Our mooring at Tannay
I realised that we had not got quite a lot of essential provisions, including breakfast, and was not sure how good the supermarkets / local shops would be along our route until we reached the larger towns. So I headed off on my yellow 3 speed bike back up the hill to Corbigny. Fortunately the bike had a basket on the front and I had a small but sturdy day pack. Enjoyed my outing and had a coffee and croissant before heading back to meet up with the boat on its journey. I was very restrained and gave the guys their bakery snacks without snaffling them secretly myself.
I chose a different route back, which was beautiful through the woods, however a MTB would have been better on the single track rough path I found myself on for short spells. Just got off and pushed through those sections hoping not to get a puncture or other mechanical issue as it would have been difficult for Mike to come and rescue me. The woods were beautiful and I enjoyed listening to the birds with no one else around or cars about to disturb them.
I met up with the boat mid morning at Combres, as they were approaching a lifting bridge and helped them through. It was light drizzle by this time but I had my poncho and decided to cycle on to the lunch spot. Fortunately when the heavens opened a little later I was able to shelter under some large trees and missed the worse of the rain. The boat was definitely going at a slow speed along here partly I think because of some weed on the propeller and partly because the guys were keeping the speed down to the recommended level (which no one else seemed to adhere to and which in the following days we ‘modified’). Whilst I was lucky enough to dodge the showers Mike was testing out his new poncho as he was on the helm when the heavens opened. The poncho did a grand job
Lunch was at Dirol a very pretty lock spot. Gave me the opportunity to get the bike back on board and enjoy the afternoon on board the boat. Had to call out the lock keeper at the first lifting bridge we came to soon after lunch as neither we or the American’s in the dutch barge in front of us could get it to work. Simple reset and we were on our way. The weather improved during the afternoon and it was relaxing wending our way towards Tannay.
See below a video of our lock work at Dirol and some photos from our day
Mike encouraged me to have a go at the helm, found it very difficult to judge how responsive the boat was and as a result snaked my way along the canal. I got better at it but was still not confident to multi task and use the thrusters at the same time as steering. I never picked up the courage to navigate a lock, partly I think because the drugs I was on were disorientating. However, I did enjoy helming over the following days. One of the things Sue found special was hearing cuckoos as we passed by the various small woodlands by the banks of the canal. Not a birdsong we hear frequently in the UK now.
The Marina office had already shut up shop by the time we arrived as it was a quiet Sunday afternoon. However, the maintenance man was very helpful and got us an access code for the ablution block. Brilliant as I was able to get all our washing done and we were able to have showers. Although the company had told us we would have sufficient storage tanks for all our grey and black water I was not totally confident of that fact so was glad to be able to shower off the boat. Hung our washing out to dry on the boat guardrails as the sun had come out. Watched a man fishing off the back of his boat and was glad to relax.
Andy and Sue wandered a couple of km back up the Canal towards a bar at Saint-Didier called Yep & Pep which they enjoyed whilst we prepared a beef bourgeon stew in the pressure cooker. Went down really well and it was nice to sit on the back deck in the late afternoon sunshine enjoying our meal.
Unfortunately, as we found out the next morning Andy picked up a 24 hour stomach bug, probably from the canal water, and he had a very uncomfortable night. I am pretty sure it was not my cooking as otherwise Mike would also have been down with it. Not much fun for him or Sue in cramped boat quarters.
