Although we had come to the end of the Canal du Nivernais, we had more canal walking tp do.
From Decize we followed the Lateral Canal of the Loire for two days, and would have continued for another day except that all our plans fell into disarray. when Keith’s lower right leg suddenly swelled up like a poisonous toad and became red and painful.
On top of that we both had a monumental crop of blisters from pushing through the mud and the long wet grass of the towpaths for the past week.
At this point we decided to give up walking altogether for this year.
After a miserable night in the camping ground of Diou, with constant rain and no dinner, we caught the morning bus to Digoin and spent two glorious days there, eating and sleeping.
We then moved by train to the handsome town of Moulins for two more delightful days, before going on, again by train, to Nevers.
The next morning Keith realised that his swollen leg had quietly gone down over the last few days and that he could contemplate walking again.
So we got a train to St-Julien-en-Genevois, a few kilometres from Geneva, and resumed our planned walk.
We had skipped about a week of our itinerary, so we now had plenty of time to get to our final destination of le Puy.
Day 6: Decize to Gannay-sur-Loire
Day 7: Gannay-sur-Loire to Diou
Changing plans: Diou to St-Julien-en-Genevois