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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072 |
26th January 2017 Hiking - Walking: St Victor to Vaux along the Canal de Berry Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: 5 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Wednesday 25th January – travel and walk *** Lac De Virlay – cloudy and cold :( Nice quiet night by the Loire at Beaugency, breakfast then shop before heading down through forests and frozen etangs . Mag spotted Lac de Virlay just outside St. Amand – Montrond where there were armed policeman guarding the street market in the rain last Autumn! We pulled in for cuppa soup and French bread and then decided to walk round the Lac which had a good path/cycle way with information boards. As with all the Lac in these parts it was frozen over but the River Cher was running freely which is some good news for the local wildlife! We soon saw a Black woodpecker quickly followed by a first for us a Firecrest :) It was about three miles and I even got Mag out on the pontoon for yet another jetty pic! It was getting late now so we drove the short distance to McDonalds to warm up with a Double Latte and a Cappuccino and some more free wi-fi. We wanted to check the whereabouts of the battery charger we had ordered from French Amazon and according to them it was three quarters of the way here! I added some blogs to Forces of Nature and put some pics on Facebook before heading back to park up by the Lac for the night with one other campervan nearby. Our second night for lasagne which was very yummy , Mag knitted while I played patience winning eight games in a row, a record:) Then to bed under our many quilts as the temperature dropped!!! Thursday 26th January – travel and walk **** St Victor to Vaux along the Canal de Berry – sunny It was our coldest night so far waking to minus 3 outside but glorious sunshine - we were toasty warm in the van and didn’t notice the cold until we drew the rear curtains and there was ice on the inside! The sun soon melted the ice and the wonder window hoover made light work of the windows. After porridge we left our spot and stopped at the nearby supermarket for a few supplies and diesel before continuing down. It was very beautiful, a quiet road undulating through lovely pasture land with sunny, misty hills all about, we even saw four deer close to the road. We drove down to the Canal de Berry at St Victor where we stopped for a night last year and onto Montlucon stopping by the River Cher to discuss our plans for the trip? We had to choose to head toward Limoges to our friends where the battery charger is being delivered or go down to the Volcanos near Clermont Ferrand for some skiing. It is difficult with the weather supposed to be cracking up and we like to avoid skiing at weekends. It would mean going back on ourselves a long way to get back to Limoges to collect the charger! We decided to go for a sunny walk along the river over a bridge and up to the old town on the hill in Montlucon then back to the van for bread and pate. It was too nice a day to waste driving so we decided to put off the decision about which direction to take and headed back to St Victor to park up for the night and go for a beautiful walk along the canal. It was very warm and we even had to take off our fleeces, Mag took her binoculars and we had a good birdwatching day. We were lucky to see, a Tree creeper, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Great Egret, Long Tailed Tits, Buzzard plus lots of the more common birds :) The frozen Canal had a fantastic crazed marble effect which looked great with the mistletoe trees lining the banks. We made it to the old mill, then crossing banks we continued to the next village of Vaux where the canal was filled in for a short section:( We found where it continued across an aqueduct but it was closed for repair so we turned and headed back. We walked down to the River in a couple of places seeing a good rapid with icicles. We passed a lot of dog walkers, joggers and mountain bikers enjoying the warm sunshine too. Back to the van for a well-deserved cuppa and cake:) We had covered over four miles which added to the walk in Montlucon we did well over 5 miles which helps with the calorie count as we have still got a van full of Christmas goodies including some mega Waitrose chocolate biscuits!!! Photo Gallery Here |
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