The Beautiful Valley of the Ouche (20 –25 April)

From Dijon to Plombieres

From Dijon the Canal de Bourgogne follows the valley of the Ouche, the river, however small, the flows through Dijon and joins the Saone further upstream of St-Jean-de-Losne.  The first three locks take us through the suburbs of Dijon, but provide pleasant greenery, walking and cycle paths.  On the left hand side is the massive and partially high rise public housing estate of Fontaines d’Ouche.   Glyn has been through this a couple of times to visit his Labo.  It is amazingly airy, well spaced and clean, and it looks like this from the canal.

As we leave Fontaines d’Ouche on our right hand side is the large leisure lake Lac Kir – yes named after the famous Chanoine Kir (Canon Kir) after whom we all so often raise our glasses.  Again this is green and airy, and gives Dijon the air of a pleasant small town rather than a big industrial city.

Lac Kir through the Trees

At Bruant the real countryside begins.  Only 5kms (3 miles) and already you feel a 100 miles away from the city centre.  The hills rise to the side, and you feel the approach of the green valley, though at Plombieres, just a couple of miles on, you get a touch of light industrial archaeology, of industry that was here, but it is still pleasant and provides a lovely backdrop to the countryside around.

The valley rising after Bruant

We only left Dijon at 1.00pm and our target for today is Velars-sur-Ouche, a total of only 12 kms and 8 locks. The valley changes so regularly, as does the weather.  At Plombieres it is light and sunny if not warm.  But before then we had to wait “quelques minutes” for a hotel boat which is coming the other way.   We progress slowly and hover in the approach channel as we finally see it arrive in the lock.  In fact we hover 50 minutes as it slowly works its way into the lock and out.  More intriguingly during this period we experience sunshine, wind, hail, sunshine, hard rain and then windy showers again.  The weather isn’t bad today, just bad in parts and totally unpredictable.

But when the sun shines this valley is truly beautiful with fast rising hills, wooded valley sides, beautiful fields, the river running alongside us, and even though a motorway runs alongside the other side you hardly notice it.

The Valley to Velars- and Fleury-sur Ouche

Velars turns out an ideal overnight mooring.  No water or electricity but a quiet spot for the dogs with lovely walks nearby, though the tow path is out of bounds as cyclists use it for some serious cycling.  We can feel safe too as just down the path is a Gendarmerie Barracks, and above a fascinating viaduct for the railway as it climbs out of Dijon.  It may not be as beautiful as the Hengoed-Maes-y-cwmmer viaduct, but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But it is a startling piece of work.

The Viaduct at Velars-sur-Ouche

Our alternative to Velars would have been Fleury, 4 kms further on.  This is a busy little haven but we are pleased we chose the more tranquil spot.  But again the valley between the two is really beautiful and inspiring as we move on the next morning.  And the village of Fleury looks delightful.

Approaching Fleury – a beautiful little village

Rising to the Pont-de-Pany

From Fleury the valley again narrows and rises towards Pont-de-Pany.  Again the hills crowd in a little more and even though the weather is changeable and showery this is a delightful area.  Pont-de-Pany is a neat little village, and here the Dijon spur motorway (A38) which we have hardly noticed curves off north towards Paris as the valley circles south cut off by the hills which the river cannot penetrate.

The Hills Rise above Pont-de-Pany

Curving around to Gissey

After lunch we head for Gissey-sur-Ouche which is our destination for today, a nice halfway point towards Pont d’Ouche.  As we set off we pass gentle pasture land and an intriguing farmstead at Ste Marie (sur Ouche of course) looking almost like an Alpine chalet, but at lower climes.

A Beautiful Farmstead at Ste-Marie-sur-Ouche

We get excellent service form the lock-keepers working in pairs, and we make Gissey by just after 2.30pm.

These lock-keepers have done a wonderful job – but finally get a break at Gissey-sur-Ouche

Gissey turns out to be a good choice but it is much livelier than we expected, with several hotel boats moored there.  We decide to pass by the best moorings (before the bridge) as the guide book suggests those further on are better, but they are not.  They are adequate, though, and we have a lovely quite afternoon in front of the lock.  That is until 4.30pm when loads blasters break out all over the place.  The circus is in town (well hardly “town”, but it’s here)!  But the noise only lasts ten minutes and the circus starts at 5.00pm, quite quiet in the small big tent. 

