Diou (exciting aberration)

Our mooring for Tuesday & Wednesday nights, between Besbre and Diou

We were sharing the first couple of locks on Tuesday morning with an English couple called Ray & Doreen on their boat called Lizzie.  Before we set off, Sally, from the Dutch barge Bluegum who had been moored in front of us overnight, came up for a chat.  She and her husband Charles had overwintered in Roanne and were now heading north for a while.

We had been thinking about overwintering at Roanne this year as it seems a lot of people stay on their boats there rather than go home to their respective countries which is what they seem to do in other ports we have looked at.  We think it would be good to be in a community for a while, especially as it will be for a few months (the cruising system shuts down for five months from November).  Anyway, Mike & Aileen had already told us to book early and Sally said the same so I quickly got a request in to the captiniere at the port and will hopefully get confirmation of a slot in a few days.

Much of our planning on moving over here had been done using Mike & Aileen’s experiences.  When they had carried out their planning, they had used Charles & Pam who came over on their widebeam, Xenia, five years ago.  We also discussed some things with Charles too; not only is he knowledgeable but he is willing to share that knowledge and his experiences.  The point of mentioning Charles & Pam is that Sally mentioned them soon into our conversation as good friends of theirs and this is not the first time I have heard this.  It seems that everyone is ‘good friends’ with Charles & Pam over here 😊

We followed Ray & Doreen down to the first lock and waited for them to make themselves secure before we went in.

Fitting in behind Lizzie

This was the first time we had shared locks for three weeks so were a little nervous about it as there isn’t much room for manoeuvre in terms of length.  We needn’t have worried as all went well and in the end we only went through two locks as they stopped off at Garnat-sur-Engièvre where they were going to stay for a few days.

Buddy meeting up with the éclusier’s dogs

The feel of this canal is quite different to that of the Nivernais that we left on Monday.  It is far more wooded on the sides and therefore wild moorings in the open are not so plentiful.  The cut itself tends to be quite straight and Bessais lock is in the middle of a 10 kilometre straight with nothing but the odd farm house from one end to the other.

Bessais lock with a dead straight behind it

Also, as I mentioned the other day, the name plates on each lock cottage are a lot larger and carry more information about distances to various towns on the way.

One lock even had its own lavoir 😉

Fortunately the kilometre stones are in exactly the place that are marked in the guide books which makes knowing where you are a lot easier.

Kilometre stone 50 with distances to the main termini of Briare and Digion

Nearing the end of the cruise in the afternoon we came to a junction where one of the four arms of this canal lead off to local towns.  This arm was called the Embranchement de Dompierre and only ran for three kilometres to the town of Dompierre-sur-Besbre.

At the junction – the arm goes off to the right but we were turning into the lock on the left

We decided not to go down the arm but to carry on left up the last lock of the day instead.  Looking up the arm was reminiscent of looking up the start of the Ashby from the Coventry canal – a long straight heading into the distance.

Like looking down the start of the Ashby from the Coventry but without the stone bridges

We were in a place called Besbre which had a few industrial units alongside the canal which made it feel like we were back in civilisation.

The lock at Besbre

We belong to the Dutch Barge Association, which is run by and supports the barging community of the inland waterways of Europe.  Although we moor practically wherever we want, the recognised mooring spots with services are few and far between so we have found it an invaluable resource when planning our journeys.  Of course, the information is only any good if it is accurate and up to date.  

At the end of each day’s cruising Karen ensures she updates the details of any service or recognised mooring point we have passed during the day.  This information can be anything from rocks in the water through out of order water points to changes in costs for mooring, electricity and water or simply that we have visited, and the last report still stands.

Talking about jobs brings me to another set of things we have to do and that is in respect to where we are cruising.  There are really three stages to the planning process.  Firstly, we agree an overall strategy like, ‘We want to get to x by such and such a date as there is a gig in the town that we want to go to’.  The next stage is for me to work out weekly milestones in order to achieve that target and therefore the number of hours cruising we need to do each week.  Assuming the number of hours are realistic, then the final stage is weekly planning by Karen to work out overnight stops taking into account water, fuel and shopping needs.

It was fairly foggy when we awoke on Wednesday morning but by the time Karen & Buddy returned from their run, the sun had burnt it off and we were left with a glorious Labour day.  France shuts down on May 1^st and that includes the locks so we wouldn’t be going far, if anywhere during the day. 

Shrouded in fog on Labour day morning

During the morning we did some more potting up of plants and some general admin and then after lunch had a bike ride towards Digoin with a detour into the town of Diou.

There were lots of butterflies on the wing and we were really pleased to see quite a few small coppers – they are so pretty in flight and this one obliged by resting for Karen.

We half thought about moving down to the next lock which is six kilometres away so we could be ready for a 10.00 start on Thursday.  Although we cycled past plenty of places we could have moored we decided to stay put and just leave at 9.00 in the morning instead.

As expected, the town was deserted; they really do seem to take Labour day seriously here and respect the worker.

Diou high street

  

Whilst in Diou we took another detour to go and sit by the Loire for a while.  This gave Buddy a chance to not only have a drink, but to stand in the water to cool down.

Resting by the Loire

Whilst sitting by the river we saw our first brown argus of the year, but it wouldn’t rest so we couldn’t get a decent picture.

Brown argus

When we got back to the boat, there was yet another small copper flying around and I quickly realised this was an aberration as it had blue (rather than grey) spots on the upper hind wings.  The name of this aberration is caeruleopunctata and we were really pleased as it was only the second time I have seen this form and it was Karen’s first.

Small copper ab. caeruleopunctata

For comparison, here’s the one Karen took earlier

Not only did we see this exciting small copper but there was also a scarce swallowtail patrolling up and down along our bit of the cut, but it wouldn’t rest and was also too fast for us to get a good look.

Not a bad place to live – just down from our mooring: pond, stream, grassland and mistletoe in the back garden

We shall be leaving at nine on Thursday morning and hope to get to Digion for our next stop.  Our cruising pattern is currently about four or five hours a day which gives us time to explore places in the afternoons.  We also try and build in two non-moving or rest days a week, so we get the chance not to miss too much.

On Tuesday we travelled 24 kilometres up six locks – our longest cruise in terms of length this year.