Pont Royal to Tonnerre

Having bid a fond farewell to Cordelia we decided to try and get a move on and get to Montbard a distance of 39km, with 49 locks!

Our first day was to Marigny Le Cahouet and 13 locks.  This is a pleasant little country stop where we caught up with a delightful English couple, Mike and Gill on Carolyn.  When we arrived they served us coffee and home made cake on a lovely picnic table under the tree - ah - just what you need after 13 locks - after dinner this of course was followed by a few glasses of wine and a quick game of Mexican Train. Then we collapsed into bed.

The next day 19 locks all very close together. This was handled by a team of 5 lock keepers on the little motorbikes, with them leapfrogging the locks so that all were open as we approached...a very busy day for lock keepers and crew as often then locks were just 100 metres apart...we think the boys were as glad to see the end of us as we were them! We pulled into Pouillenay once a very busy hire boat centre but these days almost deserted...no one came to collect our fees, a very quiet rural stop now. 

Then onto Venarey les  Laumes and only 9 locks - at a small village.Here we saw the hotel barge Colibri, run by a young Aussie couple...we first saw them down on the midi last year, and since we have been on the Bourgogne Canal we keep passing them...which means that the keep passing up. Fortunately they prefer to moor outside the towns as they would fill most of the small quays along this canal.

Finally a quiet day with just  7 locks.  And just to keep things interesting as we pulled into a lock we saw the young male lock keeper take off his T-shirt and wring it out, with his 2 girl lockkeepers falling about with laughter.  Apparently whilst waiting for us to arrive he was walking along the side of the lock sending a text message...and yes you guessed it....he fell in.So we stopped in the lock for an early lunch whilst he went home to get dry clothes and another cell phone. Lunch finished, the freshly clothed lockeeper came back on duty and into Montbard.  This is the central town for this large farming community, all very prosperous, many huge farms along the canal. We have a nice mooring alongside the quay with electricity.  We were quite tired after all our locks so decided to spend three nights recovering. Although the locks are all going down, and are quite easy, it is non stop action with so many so close together.   We caught up with our washing and restocked the barge from the supermarkets....it had been days since we were able to get fresh bread. 

The famous Abbey de Fontennay is only a few km's away so we caught a taxi and spent a couple of hours wandering around the Abbey and its grounds.  It is a lovely 12th century series of buildings set  in beautiful countryside.  It has been magnificently restored, and the Abbey and grounds are immaculate.  It has a very old forge with the first water powered hammer to break up the iron. ...this has been recreated by a group of students from many schools throughout Europe....they have done a terrific job, complete with a minature electric model so one can understand just how it all worked....amazing that the monks had this technology so long ago.  Then back into town with a simple dinner out at the Hotel de Gare...and we watched with amusement as dozens of cars rushed up to the station at 9pm to meet passengers off the incoming trains from Paris and Dijon...both arrived at about the same time, so it was all action...then nothing....just freight trains through the night.

Lyn and Steve arrive in early September, so we decided to pick them up at Tonnere and take them to Briennon, near the end of the Canal du Burgogne. So we have some time up our sleeves so can have a few stop overs on the way.

Our first port was Ravieres a nice mooring in a tiny village where we had a super, but very rich meal at a restaurant near the port.  Then on to Ancy Le Franc for a couple of nights, where we visited the famous chateau.

Our next Port was Tanlay, where we also had a nice mooring and spent a few days there.  A tiny village with a 16th century chateau in the centre of the village - this was one of the nicest we have seen and was lived in until the 70's.

Then finally onto Tonnere where again we have a lovely mooring and will take the opportunity to restock the boat not having seen a supermarket since Montbard which was quite some time ago. We will pick up Steve and Lyn from the station here on Tuesday.

Cordelias visit - Pont d'Ouche to Pont Royal

Cordelia came over by Eurail from London and arrived in Dijon about lunchtime.  As the Pont D'ouche bus did not leave until evening Andrew went into Dijon to meet her. A nice day was had by all with a lovely lunch at the market (see the pic of the lovely chocolate and banana tart - which was very light and just beautiful) , and a trip around town on the free Navette bus, followed by a trip to Toison D'Or shopping centre - which has it's own indoor swimming centre.