We walk the dogs and forget the camera.  It is beautiful and sunny, and here we can stroll along the unspoilt river bank, away from the canal.  But we have (again) forgotten the camera, so Glyn dashes back to post some postcards, and take some pics, only top get caught in a short hard shower, as do the little families coming out of the circus.

The River flows alongside the canal at Gissey-sur-Ouche

In the morning we enjoy the morning walk with the dogs.  Back for breakfast at 8.20am and again the early sunshine goes and it is black overhead.  Can this come and go before we set off at 9.00am?  By 8.25am it is absolutely pouring.  But by 8.50am it is over, and we move off and into the lock, with new lock-keepers ready on duty 10 minutes early, in bright sunshine

The Hills above the mooring at Gissey

The Road to Pont d’Ouche

As we go upstream towards Veuvey the road turns away to the left in the direction of enigmatic villages called Gevrey-Chambertin and Nuits-St-George (it’s the 22^nd today, so, perhaps it is the “Nuits” of St. George).  We remember camping through this area in the 1970s, and arriving back in England having to declare 158 bottles of wine (as you did in those days).  We only paid vignoble prices and the customs officers did not what to charge us.  Was the Common Market so elementary even then?  They charged us £10 and we agreed instantly.  We also remember the time about 10 years ago when on a weekend in Lille and Lauren called to say she needed some red wine to cook a meal and taken a bottle from the cellar – was that OK?  What wine is it, we asked.  Oh I don’t know a Nuits St George 1996!  After the apoplectic fit we suggest she use a Cotes du Rhone.  Some time when we come down this canal again we must make time to get off to see more of the vineyards.

The weather remains changeable and showery, but again with excellent lock-keepers we make Pont d’Ouche before 2pm.  We see the welcoming “Chez Bryony” sign about we have heard so much on our travels, but before you count to ten the skies open again.  But Bryony is there to welcome us and help us moor, and the rain goes away.

Chez Bryony at Pont d’Ouche

We moor up, sort ourselves out, plug in and go for a coffee with Bryony.  She is so welcoming and helpful, we cannot alas fail to make the comparisons with St-Jean-de-Losne a week ago.  A lady arrives for a late lunch.  She is called Annie and from near Linkoping in southern Sweden. With her husband they sailed their wooden-hulled boat here all the way from Sweden last year, on canals all the way except for a coastal stretch from Denmark to the Kiel Canal. She’s just having a week’s respite now.  Alas there are dark tales about how the commercials behave on the German waterways.  We will need to think about this as we have been warned several times.

Then a party of Brits arrive, and many local French for an afternoon coffee.  It is as if the world hums around Bryony.  The Brits are Patrick and Angela Marks from Gloucester, with friends from Northampton.  They narrow boat in England but time-share a Dutch barge here.  Their boat here was built at Horton.  From Malmesbury, they say!  Do you know Jacqui Pycroft, they ask?  What a small world we live in. And the Saul Festival and the old (“Slow and Dirty”) Somerset and Dorset railway (both sadly R.I.P.) all come up in conversation.  They are now bound for Dijon and the Saone as we will follow their last trail through the summit and to the Yonne.

The Locks are Really Worth It to Visit Pont d’Ouche

We have a lively evening chatting to everyone, watering, etc.  And a lovely night’s sleep knowing we are just lazing tomorrow, as well as the usual cleaning, etc.  The views here are wonderful. In the early morning walk we see the Ouche as she now winds and babbles and continues south while the canal climbs over the mountains to the Yonne and Seine valleys to the north.

The babbling River now flows onward south towards Beaune from Pont d’Ouche

It is sunny and bright on Monday morning. And the country side is just beautiful.  Cowslips abound in the banks of both river and canal.

Cowslips everywhere along the canal bank

And the cows with their calves nose silently along the valley to towards the farmstead.

Cows and calves parade towards the farm in the early morning dew

Of Suffolk and the DBA

The morning goes in sweeping, floor washing, blogging, etc.  We have lunch with Bryony who also organises some more fire wood for us, to be picked up tomorrow at a lock further on.  Last year we hardly touched the wood that Philippe gave us.  But 2012 is not 2011 and we are using a lot of firewood now.

