Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre – La Chapelle-Montlinard – Marseilles-lès-Aubigny – Les Guètins
Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre
When we arrived, we thought we should stay for a couple of nights at the very least as a cycle up the hill to Sancerre would be a necessary part of this experience. Sancerre, a very famous village in this part of the Burgundy region, is situated at the top of a hill some 3 km from the canal. Although the weather was overcast, we set off did the following morning. The route we took, while on a road with cars, was not too steep and took us through multiple vineyards.
We were expecting to come across the weekly Sancerre market, but found it consisted of a single caravan selling meat and meat products. Apparently, that is the extent of the market. In this town at least.
We had learnt something of the wars of religion when we were led through the Château Buranlure a few days earlier which was a centre for the Catholic forces. Here, in protestant Sancerre, we could read about the seige by those Catholics forces. This took place from January to August 1573 and eventually resulted in more than 600 dying of starvation before Sancerre surrendered.
The church was very elegant inside as they often are in prosperous towns like Sancerre.
We indulged in a light lunch, and even the Sancerre ‘house’ reds that we drank were superb.
Keen now to get in some serious wine tasting, we wandered through the town to look for somewhere to imbibe but it was still lunchtime so we moved on to the nearby château. The chateau park is not usually open to the public, but in celebration of its 150th anniversary, we were delighted to find the gardens open for visitors. The route took us through quite extensive gardens, with the path leading us ever higher to the last remaining tower of six originally built for the feudal castle of Sancerre. Erected at the end of the 14th century, we were allowed to climb ‘Tour des Feifs’, conquering the 117 steps to be rewarded by the magnificent 360° panorama at its summit over the vineyards of Sancerre and the Loire.
A difficult climb for me but I made it. Grit and determination. I did not want to miss out on the view from the top.
Determined to taste and buy some wine, we entered an establishment quite near the gates of the château. The Mellot family has worked vines in the region for over 500 years. Indeed, the extensive vineyards we had cycled through on our journey to the top of the hill, were all marked by Mellot signs. However, it turns out the two brothers who inherited the business from their father, had fallen out and remained estranged. And Alphonse has a shop a few doors down from Joseph, whose wines we tasted and bought. The wine was delightful, and we bought what we felt we could carry back down the hill on our bikes.
However, before returning to Catharina, we felt we had to visit another winery, that of Julie & Patrick Noël, as we had been given this recommendation by our great French friends, Guy and Chantal. Located just along the canal from Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre it was quite a challenging ride, with Google choosing a very steep route down from the village of Sancerre, which took us along bumpy tracks, past small allotments, until we found ourselves at what was plainly the private back entrance to this winery. Back on the bikes, down the hill to the canal, and then up an incredibly steep hill to the tasting room.
While the tasting room was advertised as open, there was no one around. (It is France, after all.) But there was a number to call, which we did and shortly after, Julie arrived, accompanied by her twins. We felt obliged to taste and buy some wines here too. It would have been rude not to. We also learned a little more about the terroir that determines the wines to be produced. Some are from mixed soils, and some are from unique soils.
We bought another dozen and a half bottles and then, with the bikes heavily laden, set off back to Catharina with the bikes now very laden but made it back safe and sound.
The next morning, just before cruising on, we walked up to the nearby church (L’Eglise Saint Hilaire) that Ian had checked out earlier and found it particularly bright and colourful. Unfortunately, it was only open as far as an iron gate at the entrance so we could only view it from a distance – but again, these churches in prosperous towns are very well presented. We were accompanied by a local cat that wound itself around our legs and joined us in the church. I was a little worried that it might follow us back to the boat, but fortunately, it abandoned us once we left the church and remained behind in the village.
La Chapelle Montlinard & La Charité-sur-Loire
Our next mooring, La Chapelle Montlinard was somewhat ordinary, where we found a spot between our friends on Maria and a friendly fellow on a Luxemotor who lived here permanently. While the mooring was plain, it was fine for the time we would spend here. We were keen to cycle over the canal and the Loire again, to the mediaeval village of La Charité-sur-Loire, which our friends, Lon and Pat, had said was well worth the trip. Which it proved to be. As we crossed the river, over the 16th-century bridge, the cobbled streets of the town led us right to the front of the priory.
This was founded in the 11th century and was once one of the largest in France. There were many buildings and ruins surrounding the church testifying to the large scale of this priory.
In its prime, it was one of the richest and most beautiful in Europe and controlled 40 other monasteries and some 400 other religious centres.
We locked up the bikes and made our way through to a beautiful stone courtyard in front of the church, Sainte-Croix-Notre-Dame. The church itself was very dark and rather spartan, with some of the chapels overgrown with moss and the stone walls very stained.
