June 23 Canal du Centre

the summit lock on the Mediterranean side. the other side is called ‘le ocean’,and is downwards for me. this is the watershed divide for France, between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic

I have made the significant trek to the summit of this canal: 35 locks upwards (always especially challenging when single-handing) and several of the locks are more than 5m high! Still, I made it, and am now on the much longer, but more gentle trek downwards, first to the Loire (and the canal that parallels the river: the river being too temperamental and causing silting during flooding). There will be a short climb again out of Briare, but not nearly as steep or extended. I am in Montceau-les-Mines, a former major coal mining area. Now, it just has a nuclear power station, and museums to it’s mining past. The summit of the canal is really non-spectacular. There are several lake/reservoirs along the canalside, which help supply the water for both sides of the watershed, but the town of Montchanin is entirely overwhelmed by the passages of autoroute and railway. The town was the center of ceramic tile production for more that 100years, and there is a HUGE building alongside the canal. The factory closed in 1967, but I saw a cherry picker with someone it in, attending some of the windows on one side, so who knows, it may be in use again somehow.

The photos aren’t spectacular: the scenery is pastoral, rural, and really quite ‘normal’ . there are cattle, which I haven’t seen many of, there are fields of all sorts, and the valley the canal climbs is, well, unspectacular. It is nice, though, to be able to moor alongside the canal, in the middle of nowhere, and see a comet, to have darkness at night, and  just be gentle.

I’m in Montceau les Mines and getting supplies (groceries, water, and…) for the next few days as I descent to Digoin and the valley of the Loire.