16th March - 4th April 2018. More bridge, MAMMA MIA, followed by our departure from Roanne.

We have been playing bridge three or four times a week. Our bridge club looks out over this road, and the port can just be seen beyond the roundabout at the end of the road. New trees are being planted along by the widened road.

There is a major redevelopment going on here, with the creation of a new park in front of the monument. This monument commemorates the liberation of Roanne from the German occupation in August 1944. It has been interesting to watch progress every week, when we are here for bridge. Maybe we will return to Roanne one day and see it all finished!

We went to see Mamma Mia at Les Maronniers, in Le Coteau. It was an amateur performance, but was performed very professionally.

Eight of us went on this outing. We all really enjoyed the evening, which was a fitting finale to our time in Roanne.

This was the finale of Mamma Mia, with half of the songs in English and half in French. All the audience sang too, in whichever language they preferred! It was great!

It is 31st of March and, sadly, we are now leaving the mooring where we have happily spent the last three winters on The Puzzler in the Port of Roanne.

We are doing a circuit of the port, and Quaintrelle joins us. This circuit is great fun. Everyone sounds their horn as we pass by, and we reply with ours. Liane has to get the award for the loudest horn!

Into Roanne lock together.

A lot of our friends both from the port and from Roanne have come to the lock see us off. We really appreciated them doing this.

Iguerande is the first of the villages to be seen, as it dominates the skyline, away from the Roanne Digoin canal.

Two donkeys out for the day.

Artais church is always impressive. We stopped at the mooring soon after the village, where table tennis in the wind is always interesting!

The lockkeepers have realised that one gate is enough for two boats, so long as they are both narrowboats!

Making good time, we reached Beaulon by midafternoon on Monday. By the time that two hireboats had fitted in too, the mooring was full. If ever you stop in Beaulon, do not forget to visit the delicatessen in the village for your preserved sausages.

Tuesday found us at Decize, from whence our fellow narrowboaters, Aileen and Mike, left us the next morning. We have enjoyed travelling together, and plan to meet again in the future. They are continuing on along the Canal Latéral à la Loire, while we are turning right on to the Nivernais canal.

1st - 12th October 2017. After Beffes we walked by the River Allier, then crossed it on the aqueduct at Le Guetin. A visit to friends at Nevers, then on along the Canal Latéral à la Loire to find more friends at Beaulon. Finally on to Pierrefitte for our winter's wood.

We moored at Beffes, hoping to top up our water, and to have electricity overnight. However it is now October, and they have both been turned off for the winter!

These little red beetles seem very happy here.

It is a good walk down by the river Allier, from Le Guetin. The aqueduct behind us is a splendid structure.

Shannon was more interested in retrieving her stick!

The staircase lock at Le Guetin leads us up to the aqueduct. We need our longest rope at the bows for the bottom lock here.

As we cross the aqueduct, the river Allier is far below us. Shannon has had a trim, so she wears her lifejacket each morning to keep her warm.

A most impressive aqueduct.

We went down to Nevers to visit friends, who had been in Roanne with us last winter. It was a really good day, with a game of quilles too.

We were sad to say au revoir.

Is this a Praying Mantis? He came to visit us, but had little to say!

We have had several wild moorings on the canal Latéral à la Loire.

That evening we were treated to a lovely sunset.

It is nice to see a few more boats about. Two boats going up in a lock is OK, so long as we are all careful.

Another wild mooring underneath an oak tree. The only disadvantage of this was that the acorns fell on the roof of the boat throughout the night, which was a little noisy!

Moving on to Beaulon, we found six boats already there! However our friends invited us alongside, and we had a lovely evening with them the next night.

After that it was on to Pierrefitte for our winter's fuel. We could choose our wood this time, and it was then cut, and delivered to The Puzzler within 24 hours. Now all we have to do is lift it on to the boat!

12th - 21st October. On to Decize on the Canal du Nivernais, then to Beaulon and Pierrefitte, on the Canal Latéral à la Loire, .

The canal du Nivernais is widening out, below Cercy.

At Decize we reach the end of the canal du Nivernais, and are briefly on the River Loire, before rejoining the Canal Latéral à la Loire. In Decize the old citadel greets us, as it lies on the confluence of all three waterways.

The clock tower, which was built here in 1848, is 33 metres high. It is in the main town square, standing proudly in front of the town hall. It also has three bells in the bell tower at the top, one of which weighs 1300kg.

Moving on, our next port was at Beaulon, where we found Nico and Ianne on Liane again, and met Mary and Brian on Kyrenia. All three boats are heading for Roanne for the winter. The others left the next morning, but we stayed at Beaulon for three days.

This street sign in Beaulon is typical of French towns, telling us where to find all the points of interest. If it is near to lunchtime, when all shops close for a couple of hours, at least, this can be very useful, finding them before they close!

Further along the canal, we came to Pierrefitte-sur-Loire, and spotted this woodyard, near to the canal. Our negotiations at the adjoining house found us with two cubic metres of wood promised.

Our man delivered one load later that afternoon. It was a great relief when he offered to cut it up for us, as well as bringing it right to the boat. We had had visions of moving load after load on our small trolley!

It was nearly dark when the second boxful arrived. The woodman had cut it all to our specified length of 25 cm, so that it would fit into our fire.

Philippe and Pierrette were next to us on Dream's Rivers, a lovely cruiser. We spent two enjoyable evenings with them, which was very good for our French, as that was the only language we were using!

On Wednesday we stacked all of the wood both inside, and on top of The Puzzler. With so much wood, it is a question of keeping the weight as low as possible in the boat, and also balancing it, to keep The Puzzler level.

Thursday was spent in recovery time, along with a couple of walks around the nearby lake, where Shannon loved chasing anything that moved, on the beach there. She followed it up with a dip in the water, so was not too gritty when we returned to The Puzzler! Here she is later on, having dried off, with her little friend, another Shih-Tzu.