The
Descent from Pouilly
Now we descend following initially the Armancon
valley before crossing to the Brenne and later on back to the Armancon. This is beautiful countryside, and lower down
is reputedly where Vercingétorix lost the last battle of the Gauls against
Julius Caesar in 52 BC (just after he’d poked his nose into Britain). We plan 12 locks and have one lock-keeper for
the first seven. We explain where we
plan to moor. There is an 11km pound
(stretch of water without locks – “bief” in French) where one of our guide
books says is very beautiful. It’s very rural he says, but we explain then the
dogs can have their liberty. He tells
his colleague at the 13th lock beyond the long pound that we won’t
be coming through to him today. His
colleague obviously thinks we’re nuts, but our loyal lock-keeper says we are
doing it for the dogs.
Green
But Not Usable
At the 8th lock a second lock-keeper
takes over. The first was very efficient
but this guy is very pleasant and chatty, but also very fast. No sooner the back gates are closed - and
before Linda can get back on the boat – the water is dropping – and fast. Luckily Linda is athletic enough to get back
to base. The banks of the canal though
are getting rougher. No shuttering or
stone walls, just washing into the countryside like a river’s edge.
We ask the lock-keeper if it’s like all the way to
St Thibault where we had planned to moor.
Oh! Yes! He says. It’s lovely
there but no real moorings. How deep are
you, he asks? 60-70 (cms) we reply, but
we are straight-sided. Oh! It will be
very difficult there, he says. The
drizzle is turning to rain and we begin to reconsider. At the next lock we ask would it be alright
if we went on to Pont Royal (after the 13th lock where there are
real moorings). Of course, he says, I’ll
ring ahead.
We have completed all 12 locks in an hour and
quarter. We say our goodbyes and we
suggest the next lock at 1730 as we have things to do and want to go
slowly. Oh! I’ve booked for 1700, he
says, but you can be later.
We dawdle and tidy and have only done 2 kms by
1600. So we press on then with a little
more urgency. We pass St Thibault which
is very rural but not special, and certainly mooring, especially in the now
steady-to-hard drizzle, would have not been much fun.
We reach the cut just before Pont Royal just before 5pm
so we feel we are reasonably on time.
But the rain and wind are now getting steadier and stronger all the
time. This cut, the Tranché de Creusot, is however a quite interesting piece of canal
archaeology. We make the lock by 1715.
The Tranché de Creusot approaching Pont Royal
Pont
Royal in the Rain
It is now pouring.
The lock-keeper doesn’t seem too happy.
We discuss leaving in the morning.
In short he says you can leave at 0915 or at 0915, or otherwise you’ll
get stuck! Well, it saves having to make
a decision!
By the time we get to the mooring the weather is
really foul. We moor, take the girls for
the shortest necessary walk, and hunker down for the night. A lovely evening in front of the fire and
watching an episode of “The Killing”.
And we only dive for 20 minutes at 10pm to give the girls their last
walk.
Locking
Together with the Tadham Castle
The morning is brighter, and Glyn takes the girls
for a good long walk. We have two locks
and then a section of 41 locks in 15 kms.
The Tadham Castle (with Brian and Pat whom we met at Dijon) and
also saw at Pouilly, but had expected to be a day behind, had also been at Pont
Royal, and the lock-keepers want us to lock together today. They are over 15m long and we over 18m. Not much spare space in a 38.5m lock of which
a metre at the back is taken up by the sill. Not much, but plenty enough.
Where
Do You Want to Stay – Marigny or Marigny?
At the lock the new lock-keeper asks where we want
to go today. We had thought of Marigny,
12 locks into the main flight, but Brian and Pat want to go as far as possible,
so we ask, well how far can we go? Well
there’s Marigny or Marigny he says. The
only other mooring is Pouillenay, and that’s too far in one day. Ok. So
it’s Marigny.
At 12 noon we are four locks off Marigny. Shall we moor here, we ask? Do you want to continue, he asks? But it’s 12 noon! No, I can continue he says. I have to go back for another at 1pm and it’s
better if I get you to Marigny first, as they are coming to Marigny this
afternoon. We are slow as fitting the
two boats in takes a little time, and he is working on his own, but we make
Marigny at 1310, and dives off for another dose of the same section. It’s hard work being an eclusier these days.
Pretty little village at Marigny-le-Cahouët
Marigny is in a fact a lovely mooring. There is famous castle nearby though the book
says it is not easy to see. We fail to
find it this time, but the village itself is not small, but very beautiful. We have an enjoyable afternoon mooching
about.
Brian and Pat come for en early evening glass of
wine, and the third the boat, the Armeau skippered by Jean-Pierre from
Beauvais with his wife and aunt, arrives.
They cycle off and find the castle.
Well, we’ll do it next time, as we’ll see a lot of the Burgundy this
year.
Three
into Two won’t Go
All three crews discuss together in the evening what
to do tomorrow. Jean-Pierre needs to get
to Montbard by Sunday, so really needs to get to Venarey (30 locks away)
tomorrow. We won’t all fit in a lock
together. If there is only lock-keeper,
what do we do? We offer to wait back if
necessary as we are the longest (the other two boats together in a lock would
be easier and quicker) and we are not in a rush. But we agree to see how things look tomorrow
morning.
At 9am we are all keenly at the lock. A young student lock-keeper turns up. He’s not sure if there is anyone else coming
but in another couple of minutes a slightly more experienced and authoritative
colleague is on the scene. We’ll
promenade together he says, but I’ll take the two shorter boats together
first. It’s great when they take the
decisions for you! And maybe we can get
another colleague out. (Bearing in mind
this is Saturday that’s pretty impressive, we think.)
The Armeau and the Tadham Castle go
off. The eclusier comes back to us and
advises us to cast off and go “mi-bief”.
