Clamecy France

This morning we enjoyed a lovely stroll through Entrains sur Nohain. We bought a baguette for later and munched in a croissant while having a look around.

Mark’s ear has been aching and so we asked at the pharmacy whether there was a doctor in the village. It was suggested that we drive 20km to the hospital in Clamecy reassuring us that they would see Mark without too much delay. So we made our way there and he was seen straight away which was great. Even better that there was nothing too sinister happening in his ear and that because the office was closed we didn’t need to worry about paying. 

We then nearly got ourselves stuck in the narrow streets of the medieval town but managed to scrape through without any damage before finding a parking spot on the outskirts and walking in. The town borders the Nivernais Canal and was once the capital of wood-floating to Paris. It lasted for around 4 centuries from 1549 to 1923.  They would float 200cubic meters on 75m long and 4.5m wide rafts. At its peak 3500 rafts would be built annually. The introduction of barges and coal saw the decline in the need for the firewood to be transported in this way. 

There were some lovely half timbered framed buildings. 

The exterior of the church was quite exceptional too.

We also admired the market hall with its brick ceiling.

We returned to Bluey and choose a spot along the Canal Nivernais about 30km away at Chaumot. We required to double back on one of the roads due to flooding.

Beautiful country side.

It links the Loire with the Seine Rivers  from Saint Léger des Vignes to Auxerre and is 174km long. It took 57 years to complete and has 112 locks. It always amazes us the construction of all these canals crisscrossing France. Incredible engineering. Unfortunately the rise of the railway made for its decline but they are still maintained for the pleasure boats. 

We walked a short way along the canal to have a look at a tiny tilt bridge obviously built for the local farmer to access his fields.

67km today