DAY 26 - DECIZE TO GANNAY-SUR-LOIRE

A lovely stroll admiring the wildlife along the Canal Latéral à la Loire. 

As we had quite a short walk today, we had time to explore the old town of Decize before we set off. 

Exploring Decize before setting off for the day's walk - the Porte du Marquis d'Ancre

After leaving Decize we headed again for the Canal Latéral à la Loire.  No longer part of the cycling route, the towpath by the canal was a mixture of solid bitumen surface, relatively solid wheel track, and grass. It was closed to vehicular traffic and for most of the walk we had the path to ourselves.

The grass in places had been freshly cut, making for pleasant walking in spite of the rain.

We were going at quite a leisurely pace, and had plenty of time to admire the wildflowers by the canal.

There were white flowers . . .

yellow flowers . . .

more yellow flowers . . .

pink flowers . . .

purple flowers . . .

more yellow flowers . . .  Lots and lots of flowers

We were also fortunate to see a variety of animal life, including a European beaver, a headless deer (maybe not so fortunate to see that one - we conjectured that someone had kept the head as a trophy and tossed what remained in the canal), and a family of storks.

Stork on nest. We watched for a while, and saw a pair of storks feeding 3 baby storks in the nest. 

It rained all day today, and the path became increasingly overgrown as we approached Gannay-sur-Loire. 

Our feet were getting wet from wading through the overgrown, wet grass

We ended up taking to the road for the final few kilometres into town, and arrived fairly early after what had been a comfortable day's walk.

Even alongside the road there were wildflowers to add colour to the rainy day

Day:  26
Distance:  18.25km
Walking time:  3hrs 43mins
Elevation gain:  166 metres
Cumulative distance:  655.31 km