We wandered slowly around, taking some photos as we always do. At one point I asked Ian if he had yet taken a picture of the main altar, which he had not.
So I made my way down the main aisle and took my shot. As I turned back, I found myself right in front of a very small funeral procession. The young priest was walking towards me with a woman, and behind them was a coffin being carried by half a dozen men. Nothing was said, but I panicked, feeling totally abashed and fled back between two of the rows of pews and made my way back out to the courtyard.
Behind the church was the remains of an old abbey and it afforded a good view of the apse.
We visited several other parts of the priory and ended up in the cloister
where we learnt that, after the decline of the religious aspects of the complex, for nearly a century, the priory buildings had been used to store and sell wine.
Leaving the cloister, we made our way through the village to the ramparts, climbing steadily. It eventually came to the point of scaling stairs but after my effort at Sancerre, my knees said “No!” so I sat down with an amazing view of the valley and the Loire.
Ian climbed up and gained access to the ramparts for some more photos.
Making our way back down to our bikes, we found a spot beside the river from where we could get a better view of the bridge. We came across a group of men and women about to launch a number of canoes into the swirling, fast-flowing Loire, with the intention of paddling some 30 km downstream to Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, where we had been a few days earlier.
We chatted with the women for a few minutes, fascinated by the canoes which are essentially flat-packed for transport in a car, (they had driven down from Belgium specifically for this) and then popped into shape ready for launching. There was a feeling that perhaps the river was too fierce for travelling that day but, a short while later, as we were returning to Catharina across the bridge, we could see that they had decided to brave the Loire.
As it was only the middle of the day, we set off to our next planned mooring pretty much as soon as we stepped back on Catharina. Maria had left while we were away.
Marseilles-lès-Aubigny
We had planned our next stop to meet a long-time DBA member, Nigel Orr, who is known to welcome cruising members to moor at a spot immediately outside his house. We had emailed him to say we were coming and we knew that Lon and Pat had stayed at the mooring a few days earlier, so we had some idea of what was ahead.
Since we had started on the Latéral à la Loire, the écluses had all been operated by éclusiers. Now 6 weeks in, Catharina’s flowers had been blooming and growing.
As we approached Mareseilles-lès-Aubigny a charming lock keeper called out congratulating us on my flowers – I was chuffed of course. He cycled across to the second of the two locks he was managing and while we approached the open gates, he stopped on the towpath to take photos of us as we entered.
Leaving the lock, we could see where we had to moor. Not an easy spot at all. The edges are sloped and the only two bollards are located amongst stone pillars that support the chain link fence, making it impossible to throw a rope over. We could not nudge alongside because of the concrete slope at the edge. I hailed a guy sitting on one of these two bollards fishing and, after some discussion, and with poor grace, (he kept waving us away, but I held firm) he eventually agreed to take the rope I tossed him and place it over the bollard he had been sitting on. Once we had a bow rope on we had time to work out how to get a stern rope attached. Mercifully, at that point, Nigel appeared from the house immediately beside us, took the stern rope and we settled in after dropping the tyres down to protect the hull from banging against the sloped stone edges.
We invited Nigel over for a drink once we were cleaned up. He is a very experienced cruiser, having been on the waterways forever and lived in the area for several decades. Nigel had cruised for many years on a barge named Waterman and once he had ceased active cruising, for several years he allowed guests to take up long-term rentals of the barge. We had met a couple, some years ago who had begun their cruising lifestyle with such a cruise. He had sold Waterman a few years ago and was aware it had been sold again recently.
The port itself was quite large and full of many long-term barges so mooring spots were at a premium – just as well that Nigel had a spot.
In days gone by, Marseilles-lès-Aubigny had been at the junction of the Latéral à la Loire and the Canal du Berry. The Canal du Berry was operational from the middle of the 19th century until 1955 when it was closed for lack of use and difficulty in keeping sufficient water levels. During its operation, it carried a considerable amount of traffic and Marseilles-lès-Aubigny was a major port. Most of the canal is now inaccessible but plans are afoot for some restoration to allow tourist paths to be created for the burgeoning cycle tourism.
Another feature of the port used to be a shipyard run by two Englishmen. This closed only at the start of this year as they were unable to attract any buyers to take it over. There were still a number of boats left over from that business and there was another, smaller shipyard in the port where a chap was doing some work on some of them but Nigel’s report on the quality of the work and service did not sound like it was a place to choose unless desperate.
