The Summer cruise Part 3
Canal du Loing,Canal de Briare ,Canal Lateral a
Loire & Canal Roanne a Digoin.
On Tuesday 12th
August we locked up onto the Canal du Loing after being held up for several
hours to let commercial barges through the lock.(Commercials have precedence at
the locks over pleasure boats) We
stopped a a bank mooring after the lock and found a Supermarket for some
supplies. Next morning it was pouring rain so we waited until after lunchtime
to move.We travelled to Nemours and tied up at a rather neglected mooring with
several long term occupants in various stages of disrepair. We also discovered
that it was to here that the commercials of the previous day had been
travelling to take on loads of grain from a large facility on the approach to
the town. After this we met no other cargo carrying barges only a few hotel
barges. The following day we travelled on to Souppes–sur-Loing and spent the
next two days on a very nice mooring.
On 16th August we
travelled to Montargis where The Canal
du Loing joins the Canal de Briare.We tied in the Commercial port which was
noticeably devoid of commercial traffic apart from a few converted to houseboats.
This was actually a very good mooring place with the town being just a few
paces away. From Montargis we travelled to Montbouy. In Montbouy you can see
the remains of an old lock that was replaced in 1892. The next day we travelled
to Rogney-les-Sept-Ecluses.Here you can see the seven locks that once carried
the canal.These locks were smaller than the present locks and were replaced by
the current locks at the end of the 18th century.
Work on what is
now the Canal de Briare began as long ago as 1604. Work was interrupted by
various events .The bed of the canal has been frequently modifies during its
360 years of existence but many of the original structures can still be seen.
On 19th August we
carried on to Ouzourer-sur-Trezee where we stayed for two days and then we
carried on to Briare. While some sections of our journey had been rather quiet
with little traffic Briare was alive with tourists and with hire boats coming
and going.
We left Briare on
Friday 22 August and joined the Canal Lateral a Loire at the Briare Aqueduct.
The Briare
Aqueduct carries the Canal latéral à la Loire over the River Loire on its
journey to the River Seine in France. It replaced a river-level crossing from
the canal to meet the Briare Canal that was hazardous in times of flood.
Between 1896 and 2003 it was the longest navigable aqueduct in the World. The
aqueduct is 662 metres long. The aqueduct was designed by the engineers
Léonce-Abel Mazoyer and Charles Sigault. The masonry abutments and piers were
completed between 1890 and 1896 by Gustave Eiffel and the steel channel was
completed by Daydé & Pillé of Creil. It allowed the development of
transport to the Freycinet gauge between the Loire and Seine, and is a
registered historic monument in France.
Our next stop was
Belleville-sur-Loire where we stopped for two days.We then travelled on to
Menetreol-sous-Sancerre ,Cours-les-Barres ,Chevenon, Fleury –sur-Loire and
Decize. This completed the loop and from there we retraced our route via Gannay
,Beaulon, Pirfette to Digoin and then on to the Roane a Digoin canal.We stopped
at Melay and Brennion and returned to our home port Roanne on 10th September.
On the Canal
Roanne-a Digoin the lock at Bourg-le- Comte is one of the deepest of the whole
Freycinet system in France at 7.2
metres.
The Summer cruise
covered seven waterways.
A total of 775 km travelled with 226 locks.
(Click on any of the waterways above to find out
more)
