Montargis – Orléans – Montbouy
Montargis
It would be three days before our next guests were due and we decided to spend several of those stationary at Montargis. We wanted to finish the tour of all of the lovely bridges, and of course, there were chores to be done. Not to mention that it would be wise to top up the groceries while we were in a large town. The weather remained mild and grey, with some rain, but nothing too dreadful.
The bridges were all very quaint, mostly decorated with flowers and either passing underneath buildings or forming little shallow streams between them. None of these are navigable of course, but they do serve to decorate the town in the most delightful way.
Some other pictures and one of the lavoir.
Like most French towns, Montargis once had walls and some parts remain, significantly modified to become residences.
One aspect of the town that was a surprise to us was its relationship with China. In fact, the modern communist state of China could be said to have been born in Montargis. In the 1920’s Chinese students worked in the town to finance their studies. At the time, Marxism was a young and vigorous movement in post-war France. The Chinese students were exposed to this movement and amongst them were the founders of the communist state, Zhou Enlai (future Premier) and Deng Xiaoping (future leader) and Cai Hesen (early leader of the Communist Party). The town continues to have a strong relationship with China.
One of the churches, Église Saint-Madeleine de Montargis was quite lovely – really one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. The decoration on the walls
and columns
Each of the chapels was painted in colourful designs, adding to the beauty of this 12th-century construction.
Additional work to rebuild and enlarge was done between the 15th and 16th centuries, with a restoration directed by Viollet-leDuc in the 19th Century. A French architect and author, he is famous for the restoration of several mediaeval landmarks: amongst them, Notre-Dame de Paris and Mont Saint-Michel.
This church claims to bear the only stained-glass window in France that illustrates the conversion of Japanese to Catholicism.
Jeanne d’Arc was here – noted in several plaques and a stained glass window.
Thus the scene was set for an intensive day with Jeanne. We set out the following day for a trip to Orléans, a city on the banks of the Loire River. Joan of Arc famously saved the city from an English siege in 1429, during the 100 Years War between England and France. An event celebrated with an annual festival. At the time, Jeanne was only 17 years old.
Orléans
A 90-minute bus ride (so a tad too far to go by bike) under threatening skies saw us walking from the bus station into the centre of Orléans. Interestingly, the centre of the city is serviced by a number of trams, criss-crossing the worn cobbled streets. Along the way, I was distracted by the most delightful fragrance of a tree I determined to be Linden (often known as a lime tree). The blooms were just beginning to open, but it was heavy with them and the scent was gorgeous. Next, we came across a large gated property that had some interesting elements in the garden. Note the Cathedral can be seen behind the buildings.
“The gates were open, your honour!” It was the garden of the ‘Hôtel Groslot’ and there were numerous large posters throughout the small garden, highlighting the Tour de France achievements of what must have been a son of the city, some 23 years earlier.
The large statue of Joan astride her horse was located in the middle of the large square in the centre of the city. Unfortunately, there was an event taking place all around her – a series of inter-school basketball matches, surrounded by marquees.
Ian was quite disappointed initially and tried his best to forge a way through the temporary courts but was not going to get a decent photo at this time. I bought him a postcard in case we were not going to get any closer.
Later, however – success!
The Tourist Bureau was very helpful and with a crisp new map of the town in hand, we set out to absorb as much as we could in the time we had in Orléans. Being there for the whole day meant I was going to get lunch out too. A treat! It was really quite chilly, and I could see the temperature was not going to reach one I liked, so the dress I had worn (I live in shorts and t-shirts when we are cruising, so any excuse to pop a dress on is good enough for me, particularly if bikes are not involved) was really not going to cut it today. That meant we had to haunt a few shops to find a suitable jacket for me. (Not mentioning any names, but one of our guests had packed my only warm jacket in error – or that is what they said – and taken it with them…) Job done.
We were very keen to check out the cathedral, which did not disappoint. Approaching the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, via a long cobbled thoroughfare, it loomed larger and larger as we drew nearer.