In the afternoon we start to take the girls for a good walk, when Jan and Ian Ferguson are moving their very big barge – the Aleida – from its winter mooring.  They don’t need any help but we start chatting.  Ian has just been elected to the new Board of the Barge Association, and we touch on some of the issues.  Come and have tea or coffee with us when you are back with the dogs they say, and discuss the DBA then. It rains still, and the girls don’t really like their doggy coats, but they keep warm and dry in this weather.

So later we go round for a warming cup of coffee and long chat, but more about Suffolk, where they hale from, and canals than about the DBA.  But it’s a very pleasant afternoon.  And they say we have the best of our journey to the summit still in front of us.

The evening is wet and we retire to the wood burner and are ever so lucky to get 20 minutes without rain as we take the girls for their last walk.  That’s it.  It then rains all night, or at least it is always raining whenever one of us turns over. 

From Pont d’Ouche to Vandenesse

The next morning it is still raining.  The early morning walk is in steady drizzle.  We have to be off promptly as not only have we said we will be at the next lock at 9.00am, but we have to reverse out of our mooring, avoiding two double-moored large barges on one side, and the pontoons on the other, and then complete a 180º turn.  It goes without a hitch.

Two lock-keepers quickly get us through the first two locks. Between first and second someone is developing an interesting “English garden” and right there an almost de luxe tree-house.  We are not sure whether Tim and Chris have been here!   At the third we are taking on wood.  “Deux brouettes” (two wheelbarrows) is exactly what we needed, and we are on our way again, with the lock-keeper from here relieving one of her colleagues.

Photo:  What is the French for “Tree House”?

The Pont d’Ouche team get us through 5 locks by 10.30am, including the loading of wood.  Their friendliness, happiness and helpfulness is a delight, especially in this steady, sometimes hard, drizzle.  But there are only two of them.

Now the Vandenesse team takes over.  Admittedly there are three of them, all mature maidens, but these are efficiency and teamwork personified.  We recall organising a team of Woodcrafters to get speedily through the Congleton flight, but these professionals make us look like amateurs.  The get us through the next 6 locks in just over an hour, well before the midday cut-off.

The countryside around is indeed a delight, even in the continuing drizzle.  It is flatter here, but with hills ascending just that little higher to various settlements.  As we approach Vandenesse we see the renowned village and chateau of Chateauneuf.  Even in this poor weather it is quite spectacular.  Should we walk up there?  Only 4 kms!

Chateauneuf towers above the Skyline

Vandenesse is a beautiful little village, all that we have been promised by the various boaters who have recommended it to us.  The two cafes and restaurants look very promising.  Sadly the “caveau” is not open for “disgusting in the caves” even though it says enter and be patient.  Maybe another time.  The pasture and buildings are all pleasant to the eye, and the afternoon slips idly by.

The Summit and the Tunnel

From Vandenesse there are 8 locks rising 21 metres in just 2.4 kms.  This area is quite beautiful, with rolling hillsides and luscious pasture.  Not quite the exceptional beauty of the summit of the Nivernais, but a beautiful place to be nonetheless.  The locks come quickly, but lock 4 (half way to the summit) has been very tenderly cared for, and is a picture all its own.

Lock 4 (Grand Pre) before the Summit at Escommes

Our exceptional team of eclusieuses (thought there are only two today) complete the eight locks in an hour and a quarter.  Then we are ready for the tunnel.  First they check our lights and life jackets, and we have to sign that we obey the rules (essentially no stupidity and no naked lights).  They also give a VHF radio for emergencies and advise you that CCTV will track your passage.  We also take down the back canopy.  You don’t need to do that they say, but Glyn says he knows what mistakes he can make in tunnels, so bets be safe.  It will only take two minutes.  A soft sympathetic look of disbelief covers their faces, but they are genuinely surprised when it does only take two minutes.

Two Thirds of the Eclusieuse team at Vandenesse

And so to the tunnel - our longest tunnel yet at 3.35 kms or just over two miles underground to pass the summit of the canal.  There is six metre channel so that makes it easy (we are just under 4 metres wide even with our fenders which give good protection).  The entrance to the tunnel is quite impressive, though again we make comparisons with the Nivernais.  The tunnel itself is genuinely impressive, if you like that sort of thing. But for 1.4 kms you are in complete darkness except for your own headlight up against the tunnel roof.  It is not always easy to fix on a directional target, and your eyes refocus in the dark.  But these are minor issues.

