Craning twice...
MS Blue Berry is in company for craning out with Ma Poule, a futreau from Cosne-sur-Loire, and One Voice, my friend Reynald Ducout's 1.7tonne boat which he's sculled from his home near Joigny to Briare in just nine days. 200k with only muscle power is quite a performance, though Reynald, President of the Godilleurs de France, is no novice.
The crane drivers appear and the trailer to transport the boat is on time. But the lorry driver is surprised: he got the job the evening before with instructions to go to Briare and pick up a 30m boat for the Orléans festival. No reconnoitering has been done. As for the boat, the driver had logically expected a Loire boat with a sloping bow that he planned to place over the swan's neck of his trailer. The bow of the Blue Berry is rather bluff.
Before the boat is placed on the trailer, the driver goes off to check his exit route and has to face facts: one way there is a bridge limited to 3.5tonnes and the other way is a crossroads. To negotiate that, it would suffice to knock down one or two houses - only possible should one be called either Louis XIV or Sarkozy! In short, the lorry is sent packing. MS Blue Berry, lifted for sufficient time for the crane to clock a weight of 40 tonnes, goes straight back in the water. Jeff Wagner, EVT co-ordinator for all the operations concerning boats, is visibly put out and sets off with the driver to try and find another place for craning out. The next morning they decide on Saint-Satur, at the foot of Sancerre, and we retrace our steps for 40k on the Canal Lateral à la Loire.
After a relaxed voyage at the speed of a snail moving house, MS Blue Berry moors up outside the Saint-Satur silos on Thursday evening. The first team of crane operators arrive at 11am, as programmed for this rainy Friday, with the crane lorry and the trailer carrying the counterweights - up to 15tonnes - necessary for stabilizing the crane. Together, we set up this impressive machine, which can lift up to 100tonnes. After lunch at Saint-Satur, the second team arrives with Jeff. Without undue haste, but without hanging about either, the blokes set up the second crane, fix the lifting straps and rapidly haul the boat out of the water to place it on the trailer which has arrived between times. Very professional. These blokes work to the nearest centimeter, real artists, with Jeff as their conductor. Of course I was freaked out but what can you do but put yourself in their capable hands? By 5pm, Blue Berry is on the road for the first time in its life, knocking over a road sign at the first crossroads. The long trailer is equipped with directional back wheels radio-controlled from the vehicle following in convoy. I daren't imagine the cost of such a gadget compared with the few dozen litres of fuel required for the voyage on a Canal d'Orléans opened from end to end...

At last, Orléans!
We get to Orleacuteans by car. Jeff, his mobile glued to his left ear, gets calls updating him on the ups and downs of one convoy or another transporting a boat. Arriving late afternoon, I get to know the EVT team: Tristan, "Plug", Mick, Nadège, Bruno and Sylvain, who are in charge of security, and Bertrand and Nathalie who have the restaurant "Le Girouet"" on the quay decorated completely "marine de Loire". During a break on the deck of L'Inexplosible, Jeff gets a call and turns very pale: the convoy is halted at Gien because the rear wheel hydraulics aren't working. It must be said that a traffic roundabout salesman has made a fortune and the hydraulics in question have been overworked in consequence. An hour later, Jeff is back to normal: the hydraulics are repaired and the convoy has set off again. I congratulate them in my mind, real pros and nice ones too. By 9pm night is already falling and we make out from afar the rotating lights of the convoy under Thinat bridge. The cranes have been in place for a long time and the sight of the little boat arriving with the night is really impressive. Everything falls into place promptly, the blokes get busy, and with the same dexterity as at Saint-Satur, they return MS Blue Berry delicately to its element. Jeff breathes again. The three acts (crane, transport, crane) have gone well. Hats off, men...

