A look towards our mooring close by La Charité-sur-Loire. Not the most scenic mooring, but it shows what the canals were built for. The planes around the Loire river are planted with corn, grain, vineyards and sun-flowers. All this needed to be transported towards Paris.

We still find many silos by the canals, some are still collecting grains, others are abandoned, but transport of the merchandise has shifted to the street and so we have met only one commercial barge, although empty, on our whole trip on the Canal Lateral a la Loire.