What we found was an enchanting small town with lots more to offer than the bridge, although that was still worth a visit. It has now become one of our favourite towns in France. I have commented on the photos, rather than give a long intro here, so enjoy and comments welcome.
The local Hotel de Ville (town hall) - I could happlily work in a location & building like this!
The Charles de Gaulle street sign was typical of street signs we saw throughout the Loire Valley and France as a whole - providing the history of the name as well as the name itself. I thought this one would be of interest to many of you - it is the speech de Gaulle gave when he started theFrench Resistance from London in WW2.
The local cathedral - a monument to mosaic work - all the decoration inside and out is in mosaic!!! Note also the stained glass window - not your normal subject matter, rather star signs and flowers - it was really lovely.
There was a mosaic museum in Briare, which despite the best intentions, we never quite made it to, unfortunately.
Note the floor was also mosaic, representing nature and different symbols of various lords.
Now we start approaching the canals (there were several). This was one of the most beautifully floral decorated villages we visited, and there were lots of them.
There were some lovely walks along the canals, that went for several kilometers, and were quite rural despite being on the edge or even in the middle of town. One of the great things was the public board of all the local randonees available. I have included photos of this, so that you can see the detail provided and also how seriously they take their walking opportunities.
As you can see, Alan got on well with the local wildlife!!!
However, the special treat referred to was the sighting of a Beaver, by Alan. It swum across the canal and then came on sure to clean and sun itself. It put on quite a show! They are very hard to see, so we were very priveledged.
Now we come to the actual canal bridge itself - the fabulous feat of engineering in the 19th century. To build a bridge with steel that would support the weight of all the water, plus the goods and boats that were constantly on it, yet still remain perfectly horizontal , so that the water didn't flow away from the centre of the bridge, was a major feat of engineering. It is quite fascinating standing on a bridge with boats moving along the middle, while you look down at one of the largest rivers in France, and another canal below it! One of the photos gives some of the history, for those of you who can or want to zoom in.
Firstly accessing it from the lower canal, with the Loire River and flood levee alongside. Pam is on a set of steps that link the canal bridge to the river bank. There are steps like this all along the Loire - quite steep, no handrails, but okay once you start!
Now the entrance to the bridge:
On the bridge itself, and the river from the bridge:
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