Free at Last

On Monday, June 24, the Pont-canal at Briare re-opened to boat traffic. This had closed due to high water just prior to the navigation stop in our section of the Briare Canal, so we were hoping that the rest of the canal would be cleared for cruising that same day. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case, so we resigned ourselves to another day moored in Dammarie and decided upon some projects that we could do to fill our Tuesday. Lon had just started scrubbing the decks on Tuesday morning when the notice came out from the vnf that the navigation stop on the Canal de Briare had been lifted with immediate effect.  Cleaning stopped and within 30 minutes we were on our way.

Dammarie may have been a quiet place, and under normal circumstances not a mooring that we would have chosen for a several-day stay, but we were able to make the best of it. We still had to work around some pockets of rain on the previous Saturday, but by late afternoon it was pretty much cleared out and the subsequent days were all rain-free. We returned to Chatillon-Coligny by bike, where we met up with Ian and Lisette and went to the small municipal museum, now open because it was the weekend. 

Focused on topics of local interest, the museum had one room dedicated
to Henri Becquerel, born in Chatillon-Coligny and a Nobel-laureate in
 physics for his discovery of natural radiation. The subjects of other exhibits
 included French authoress Collette (who had a childhood home in
Chatillon) and prehistoric and Gallo-Roman findings from the region.

Ian and Lisette were kind enough to invite us to stay for a delicious dinner aboard their boat with their guests and, happily satiated, we cycled back to CARIB under dry skies.

Sunday was "field trip" day for us. The canal was still closed to navigation, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so an 11-kilometer bike ride to the Chateau de la Bussiere seemed like a perfect way to spend some Sunday hours away from CARIB. 

The chateau was originally built in the 12th century by the local lord, and the village around it became a commercial hub due to its location on the road running between the Loire Valley and Paris. Damaged during an attack by Protestants in 1567, it was restored in the 17th century, with ponds and gardens designed by Louis XIV's chief gardener Le Notre. After a series of owners, the chateau has been in the Chasseval family for about 200 years and was opened to visitors in 1962. The interior is a blend of family furniture and fishing museum. Interior photos were not permitted, so sadly, there is no visual documentation of the collection of fishing poles or the preserved coelacanth.

The chateau is strikingly situated in a pond.

The chateau gardens were enormous, and encompassed
flowers, vegetables and an orchard.

The circular building was originally a watchtower.
The chateau then gained the right to have the "dovecoat"
(a place to house pigeons) for the region, and the watchtower
started doing double-duty. There were about 1450 pigeon
 holes (see lower photo) in this dovecoat, which meant housing
 for about 2900 pigeons. Pity the poor servant whose job
it was to clean the dovecoat.

On our bike route we passed over evidence of flooding
of the Loing River. We also noted lots of water standing in the 
rows between crops in the agricultural fields. 

I may have previously joked about "my life in groceries," but the fact of the matter is that it is very useful to be able to visit a grocery store every 3 or 4 days. I had last shopped for food the day before we left Montargis, so we were running low on some things. With no canal opening yet announced, Monday morning became the time to hitch up the cart to my bike and for us to head to the closest supermarket, which meant yet another trip to Chatillon-Coligny. That took care of most of Monday morning, but we were still looking for a way to fill our afternoon,

We had originally thought that when we left the mooring in Dammarie we would cruise no further than the 4 kilometers to Rogny and spend a night there to explore the part of town we hadn't seen in our previous bike excursion. However, given the unexpected time in Dammarie, it seemed to make more sense to cycle to Rogny from Dammarie for a Monday afternoon of sightseeing, and then we could just "cruise on through" when the canal finally re-opened. After the short 15-minute ride we parked the bikes at the port and walked into town and up the hill toward the church. It quickly became evident that aside from a few businesses right at the canal's edge, most commerce in Rogny was shuttered.

Upper: Street leading from the port.
Lower: View across the canal to the port, and the church on higher ground.

When we got to the upper town, we were anticipating that Rogny was likely to be one of those towns where the church was probably not left open for visitors.

Eglise Saint Loup in Rogny has undergone several
transformations over the years, most notably in 1740.
Of the 12th century church, the bell tower, portal, and span
supporting the bell tower remain. It was nearly dismantled
after the Revolution, but somehow survived its
"Cult of Reason" phase to again become a place of Christian worship.  

