Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 sunrise-06:57 sunset-09:11 low/high temp:12-17C (53.5-62.5F)
Blain & Chateau Canal Sucé sur Erdre
In the morning, Scott was out taking
photos of the
Chateau de la Groulais, a 14th to 16th century chateau, grounds and buildings.
I started out the day with a quick walk into town to
get the fresh baked goods, and once again needed to up the pain-au-chocolate levels again
because they keep disappearing at an alarming rate. We hadn't decided
whether we'd stay the night on the Canal somewhere today, or forge on to the Erdre
river. We thought if we found a nice location, or we got tired, we'd stop,
and if not, we'd continue on. It turns out that while
the scenery was very nice, we chose to continue on to the Erdre and end our day at
the small town of Sucé sur Erdre.
Today was one of only two days during the entire trip that it
rained at all during the daytime. We had beautiful skies and saw the clouds
building in front of us. We knew sooner or later we'd hit the rain in the
afternoon. Considering the amazing weather we'd had through the last week
and a half, we sure can't complain.
This Bug was just pulled out, The Chateau in the background.
A better view of the Chateau.
washed,
waxed and shiny.
It looked awesome and sounded
perfect.
Here's where we were supposed I liked this architecture.
Another useful map with historical
to be able to get 'tokens' for the
information.
municipal showers. Closed...
They day ended in 'Y' again...
Three shots of the ancient Chateau.
Gee, I wonder who took this Awesome grounds.
More of the grounds.
photo...
Here are three photos of the Chateau from different angles. It really was
magnificent.
I liked the view through the The hotel for
the Chateau. An icon over an entry to
the
trees.
Chateau.
Scott found a group of men at work with a portable saw-mill. They stopped,
chatted with him, gave him some history of the area and Chateau, as one of the
men spoke good English, and then he took some photos of them working.
Cindy (G) at the lock handle. Cindy and Cindy
perform their Scott finishes the other side.
assigned duties.
Danielle and Cindy (G) work Cindy helps out.
Cindy on rope duty...
on cleaning up after breakfast.
Kate is the other rope person This lock is where we
first encountered a French family traveling
at this lock.
in the same direction as we were. We decided to travel the locks
with them. Stéphan, Elizabeth & daughter Stéphanie Chauvin.
Sign reads
Lock self service..
Stéphanie has rope duty on her The Chauvins chat at their boat.
boat.
The lock keeper had a dog After passing each lock, the
Chauvin girls either walked or rode their
that sure was eying our
bicycles to the next lock, usually 1-3 kilometers. For several of the
breakfast. We REALLY
locks our girls joined them for the walk.
thought he was going to
jump in the boat.
At one of the locks, we noticed a good sized flock of sheep hanging out by the
bank.
Nice calm water here, Rosie Water!
Two nice photos of the walkway on the side of the Canal.
Yikes, the vinyard looks bad.
Above and below, Danielle caught some nature shots along the banks and at the
locks.
A bridge before this lock.
Stéphanie is on rope duty for Another bridge just after the
lock.
this lock. As you can see, their
boat was more narrow than ours.
Big water rise on this lock.
All four girls take a turn at driving the boat today on the Canal.
I spied a horse in the woods. Closer inspection showed a
All that activity just wiped her
horse with awesome colors in the scenery.
out, power nap time.
Just a couple photos of bridges along the way.
The girls arrive before us at one
Check out how smooth the water is!
of the locks. Stéphane was smarter
than us, he had his girls do all of
the lock work.
Danielle takes a stroll as well, but slows to take nature photos.
And we got her into the lock
duty as well when she arrived!
I loved the name of their
Yep, even I got a turn on the Cindy (G) hops onto
the boat
boat!
manual locks. I don't see what from the ladder on the
lock.
Gilligan was complaining about...
While passing one of the locks, I pulled forward to pick Gilligan up on the pier,
and in the process, offered a ride to the Chauvin girls on our boat. They
thought, smiled and climbed aboard. Elizabeth remarked that our boat was
much wider than theirs. When the rain started to fall they came under
cover until we reached the next lock. We chatted about dinner plans, and
the girls invited us to eat with them at Sucé sur Erdre. They have a
friend who owns a restaurant there. Unfortunately, it was closed, being
another day that ends in 'Y'... We still all got together for dinner, had lots
of laughs, exchanged e-mails and said our farewells.
Stéphanie, Elizabeth & Stéphane Chauvin
Our friends of the locks (Nos amies d'écluse)
This is the last lock prior to entering the Erdre River. It started to
rain as we approached.
It wasn't that bad, and let up just before we pulled into port at Sucé sur Erdre.
First shots on the Erdre river. Now after two days on the narrow Channel,
this was a MASSIVE river. While the skies were a little dark, it was still
beautiful. The upper right is a nice little
Chateau. Bottom center, nice lawn and gardens! Bottom right, tourist
info center at Sucé sur Erdre, not open.
It hard strange hours, like from 1:00pm to 3:00pm, weekdays, that was it...
Approaching the port of
The whole group at the
Heart healthy choice, La Cathy!
Sucé sur Erdre.
restaurant.
Scott sure loves snails.
After dinner, we walked a bit through the very small town, and headed back to
the boat.
We snapped some interesting night shots before retiring for the night.
Blain & Chateau Canal Sucé sur Erdre