Back at the barge we spent the Sunday morning relaxing before heading North after a lunch of Bryony's poulet Roti stuffed in a baguette.   Then off to Vandenesse.

After a dozen or so locks we moored up in Vandenesse alongside the quay where the village was having a dance for the older folk of the village - the previous night they had fireworks and a dance for the young 'uns which had apparently gone on till the early hours - just as well we weren't there as the tent was alongside the quay where we were moored!  So after being entertained  by accordion music [edit by Rosie: "entertained" - they lost me when the accordion version of Cotton Eye Joe was played] and having sausages in baguettes from the buffet we turned in for the night. Right on queue the music stopped and the oldies staggered home at 10pm.

There was a really nice wine cave so we bought some good Burgundy reds and some strawberry liqueur to go over our ice cream - yum!

The next day we headed off to Escommes through the rain (this led to the discovery that the expensive waterproof trousers purchased in Melbourne were NOT, in fact waterproof...Laurel was soaked to the skin under the expanse of so-called waterproof fabric) [edit by Rosie: this also led to the discovery that my improvised gladwrap leggings were, in fact, more watertight - take that Kathmandu!] - it poured the whole way.

We felt sorry for the lockeepers as they had to simply stand there to push levers in the pouring rain. The system means that you have to moor in Escommes and speak to the VNF guy who gives you a  sheet of instructions for the tunnel, makes sure that you have life jackets and a spot light and a hand held radio for the trip through the tunnel. We arrived in Escommes at about 12 and Andrew understood the VNF to say that we would go through the tunnel at 3. All good. So we prepared lunch while Andrew took a look around the port. Suddenly the hand held radio spouted French, my very English reply then elicited the response that we were 'to go through now' Oops. Andrew and Cordelia dashed onto to deck to tackle the removal of the wheelhouse (shame, Laurel is just to short and too weak...shame) - fortunately it had stopped raining. The railings on the deck had to come down as well and the VNF guys drove over to see why we were delaying our entry. One look at Cordelia and Andrew struggling made them leave quietly. At 1 o'clock we entered the tunnel after going through a 1km very narrow cutting.

The 3.3km tunnel is quite magical as there are lights about every 50 metres which creates a pretty band of light heading into the distance (think the Willy Wonka tunnel, with less colour).  We came through without hitting the sides (quite an achievement as it is not a lot wider than the barge) after a one hour trip which amazingly is exactly the timing allowed by the VNF.

And we were delighted to see that there was a good mooring for us on the quay at Pouilly en Auxois. The first job was to put our wheelhouse and railings back up before it rained again (not a job for Bram when he comes to visit - as there are spiders a-plenty!). This was another nice mooring with power and water and a supermarket only a few hundred yards away.

We spent the next day recovering from our tunnel trip and restocked the barge - in this part of the world never waste an available supermarket! [edit by Rosie: this trip included the ground breaking discovery of "Ovalmaltine Crunchy" which is the Ovaltine version of Nutella - heaven! Edited by Laurel...this is a direct response to me banning super sugary spreads when the children were tots] ]

On the Wednesday we got a taxi and headed off to the very pretty little village of Chateauneuf en Auxois.  We celebrated with a lovely lunch at a pretty little restaurant - including steaks with a basket full of Dijon-style mustards, Rosie-heaven!  We did a trip around the Chateau - the earliest part was built in the 12th century, and there were a lot of tourists there. A clever idea was to have all the visiting children don costumes and learn how to swordfight with miniature shields and swords...they also got to try archery...it made for an excellent visit for children who must get bored to bits by yet another castle/church/chateau. [edit by Rosie: Mother was so enamored with said swords and shields that when I suggested we "borrow" some to take some funny photos, she instead attacked me. Mindy and Bram will remember the years of tuteledge we received as children from Mum, who likes to "fake" you with one hand to create a distraction and then jabs you with the other. This lesson was still just as hard to learn as an adult, with Mum stabbing me with hard, wooden sword.]

The next day we set off for Pont Royal - (our stops were selected because they had bus stops and Cordelia will go home from there). Cordelia filmed us leaving Pouilly and then biked up part of the canal.

