Day's Progress: 14 kms : 9 locks (Total 408 kms : 194 locks)
We left Montargis at about 10h30 and travelled through to Nargis, arriving there at about 4.30. We had lunch on board today because we got stuck at a lock at 12.00. There was a commercial barge in front of us and we had to wait in line and wait until lunch time was over. It was pretty interesting watching this commercial barge manoeuvre into the lock – literally not an inch to spare. They use the mooring ropes and bollards on the side of the lock to brake and stop the boat. Someone jumped off and quickly wrapped the rope around the bollard and hung on for dear life.
It was a quiet day today – am feeling really tired and have a sore back. Today am missing home a bit.
We moored on the side of the canal just after the town lock (Nargis). There are no facilities here but there a heaps of ducks – they gobbled up all the old bread.
On this stretch all the locks have been downhill, it is hot and windy – the temperature is about 32 deg and we are at about 135m.
We left Montargis at about 10h30 and travelled through to Nargis, arriving there at about 4.30. We had lunch on board today because we got stuck at a lock at 12.00. There was a commercial barge in front of us and we had to wait in line and wait until lunch time was over. It was pretty interesting watching this commercial barge manoeuvre into the lock – literally not an inch to spare. They use the mooring ropes and bollards on the side of the lock to brake and stop the boat. Someone jumped off and quickly wrapped the rope around the bollard and hung on for dear life.
It was a quiet day today – am feeling really tired and have a sore back. Today am missing home a bit.
We moored on the side of the canal just after the town lock (Nargis). There are no facilities here but there a heaps of ducks – they gobbled up all the old bread.
On this stretch all the locks have been downhill, it is hot and windy – the temperature is about 32 deg and we are at about 135m.
In early evening we decided to cycle to the only local restaurant after being advised that it was too far to walk – we were told it was about 2kms away back in the direction we had just come from. At this stage we didn’t realise it was the canal side place we had passed much earlier in the afternoon. Off we went and cycled past 3 locks – it was a long way and by the time we arrived we were hot and thirsty. The cycle path was a thin rutted track and difficult to keep on. The canal was on one side and a steep drop to the forest on the other. No speed wobbles here.
When we finally arrived at “Martin Peche” we were greeted by the Scotsman who owns this place – he has been in France for 20 years and spe4aks French with a Scots accent. The special on the menu board was Bobotie – yip, right in the middle of France there was this good old South African dish! The owner told us his girlfriend had spent some time in SA and liked the dish – hence it was on their specials menu. So I ordered it and he chuckled and said his girlfriend (who was also the chef) would be really surprised as this was second order of Bobotie that night – it would appear that no-one had ever ordered it before and now twice in one night. The other couple sitting at the bar were from England – they had a huge built-to-spec barge tied up outside the restaurant – complete with a little Toyota on the deck and small crane to lift it off. They were the other Bobotie order – they had also been in SA and enjoyed the dish. Their names were Phil & Phil – hers being short for Phyllis… they invited us to join them for dinner and we had a really nice evening. Phil (the guy) was a colonel based in Malaysia with the Gurkas and other postings in the Far East. They were on their way to visit their son who was in the property business and these 2 had just bought a chateau as a holiday home.
The Bobotie was very tasty and was served with yellow rice. We left it a bit late leaving the restaurant and it was just about pitch dark and no moon. Steve sent me off first as he has poor night vision and wanted to follow me – I was dressed in black shirt and jeans so am not too sure he could see me anyway. You had to keep you eyes on the ribbon like path just in front of the wheel – or else you couldn’t see where the heck you were going. I heard a bellow from Steve when he took a tumble…… It was an adventurous ride.
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