Le Guétin & Apremont-sur-Allier
Our next stop was to below the two locks that would take us up to and across the pont canal at Le Guétin. Just a short two-hour cruise saw us arriving well before lunch – jumping ahead of Maria who was moored along the way. Mike and Karen had found a very pleasant spot just beyond the village of Marseilles-lès-Aubigny and decided to spend a few nights there taking it easy.
The port underneath the locks leading to the bridge over the river Allier (another ‘pont canal’ like that at Briare) was quite busy but we managed to find a spot where we ate a light lunch (let’s be honest – it was the routine, post-cruising beer, which may have had some charcuterie served) watching an impolite Dutch-registered cruiser attempting to jump the queue for the locks (closed for déjeuner) by sitting in the canal right in front of the gates. His boat had joined us in the last lock we passed through, and he came beside us to talk to me and suggest I might like to move Catharina up to the next bollard. The gates were already closed, so there was no problem with both of our boats sharing the lock. And I gave him short shrift (very politely) by pointing out the obvious fact that the next bollard was right beside the forward lock gates, and since Catharina’s bow bollards are several metres behind her bow, that would be a disastrous place to sit in a lock.
There were a couple of nearby attractions we wanted to view in the afternoon so this was to be an overnight stop. Out came the bikes and we cycled off towards the nearby village of Apremont-sur-Allier. First stop was the Écluse des Lorrains, one of only two circular locks in France.
Built in 1838 this lock is no longer in use, but in its day, it was used to connect the Latéral à la Loire canal to the river Allier. At 32 m in diameter, it is a very impressive piece of engineering. Downstream on the Allier were sections of the river where high-quality sand could be dredged from the river to be transported by specially crafted barges. This was hauled upstream to the écluse, where the boats were raised to the level of the canal. The barges entering the lock would be facing the ‘wrong’ way and so horses hauled and pivoted the boats until they pointed in the direction of the latéral canal. Later on, the horses were replaced by tractors.
The drop in the level of the Allier put an end to the use of this system as the sand-carrying boats could no longer enter the lock. The only other circular lock in France is on the Canal du Midi at Agde and is still operational – we hope to get up close and personal at some point.
A short way further we entered the pretty village of Apremont-sur-Allier. This village is one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (meaning “the most beautiful villages of France”) an association set up to preserve and maintain small communities and attract visitors. Entering the main street (really the only street) the houses were in spotless condition and bedecked with flowers. The cottages and the gardens were reminiscent of an English village. Parking is on the outskirts of the village, leaving the streets tidy and perfect for taking photographs.
The church was small but neat.
And it did have a lovely statue of Jeanne d’Arc.
However, the village is not in its natural state as most of the houses have been purchased by a local fellow who lives in the chateau and it is that family that has renovated and redeveloped the village into its present state. We took a short walk to the riverside and enjoyed a refreshing drink of fresh lemonade under the shade of large umbrellas.
As we returned to our bikes, I spotted a potter’s cottage and thought it would be only proper if I were to purchase a piece to remember this lovely day. The chap chatted to us (in French) about why we were there and our lives in Australia. We then set off back to Le Guétin with a lovely pottery cheese board, taking a different path along the other side of the old canal. Passing a roadside memorial, we stopped and saw that it honoured two airmen who had been killed in a crash in the 1970’s.
Throughout the Burgundy region, there are frequent low, fast and very noisy flybys by military aircraft. It can be dangerous as evidenced by this memorial. Indeed, only a few days after taking this photo, there was a collision between two aircraft where one pilot managed to eject but the instructor and student in the other plane were killed.
Back at the port, we cycled up to the top of two locks to the start of the pont canal to watch boats crossing. Similar, although much shorter than the one at Briare.
It turned out that the éclusier was the same one who had complimented us on Catharina’s flowers a few days earlier and he recognised us immediately. He appeared delighted to see us, shaking our hands and asking us if and when we were planning to pass. We said we wanted to go through the following morning. He offered us a 9 o’clock passing, saying he would look after us and make sure we were the only boat in the two locks so we could enjoy the experience.
The photo below shows me standing near the top of the second of the two locks, with a boat beyond the lock gates, having just cruised along the pont canal, about to come down (avalant is when one locks down). Each of these two locks has a rise/fall of about 5 m, but the steeply sloped sides increase the depth of the interior. There is a set of gates between the two, such that as one completes the lock cycle in the first one, the gates open providing access to the second lock. We would be entering from the bottom of the first lock and would be expecting to go up (montant is rising in a lock). It was clear I would not be tossing a rope onto any of those bollards – way above us and located amongst the railings. But it would all become clear on the morrow.
Informed and reassured, we settled in for the night ready to begin our cruise the next day with something novel and exciting too look forward to.