Very impressive architecture. As with many of the churches and cathedrals we have seen in France, the original stonework is long gone or covered up by other, later elements. The first church was built around 375, and there is evidence of Roman foundations of a 5th-century basilica. The 10th to 12th Centuries saw the church given a Romanesque or Norman style, and later still the Gothic Cathedral we see today, was built over a period of five hundred years. Work was repeatedly held up while the populace was forced to participate in a number of quite impressive skirmishes, not limited to the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of Religion. Joan of Arc visited here frequently during her time during the siege of 1429.
Entering the cathedral, we were immediately enthralled by a series of ten stained glass windows set on either side of the nave, narrating the main events in Joan of Arc’s life.
There are more than a dozen chapels, once again, all brightly painted and stencilled, right up to the vaults at the top.
Each chapel is devoted to a different saint.
There was also a comprehensive exhibition of posters describing the Shroud of Turin.
The banners of the families and organisations local to Orléans including those related to Joan of Arc decorated the nave.
We stopped for lunch, and continued our walk through the town, before heading back to the museum which we knew would open again in the afternoon. Lunch does not deter Ian from identifying an ice creamery that sells Amarena (cherry) ice cream and having a dessert. He makes it his business to try this variety every time he comes across an ‘artisanal glacier’.
In the centre of the town, the Maison de Jeanne d’Arc, is a house recreated in the 1960’s – originally the residence of Jacques Boucher, the general treasurer of the Duke of Orléans, with whom Joan of Arc stayed between 29th April and 9th May 1429 when she helped to heroically liberate the city during the Siege of Orléans.
The museum features multimedia exhibits on her life. For a small fee (2 euros) we were given access to a small theatrette where a short film ran through the key elements of Joan of Arc’s contribution to the culture of Orléans.
After this, and conscious of the bus timetable to get back to Montargis we made our way back to the bus station. Good timing as it turned out. Our new friend, Mike on his lovely barge Maria, moored behind us at Montargis, called to say he had been asked to move his boat to make room for a hotel boat due to arrive the following morning. Both of our boats were moored beyond the commercial reach, but in a rather unassuming spot, right in front of the Police Station. Not a screamingly attractive location, but probably one of the safer ones we are likely to find.
Returning to our mooring, we decided that since the locks would close very soon, and therefore no boats would be coming through this late in the evening, we would just take his boat for a little run farther back along the canal where there would be room to turn it 180° so it would be facing the right way to approach and pass through the locks when they opened in the morning. With his wife in England visiting family, moving a boat as large as this would be difficult, so we hopped on board and played crew for him.
The following morning, we boarded Maria once again, and with Oscar, the French spaniel delighted with the additional company, we set off around a curve in the narrowed canal, to mount two locks and leave Mike at the newly opened mooring.
On approaching the first of the two locks, the telecommande that we had been using for the locks on both the Canal du Loing and the Canal du Briare, was not opening the gates for us. So after hanging in front of the first lock for a while, I got on the phone and called the éclusiers. Turns out, plaisanciers (pleasure boats) had to wait until 9 o’clock, (only commercial vessels can move from 8) so I tossed a rope on the only bollard we could see and Mike turned off the engine and made us all a cuppa. Nine o’clock arrived and nothing happened. Ten minutes passed and I got on the phone again. They apologised profusely – but had simply forgotten to set the lock to accept our automatic request! As we rose in the first lock, I spoke with the éclusière and said that we would be back in a short while with our own boat, once Maria was moored up.
Mike drove us back to our boat, saving us a longish walk, and when we arrived at the locks, we found them set for our direction of travel (montant – rising) without me having to use the telecommande.
Passing Mike and Oscar, we started along the Canal de Briare towards Montbouy where we were going to meet our next guests.
Montbouy
It was a pleasant if uneventful cruise but towards the end, the weather turned wet. As we arrived in Montbouy, Ian’s cousin Gina was on the bridge and came down to meet us as we worked out where to moor. That went off smoothly and then Geoff and Gina, who had arrived a couple of hours earlier and had already explored the little village, set us up for a quick visit. First job was to have a drink (hot chocolate, given the cool day) at the converted éclusier’s cottage which also housed a small bookshop and arts and craft store.
Then they encouraged us to visit the church, entry to which was gained by going to the Mairie (town hall) and asking for the key. A nice little church it was too.
After exploring, with the weather deteriorating, we gathered inside, prepared a meal and made plans for the next few days.