As we were reading an informational sign in the vicinity of the church, Lon called my attention to an elderly lady who seemed to be beckoning to us from the window of a nearby house. When I went to talk to her, it turned out that she was the keeper of the church key and the informational placards on the church and its features.

Left: The local "guide" was friendly and happy to talk. It seems she's
lived in the town her whole life, and had childhood remembrances of 
the American army coming through in 1944. 
Right: At least my French was good enough to get us the key and for us to
find most of the things that she attempted to tell me about.

Left: A Romanesque portal with design unusual for this region of France.
Top Right: The supports of the 12th century tower as viewed from the
high altar. Bottom Right: View from the back of the church.
The informational document for the church said that "There is nothing
artistic about this church," but that interest could be found in the oldest parts.
 They were right about the interest, and we enjoyed our time there.

After our return to CARIB, it was our turn to host Ian and Lisette for docktails, all of us hoping that we would soon be able to get our respective boats underway.

Our 10 a.m. departure on Tuesday morning meant that we had a chance of getting through Rogny and the 6 "up" locks that follow in quick succession prior to the noon-1 p.m. lunch hour. 

This time we got to see the staircase locks in Rogny from the water. Although impressive feats
 of engineering at the time they were created in the early 1600's, they were always the source of
 a bottleneck in canal traffic. The locks could only handle one boat at a time; passing through
all seven was a process that could take hours, as boat traffic would back up at each end of the lock. Some modernization was done in the early 1800's, but 6 new locks of Freycinet gauge were built later.
 In addition to having standard interior dimensions, the new locks were built with "pounds"
 between them on the canal, which allowed boats to pass each other to-and-from each lock. Thus, multiple boats could be worked through the set of locks simultaneously. The staircase locks were
 closed for good in 1887. The entrance to the first of the "new" locks is at right. They were quite
 deep, so we were happy to have an eclusier help us at each lock by grabbing a line from me--I
 never could have got a line on a bollard to hold us steady otherwise.

The main question of the day was "how far to go?" We were through the last "up" locks on the Briare Canal, and thus at the summit of the canal, by noon. Six locks going down and a few more kilometers would have had us in Ouzouer, the next town with a good mooring, but the weather made us "cry uncle" and stop for the day. Rain wasn't the problem this time--summer had finally decided to make an appearance, and the very warm temperatures made stopping a much more appealing proposition than pressing ahead in the heat.

We were moored for the day by Lake Gazonne, one of the lakes,
ponds, and reservoirs that supply water to the Canal de Briare.

Temperatures in the high 80's were forecast for Wednesday and Thursday as well, which factored into our cruising decisions. Basically, how much did we want to cruise and when? Also entering into the calculations was some advance "scouting" information from Lisette and Ian about the mooring possibilities in the town of Briare (the last town on its namesake canal and gateway to the next canal on the Bourbonnais Route, the Canal lateral a la Loire). Our lakeside mooring was just upstream of the first lock that would start taking us down toward the Loire River. This made it very easy for us to try to "beat the heat" by cruising as early as possible in the day on Wednesday.

We were in Ecluse 12 at 9 a.m. The locks at this stage were in a "chain" and automatic--they did not require an eclusier to be at each lock we went through, and by passing through one lock we triggered the next lock to prepare for our entry.

I'm watching the lines and preparing for our descent. Even this
early in the morning, the shade is entirely welcome.

In the past, we've had problems at locks--with weeds, with lock malfunctions, whatever. This year we have been pleased in general with the quality of cruising on the Canal du Loing and Canal de Briare: few problems with weed (which could partly be a function of the wet year and higher water levels), well-manicured canals and mooring spots, and towns that offer such great service to boaters. The vnf staff have also been wonderful.

The Wednesday section of canal was no exception. Within an hour-and-a-half of casting off our lines we were at a beautiful halte nautique in the town of Ouzouer-sur-Trésée. Despite the short span of time spent cruising that morning, we were encountering the same hot temperatures as the day before, so again, it was an easy decision to stay moored for the rest of the day. 

The Ouzouer skyline after the last lock and the bridge,
 approaching the halte nautique.

We're getting spoiled--free mooring, power, and water for
two nights.

