Summer
cruise part 3
Canal de
Bourgogne
The Canal de
Bourgogne links the river Saone with the River Yonne which is a tributary of
the Seine and provides the navigable link between the two major waterways. It
covers a distance of 244km and has a total of 189 locks .At its summit there is
a 3.5 km long tunnel.
On 7th
July we locked up to the Canal de Bourgogne from the river Saone at St Jean de
Losne. The first thing you encounter is the large boatyard complex with boats
and barges as far as you can see and all sorts of activity in progress.
Our first
night was spent moored in the countryside next to a supermarket. We has been
advised to stock up before be started as good supermarkets were in short supply
on the canal. Next morning after taking on supplies we were about to leave when
we saw a hotel boat approaching .As they are very slow and also have right of
way we allowed it to pass and settled down to let it well in front of us. The
canal in this area is very straight and surrounded by corn field as far as you
can see. We stopped for the next night at Epoisse. All around were harvesters
cutting the corn and tractors bringing the grain to great silos on the canal
bank. It is clear that barges once transported the grain from these silos but
nowadays the quays are empty.
After this
we proceeded to Dijon which is a large town. Just as we were in the outskirts a
lockkeeper asked us to wait a little while at one of the locks. We thought
there was a problem with the lock but suddenly a group of people with cameras
& mikes turned up on the side of the lock .They turned out to be a crew
from French TV making a feature on the canal. They filmed us in the lock and
then interviewed the skipper for the programme.
The town of Dijon is very attractive but
the mooring was blighted by vandals letting the mooring ropes go during the
night. We put a chain on ours after the first night.
From Dijon we travelled to Velars
sur Ouche and then to lock 34 Moulin Banet where there is a restaurant in the
lock house and a mooring place with electricity and water. This is a nice rural
mooring and we stayed there for a number of nights covering Bastille Day .Everything
closes in France for Bastille Day including the locks so it was important to
have a good mooring. Interestingly the hotel boats were allowed to travel and
we watched a number pass through the lock while we waited.
Following
this we visited Pont dOuche and Vandenesse en Auxois where there is a fabulous
Chateau on a hill overlooking the town. This also appears to be a terminus for
hotel boats as we saw some tied up waiting for guests while others disembarked
their visitors. Finally we ascended eight locks in quick succession to Escommes
to await permission to traverse the 3.5km tunnel at the summit level of the
canal.
The tunnel
proved not to be as daunting as we had feared and 45 minutes later we emerged
at the port of Pouilly. As this appeared
to be a pleasant place we decided to stay for a few days. The additional
attraction was that we could get Wi fi from the tourist office in the port
aboard our barge. This is a rare event on the French waterways so we took full
advantage checking our mail and using the internet.
After a few
days we decided to move on only to find that due to water scarcity in the canal
we had to share the locks with another barge. As this barge was travelling with
only the skipper on board it made for very nervous times in the locks. When the
other barge stopped at the port of Pont Royal we continued on hoping to be on
our own the next day. We moored overnight at a waiting jetty a couple of locks
on .During the night we discovered that the lockkeepers had foiled our plan
when we found ourselves slipping out of the bed.They had dropped the level to
the point that we were aground. However after some effort we got afloat and got
the barge out in the canal where it could float evenly. It was clear from the attitude
of the lockkeeper the next morning that we were not supposed to be afloat. He
allowed us through the lock but from there on we were delayed in every way
possible until our companion from the previous day caught up. In all we did 60
locks together including 30 in one day. We stopped at Veneray where there was a
Hire base that looked almost abandoned but we got electricity for the night.
Following this we travelled on to Montbard
where our friends Doug & Sue visited us. We had planned to stay a few days
and in general slow down after the staircase of locks the previous few days.
However this was not to be. Malcolm the skipper of the other barge travelling
with us has been talking to the lockkeeper who informed him that the canal
between Montbard and Tonnere was to close in two days due to lack of water.We
called at the tourist office and the girl there repeated the story so we
decided to get going the next morning. Malcolm decided to turn back as he
needed to get to St Jean de Losne.
On the
morning of Friday 24th July we left Montbard with the intention of
travelling as far as possible towards Tonnere. We got to Raviere the first nigh
reasonably easily. We noticed an increase in weeds and a significant drop in
the canal water level. The following morning we left bright and early and had
only travelled two kilometres when we ran aground in the middle of the canal. Four
hours later and with the assistance of two lockkeepers pulling us with ropes we
got to the next lock. We had a mountain of weed around the prop and after
getting it partially cleared we continued on to Ancy le Franc being shadowed by
the lockkeeper on his scooter in case we needed help. I must say the in general
in this part of the trip from Poully we had found the lockkeepers not
particularly helpful but the one at lock 77 (a lady) and the one at lock
78 more than made up for it with the
help they gave us.
From Ancy le
Franc we travelled to Tanlay.We visited the Chateau there and it was good to
see that the grounds of this magnificent building were being used by the local
population for a market and boules competition. From Tanlay we travelled to
Tonnere where we decided to rest up for a week as the danger of canal closure
was past due to a feeder entering the canal at this point. Tonnere is an
interesting town. There are many old buildings mixed with newer ones. The Fosse
Dionne is a circular basin feed by a natural spring that was used as a public
washing house. Its depth is unknown and in the past a number of divers have
lost their lives trying to find the bottom. Other places of interest are the
old hospital built in 1293 and the church of St Pierre built on a rocky outcrop
overlooking the town.
From Tonnere we travelled to Flogny la
Chapelle and then to St Florentin. As we had not planned to be in Migennes
(which was to be the end of our trip) until the end of August we decided to
stay for a week here as well. The weather was very hot so we just relaxed and
went for long walks every day. Finally we decided to move on and arrived in
Migennes on 10th August. Due to the fact that we had to cover some
of the journey faster than anticipated due to low water and the threat of
closure we found ourselves in Migennes two weeks ahead of what we had
planned.However we contented ourselves with doing a few maintenance jobs on the
barge and going on day trips to various locations on the train.
END OF THE ADVENTURE
On 31st August we left the Canal de Bourgogne and travelled to the boatyard of Evans Marine on the River Yonne where we tied up Delfini at the quay wall thus bringing our adventure on Continental waterways to an end