For the middle section the tunnel has overhead lights.  Maybe not necessary, but it is a useful respite, and gives a better picture of the inside of the tunnel.  And then the dark again.  But after 45 minutes there you are, over the summit and out into the port at Pouilly-en-Auxois.

The approach to the tunnel

The entrance to the Pouilly tunnel

Some light in the darkness

We are in Pouilly and moored by 11.30am.  The port is well provided for, with a very good supermarket nearby.  The town is also very pleasant, though 1 km away, and has all the facilities you want including some nice restaurants.  For us above all the port has an excellent seche-linge!!  We’ve been able to wash clothes over the last 10 days, but drying has been a nightmare.  Finally we can get all our clothes and bedding really dry.  With that and a good shower we feel fully on top again, especially with plenty of walks for the girls. 

So we made the Burgundy summit!  Now it will be all downhill to the Yonne.

From Chalons to Dijon (14 –19 April)

Locks Do Pull You

So we set off at 0830 on Saturday with Bob and Rosemarie’s best wishes and Bob’s Meteo.  Though it is not good it is not too bad. As we will be cruising 0900-1400 these next two days the mornings will not too bad, though the afternoons worse.

We pull in at the Le Clerc in Chalons-sur-Saone (well actually at Crissey on the wrong side of the canal).  There is good mooring here provided by the supermarket and you can shop and load very easily.  The store is enormous with almost anything you want (including folding bicycles but sadly not replacement springs for specialist makes).   We moor up but as we try to slide alongside the quay we see ourselves being pulled perpendicular and cannot understand why. 

When we finally correct we realise that the superlock down to the Saone about 250 metres away (and only 11.75 metres deep) was taking in a boat and filling the lock from the pound (Bief in French) and thus drawing one hell of a lot of water (well 50 x 6 x 11.75 or over 3,500 cubic metres) and this draught has caught our stern as we angled towards the quay.  It is no big thing, but demonstrates what pull just filling a lock (though in this case a big one) can have.

Our shopping goes to plan even though we forgot the list we had carefully prepared, and then we head for the lock ourselves.  This is our deepest lock so far (11.75 against 7.12 metres previously) but with floating bollards to moor on to it could have been just 2 metres.  We descend very slowly (doucement, doucement) and off we are to the Saone.

A Grey But Satisfactory Day

There is nothing on the river.  It is a very grey day, but only spits of rain and very little wind.  We are doing 22 kms today, no locks, but there are very few markers.  We estimate about three hours.  We hit the Saone at exactly 11am so hope to be there by 2pm.  There are two sections of “Bassin de Vitesse” (for water skiers) but no-one to be seen today.  We pass the settlement of Chatenoy-en-Bresse which looks lovely across the water, but there is little more now before Verdun.

Chatenoy-en-Bresse through the grey mists of the Saone

Then we pass a jetty which is called “Port d’Aleriot”.  The next section has almost nothing to distinguish it.  Sea sailors sometime say the only problem they have is that all they see is the sea.  Here too all you can see is the river and the trees on the banks.  The odd industrial building on the horizon marks a settlement here or there until we reach Gergy which marks 15 of our 22 kms.  And finally we have a bridge to mark our journey against.

Perhaps on a brighter day this may be more impressing, but today it becomes just a journey to make.

Verdun-sur-le Doubs

We reach Verdun which is a beautiful little port, and we find moorings on the quay, which we had pre-booked.  It is easy to moor and disembark, with some good walks in the vicinity which the dogs enjoy.  We are there by 13.45. 

Coming back from their first walk at about 15.00 we meet a couple looking for the Capitainerie, and we explain that it might be open by 15.30 as they have a boat trip then.  After some discussion about the town and the area we both recognise that the other couple is British / English, and why are we talking to each other in French. 

Peter and Jean actually live in Verdun (and there we were telling them about it) and have a narrow boat up the Canal de Bourgogne at Pont d’Ouche.  Linda has her “Chez Bryony” hat on from a cafe at Pont d’Ouche (presented to her by Roger and Lilyane Pizzighalli last year when they were recommending the cafe there and Glyn told them Linda’s second name was Bryony) and Peter and Jean also delight in telling us how great it is.  

