Brittany Canal Day 5

A grey day. We get started in the morning because there are two locks we want to pass through before they close at 12:30. The first is just around the corner from where we are moored, at the beginning of the canal. It's already open so we motor gently in, catch the ropes dangling down the lock sides and have a very pleasant chat to the lock keeper, a young girl who would like to visit Australia one day.

Next is a long straight stretch of canal, where the only challenge is going through some very narrow bridges. We bump off the sides of the first one, do better on the following ones. We meet one boat going the other way - Peter generously hugs the right bank as we approach and we have weed on the prop again, and it seems to be some time before we get rid of it all. Then the canal joins L'Oust river and we wind our way toward the second lock.

This lock is a much deeper one, but no requirement to do athletic rope-throwing - the lock keeper leans over with a long boathook and you just drop a line over it. Why they don't do that on the Caledonian I don't know. Not far past the lock we come to St Martin sur Oust, where there is a quite large marina as it's the depot for Locaboat, another canal boat hire company. It takes us a couple of attempts to back the boat in but we're soon tied up and going ashore to check out the village. 

Close to the marina we find a cafe that looks attractive but very full, so we decide to walk on and see what other options there are. We are actually walking away from Centre Bourg - when the houses peter out we turn back and walk in via the main road. The village is pretty, like La Gacilly on a much smaller scale, stone houses and lots of flowers everywhere. La Gacilly was full of tourists, people everywhere, St Martin is like the Marie Celeste, the only living thing we see on the streets is a very friendly ginger cat sheltering from the rain near the church.

The church in St Martin sur Oust

The only "people" we see in St Martin

It's not raining much, just a light shower which clears as we return to the river and head back to the cafe which seems to be the only thing open. We are ushered to a table for two, but realise that one of the chairs is occupied by a very fluffy ginger cat which is very much asleep. When spoken to it opens its eyes a fraction but shows no sign of moving. With a bit of stroking I manage to move it so that it's only occupying the back half of the chair, and I perch on the front half, thinking that it will go when I do that. By now half the cafe is watching, and suggesting that I might do better by getting another chair. Which I do, and move the cat and chair to one side, so for a while there are three of us at the table. Then as cats do, it decides it's time to get up, and I'm able to return one of the chairs to its proper place.

Our table companion, quite comfortable thank you

I'm going to miss eating galettes for lunch when I return - the savoury fillings seem to be slightly different in each cafe but all delicious. We don't usually drink at lunchtime, but as going onward in the rain isn't particularly attractive, we try the local cider with our galettes. Back to the boat for a quiet afternoon reading, catching up with email, doing a bit of washing, refilling the boat's water tanks until it's time to return to the cafe for dinner. This time we have traditional moules mariniere avec frites washed down with vin blanc, and finish with desert crepes. Although there are a number of boats here, it's very quiet, and the road now has no traffic - we'll sleep well.

Alternative form of transport

Our cafe