well socialised and behaved. There is an enormous cat being taken for a walk by its mother and I will see if I can touch it later – I am suffering from cat withdrawal at the moment!
On day 12 of the trip we have now covered just over half the mileage so that gives us a bit of time to take it easy a bit. We are now at 270m and at 18:38 the temperature is 31 deg inside! It is quite humid and we have just had a little shower.
At last I managed to touch the large cat. Its boat is moored next to a boat containing a boxer. The owner of the boxer is very aware of the cat walking around and is keeping a close eye on the dog. The boxer looks quite interested but so far has not jumped off the boat. The cat is a flirt and rolled on his back for a tummy tickle. After I finished making a big fuss of him he jumped back onto his boat after doing a wee in the bushes.
Cours-les-Barres is a busy town – it has a major thoroughfare right through the middle of it. Trucks and cars galore trundling down the main road. They have 2 portable sets of traffic lights on wheels – chained up to a gate at present. I suppose they push them into the road at rush hour. Good idea, then they just push them out of the way at other times.
We had dinner in a small restaurant in town – we both had mussels and chips – one serving was enough for 4 people so a lot went back to the kitchen.
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