Navigating a river of history in France
Oct 1 2010 By Lawrence McCoy
Lawrence McCoy takes to the waters of the Lot in France for a peaceful cruise and some amazing discoveries.
It was hard to decide what was worse – to bump into the jetty rather hard, and see the table fly across the deck, scattering the half-empty lunchtime wine glasses (and catapulting my mobile phone into the river) – or realise that our woeful attempt to moor in a tight space was being closely watched by a smirking group of Germans, calmly enjoying the show and their sundowners from the safety of their perfectly tied-up boat.
Britannia rules the waves? Not this time. The maneouvre was a shambles, as ropes were flung aimlessly into the water and our nonchalant ‘skipper’ seemed oblivious to the fact that he’d pressed the throttle backwards instead of forwards and the current was now remorselessly sending the boat towards the overhanging trees.
Messing about on the river it certainly was, but half an hour later our floating home was finally secured on the bank, we’d earned a round of applause from our new-found German friends and it was time to break out a celebratory beer as the sun sank slowly below the yard-arm.
Mooring up was not always this eventful, but it did take a little while to get used to our 30-odd foot shiny white (and thankfully pretty robust) river cruiser as we negotiated the meandering River Lot in the south-west of France.
Our ‘voyage’ started near Douelle, an hour-and-a-half from Bergerac airport, at Le Boat, a small boatyard where we were introduced to Nautilia, our spacious, four-cabin craft. A ‘crash’ course in navigation followed, including taking on a nearby lock just to get into the swing of things. Brains swimming with the intricacies of the various batteries, switches and pumps, hatches and heads, we were ready to set off for our first destination – which just happened to be a vineyard.
This area is famous for its wine, so it seemed fitting to be pulling up to a jetty at Chateau Armendiere, near Parnac, to a genial welcome from Bernard Bouyssou who was more than happy to talk all day about the Malbec grapes which make the legendary ‘black’ Cahors wine of the region. Armed with a few samples we set off up river.
