A sluice gate in Sologne – Une vanne en Sologne

Sologne is full of marshland and ponds. Dykes have been added along with sluice gates to fill and empty ponds as needed. The second photo shows a dried pond. La Sologne est pleine de marais et d’étangs. On a rajouté des digues et des vannes pour remplir et vider les étangs au besoin. La deuxième …

Highwater Steps – Escalier de crues

My friend Stuart from Amboise Daily Photo has often published photos of highwater markers. These steps are on the Vienne side of the Loire in Blois. They start at 2 metres and end at 7 metres. Mon ami Stuart de Amboise Daily Photo publie souvent des photos des indicateurs de crue. Cet escalier se trouve sur …

A Water MIll in Chouzy – Un moulin à eau à Chouzy

Built on the Cisse, the village of Chouzy-sur-Cisse has many old watermills. I love the reflection of the window in the right-hand canal and the little coloured flower pots. Etant construit sur la Cisse, le village de Chouzy-sur-Cisse  a de nombreux anciens moulins. J’aime bien la réflexion de la fenêtre dans le canal de droite …

Postcard from Germany: Denis Papin in Hann Münden

I’ve been looking for connections between Blois and Germany since we arrived here three weeks ago on our cycling holiday. Imagine my delight when I discovered, quite by accident, that Blois’ very own Denis Papin, the inventor, built a steam-pump powered paddlewheel boat, probably pedal-driven in 1704, and as a demonstration, used his steam paddlewheeler …

Postcard from Germany: High Water – Crue

For the next month we’ll be cycling in Germany so instead of photos of Blois, Loire and chateaux I’ll be posting photos of Germany that have some sort of connection to the Loire Valley. Like the Loire, the Moselle is subject to flooding. Pendant un mois nous serons en Allemagne en train de faire du …