Roanne

We are now settled into Roanne port for the Winter. We have a very nice place in the port and are getting to know the residents of the other winter liveaboards.After a journey from Holland of 1240km and 295 locks as well as lifting bridges and tunnels it is nice to be in port for a while. There is a  nice social life with different organised events. Every Thursday evening  there is a get together for drinks in L”Authentique a bar/restaurant in the port which we all enjoy .

Roanne is a town of approximately 40k people and if you count the outlying areas approximately 70k. It is well services with many supermarkets and shops. The port is 1 km long and has about 140 vessels moored for the winter a large proportion of which are barges.

River Loire

Port

River Loire

Trip to Madrid

Every winter the Heritage Boat Association of Ireland organise a trip abroad for a long weekend. This year it was Madrid and saw most of the usual participants show up.It happened over the last weekend in November. This year we travelled from Roanne . Others travelled from Ireland ,Malta and Vietnam. It was a great success with some highlights being the visit to the Maritime museum  and watching a great game of rugby between Ireland and the All Blacks in an Irish bar as well as participating in a very vibrant social scene in Madrid.