This is the fourth recommendation, so given the hat and all, we must go there when we reach Pont d’Ouche.  They are worried that the Bourgogne is also short of water (though as per Bob’s weather forecast of this morning it is now starting to rain here), and in the most friendly way give us their contact details if we get stuck.

 Verdun is indeed a beautiful port with a steep rise to the town to match the rather steep mooring fees.  But like so many towns when we take the girls for the last walk just after 2200 the town is absolutely dead, except in this case from a very loud concert going on in the church.

The Port at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs from the Bridge over the River Doubs

A Most Disgusting Day

It was still raining at 10pm, and we get up in the morning it is clear it has rained and blown all night and is still doing so now.  Mind, we do need the rain.  Just not today. We half think is this a day best to stay in port, but no, we have commitments, and the rain is not too bad.  And if Marie and Hannah Coupland can run a half marathon (or is it a marathon) today in this in Paris, we can surely cruise up a little bit of the river Saone.

Leaving Verdun and rejoining the Saone is quite easy, but slowly the weather gets worse, the rain thickens and beats harder, and the wind begins to blow harder.

This section is 34 Kms and will take about 5 hours.  There are two locks – at Ecuelles and Seurre - after 8 kms and then another 11, leaving 15 kms for the final stretch, of which 9 are the “derivation” (or cut) after the Seurre lock.  We have telephoned the first lock at Ecuelles and he is expecting us at about 10.20.

Have “Le Boat” Must Travel

Before we reach the first lock we realise this is not going to be an enjoyable day.  As the weather thickens we see only two other boats on this first stretch, travelling together, two quite big Le Boat hire boats.  They hoot and wave through the rain and seem happy.  We guess that once you’ve booked your holiday you must make the most of it.

We get to Ecuelles 10 minutes early.  This weather encourages you to turn up the engine.  On the other hand it is quite choppy, so some care is needed.  One other private boat comes out of the Ecuelles lock as we enter, and except for someone mooring up at Seurre these are the only moving boats we will see today.

Cecile’s Lock and a Little Respite

Coming out of Ecuelles gets just a little tricky.  There is a weir on one side and a danger warning on the other.   The current, wind and weir are all pulling us in that direction.  We head to the port side with full view of the red buoys warning us off, with a thrust of the engines.  The Scylla and Charybdis aren’t out on the water today, but we feel like we are between them.  Amazingly the line and thrust we take just puts us exactly midway through the channel.  Has Glyn regained his three points lost last Thursday?

The rest of the journey up to Seurre is wet and choppy.  We see the entrance to the old Seurre cut, and that at least raises our spirits.  It would be a very pretty picture if only our hands could hold a camera.  Maybe another time.  We round the bend and see the old lock house at the end of the cut.  Suddenly the winds die down, the rain softens, and the weather (though only comparatively) seems quite pleasant.

If we remember correctly this is the lock house where Cecile who we saw at Montargis last year was brought up.  It is both idyllic and isolated.  Maybe her spirit is willing us good weather as we go by. 

The Cut at Seurre

The respite only lasts 10 minutes.  As we take the curve around Seurre itself the wind blows up again, and going into the big lock, it is like a wind tunnel, although at least the wind is not swirling.  In fairness though, at both Ecuelles and Seurre the lock-keepers were excellent, clear communication over the VHF, patient as we take our time to enter and moor, gentle as they let in the massive waters where our tiny boat is moored all alone, and friendly as they then wish us “bon voyage”.

The cut after the lock at Seurre is not so “sympa”.  Brown metallic shuttering hems you in both sides for a couple of kilometres.  The water is choppy.  Again the cut acts like a wind tunnel.  Above all we are now getting very wet and cold.  We are pleased even to see just trees on the river bank.  And then just 6 kms to SJL.  Even the railway viaduct at St Usage is almost a pleasant sight.

Yes St-Jean-de-Losne Can be Disappointing

We make St Jean at about 13.45 and head into the Gare d’Eau.  Can we moor here?  It is grey and looks over-crowded, and even disorganised.  Arrows point you in different directions.  We slow down but in the wind with no steerage this is not practical.  Nowhere obvious to moor, and no-one to ask.