Just before the festival
The morning of Saturday 17th is taken up with plugging into mains electricity and filling the water tank, which is a chance to meet the three port captains, Christophe, Jean and Jean-Paul. That afternoon I take the train to Vierzon to present a conference on the Canal de Berry. Back at Orléans, bed calls and I slip into it happily, worn out by the emotions of the last few days. Sunday is dedicated first to making the MS Blue Berry presentable and welcoming, putting back the safety rails and their geraniums and hanging out the flag. Then I carry on works in the living space necessitated by last year's sinking mishaps. Building several shelves on the starboard side doesn't take long but transferring some books to them gives the boat a small, but not very aesthetic, list to port!

The troubled gabare
By Monday evening works are well advanced so I take a relaxing stroll on the quay to admire the numerous boats already gathered. After a spin on the Loire on board Inexplosible no.22, I come across Pascal-Carole, the mythical gabare built more than 20 years ago at Saumur by Jacques Robin, nick-named "Vent de Travers" (crosswind). This poor boat, worn out and under-maintained by the association, which currently owns it, is reaching the end of its life despite palliative care given by Jean-Marc Benoit or "Bibi". A shipwright and notable person in Loire boating circles, he remade its back deck last year. A serious leak towards the stern has already let in several tonnes of water, the pumps are dead, and the motor pump lent to the association by Bruno obstinately refuses to start, which doesn't make him happy: it has been drowned. Another smaller motor pump is the only one working, until that too breaks down. I offer my electric pump, which is put to work till the next morning close to Jeff who gets only two hours sleep that night. No one responsible for the boat is present but the Pascal-Carole floats again. This will be its last festival. A sad end to the story of a boat which in the nineties was a flower of the reborn Loire marine...

Music on board...
During the festival, the deck of the Blue Berry becomes a stage, welcoming groups of musicians. Z'Embruns d'Comptoir perform traditional sailors' songs. Armstrong's Patent are a Dutch male voice quintet whose songs of the sea are unanimously appreciated. Coming from a boating culture going back thousands of years, they are delighted to find themselves on a genuine old French transport barge. Realta, a young trio playing Celtic music, is also a delightful group. Blackberry's Mister Boo-Hoo play the blues, and the free-jazz fanfare of Grosse Couture wear costumes they make themselves which are like their music: gaudy, improvised, and free while very elegant. Rhum et Eau, from Lorient, play music of traditional inspiration passed through the mill of humour à la Gotlib. Their version of Prisons de Nantes, in which Guillaume imitates Johnny, Eddy, Bruel, Christiani and even Piaf, just has to be heard. A great rapport is established between performers and audience and the next day we go as far as taking part in their gags. On Sunday, the Fis d'Galarne, from Gien, arrive in force: 15 singers and musicians who have a job to squeeze on to the Blue Berry's 12m2 terrace. Toue Sabord, four girls and five lads (almost equality), are multi-instrumentalists with a traditional repertoire given vigorous treatment.

The guests
The Dutch are guests of honour and present a pretty fleet of boiers, so highly varnished you can admire yourself in the shine, and zalmschouwen, which have sailed down the Loire from Briare guided by Bibi, who knows the river like the back of his hand. On the quay, the friendly Dutchmen offer produce from home, notably gouda cheese and smoked fish, and show off their boat building skills. The Polish are also present with Wanda, replica of a Czerk boat. A bacôve has come from the marshlands of St Omer, loaded with vegetables and fruit from Clairmarais. Normandy is represented by its pride and joy, the Fière, a gabare from the Vire built to half scale, which keeps company with little goguets from the marshlands of Bessin and Cotentin and a picoteux from the lower Seine. The Canal du Midi is also represented with a beautiful copy of a post boat, a coche d'eau from the early 19th century.


Gabare de Cotentin in the canal basin

Alongside these traditional boats there are also beautiful wooden canoes from all epochs of the 20th century, innovative or out of the ordinary boats like the solar-powered Basilisk, a little pedal-powered boat, paper kayaks, or the OFNI 59, an amphibious vehicle conceived 50 years ago and based on parts of a Deux Chevaux.
The evening meal is at the "Taverne des Mariniers". Reynald, our crazy godilleur is there, as well as Alain, president of the Ligéries de Decize, who has come with the gabare Nivernaise, and Jean-Michel from Blois, known as "Grand Planeur" - big dreamer - who is a feature of the festival. His idea is to apply to navigating the Loire techniques inspired by foreign countries and thus impart an educational message.

