Cruising through the locks on the Lot river

ecluse, lock

As far as summer jobs go, growing up in France, being a lock keeper was my favourite. I was an ‘éclusier’ or lock keeper for several summers in Champagne, France, assisting barges through the middle of Champagne’s vineyards in Tours sur Marne and Mareuil sur Ay. A lock keeper’s job was to ensure smooth travelling of barges and the upkeep of its surroundings. Some ecluse are beautifully kept and sometimes the eclusier would sell fresh vegetables or fruits to barge owners or tourists going through the locks. The very large commercial locks are all automated now, however the smaller tourist locks on small canals or rivers, remain manual for the fun and experience of those travelling by peniche (houseboat).

When we cruised on the Lot river, they were all manual locks as there was no commercial traffic. Whether going downstream (‘avalant’ is the French technical term) or upstream (‘montant’) the process is the same, you need to close the lock and level the lock with your boat by either emptying the lock or filling it up. You use the sluice gates to do that which are handled by cranks usually located on the gates. Once done, you open the gate and move your boat inside, then close the lock, empty the lock or fill it up depending if you are going downstream or upstream respectively. Usually you release the sluice gates slowly during that process until the lock is half full or half empty to avoid having the boat rocking all over the chamber. It is highly recommended to have somebody inside the boat using a rope to control it inside the lock. Once the lock is levelled, it is time to open the gate and be on your way for more fun and more locks…

Lock, ecluse

Lock, ecluse

Opening the lock gates

Crank

Preparing the Locks

Cockpit

Ecluses, lock

Towpath

house on the Lot river

house on the Lot river

Cruising on the Lot river

house on the Lot river

Village by the river

Village by the Lot river

Jour de marché in Cahors

Valentre Bridge

Cahors is a medieval town situated on the banks of the Lot river and is the capital of the Lot département with about 20,000 inhabitants. Cahors was part of the Pilgrimage of St Jacques-de-Compostelle.

We cruised with our péniche (houseboat) on the Lot river and moored it in the centre of town, passing under the fortified Valentré bridge, a UNESCO World Heritage site, built-in the 14th century and visited the cathedral of Saint-Etienne also listed as a UNESCO World heritage site.

At the gates of the beautiful Saint-Etienne cathedral also a UNESCO World heritage site, twice weekly, you can find on Wednesdays and Saturdays the beautiful local market selling incredible local produce such as Rocamadour cheeses, foie gras, duck magrets and of course Cahors wine. Cahors is well-known for its ‘black’ wine which is a blend of 70% Malbec and 30% Merlot. A powerful red, it marries perfectly with the rich local South West food.

Cahors

Mediaval Cahors

Cahors

Church Cahors

Cahors market

Cahors, church, eglise

cahors marche, market

Church Cahors, église

Cahors

Cahors

Valentre Bridge

Room with a View – Péniche on Lot River in the South West of France

View from Saint Cirq Lapopie

The Lot valley is a beautiful part of France South West in the Midi-Pyrennées region, the Lot takes its name from the snaking river crossing the département (region). The Lot river is bordered by very steep cliffs, plateaux, vineyards, medieval villages, castles and churches. The Lot region is famous for its gastronomy: the foie gras, duck magrets, Cahors wine, cheeses which can be bought in the village markets.

Cruising the canals and rivers of France on a péniche (houseboat) is a wonderful way of discovering France’s rich and diverse countryside. Every year, growing up, my family would hire a péniche in Spring and we would stroll through a canal or a river for a week in different regions of France. France has an amazing network of canals and rivers that are now being almost exclusively geared towards tourism.

As a child, I remember being overwhelmed by the size of the barges compared to our little péniche, we would cross ways or sharing a lock with commercial barges rushing to get their dry goods delivered and speeding through the locks while we were leisurely cruising. I used to love going through the locks opening and closing the gates, filling or emptying the lock to go up or down depending if you were going downstream or upstream (‘avalant’ or ‘montant’ are the French technical terms).

We started off in Luzech to pick up our Péniche and traveled to Larganol, cruising through Cahors and Saint Cirq Lapopie. Life on the péniche is very simple, you basically eat, sleep and cruise on the Péniche. We loaded all our gear on board: food, barbecue as well as our bikes onto the Péniche, so we could go shopping in the nearby village or sometimes ride along the canal towpath. Near the Ganil ecluse (lock) the canal towpath (Chemin de Halage) was carved out of the cliff back in 1845 to let horses go and pull barges. One section of the limestone cliff has been sculpted by Daniel Monnier. You can also swim in the river, near Saint Cirq Lapopie on hot days.

While cruising, you alternate going through towns, small villages, remote areas and going through locks after locks, 31 in total. We moored somewhere different every night on the bank of the canal and cooked the food we bought that morning at the markets. Make sure to check the jour de marché for each town or village, in Cahors the marché is on on Wednesday and Saturdays.

Near Cahors, you can stop by and moor your peniche at the vineyard for wine degustation and buy some ‘Cahors’ wine which marries perfectly with the duck confit that is available everywhere in the region also known as the ‘duck country’.

Peniche docked

Cruising on the Lot river

Cruising in the South West

Cruising on the Lot river

Peniche docked on the river bank

Cruising in the South West

Church perched on a cliff

ecluse, lock

ecluse, lock

ecluse, lock

Carved out Towpath

towpath, chemin de halage

towpath, chemin de halage

Cruising along the cliff

Cruising on the Lot river

Cliff by the river

South West cruising

Swimming in the river