 A number of people have told us St-Jean-de-Losne can be disappointing, but we had begun to think any port today would be wonderful, only not to be relieved.  After hovering for five or ten minutes we decide to go out and take the lock into the Canal de Bourgogne, the canal we really came to see.  Linda climbs the ladder up the lock wall, when the lock-keeper realises he then has some business.  He is friendly and helpful.  No-one in the Gare d’Eau, we say.  Well it is Sunday lunchtime, he says, with a smile.  Good point! 

He suggests we moor further along the canal where it is easy to moor, the dogs have lovely access to the countryside (if they want it in this foul weather – only Topsy does), and as soon as we are moored, we make a cuppa and light the wood burner.  After the dogs are walked it is still only 16.00, but we hunker down for the night with fire, hot showers, books and DVDs.  Topsy is still sitting outside on the bank in the rain.  Mad dogs and Welshmen come to mind!  We coax her in, to sit in front of the fire.

The River Saone from St-Jean-de-Losne, on a slightly better Monday morning

A Town with Real Boating Facilities

A slow rise on Monday morning.  We want to investigate the town, including picking up fuel and dumping waste.  There are supposedly facilities in Gare d’Eau.  We will investigate before we decide to move on or not.  The chandlery in the Blanquart yard is very impressive.  The assistant here is friendly and helpful.  All the facilities are on the quay on the river, provided by the Mairie.  This is a real working boatyard with all sorts of boats under various stages of repair or maintenance. The Scylla has been craned out for some work and inspection.  No sign today of the Charybdis, Thank God.

We go to the quay and it is locked, and not open until 27 April, says the notice!? We go to the Mairie and again a very helpful assistant at the Tourist Office.  No, both diesel and pump-out should be available.  She investigates.  Ah!  It is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays, so we book for tomorrow morning.  We work out later that you can self-service diesel at any, but someone there is better, and we would like pump-out as well.

The town is small but very pleasant.  It’s Monday, so all the bakers are closed, but the local supermarket is well stocked, including bread, and for the first time in France we can find houmous. 

The Church from the Mairie in the narrow streets of St-Jean-de-Losne

The weather is better today, but the wind still quite strong.  Tomorrow it seems will be the best day of the week.  We’ll just rest today, walk the dogs, catch up with the blog, check the engine, bla, bla, bla.

War Memorial for a Battle in 1636 – Arsenal supporters never give up

Messing – and Messing and Messing – about on the River

Tuesday morning and we are up bright and early, walk the dogs and ready for the lock booked at 09.15 to go down onto the river, pick up diesel and pump-out at 0930, back up by 1000, and on our way up the Burgundy canal.

We actually get to the lock by 0905, but an upstream boat coming out of the river is already in the lock (which is his right).  Meanwhile no lock-keeper.  We heave to, but then work starts in the port with tugs manoeuvring large boats in and out of the dry dock.  There is nowhere to moor, so we have to manoeuvre as well at very low speeds, avoiding the boats that are moored.  The lock-keeper finally arrives at 0920 (he does have other things to do) and we have already had good lessons in low speed boat handling.

We finally get down on the river by 0950 but now a very large hotel boat (Summerjazz) is moored up on the diesel quay.  We signal that we too want to use the quay.  30 minutes he signals back.  We hover in the estuary to the canal.  There are few signs of activity on the quay, and what there are are complexing.  By 1045 we are getting more than a bit fed, just sitting there manoeuvring to manage the very slight flow of the river, which nevertheless will push us into the bank, and the wash of the three boats which pass around us.  Finally at 1045 we nudge around the barge moored in front of the quay, and get our front on the inside of the diesel quay to try to find out what the hell is happening.  The Dutch crew with their impeccable English explain that they are taking diesel, but it seems to be taking an age.  They are now paying, but that too seems to take a long time.

Finally at 1115 they leave the quay and we can proceed.  The guy working on the quay is very good but we have to shift the boat this way and that, first to get diesel (his hose is not very long) and then pump-out.  For the diesel he has to hold the trigger all the time while we are filling.  If we take 160 litres the Summerjazz must have taken 1600.  No wonder it took an hour plus!

Finally all completed we manage just to get the canal lock before 12 noon, or we would have had another hour on the river.  We book the next lock for 1300.

