Lakes, canals and rain

Thursday 12 September 2024

Nido's parked by the Nivernais canal in the tiny hamlet of Chevroches.  Apart from the two moored boats, there's just us and a UK registered Mazda MX5.  The towpath is part of the Voie Verte national cycle path and occasional cyclists pass us in both directions.  There's no facilities here, but the van is serviced so we're fine being off grid.  Reading the information board, Chevroches was a loading port for stone that was used to build roads and bridges, as well as finishing off the Louvre, plus is still in place paving the streets of London.

Yesterday it started raining in the early hours and the forecast was for rain most of the day, which is how it turned out.  Given this we drove a little further into the Parque Natural Regional de Morvan, to a Camping Car Park site in La Faye, on the shores of Lac des Settons.  Surrounded by fir and larch woods, at an altitude of 600m, this man made reservoir covers 360 hectares and has developed to meet the needs of holidaymakers during the summer months.  The CCP site used to be a municipal campsite and the 41 pitches are set out over three raised terraces. 

When we arrived there were only another three vans parked up, so I was able to pick a pitch on gravel, then hook us up to the electric and settle down for the day.  We caught up with YouTube and I took Salty out for a walk when the rain abated, although it was only around the site as the paths down to the lake were flooded.  It was a shame we hit a poor weather window, as it would have been a nice place to stay for a couple of nights.  But we'd already decided to move on and find better weather and somewhere we could walk.

So this brought us to Chevroches this morning.  Once parked up, raincoats were packed in a rucksack and we set off along the Voie Verte path.  It was a peaceful, quiet walk along the canal, past locks and old, rundown lock keepers' cottages; they would make wonderful homes.  A couple of miles on we arrived in the town of Clamecy, with its medieval centre, ancient houses and narrow cobbled streets.  The town is located on a rocky outcrop at the confluence of the Yonne and the Beuvron rivers, bordering the Nivernais canal.  It was once the capital of wood-floating, where tree trunks were floated along the rivers as far as Paris.

By now it was lunch time so of course all the shops were closed and very few people were about, so we had it almost all to ourselves.  I found a boulangerie still open so bought a baguette and a couple of meat bakes (nothing like Greggs - these had real meat in them, properly seasoned and delicious pastry).  We ate the pastries on a marble seat overlooking the old town.

As we started to walk back it started to rain quite heavily as we walked along the opposite canal bank, but once the sun returned we soon dried out.  Back at the van Salty and his harness needed a scrub as he'd rolled in something unsavoury - it's possible it might even have been human!  Once that was done (and hands were thoroughly scrubbed clean) we enjoyed our cup of tea and shared some patisserie.  The rest of the day was sat watching the cyclists and boats in this very quiet corner of Burgundy, again with a mix of heavy rain showers and warm sunny spells.

Dinner tonight was lazy - a Thai noodle soup, from a packet, with ready noodles, bolstered by garlic, ginger, mushrooms and green beans, mopped up with the baguette we bought in Clamecy, which had to be broken in two and stowed in the rucksack as we walked back to stop it getting soggy!

It's settled down here now, the wind has dropped, the sky has cleared and I think it will be a chilly evening.  For the first time this trip we'll be sleeping under a quilt, rather than a sheet and blanket.

Tomorrow we have an exciting day planned, a place I've wanted to visit for over 25 years.....