The canal, the Loire and... locking the Swiss cuckoo clock way
The canal is perched at least 5m above the Loire. One can see the manoeuvres of boats below, some adventuring as far as the vein of water under the Thinat bridge. It is true happiness to see on the Loire boats like the Val de Vienne, Fleur de Pontille, Nonchalante, Dame Tranquille, or the brand new Enfant Castor that Bibi has completed just in time. Saviboat's little electric boats float around on the canal along with the Anco, also electric-powered, which belongs to the association of that name which is campaigning for the reopening of the canal d'Orléans and takes passengers out for a trip as far as the Cabinet Vert bridge, 800m away. All means are good for discovering the interest and pleasure of canal navigation.

The restored canal hugging the bank of the Loire
© Laurent Pitot

Another way is to show locking through for real. That was Blue Berry's role. Every afternoon it had to go down the lock and then come back up in time to welcome the next group with the sound system ready to go. It must be a long time since this lock, inaugurated in 1921 and abandoned in 1954, has seen such a boat pass between its gates. The first time we went down with our Normandy friends on the Fière, who were clearly not accustomed to Freycinet locks, with a Loire flatter manoeuvred with a perch pole, and with our friend "Grand Planeur" and his little Futé with oars.

It is absolutely essential that this lock is equipped with bollards for the next festival. It has none at all. This is not to pretty things up. It is a question of safety. The lock's badly-conceived automation system must also be rethought.
Once at the bottom of the lock, we leave it to line up alongside the finger which separates the lock channel from the Loire, so as to leave as much room as possible for the Fière which, at 2.6m, is as wide as us. When all the other boats are out of the lock, we go back up the lock - in reverse. There is just no question of taking the MS Blue Berry out on to the Loire. The water level is too low and we would certainly run aground. Better a modest demonstration than a full-blown display that could turn to farce. An hour and a half later, we are moored up, and reconnected for the next group. Blue Berry's first outing onto the Loire, however timid and reminiscent of a Swiss cuckoo clock, does not pass unnoticed.

L'Inexplosible 22
Every day kicks off with a half-hour navigation demonstration by the Inexplosible 22, perfectly handled by Bruno. The possibilities for this type of boat on the Loire are extraordinary and one can only regret that these magnificent craft had such a short life, from only 1840-1860, before being superannuated by the railway. It is also a real pleasure to see this boat, rebuilt in 2007, really moving. Until now it has scarcely moved from a pontoon. Its old owner was happy to use it as a bar. Contrary to its 21 steam-powered ancestors, our Inex is equipped with a diesel engine, which powers the hydraulic pumps, one for each paddle wheel. It is in playing with the power supplied to each of these pumps that Bruno can turn the boat in its own length in scarcely 40cm of water.

On board the Inex I present an illustrated talk on the canal d'Orléans, a chance to reiterate once again my lament about painfully slow restoration and the success the canal is assured once it opens.
On the way back home, we take the time to visit all the stands lining the quay. There are artisans, associations, publishers, educational establishments, and, of course, bars and restaurants. One can dally for hours.

Carillon céleste
We jump into our canoe to admire the show on Friday evening. We can see it in the distance as we go downstream on the Loire. Once in situ on the river, we enjoy a ringside view of an enchanting aerial fairytale. A tubular structure, like a lotus flower or a flying saucer, illuminated by a thousand light bulbs, is suspended 30m in the air from a crane. Drummers set on different levels around the structure beat out crystalline music. Below them trapeze artists dressed in white dance gracefully. This is really beautiful. The Transe Express company have named their astonishing aerial ballet performance "Maudits sonnants, carillon céleste."