This really is getting frustrating

We get to the lock at 1220, give the dogs a run, grab a sandwich lunch, and are at the lock by 1300.  We can still do the 15 kms and 8 locks to Longecourt-en-Plaine by 1700!  1315 and no lock-keeper!  1320 and we ring St-Jean-de-Losne.  We are the lock at Viranne and there is no lock-keeper.  Oh! You’re there already!  I’ll call someone.  Doh! As Bart Simpson might say!  Even then a lock-keeper only arrives at 1345.  This could be a long day.

But when it moves it’s all brilliant

We get through this second lock in 10 minutes.  We have now six locks almost in straight line at about 1 mile (1.6km) intervals.

This canal could be Roman – straight as a die

And then on the towpath, enjoying – for the moment – the afternoon sun, is a party of school children, adding a real sense of summer tranquillity to the scene.

This is what school is all about?

A little further on we see the smaller children being towed along in gipsy caravan. The frustrations of the morning fade away.

This is the way to enjoy the Cote d’Or 

 In fact we do make Longecourt by 1600.  Once we had a lock-keeper he “passed the baton” to his successor seamlessly, and we make brilliant progress.

Longecourt is a necessary stop between the Saone at St-Jean-de-Losne and Dijon which at 30 kms and 22 locks is not do-able in a day (not pleasantly any way).  It is a lovely village, though we did not manage to find the shop.  The chateau abutting the village green is however a lovely view.

The Chateau at Longecourt-en-Plaine

From Longecourt to Dijon

Our lock-keeper this morning is there exactly on time and we move swiftly.  All the villages here are called “en-Plaine”, we guess the plain of the Saone reaching up to Dijon.  It is rich and flat, stretching who knows to the east.

The flat plain of the Saone

And to the hillsides of the Cote d’Or to the West, where the mist hovers over the tops.

There is more than rape in them there hills.

The canal remains straight however and is probably the most direct route to Dijon, alas for the locks.

The canal straight back from Dijon

Dijon – Capital of Burgundy

We reach Dijon by 1600.  All the lock-keepers have been excellent today, chatty and friendly, and selling us the wonders of Burgundy and Dijon.  But the wind is gusting and mooring at the pontoons in the port is not feasible.  (Mind you, the lock-keepers recommended we moor outside the port which is “gratuit”).  Pat and Brian from the Tadham Castle come to help with ropes, and we find a place on the quay alongside them.  There are no facilities here but the mooring is fine, though at 18€ a night it is steep for nothing.  You can only stay two nights we are told, so OK.  But we are not told that the boat behind us is a nightclub which operates to 2am on Thursday nights.  We are by then a bit miffed, but we will move a 100 metres with the Tadham Castle and the noise is not too bad.  But our best advice to boat visitors here is to take the advice of the lock-keepers and moor on the canal quay, not in the port.  Sorry Dijon!

Of Vets and Labos and All That Jazz

Meanwhile Shady has re-opened the wound from her operation in February.  It is very raw now, and we feel we have to get her to a vet.  Glyn meanwhile needs another blood test, so our first priorities are all medical.  And the system works brilliantly. Google helps us identify the nearest vet and labo to our mooring.  Quick phone calls arrange convenient and early appointments.  The service is very good.  And the costs reasonable.  On the Thursday morning the folks on the Night Club boat sat it’s really jazz tonight, not hip-hop (well a bit of both) but with Pat and Brian we decide we will move.  

Real Tourists

For the rest of Thursday we take a day off as tourists.  The Ducal Palace at Dijon is well worth visiting, though the Cathedral is but a cathedral, though in fairness it looks like a working cathedral. 

The Ducal Palace at Dijon

The Fine Art museum has some excellent works.  The modern art doesn’t grab us, but for enthusiasts it is probably quite good.  Some of the Impressionists’ work is good, though we’ve just been spoilt by the Impressionist exhibition in Barcelona. (We didn’t mention we had a bad night last night watching Barca doing everything except get the ball in the net.  Linda couldn’t watch in the end!)  But some good Manet, Sisley and Pissarro.  An excellent Louis Galliac (a local artist) portrait most took our admiration.

The town itself also has some interesting architecture.  It would be nice to have another day here, but there you are.  We visit the original Maille shop, but that’s a little disappointing.

The Old Buildings in Dijon give it a real atmosphere