Spent last night (June 8) in Gray, our farthest north port on the Saône River. Gray has a beautiful 16 century Basilica which we toured.
They also have very helpful tourist office. We headed south this morning and were attacked repeatedly by roving bands of Swans. Swan gangs. Each gang required we pay “protection” in the form of stale bread before letting us pass. This is not the France I used to know.
The local swan gang, known locally as the Crips.
We are currently moored under the watchful eye of this areas capo de capo of Swans. It will be an uncomfortable night…
Spent our second night (and Martini Night!) on the Saône at a lovely “Nature mooring” (i.e. tied up to the bank) after a record 40 Km day. We only averaged about 16 Km/day on the Canal de Burgogne because of all the locks. Locks on the river are much less frequent, we went through only three all yesterday.
Martinis on the Saone
Speaking of locks we had a bit of excitement at the first lock the morning. We were waiting to ascend the lock while two boats were descending. I hopped off the boat and walked over to help/watch when I heard some yelling. The lead boat had tied off his bow line (NEVER fix a line in a lock) and, as the water level dropped the bow of the boat begin to lift out of the water. I yelled at the gentleman to cut the rope, I yelled knife in French and English but he was too confused to hear. As the water dropped and the bow lifted higher he pulled the alarm but the level continued to drop. Finally I got his wife’s attention and got her to run to their galley and get a knife. When he cut the rope, the front of the boat fell 4-5 feet to the water with a crash. No one was hurt but the lock had to be reset by a lock keeper (there was no lock keeper present – these are self-operated locks) so we had to wait a bit.
So we were read for a nice quite picnic lunch in Mantoche…
After 17 days, 242 kilometers, 193 locks and a 3.3 kilometer long tunnel we have completed the Canal de Burgogne. The canal connects the Seine watershed with the Saone river. We went up (and down) 300 meters (nearly 1000 feet).
The last lock on the Canal de Burgogne, looking out at the Saone River.
We stopped briefly in St Jean-de-Losne (where the canal meets the Saone) for some much needed groceries (and another plant for the boat).
Stylish grocery shoppers in St Jean-de-Losne
We are currently tied up at Mailly-le-Port on the Saone with one other boat (we helped them tie up in the rain). The Saone is a big river and we entered it in a stiff 20-30 km/hr wind which made the last couple of locks very exciting (good job at the helm Richard!).
A dedicated lock rope wrangler near the end of the Canal de Burgogne
The river portion of the trip is different than the canals. You cannot tie up anywhere – it has to be at an official anchorage (no staking off anywhere you fell like) but there are a lot fewer locks so you can go much farther in a day. The river is much wider than the canal so it is possible to overtake especially slow boats. This is our first day on the Saone so we will have more to day later.
Sad to see Jackie, David and Emory leave but Richard is with us! Jackie and David had a little trouble getting to the train station because there was a fair going on at the marina ….. with rides!!! And Emory wasn’t about to pass a merry-go-round without riding it. Three times.
Saying goodbye to Jackie and Emory
And Richard Wylie showed up so we didn’t have time to get sad.
New crew ready for a hard day of cruising
Had our first real lock hiccup in Plombieres-les-Dijon after lunch…. no lock keeper. Finally called the posted number…”Parley-vous angles?”…”Non”… okay… explained that we were waiting at lock 50 and “il n’y a pas d’ecluisier..”. Waited for about an hour and they finally showed. After 171 locks this was our first real wait. And it was a Sunday, as a couple of elderly women watching at the lock explained to me.
Leaving the bucolic countryside and heading into DijonSunset over Dijon
We picked up Jackie, David and Emory at Pont d’Oche on Friday afternoon and will be depositing them in Dijon this afternoon where we plan to pick up Richard Wylie. We’ve had a lovely visit – Emory is a bast. And David turned out to be a natural any the helm freeing me up to do Capainy stuff… like nap.
David at the helm, in the rain!
Yesterday was our first rain day. We stopped for lunch in Gissey-sur-Oche after telling the lock keeper we would be at the next lock at 1:30. 1:30 found us in a lovely little restaurant eating dessert and waiting out the rain when the lock keeper, in full rain gear, dripping wet, showed up looking for us! 2:30 we promised. And it was still raining. This was our first section in the rain and it is definitely not as much fun as when the sun is out.
Rain!
We arrived in Fleurey-su-Oche around 6:00 and decided to eat on the boat rather than get even wetter. Leftover pizza and chocolate (and wine, of course). Hoping for sun today!
Bray Sur Somme moored in Fleurey-Sur-Somme
And we saw our first snake, spotted by eagle-eye Jackie. Not sure what kind.
Some excitement today. After returning from our hike up the hill to the castle at Chateauneuf we found our boat, which we had staked out quite nicely (we thought) had been re-staked. We suspected we had come loose and a passing Good Samaritan had re-staked us, using one of our umbrella stands because we clearly had lost one of our stakes. Fortunately we had a spare.
View of Chateauneuf as we hiked up.Our nicely (we thought) moored boat.