Ouzuoer used to contain a royal castle surrounded by a fortified wall, but those days are long gone. It experienced a boom with the construction of the Briare Canal in the 17th century and the resultant traffic in barges. Aside from hotel boats and an occasional commercial barge, most of the water traffic these days is pleasure craft. A walk-through of town on the afternoon of the 26th showed us lots of empty storefronts. One bakery and a small (and I mean small) grocery store were hanging in there, but they didn't have lots of company. Still, the town was clean, the residential areas looked nice, and the church of the 12th and 13th centuries is unusual in that much of its construction is still original--it didn't suffer damages in the Hundred Years' War or the Wars of Religion or the Revolution.

Left, the bell tower of the Church of Saint-Martin looms over surrounding houses.
Right, the interior of the church is rather austere, but rare in being so "intact."

This building is a neighbor of the church. It's
timbered, it's old--and it's being lived in. I think
I'd be terrified of an imminent collapse.

This was probably one of the more beautiful timbered houses
in town--and the original carvings were fabulous.

The town is trying. Last year it opened Tréz Café in space formerly occupied by the town library. It offers drinks and light meals, and Lon and I enjoyed a Wednesday lunch there. 

The predicted temperature for Thursday was also high 80's, but our main reason for deciding to stay an extra day in Ouzouer was the anticipated difficulty in finding appropriate mooring in Briare. Even if a space could be found for us to moor--which was questionable--it was more expensive than just staying where we were. A 30-minute bicycle ride from Ouzouer to Briare could deal with our sightseeing wants. Therefore, we set off before 9 a.m. on Thursday while it was still relatively cool. We had asphalt bike path bordering the canal all the way to the Old Port near the center of town.

As in much of France, the "Romans were roamin' . . . " in the vicinity of Briare; however, the town really came into its own with the building of the Canal de Briare in the 17th century. Water transport was the source of Briare's prosperity. In the early days of the canal's existence, navigation was still being done on the Loire River. Shoaling in summer and high waters in winter made it a dangerous thing for small cargo boats to have to cruise the Loire to Briare to off-load their goods onto the big canal barges that would then continue to Paris. When the Canal lateral a la Loire opened in 1838, the only remaining bit of the Loire that had to be navigated was the approximately one mile from the end of the Canal lateral a la Loire at Chatillon sur Loire to the entry to the Canal de Briare at Briare. Much shorter, yes, but still dangerous. 

A project to build an aqueduct that would allow commercial boat traffic to pass over the Loire River was begun in 1890 and completed in 1896. The Pont-canal de Briare was a monumental feat of engineering. A French engineer named Mazoyer is credited with the design of the bridge, and Gustave Eiffel--of Eiffel Tower fame--oversaw the design of the masonry and abutments upon which the iron works rest. Until 2003 the Pont-canal was the largest navigable aqueduct in the world and is one of the two things for which Briare is well-known.

The bridge is 662 meters long and 11 meters wide. The design of the art on the pillars
that flank the entrances is based on the sculptures found on the Pont Alexandre
III in Paris.

Bicycles this day, but we'll be crossing it with CARIB 
on Friday the 28th.

It handles little pleasure boats, big commercial barges, and
everything in between.

Briare's other achievement of note was that it became a center of manufacture of enamels and mosaic tiles in the 19th century. There is a museum in town that discusses the industry and its history, but nowhere is its significance seen more clearly than in the 19th-century Saint-Etienne Church. The church was largely funded by Jean-Felix Bapterosses, who ran the enamel manufactory. After 30 years of discussion, the church was built in 5 years, using the talents of Bapterosses' employees. Sadly, Mr. Bapterosses died before the church was completed in 1895.

Sainte-Etienne Church. The exterior has some mosaics, which can be seen at left, but
the masterworks are in the interior.

The floor was covered with a carpet of mosaics,
with varying and intricate symbolism.

Left: Artisans from Murano in Italy were consulted for some of the work in gold.
Right: A first for us, a list of the WWI dead of the parish done in mosaics.

When we returned to Ouzouer, the halte nautique was starting to fill up with boats. It really got full later, so much so that Ian and Lisette's boat Catharina Elisabeth ended up rafting against us. After several weeks of barely seeing any other cruisers, it was a bit of a shock to see as many as we did today. Then again, July is just around the corner and vacation "high season" will begin in France.