After a string of 10 locks in a few km's we then had a long 12km stretch without a lock - about the only big stretch on the whole canal.   This is a very pretty mooring with power and water (so different from the canal du midi where we did not have power or water for months) .But....there was barely enough room for us on the quay, a kind couple in the bumper boat next to us moved up a few feet and with Cordelia and Laurel ashore with the ropes we were able to moor with just a enough room. And were we glad we got here early as another boat arrived about 4pm and had to perch on the quay in a very strange position.

On the Thursday we caught the bus into Semur en Auxois a lovely walled town built on a hill with a small village outside the ramparts. We wandered around the town and then caught a tourist train which gave us a guided tour -  we sat in the back not a good idea as the carriage bounced around like a fairground ride across the cobbles, and nearly threw us out when we went round a corner!

 Then back to Pont Royal for the night.  After lunch the next day Cordlia caught the Transco bus to Dijon, then a train to Paris, and a BA flight to London - the the tube home - and she went out that night!

Canal de Bourgogne - Dijon heading North

After a fairly straight run to Dijon we enter the more scenic parts of the canal de Bourgogne.  Most of the first part is through the Ouche valley (a small river that parallels the canal most of the way) to the summit near the 3km long Pouilly tunnel.

The valley is very wooded with small villages dotted along the way - most don't even run to a shop! Just as well we stocked up in Dijon.

There are lots of locks but they are quite easy and in a typical day we did about 12 locks and about 12 km - with of course the mandatory stop for lunch when the locks close. The interesting thing is that there are so few boats on the canal....some days we saw just 2 or 3 others, plus 1 or 2 of the big hotel barges. It makes it hard to understand the economics of the waterways...each lock has at least one and often 2 lock keepers who then move up the canal with you, each set covering 4 to 5 locks.

Our favourites were "the ladies who lock" [see photo] one in particular turned smoking into an art form, never letting her mouth be without a fag, she even managed a great Australian outback tradition...talking with a cigarette hanging on her lip...fascinating. I counted 5 cigarettes in one lock change...it took about about 15 minutes from start to finish, so i think she was having a new fag every 3 mins...that's impressive!

As each set of eclusiers looks after 3 or 4 locks they whizz between them on little scooters - hopefully all ready to meet us at the next lock.

We did three fairly busy days, stopping at Velars sur Ouche, notable because they were building new homes along the canal,  houses so small that I think they must have been less than 9 squares. Then on to Gisey sur Ouche , a tiny village but absolutely beautiful with the Ouche running gently beside the canal....  it really was picture postcard territory. Here was moored one of the huge hotel barges, this one specialising in tours of the famous wineries, these stops often including a vintner who comes aboard with his best wines to share with the meal. But we noticed that they were up and off in their mini bus by 8.30am the next morning...another hard day at Nuit St.George no doubt....we thought it looked ideal for the Park Orchards drinks crowd...a mere 7000 euros head for the top tour [yes that does include all meals and the very best wines...start saving now guys]

And so to Pont d'ouche. We are moored beside a stone wall with a lovely grassy verge...we spent yesterday on our sun lounges basking. Once again there are very few other boats around, we are currently the only fee paying [and that a mere six euros a night including water and electricity] barge here.

Cordelia is joining us on the 14th of August for a week and we thought it would be interesting for her to go through the Pouilly tunnel.  As this area is very rural we have to make sure that we find a town with a bus stop at each end of her trip - so after much research we have decided to meet her at Pont D'Ouche and drop her off at Pont Royal both of which are serviced by a rural bus service - the princely sum of 1.50 euro to Dijon! 

So we are spending a week here at Pont D'Ouche -The port is run by Bryony who is English and runs a small shop and snack bar - so we get bread each morning - can't have a baguette free day!  The village runs to about 20 houses and a little Auberge and Bar.  We had a lovely dinner there on our first night.   Both are suprisingly busy, as there are many cyclists and tourists who make a stop here. Just a shame that more boats are not on the canal this year.

  55 locks down only 134 to go!

We took advantage of the rural bus service and did a trip into Dijon - did a bit of restocking - but most importantly got some extra cable for a satellite dish.  Satellite signals do not go through trees - and you would be amazed at how many times we have moored up and had a tree between us and the satellite . The dish is normally mounted on the rail at the front of the boat - so I have bought 60m of cable so we can move the dish off the boat - ah luxury TV again!