Jarnac Mooring Wall
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45°40’45.8436″N, 0°10’43.5828″W

to

Chateauneuf-sur-Charente Mooring Wall
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45°36’6.0264″N, 0°3’5.1768″W

The crew woke up at 7:00 am this morning. Today is “turn-around” day for us. We could probably travel further down the river for one more day but then we would feel pressure on the return journey in order to have the boat back at its base in Sireuil by 9:00 on Monday morning.

Photo above – a very chilly morning on the Charente River. The outside temperature was about 7 degrees C.

Photo above – when I said the crew got up at 7:00 am I should have said that SOME of the crew got up then.

Valerie was lounging comfortably in her bed with a hot cup of coffee that David had fixed for her. When Catherine got up & saw the vacant space in the nice warm bed in our neighbour’s cabin she jumped in beside Valerie & started calling for me to bring her a hot cup of tea!

It reminded them of sharing a tent in Algonquin park except no one brought them morning coffee – they had to get it for themselves!

I can understand the desire to stay under the covers because without any heat on the boat it was just as cold inside as it was outside. All we could do was bundle up in warm clothes & drink hot tea & coffee until the sun warmed things up.  Such is life on a small boat.

Back to our travel plans for the day…

Our goal for the day was to travel from Jarnac to Chateauneuf-sur-Charente. This is a distance of approximately 17 kilometers & going through 5 locks with about 2-4  km in-between each lock.

On our trip from Sireuil to Jarnac we were travelling downstream on the Charente River so we dropped down in each lock we passed through. For the return journey we will be going upstream & each lock we pass through will raise us up between 1 – 2 meters.

Photo above – the first lock in Jarnac is beside the Courvoisier Distillery & warehouse. It was tempting to try to get a barrel of Cognac to take with us but at a weight of 500 kilograms each we would have had trouble handling it.

Photo above – with David at the helm he & Valerie are settling in nicely to the boating lifestyle. David spent the day at the helm & I helped out with the locks. He is proving to be a very competent skipper & can easily handle a much larger boat (Valerie, I have “set the hook”, now it’s time for you to reel him in!).

I’ve already got Valerie looking at various boat brokerage websites for a suitable yacht. It’s amazing what is available “out there” for not much more than the price of a new car! And I’m telling Valerie that based on my 30 years of boating experience, buying the right boat can be a sound investment! 

For some reason Catherine & David are not convinced of my logic. Oh well, it’s fun & costs nothing to dream & fantasize. Plus there’s always that potential winning number lottery ticket that could buy a very nice yacht!

Photo above – as we travelled upstream we went past some pretty nice looking places!  This particular property on the riverside – Maison Brillet – has a nice vineyard & winery that people can tour by appointment. I expect we will see several more of these places while we are here in France.

Photo above – one of several arched bridges that we passed under today. Normally it is safe to pass under one of the middle arches but we must avoid going under the ones closer to shore as the water there is usually too shallow for the boats to get through.

Photo above – Catherine straightening up the bow lines as we exit a lock.

Photo above – we are catching up to another boat in front of us as they are approaching the next lock.

Photo above – passing by a Roman era bridge over a small side channel on the river.

While we were passing through the various locks we met a German couple headed towards Jarnac. They have been on the Charente River before & were telling us that they planned to get to Saintes – another 50 kms! – before they were going to turn around. The skipper was a man on a mission!

We also went through a few locks with a couple from the Channel Islands. They were also experienced boaters but, like us, they were much more laid-back with their river travel plans.

We arrived at Chateauneuf-sur-Charante around 1:30 in the afternoon. We had made great progress today & now it was time to relax & enjoy the community & the warm sunshine.

We had a light snack & then David & Valerie & Catherine went for a short walk into the town commercial area. I stayed behind to rest & work on the blog.

The crew returned within an hour with provisions for dinner tonight & for our breakfast the next morning – fresh choclatines (essentially a croissant filled with chocolate).  I could get used to having one of these for breakfast each morning!

Photo above – the view across the river from our mooring spot. It turned out to be a glorious day. Sunny & about 22 degrees C.

Photo above – while we were relaxing in the sun a small armada of canoes paddled by, with each canoe carrying one or more dogs. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves – especially the dogs!

We finished our day with a nice bowl of soup & chicken salad prepared by Valerie & David, followed by another few hands of euchre. Catherine & I were beginning to understand what we should be doing but she proved to be a much better player than me. Oh well, hopefully I will do better tomorrow.

All things considered, Friday the 13th turned out to be a great day for our crew.

Our travels for the next few days will be fairly relaxed, with only 3 locks on Saturday & 2 locks on Sunday. This will give us more time to get off the boat & explore our next two stops.

Cheers!