The Summer cruise  Part 2
Rivers Yonne & Seine

We passed through Auxonne on Monday 4th August .We didnt stop as we had visited by train a few days earlier.The transition from the smaller locks of the Nivernais to the larger locks of the Yonne was a welcome development but only until we met the locks with sloping sides. These were built to resist floods but were a nightmare if you didnt get onto the floating pontoons. Because we were slower the fancy cruisers usually nipped in ahead taking the pontoons leaving us to scamper around trying to keep off the sloping lock sides. Because of the recent heavy rain the river was running very fast and the current across the lock as we exited was quite substantial. The locks on the Yonne are 96 metres long by 10.5  metres wide . On the Seine the dimensions are 180 Meters long by 11.4 metres wide. This was a big increase from the 38.5 metres long by 5.2 metres wide of the Nivernais.
Another interesting feature on the rivers are the beaches created along their banks. Sometimes we forget how far we are from the sea in this part of France and how the locals improvise.

Because it was holiday time we met very little commercial traffic on the Yonne but substantially more on the Seine. A lot of the smaller barges were tied up for holidays while the monsters continued to ply. A lot of the smaller barges have become uneconomic and are being converted to houseboats.

After Auxonne we stopped at Gurgy ,Joigney ,Villeneuve sur Yonne,Sens and finally Montreau Faut Yonne at the junction with the Seine.There was no place to stop on the Seine until we came to  St Mammes  but as that was chock a block with commercial barges and every shape of a houseboat imaginable we carried on to the Canal Du Long.`

The Summer Cruise 2014    Part 1

We left Roanne on a miserable and wet Monday the 7th July. The weather remained mixed as we travelled the

Roanne Digoin Canal towards Digoin. We had been treated to a freak Hail storm before we left Roanne with hailstones as big as eggs. Quite a bit of damage was done to boat canopies and indeed some cars were also damaged.

After that to the present we have mixed fortunes with the weather. A few blistering hot days followed by thunderstorms. A band of unsettled weather has covered central Europe for quite some time.

After we reached the Canal Lateral a Loire we made our way to Decize stopping at Pierrefitte-Sur-Loire ,Beaulon and Gannay before crossing the Loire at Decize and on to the Nivernais canal. We were treated to a fine fireworks display at Beaulon for Bastille day (14th July).At Decize we locked down onto the Loire and from there entered the Canal  du Nivernais. We stopped at St Leger des Vignes  for a couple of nights stocking up at the large supermarket for the journey. Then it was on to Cercy –Le –Tour, Fleury ,Chatillion-en-Bazois and from there to the summit level at Baye. This journey was rather challenging with low water levels . It sometimes reminded us of the Grand Canal back in Ireland . However what was in store following  Baye put it all in the shade. In the course of four kilometres we went through three tunnells and sixteen locks. We arrived in Sardy absolutely exhausted.

 Following this on Saturday 26th July we travelled to Chitry -les-Mines and stopped for the weekend at the excellent port run by Englishman Ted Johnson. We even treated ourslves to a meal in the excellent canalside restaraunt.

  Following this we travelled on to Villers sur Yonne and then on to Clamecy. By now the canal was looking more like the one depicted in the tourist literature and the going got a lot easier. Clamecy is a lovely town with lots of interesting old buildings. On Friday 1st Augus we arrived in Chatel-Censoir.We decided to stop for a few nights here and took the train to Auxerre for the day. We were told the port could be crowded so we decided on the train to visit. Again a very beautiful city with loads of fine buildings and a lot of history. The journey back was a bit of a farce. The train had been cancelled and a bus laid on .However when the bus arrive he was besieged by a crowd from another train that had been cancelled . After about an hour with a lot of discussions and phone calls they were taken on board and we were treated to the grand tour back to our barge dropping people off all over the place . (But then this is France !!!!)

 After this we stopped at Mailly-la-Ville,Champs-sur –Yonne and finally left the Nivernais on Monday 4th August passing on to the river Yonne. While the first part of the journey was a bit difficult we had moments that were memorable .One of the most memorable was when we were treated to an impromptu concert by a music student who was working as a lock keeper for the summer.

The Nivernais canal was constructed between 1784 and 1843. It was built mainly to transport timber to Paris from the Morvan region. Coal and stone was also transported. It was always a difficult canal suffering from water shortages. After the second World War traffic declined and practically ceased in the 1970s.However the canal re-focused on tourism and had seen its popularity increse.It is now rated to be the second busiest waterway after the Canal du Midi.