Day 5 - Montargis to Briare

Today was a day of hill repeats. The Briare Canal, which we rode along to get to the Loire River, is covered with bridges. Since we are mainly riding along the towpath, that generally means a steep, albeit short, climb to bridge level then a fun descent on the other side. But there are also scores of locks and, if you are traveling south as we are, that means a series of climbs, one at each lock, but no fun little descent follows because you are gaining elevation with each lock. 

"Écluse" is French for "lock" in the sense of a lock used to raise or lower a ship.  Rogny les Sept-Écluses is Rogny of the Seven Locks. 

Truly amazing !  It's like a staircase for barges. While still an amazing engineering feat, they are no longer in service because a barge had to travel through all seven locks (a time-consuming process) before another barge could enter the first lock. 

Construction of the seven locks at Rogny was ordered by Henry IV in 1604, and begun in 1605.  We did an extended climb getting to Rogny, and an even longer climb leaving Rogny. We're feeling strong!

We discovered when we reached Briare that the climbs were worth every pedal stroke.  Briare has a canal that serves as a bride across another canal and the majestic Loire River. 

It's the aptly named "Pont Canal," or Bridge Canal en anglais. More on that tomorrow!