French River Day6

Saturday 

At last! A bright sunny day.

We spent a large part of the morning shopping and wandering around Château-Gontier.  We moved off from the mooring at 10.55.

Lock 34 - le Pendu  at 11.15.

Lock 35 - la Bavouze at 11.50.

Lock 36 - Ménil at 12.15.  There are a lot more boats about than we've seen up to now.

We moored at 12.50 just above lock 37 at Fourmusson, went off to stretch our legs and then lunched on board.

Lock 37 - Fourmusson at 14.25.

Lock 38 - la Jaille-Yvon.  The mill here is a modern(?) mill, built in 1868 at the same time as the lock.  In it's heyday it had two wheels and eight pairs of grind stones. A diesel engine was installed in 1936 and the mill continued to operate until 1972.  It has now been converted to a holiday home.

Lock 39  - Chenillé-Changé

The log is hazy about timings this afternoon it does note that it was warm enough to change into shorts!  After coming out of the lock we crossed over to the East bank and moored alongside the mill.          

This mill is still in working order and was open . 

Le Moulin a eau de Chenillé-Changé is several centuries old and after the Revolution had three wheels.  At the beginning of the 20th century following a fire which destroyed a major part, the owner rebuilt adding the square tower .  It appears that he got the idea from Italy.  There is a little guide book to help you on your tour of the mill (in French).

Looking across to the "little" mill at the other end of the weir.   

After the mill we went to look round the very pretty village and it's 11th century church.

Views of village and little hill.           

There is a hire boat base here.  Their web site: - http://www.maine-anjou-rivieres.com/uk_version/index.html

Returning to the boat we moved a short way downstream to

 the public moorings for the night    

and were treated to a splendid sunset.