From
Dijon to
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 22nd 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.
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