Brittany Canal Day 8

A cool grey day, so no incentive to get up early. We start late morning, heading north to the next lock at Montertelot. When we pass through the lock keeper tells us that we can't go through the next lock, which was consistent with the story we've been getting for the last couple of days. We expect to see a lot of other boats waiting here, but in fact there is plenty of room to tie up and go ashore for lunch. The village has just one cafe, which operates with a minimum of staff. Entrees and desserts are self service from two fridges, there is a choice of two mains which are cooked and brought to you. We start with herring and potato salad, then I try the local sausage with ratatouille, Peter has chicken with salad and frites. No room for dessert, we just have coffee and then go for a walk around the village. There are a number of new houses as well as old, but although clearly new, they fit with the old.

Church at Montertelot

Chimney sweep at work

Communal oven?

Flowerpot men

Very modern house, but still in character

By the time we've walked to the top of a hill and explored the three or four streets that make up the village, it is lock opening time again. We have to wait for the lock to fill, so we do a 360 and then return to motor gently in. We then retrace our morning route back to le-Roc-St-André, meander down the Oust through two more locks (and I did get a better photo this time).

Another lock cottage

Leaving the lock, with voyeurs

We plan to stop again at Malestroit. As you approach the lock there is a very long mooring jetty with lots of private boats. In the distance we can see a boat which we think is trying to tie up, but we can't be sure. It appears to be going back and forth but not coming to a halt. Eventually it starts coming steadily towards us, so we hang back where there is more room for them to pass. But when they get to the first gap in the moored boats they do about a 9-point 180 degree turn and head back to the lock. We proceed cautiously behind. As we approach the lock we see there is a boat in it coming up. The boat ahead of us props on the left just outside the lock, we hang back hugging the right bank and wait for the boat coming out of the lock to pass us on our left (port to port, for sailors). The boat ahead of us bumps its way into the lock and we follow, also with a bit of bumping because it's windy. We pass through without further incident.

Fortunately there is still plenty of room at the mooring point in Malestroit, so the boat ahead of us which keeps doing its approach to a mooring in reverse (why??!) has room for its peculiar manoeuvres. We tuck ourselves in between two other boats, so that we're a safe distance away. I am getting expert at using a boat hook to catch on to mooring rings that lie almost flat on the jetty, in about a foot from the edge.

After all that excitement we take a break until it's time to go ashore to eat. When we do we find that not much is open on a Monday, but the restaurant where we ate last time is, so after another walk around the town we eat there again. We enjoy chats with the other diners in a mixture of languages, fortunately their English is better than our French. It all starts with saying hello to a brown border collie with the most pleading eyes which is at the adjoining table. On the other side we have a restaurateuse (is that a word?) and husband who are holidaying on their own boat, taking a break from running a restaurant called La Flambée in Sablé-sur-Sarthe. Much discussion of boating on the Mayenne and the Sarthe. Replete with lovely French food again, time to call it a night.

Views of Malestroit