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2.4 days, variable am, warm to hot pm, windy
52 km – 33 ml – 20 locks – 12 hrs
27 April (pm): There is no suitable mooring at Cepoy, today’s second-choice destination, so we motor on towards Nargis.
On the Loing, boaters are given a remote control to operate the locks. Ours is a bit slow to work at first but after that it is great, starting the locking sequence from 200 metres away or more. It is nice not to be reliant on lock-keepers all the time and the whole operation works well and very reliably too.
Or so we imagine.
Having entered our last lock of the day, the bottom gates simply don’t open. We are trapped in the lock. Ideas anyone? From on deck, we spot an intercom by the notice board and Colin manages to clamber up from Allons-Y‘s roof to the lock-side and make contact. The gates start to open so Colin climbs back down, only for the gates immediately to close again! Another mountaineering visit to the intercom and the gates start opening once more. Colin leaves the remote voice still talking to him and hurries back on board. We start up and leave the lock on the crest of our own bow-wave, before it changes its mind again. Another little pantomime. Is it us, or will lots of people be entertained like this over the summer?
Having reached Nargis, again without seeing another boat moving in any direction all day, we have to moor against another small layby pontoon, made difficult this time by a strong offshore wind. Marie twists her knee again hauling on the bow-rope, under pressure from an unreasoning skipper (sorry!). No sign of a restaurant but at least l’homme de pain locates a boulangerie, yet again.
28 April: Today we are looking forward to visiting Nemours with the smart and fully serviced quay pictured in the guides.
When we reach it, we discover that it is rather tatty and, in any case, fully occupied by live-aboard barges. The guides are clearly several years out of date here.
We potter up and down in vain looking for a suitable spot then retrace our steps to find a pretty stopping place against a wall that is just low enough for us to climb out onto the bank. Driving the pins into the firm bank with Howard’s domestic-sized hammer was a bit of a blow though. Quite a lot of blows in fact.
The water here is incredibly clear, for some reason, and we can see exactly what the propellor has been cutting through.
Marie’s knee is pretty bad so Richard and Colin go searching for the nearest acceptable eatery. An Italian is found, which is limped painfully to and from, but it provides the most mediocre meal of our adventure so far. Not worth the discomfort.
Although the water is clear, there is still plenty of muck on the surface in places. This flotilla is seen just along from our mooring place, on the way into town.
29 April: Today is our last on the canals, with a gentle run down to the Seine in prospect.
We find a nice quiet location for a leisurely lunch and are surprised when two large barges come past, each with its unladen bow seemingly higher than the steerer’s head!
Approaching the Seine in the afternoon, we come to Moret-sur-Loing, whose marina is co-managed with the one at St Mammes on the Seine, just a mile or so down the canal. The canal here is lined on both sides with live-aboard barges.
We are offered a mooring at Moret rafted up to another boat but instead opt for an empty pontoon at St Mammes, hoping that the barge wash won’t be too bad (which it isn’t). A really nice young guy whizzes round from Moret to welcome us. Not only that, he offers to speak to the marina staff at our preferred next port of call, as they speak no English and we are struggling to make our request understood. We needed two nights there because everything, even the River Seine, is closed on Sunday 1 May! A long and rather cheerful conversation ends with “They don’t do reservations, you’ll have to call again in the morning”.
At this point, we pop over the river to the fuelling point directly opposite. It is a demolition site, with the pleasure-boat pump almost out of sight and inaccessible. Their main business of course is the barges, who have massive facilities of their own. Colin doesn’t bother to ask the price, reasoning that we must get fuel by Paris anyway and out here at St Mammes would be cheaper than in Paris. Or so he imagines. It was virtual robbery, at 2.81 euros per litre! The fat, grubby little crook knew exactly what he was doing and just grinned and shrugged at Colin’s look of disgust. More insouciance? No, this was a deliberate, rather than unconscious, exploitation of unwary private boaters.
Not a great introduction to the famous river, but c’est la guerre.
Progress so far
897 km – 561 ml – 169 locks – 140 hrs