French Canals 2022 day 6

Over the past few days we have been cruising the French Canals in company with Emilie’s father onboard Harfie.

The seven canals

Yesterday we cruised from Sup Sur Loing near Emilie’s grandmothers house in Chavanne along Canal de Briare passing 8 locks going up between 2-5m per lock and stoping at Montorgis for lunch.
After lunch we had four 4-5m locks in quick succession so Emilie and Issy ran along the canal bank while Max and I drove Sunday island into the locks. Emilie would then pass down the lines to us making the process much easier.

In the evening we stopped at a quaint town called Montbouy. The town has a large church built in the 11th century that rings it’s bells every half an hour! At 7am and 7pm the church rang it’s bells for 15minutes. This was a joy to wake up to the next morning!

Emile took this amazing photo of Montbuoy

Today we cruised the canal de Briare passing through a huge 22 locks including passing the historic 7 ecluses de Rogny https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses

After Roget we began our decent, with our grand fanalie passing over the famous Pont Canal in Briare.

Returning from the bakery

The Pont canal is a bridge (aqueduct) for boats built in the 19th century and supervised by Gustave Eiffel (builder of the Eiffel Tower). The bridge is 662m long, 6m wide with a depth of 2m
https://www.loirevalley-france.co.uk/outings/city-visits/pearls-loire-valley/briare-canal-aqueduct-enamels

Pont canal

This evening we parked south of Briare along side the river bank. To the children’s delight we are right next to an amazing playground complete with roundabout, huge slide and swings!