May 2015

Montargis. We arrived here on 21 May intending to just stay for the weekend, but as Nigel broke the frame of his glasses he went to an opticians to see if they could be mended or replaced. No - mended, yes replaced. Well  a bit like one of Ni's favourite sayings - "why ask a barber if you need a haircut ". The new glasses didnt come in until 30th so we really got to know the town this stop. I took the opportunity to order another supply of contact lenses, and wish I hadnt. They were twice as expensive as the ones from Briare which I bought only just in February.



Now at Montbouy. We have had sunshine and showers, some quite heavy with thunder in the background. We managed to do some routine maintenance and paintwork. The showers produced a fabulous rainbow.

 While we were at Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses we were lucky enough to have two sets of visitors. Jackie and Peter came first, and was feted with a small 'birthday cake'!

OK, it was a very small one!

 Next came Jill and Geoff.

Pay attention, we'll ask questions later!

Not sure whether it was going to rain or not, we even managed a cruise, and after a chilly morning, the sun came out!

After the saga of the fridge with NO ICEBOX!!!  we now have a separate frezeer, curtesy of delivery of Geoff and Jill. So far we have connected it up, it works, and now we have to stock it.

According to French tradition, since 1561 on 1st May when Charles IX was presented at court with a bouquet of Lily-of-the-Valley flowers, he thought this gesture so charming that he continued to give these as a gesture of affection and friendship. Now these flowers are on sale all over France on this date.  However as we were miles from anywhere on 1st May, and no lilies were growing in the hedgerows,  we made do with cowslips!

We managed to move down to Rogny-les-sept-Ecluses curtesy of the hotel peniche who had requested the locks to be opened. But we could go no further than Chatillon-Coligny and as it has very few mooring spaces large enough for us, we have decided to stay at here until the backlog of trapped boats have passed.

Mooring at Rogny

Its very pleasant here and we have shops, water and electricity, but no TV reception. Oh well, guess we cant have everything.

The ancient locks.

 According to the guides lock 17, Sainte-Barbe, marks the beginning of the seven locks of Rogny. A remarkable feat of engineering, when built during the reign of Henry IV, this ladder has now been replaced six non-contignuous locks, allowing boat to pass one another, which used to be impossible.

So much for April showers.  We've had those and now its 'May downpours'.  We hadn't got very far before the canals were closed due to too much rain and consequent flooding.  I dont know why this should stop the movement of boats. I should have thought a lot of water was a good thing, but what do I know.

We stayed for a few nights at Ouzouer-sur-Trezee, then moved on to one of our favourite places, the lakes at Etang la Gazonne. Unfortunately we've been here for a week now, and cant go any further at the moment. Much as we love it here, the peace and quiet, the variety of wild flowers and birds - cormorants, ducks, herons, swans, tufted grebes, osprey, owls, Canada geese and scores of cuckoos we want to leave!

Etang la Gazonne, on a sunny day!

I've cooked and cleaned, tried out my new sewing machine, groomed Tashi, picked cowslips, and we are now running out of food, and more to the point - booze, so need to move to somewhere which has shops. I cycled the 4.5Km back to Ouzouer once to stock up, and may have to do so again if necessary.

Nigel says all this rain is because I started on the outside paintwork. I treated rust spots on the cabin roof, covering them with Hammerite, but didnt get chance to repaint before The Floods arrived.  So now we look like we have 'boat measles'.