About twenty five years ago we charted a little yacht for making a week-trip along a French channel. Imaging our amazement that suddenly, just before entering the nautical base of Digoin, we navigated over a real bridge (!) with streetlights and relaxed walking people on the footpads on both sides, while below a river proceeded his run. I think that there my interest for the live on the channels started. Indeed the bridge is a sensational piece of engineering for those days (constructed between 1834 and 1838) by a twenty-nine year old engineer. The bridge spans over the Loire with a length of 243 m, or 11 bows of 19 m, and a height of 12 m. The channel has a breadth of 6 m wide and a depth of 2,30 m. There are several of those bridges on the French channel-network, but I think that must be the longest. Like on a lot of the small French channels there is no more commercial navigation but heaps of pleasure crafts found their way to the beautiful French waters. Over the years we were passing by from time to time, so also last spring and it was a pity to see that the splendid hanging baskets have disappeared. Image size: 260 x 360 mm