James & Vic had great weather and good fun moving Ginger Grouse II from Chalon to Decize and into the new Marina there. The beauty of having the boat in Decize is, that it is right on the Canal Du Nivernais, where we have never explored before as the other Ginger Grouse was too high for this Canal.
On their first day, they did 19 locks and 33 km to St. Leger Sur Dheune and were totally knackered. A welcome meal in Au Petit Kir was well deserved!
Day 2 leaving St. Leger at 9am, they arrived at Montchanin, a further 19 locks done and 18km covered. The automatic locks started to become a bit turbulent, so they secured GG II with a mid-ships and also a bow line. (There is no bow thruster on this boat!!) Drinks in Tuilerie and dinner in Bois Betaux, how lucky are they!
Day 3, early departure 9am again along with 3 other boats including Joline owned by an English couple called Terry and Jo who were bringing their boat back from Barcelona to the English coast after 10 years there. 16 locks and 29km covered to Genelard, back to a mid-ships line only as the locks were calmer, but with the electricity meters in Genelard were too far away as it was busy, James and Vic had to settle for Joline boiling their kettle and microwaving their Boeuf Bourgignon.
Day 4 Yet again, early away (trying to avoid a French boat....) GG II travelled with Joline (who had no charts and that is why they were following GG II), heading for Digoin, a total of 10 locks and 31km. Easier day and it meant that I could join them for dinner out, as it is only 20 mins from the house in Marly. We had a lovely meal in Relais de Canalous restaurant, my treat, and my pressie was a bag of dirty washing! Oh well, needs must.
Day 5, leaving at 08.45, over the Aquaduct GG II went, to Gannay Sur Loire, a very long day of 11 locks and 48km, with 30 minute power naps each in between for Captain and Crew! Joline still in tow behind. The locks now became manually operated, which took a bit longer to lock through, and GG II gave the eclusiers little bottles of beers as rewards. Ah, the good old days!
Day 6, after a 9am departure, GG II arrived in Decize at 1pm and I drove there to pick them up. They gave us a good berth on D pontoon and they have a pump out facility, yipee! No longer looking for toilets ashore, we can freely use the one aboard now. That will make our August trip on the Nivernais much more pleasant..... Marie who is in charge of the office there is lovely, speaks good english, and only took 2 weeks money from us up to when we leave for our holiday. And she is keeping the berth for us, for our return, as we will winter the boat there which is only 800€ for a full year, incredible saving from Chalon which was 1250€. A huge thanks to Marie who is allowing our boat to be charged at 8m instead of 8.5m, which would take us into the next category. Merci Beaucoup.
Decize is still only a one hour drive from our home in Marly, and we look forward to new adventures on GG II from there. It is also a beautiful drive, and a lovely big town
which makes all the difference. Well done to Vic and James, they both did brilliantly and enjoyed the trip immensely.
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