20th November - 13th December 2017. A visit to JB Clair and Renaison dam. Happy Hour at L'Authentique, then Saint Nicholas and Christmas lights. Villerest reservoir and village. Roanne's Fair Froide.

A French sky over the Loire.

We had a port outing to JB Clair, a local producer of cremant, which is basically fizzy wine. If it were produced in the French region of Champagne, it would be called champagne! This has been a family business for over 100 years.

There are a great many very old wine bottles in this attractive display, mounted on the wall, just outside the cave.

Inside the cave, apologies to Monsieur for the blurring! Here all the bottles are supported solely on thin laths, so it is a work of art to construct one of these stacks. Everything at this cave is done by hand.

After leaving JB Clair, we made our way up to the Renaison dam.

From the top of the dam it can be seen how low the water level is. This is the source of all of Roanne's water so should we be worried?

By the end of November, there are fewer resident boaters at L'Authentique, although the room is still full every Thursday for Happy Hour. This photo should have been taken earlier, before the wine bottles were empty, and the plates were still full of chips!

1st December brought our only snow of the winter so far, but it did not stay for long.

Saint Nicholas arrived on 6th December, but not by boat this year, as the police had decided that it might be too dangerous!

There is an annual competition for the best Christmas lights in the port. We are taking part this year, rather than competing!

Duck Story won first prize this year again. They do have a wonderful display.

We think that Taboe should have been second!

At Villerest the river Loire is held back by a massive dam to create this reservoir.

Here too the water level is very low.

Having walked along the reservoir, we returned to the village of Villerest where part of the church dates back to the 13th century.

In the town square, Andy is checking out our route back to find the car.

The streets here have real character.

The Fair Froide was certainly cold this year.

Shannon was fascinated by this squeaky dog. She nearly knocked the lightweight stall over, in her excitement!

Monday brought a gang of eight VNF men, here to tidy up the port.

Daisy dog is concentrating hard, so that her team wins!

7th - 19th November 2017. Fuel delivery before the Roanne Port Dinner. Shannon likes the autumn leaves, and a kingfisher appears on a wall by the port.

We have taken the easy option this year to fill up with diesel from a tanker. It is a great deal easier than carrying it to The Puzzler in containers!

The Port Dinner was held in the Capitainerie function room this year.

There were 45 boaters from the Port of Roanne here.

A good time was had by all.

Come on now! This is a serious photo!

Les Français s'amusent.

It is nice to see Hervé, our capitaine, here too.

Katya and Jeremy, from L'Authentique, prepared a splendid meal for all of us.

A lot of bushes have been cleared, near to the river Loire.

The stepping stones are easy to use, when the water is as low as this.

Shannon loves to play in all the fallen leaves.

Meanwhile, at the end of the port, a kingfisher is appearing on a building.

By lunchtime on the second day, the background is nearly complete, and our artists are starting on the kingfisher.

By late afternoon it is nearly finished.

What a masterpiece!

Spring at the Port of Roanne in the second half of March 2016.

Now that the weather is improving, Shannon likes to sit out by the fence and watch the world go by. The stone building is the Capitainerie, where Hervé, our harbour master, is based. He has been very helpful this winter. There is a function room at the far end of the building, where functions of various sorts take place on Fridays and Saturdays. They are usually finished by 4 am!

Much to her disgust, Shannon has had a bath, prior to being clipped, so is all fluffy. However the weather turned cold again, so I only trimmed her legs and tummy.

Raymond and Renée kindly gave us a lift to Michelle's house for a bridge party. She lives in the pretty village of Jarnosse, which lies about 16 kilometres to the east of Roanne. C'est un très jolie maison!

At the bottom of the garden there is a fishing lake, which looked lovely.

Back at the port, some boats are leaving for their summer cruising. This big peniche is a hotel boat, and they had several excited guests on board.

We have continued to finish off the painting, Andy is just masking for the last white line on the diamonds by the bows of The Puzzler.

On the roof the mushrooms have been off for a complete refurbishment, but are now going back on. The bases have been polished, then lacquered, while the tops are polished regularly. They were much easier to repolish to a high shine here in Roanne after the winter, presumably as the air is cleaner.

The Puzzler is now ready to go, with the fenders back on and all the painting finished.
On 31st March we had 70th birthday celebrations  for Jane at L' Authentique . We all brought food and a good time was had by all! Halfway through the party, Andy and I both remembered that it was also our 43rd wedding anniversary today!

21st - 31st January 2016. Galette de Roi at L'Authentique, and Bridge competitions, both on The Puzzler and at le Chateau de Champlong.

Every Thursday all the boaters, who live in the harbour at Roanne, meet at L'Authentique to catch up on all the local gossip. On 21st January we celebrated the Galette de Roi with all our boating neighbours. This is the French equivalent of Epiphany, or The Coming of the Kings.

We all had a slice of the special almond pie. As Jill found the small figurine in her slice of pie then she was crowned as Queen of the day. We are her loyal subjects!

Last week all the harbour flags were replaced, using a cherrypicker to reach them. Now, when they are blowing in the wind, they look great.

We prepared The Puzzler for an evening of bridge last Friday with six of our friends from the Bridge Club, but then forgot to take any more photos of the event itself!  We all had a very enjoyable evening. (J'ai oublié de utiliser mon appareil-photo, mais notre amis ont dit que la soirée était très sympathique.)

However, Marcel brought his phone, so here we are, looking at pictures of The Puzzler in construction. Merci bien, Marcel!

On Sunday all of the Bridge Club de Roanne went to the Chateau de Champlong, at Villerest, for another competition. Isn't this a wonderful room?

(N'est ce pas une salle merveilleuse?)

Both Simone and Michelle were with us on The Puzzler on Friday.

After the competition we had a very smart French finger buffet, with champagne to drink.

Raymond, on the left, is the Director of our club, with his wife, Renée, sitting between Andy and me, with Marie-Claude on my left. Raymond won The Puzzler bridge competition! (Raymond est le Directeur du Roannais Bridge, et aussi il a gagné le tournoi de peniche.)