Greetings from Yorkshire England
Dear Ed and Marion,
Thought you might like to know that we returned to France for another
September holiday with Connoisseur boats.
This time it was on the River Mayenne in Anjou, a region of north-western
France, south of Normandie and east of Bretagne (Brittany). The river
is
canalised and navigable for 73 miles from its confluence with the River
Sarthe near the city of Angers and passes through Château-Gontier,
a
picturesque town founded in the 9th century and Laval, the regional capital,
to the ancient county town of Mayenne, the head of navigation. Our
cruise
lasted one week and involved passage through 66 locks. The upper reaches
of
the river flow through a remote deep valley with thickly wooded banks,
somewhat austere but always beautiful. Apart from the three towns
there are
few houses near the river banks and except for lock keepers we only saw
the
occasional angler. The river is full of fish, especially pike and
zander,
and the trees with birds.
We hired a 4 berth boat (37 ft x 12 ft) and found it more comfortable and
much easier to handle than the little boat you saw us with last year. Which
was just as well as the heavens opened as we cruised upstream and torrential
rain fell for two days, while the river level rose and the current got quite
fierce near the weirs. The lock keepers had all gone home by this
time, so
to make progress we worked the locks ourselves. For four days we were
the
only boat moving on the river! Not bad for two crazy English
septuagenarians!
We have attached two pictures of the boat. One shows the boat passing
through a lock during a short break from the rain with a typical ruined
water mill built on the adjacent dam. The blue disc displayed on the
lock
indicates that the lock keeper has gone home!
The other picture is on our lonely return journey after the sun came out
as we wait for the lock to
open.
We flew your TMCA pennant on the anniversary of 9/11.
Best wishes for Christmas and the coming New Year
from Michael and Georgina Hull