24th of July at the Country house of “ La Grande Sauve” the smell of freshly baked croissants in the oven woke me up. A beautiful table setting looked very inviting and we felt our dreams of French travel coming true. Our metal horses were happy in their dry stable, got enough oat for the rest of the day and I could saddle them.
During breakfast conversation with other guests we got some helpful information for our further plans as they were coming from the Bordeaux region. They recommended us to avoid the Landes, which completely lost their pine tree forests through huge forest fires. Even the lady from Avignon was talkative for a change.
Fun fact was that the Monsieur was originally from this region and told the story that Francois Mitterand was senator of the department Nièvre, and married him with his first wife. I said that the president was known for his double life, but he laughed and said that would be far from exaggeration, because every time Mitterand visited his home region he arrived with a different female companion.
Today the route sounded perfect. Ca. 90km along the Canal du Nivernais. No cars at all and hardly any tourists on our way. It was the most relaxing way of biking we experienced until now. Nothing to worry about. No searching for the right trail. Just follow the mirroring watersurface. Only fresh green around us feeding our eyes, and a wonderful temperature filled the air. The thoughts start drifting away for the first time on this trip and you soak up the different speed around you. You are by bike even faster than the boats on the canal which float with 7km/h. Everything goes at a different pace.
Little lunch break at Chatillon-en-Bazois with sandwiches to take away to save time before we had to jump into our raingear once again. It didn’t last very long and we were happy again enjoying the continuous trip from lock to lock up the canal. At the Etang des Vaux a lake surface appeared and reminded us with a boat under Dutch flag of a scene from the Netherlands. But what would be next would not be found in a country built mostly under sea level. They had digged a tunnel into the mountain to connect two different waterways to pass the watershed.
The first canal of our tour was connected with the river Loire and the next canal would be serving the river Seine with its waters. It had to drop quickly in altitude and 16 locks followed in a row. We were impressed by the effort they had put into the construction of this canal. Just the idea of horses pulling the boats on trails where we were able to bike now put the speed of travel into a new perspective.
Getting closer to Clamecy the clouds turned black again but had pity with us and didn’t open their locks on us. As I knew that our friend Arnaud had his house right by the canal it was easy to find it, and just the sound of the metal gate alarmed him and his dog Piwi. We were happy to enter his beautiful place. It is a creation of art and space in the language only a sculptor with family tradition of the Beautés can realize.
The garden opens with a view to the locks and the little harbour of Clamecy from a terrace on the first floor as the house cuts into steep slope the hill. The dark clouds unloaded their charge and dropped the temperature in such a way that we decided to light the chimney fire in July. It felt wonderful to be out of the shower and warm up at the glowing logs behind the warm glass of the cast-iron furnace. Enjoying a wonderful dinner together with rose and red wine. Don’t ask how quick we fell asleep for a loooong recovering night.