We had noticed we had very a slight list, but he is conscious that
filling the lock is lowering the pound, and it is already shallow at the
edges. So off we go.
30
Locks in a Day – But It’s Tougher than Caen Hill, well for the Lock-keeper at
least
The Eclusier who arrives is the man we had
yesterday. He is very helpful and polite
though not especially talkative. He asks
where we want to go today and we say Venarey.
That’s 30 locks he says – and we are not sure whether he is just
informing us, questioning whether we can go that far, or stressing how much
work it is. But in fairness he is not
complaining, though after yesterday it is a lot of work. 9.20am and we start to descend the first lock.
We do nine locks by 11.30am and he says he has to go
back to another boat, so we stop here for lunch, but he will be back not long
after 13.00. We walk the dogs forward 3
locks and catch up with Armeau and Tadham Castle. They could have made faster progress they
feel (they have had two lock-keepers) while we feel we have done exceptionally
well, but are little doubtful that we will make Venarey.
A quiet lunch and then we prepare the lock ahead
trying to help our lock-keeper. He
arrives at 1.20pm and immediately gets to work at the forward lock. Off we go again. Although this less than locks than Devizes to
Foxhangers it is harder work, he has to do most of it on his own, not team
effort here although we do manage to close one lock gate most of the time, and
the locks are more spaced out.
We experience various feelings as we go along –
interest, intrigue, frustration at the pace, and then a calm peacefulness as
you just settle to the inevitable gentle pace.
And by the end of the journey almost some slight elation at having
completed it all.
Calming Hills, but If There are Gauls Up
There I wouldn’t like to be Julius Caesar
We reach Pouillenay (after 13 more locks) at about
4pm and wonder whether we will be asked to stop here for the night. But no hint of that. Our escort goes straight on to prepare the
next lock.
L’Equipage Gets Tired doing 30 Locks
And finally at about 5.30pm we are approaching our
destination. Up in the hills we see a
seemingly lovely village. This is
Alise-Sainte-Reine just before Venarey.
It looks idyllic perched up in the hills (better than photograph!).. Hard to believe this was ancient Gallic hill
fort and the scene of a major siege and battle.
Alise-Sainte-Reine in the distance
It is the lock-keeper we feel sorry for though, he
has flogged away from 9am to 6pm, without any complaint, and must be very
tired. His mates from ahead of us come
back to help with the last couple of locks, but otherwise he has done it all on
his own. We give him a bottle of wine as
a token of appreciation, but small compensation for all he has done for us in
the last two days.
We are in the port and moored up at 6pm. Brian, Pat and Jean-Pierre and his family are
there waiting to help us moor, with a place already prepared. However there is no electricity and water which
is promised in the books. Jean-Pierre
immediately rings the Mairie and somehow gets someone even at this hour on a
Saturday, and he plugs away as only a Frenchman could. By 7pm we have both, and it’s all free
because of the unsatisfactory arrangements when we arrived.
Orange
Alerts and Stormy Nights
We are all very tired so except for dog walking it
is a quiet night in. A young couple are
fishing from the other side of the bridge with a tent, and still there at
10pm. Are they staying the night? The meteo is quite fun for tonight (if you
like that sort of thing). Orange alerts
for violent winds to the South of us.
Thank God we are not on the Rhone.
We awake at about 5.30am. Don’t know about the Rhone but the wind is
quite strong outside here, and it carries on for another couple of hours. We clear the roof of anything that might be
blown off. At 7.30am Glyn starts to take
the girls out for a walk.
Pecheurs
dans le Merde
That young couple were fishing all night, but have
now decided enough is enough, have packed up and trying to drive away in their
car. Trying. The wheels are digging into the mud rather
than taking them forward, and they have to be careful not to end up in the
canal.
Glyn tries to help them reverse and find a better
track, but it isn’t working. He heads
back to the boats to get more help, and reinforcements arrive. By now the car is truly embedded in the
mud. Will we ever get it out?? Luckily a little boy on the other bank has
also seen them and gone to get his Granddad with a tractor. They get hauled out, and by 8.30 Glyn can
continue with his dog walk.
If the girlfriend is till with her fisherman after
all that it must be something made in heaven.
And as we leave the boat in the afternoon there we see them again
together fishing another stretch of bank.
It’s sunny now at least, we all laugh to each other. They both seem very
happy.
The
Grand Battle of Alesia – New (Excellent) Museum opened March 2012
So we are off for a 2 mile walk to the new museum at
Alise-Sainte-Reine commemorating the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC when Julius
Caesar finally (well almost finally) crushed the might of the Gauls, defeating
Vercingétorix, the Auvernois leader of the Gauls. The museum only opened in March and is very
well done, giving an excellent history of the Roman republic and its
tribulations, of Caesar’s campaigns, and of the history and culture of the
Gauls. We are very impressed. There is also an interesting reconstruction
of the Roman fortifications which sealed in Vercingétorix’s forces (from the
disparate Gallic tribes) in the Alesia oppidum,
and led to his defeat after two months’ siege.
What the Romans ever done for us - They gave us stakes and marshes to die in of
course!
The Roman fortifications at Alesia
If you are in these parts, the museum at Alesia is well
worth a visit. We go back to tea and
scones with Pat and Brian on the Tadham Castle. Brian is suffering painfully from his back,
but hopefully they will get to the museum in a couple of days. They are staying here so he can rest, while
tomorrow we will be off, back to join the Armancon valley.
There is also a local Nichols Boat Hire here in this small port (and a Locaboat hire at Montbard a little further on), so if ever you fancy an energising holiday hiring a boat to to go to Dijon and back could be very good fun!
The Harbour and Nichols Boat Yard at Venarey-les-Laumes
No comments:
Post a Comment