Fireworks seen from the canoe
The next morning Benoit Canu gives a very interesting talk about the marshlands of the Cotentin and Bessin on board Inex. The big event that evening is the firework display which we want to see from the river, as we did in 2009. Back to the canoe, joining our friends from Savonnières on the Dame Périnelle. How lucky we are to be there in the heart of the event rather than in the midst of the crowd on the quays. The day finishes with a shower of multi-coloured exploding stars spangling the sky over Orléans

The boat parade
Sunday begins badly. Jeff tells us we won't be craned out tomorrow. At the earliest Thursday. That screws up our plans to go to St Mammès...
During the morning, two magnificent Ardennais horses do a brilliant, if brief, demonstration of hauling a train of boats with Alain Lacroix's famous "Bar à Quai" in the lead. 70m long, weight 30 tonnes. The demonstration lasts less than a minute but it's clear that for these two powerful horses, shifting 30 tonnes, even against the current and for less than 200m, is a piece of cake they carry out almost at a trot.
The finale boat parade takes place without amplified commentary because priority is given to the immediate scene. A bit of a shame really. But the parade goes well enough, if it wasn't for a sailing boat which has nothing to do with the Loire and which does just as it pleases, navigating in the opposite direction at full speed and standing into danger other boats, especially the little wooden canoes.

The "après" festival
The festival closes at 6pm. Stands empty and are packed away. The lightest boats leave on trailers or roof racks. Boats to use the slipway come up the lock to be lifted onto trailers. There is a mini-parade in the canal basin where the futreaux have to slalom between the last Saviboats which are still doing trips. On the Loire, Alain Lecroix's train of boats unfurl their sails to moor up along the "dhuis" where, throughout the festival, many boatmen have set up a tent village far from the bustle on the quays.
Hoel, from Bréhement, another Loire character even though he's young, drops in. A boat enthusiast who has never seen a berrichon and doesn't want to miss the chance. His curiosity satisfied, he bids us adieu and goes back to work dismantling. We join Guillaume, Patrick and Vincent of Rhum et Eau for a last farewell on the quay. They have to return to Lorient that evening. A last supper is offered to boatmen at the Girouet and night falls as the quays empty.

Blue Berry's return
On Monday the first boats fly through the air on the end of a crane to be placed on trailers. The flight of the Wanda is the most spectacular, as the boat has to be almost laid on one side on the lorry taking it back to Poland. There is one last lock-up for the tow boats which will spend the winter in the canal basin. Our crane out, pushed back to Thursday, gives us the chance to take our time getting Blue Berry ready for it and to enjoy ourselves.
Blue Berry is hauled out of the water on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning the crane driver, Eric, picks us up from a friend's house and in his lorry we cross the Sologne in the early hours of the morning to reach Saint-Satur. The crane is waiting, as is Blue Berry on its trailer. Getting into the village was no trouble at all... in reverse. Jeff arrives, looking worn. Despite his tiredness, he supervises to the end. The second crane arrives. There is no hanging about and at 11.40am precisely the Blue Berry is back in its element. All of which could have been avoided if the Canal d'Orléans... but you know that story.
Congratulations and farewells. Less than an hour later we are away. Ménétréol, 2k away, with its restaurants and nice moorings beckons more than the silos of Saint-Satur for our first stop. An aperitif with our lock-keeper friends, Nicole and Philippe and their daughter Coralie, is the lead up to an excellent mussels and chips ordered from the nearby restaurant. This time, the 2011 Festival du Loire adventure has ended well. Six days later, we are back at our "Ségusiavie" and we get ready for a calm and relaxing winter with our heads full of images and music. Thanks to Nadège and Jeff, and to all those who made this incredible adventure such a success.

Finally, a serious appeal to the Conseillers Généraux of the Loiret: You have no idea how successful the Canal d'Orléans could be and what a top quality draw it would be for tourists. So HURRY UP: YOU WILL BE SURPRISED!

Charles Berg

© Charles Berg/Inland Waterways International - 2004-2011 All Rights Reserved

Updated : Saturday, November 5th, 2011