A few hours later, as we were cleaning the boat in anticipation of Jackie, David and Emory joining us tomorrow – we looked up to see a large hotel barge (it filled the windows – it was huge!) passing by. It lifted our boat at least a foot – maybe two – and we pulled out both stakes floating us sideways across the canal before we could react. Roberta jumped to the helm and started the engine while I gingerly retrieved our lines (and stakes – we did not lose either) and we re-moored. So now we know how it happens but don’t have a good solution for avoiding it in the future. At least we don’t have to worry about it happening at night – the locks are closed so no boat traffic.
On a completely unrelated topic – one of our Facebook friends, Ken Ellis, posted a link to a story about a little crushed man behind the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Church of the Jacobins. Today, at the church in Chateauneuf we saw something similar- not sure what it means.
Statue of the Virgin in the church in ChateauneufSquished man under the Virgin’s foot!
The French are casual about canal boating, which I completely agree with because it requires little skill to steer (though, a bit more to do it well). However, someone died in the Pouilly Tunnel few years back so they are more careful. We showed up at the VNF office (Voie Nautical France) at 9 a.m. and, after answering a few questions, were issued a handheld VHF and a form.
Docs and handheld VHFThe tunnel is approximately 50 feet below where I am standing.
We were instructed (in french) to call when we entered and exited the tunnel. Then we headed back to the boat to put on our life vests (required in the tunnel) and write our last will and testaments…
It was a little scary – we have never sailed underground before. For 3.3 Km which, at 5 Km/Hr, is about 45 minutes. When the boat touched the tunnel sides is was not the well fendered-up hull, but the aluminum railing, which makes a horrible screeching noise. I am particularly proud we only touched twice, with less than a foot of clearance on either side of the boat.
Heading into the tunnel …”Ici Bray Sur Somme, on entre le tunnel”View from under the street!Sailing underground! Tons of room. Tons.
After 45 minutes we saw, thankfully, the sun again and it was “Ici Bray Sur Somme, ici Bray Sur Somme, On sorts le tunnel” and a very nice “Merci, monsieur, bonne journey!” Whew!
Busy “rest” day. Started with two trips (on foot) to the “Super U” supermarche for all kinds of stuff for the boat and us. On the way back from the second trip, stopped at a garden center, which, yes, sells wine. No umbrella though. Then a road trip of about 8 Km round trip (on crappy rental bikes) to get an umbrella for the boat that we can move around (the two on the boat are fixed) so there is some shade at the helm in the middle of the day.
Securing the umbrella to the bike (Roberta carried the base on her back)
Stopped at a regional specialties store on the way back for some Burgundian wine, jam and cassis. AND stopped at a little tobac in town for a ceramic butter dish (we spotted the night before).
Then a light lunch before… hopping back on the bikes for a 10 km round trip to an old Abby in Chailly-sur-Armacon, which looked interesting but turned out to be a high-end hotel and golf resort. Did I mention the bikes were crappy? Cool building though. But it was uphill both ways. And into the wind.
The Abby in Chailly-sur-Armacon, now a hotel
On the way back we stopped in the Super U for the third time today (same grim cashier who finally cracked a smile on seeing us yet again!) and then to the marina office to start doing some last minute laundry (on the slowest washing machine in existance – 2 hours per load).
Burgundy Biker Babe!
We can hardly wait to get moving again. This “resting” is killing us!
Another BIG lock day – 26 locks and 30 Km. We have done 55 locks in two days which is more than we did the entire first week. This puts us at the top the Canal de Burgogne – next is a 3 Km long tunnel to get to the other side of the plateau as we head down toward Dijon.
Highlights from today –
The lock keeper with 3 year old and a 4 year old helpers – tres cute.
Attempting to leave the second to last lock, we realized the boat wouldn’t move! A line had fallen off the back and wedged in the now-closed downstream doors. Oops. Fortunately the nice lock lady cycled the lock to free us.
Lots of cute lock dogs.
Roberta had a good day on the lines. She hit more than 50% of her first casts for the lock mooring posts (which is good).
Big lock day on the Canal du Burgogne! Left Veraney at a little after 9:00 after biking up to a “supermarche” to buy some towels and, of course, more wine. To quote the Waterways Guide “To begin the long ascension towards the dividing pond, you should present yourself at lock 55 between 9AM and 11AM…. Between locks 55 and 16 you will be accompanied by a series of itinerant lock-keepers. At the end of each day you must inform them of your intensions the following day. All the locks are manual so you will need two very full days to reach Pouilly.”
Leaving one lock headed for the next (see ahead about 100 m)
We motored for 4-1/2 hours, 2-1/2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, arriving at Marigny-le-Cahouet about 3:00PM (where we managed the impossible, finding a place serving cold beer on a Sunday afternoon!). We did 28 locks and 10 Km today, averaging just over 4 minutes per lock. We could often see two locks ahead, and many of the locks were only a couple hundred meters apart.
Biere Froid in Marigny!! On Sunday!!
We have climbed from Joigny (elevation 75 meters) to Marigny (285 meters), so over 600 feet in 82 locks (about 7.5 feet per lock). Tomorrow we attempt to reach Pouilly-en-Auxois, the high point of the canal (370 meters, another 250 feet) where, after a rest day, we will enter a 3km tunnel (the Pouilly Tunnel) as we begin our descent toward Dijon.
And Happy Fete de Mere day! Yes, today is Mother’s Day in France!
Our Adventures 