The Return to Pont d’Ouche (11- 26 June)

This is a short visit just to get back the boat back up to Pont d’Ouche near Dijon where we will leave it for July, and we will then return for a gentle  stroll back to Briare in August / September.

We also now know that readers would like less text and more pictures.  So we’ll try to keep the text short.

Out from the traps

In fact this is territory we’ve already covered, so in fact we concentrated on just travelling.  We arrived in Migennes on Monday 11 June, and were able that day to take the boat back, refuel and reprovision, and be on our way the next morning.  Without killing ourselves on the next six days we plough up the canal – St Flo, Tonnerre, Ancy, Montbard, Pouillenay (120 kms and 70 locks) – all in five days, and all well starting the ascent to the summit.

Honey for sale at Germigny (St Florentin)

But let’s get this log out of the way in the early morning mist (Egrevin après Germigny) 

Roses at St Vinnemer (Photo 88 June 2012)

The Postman arrives at the lock Argenteuil

The Skies Threaten - Morning as we leave Pouillenay on the main ascent

Marigny - Water, water all around, not a drop to moor

On the sixth day (perhaps the Sunday should have been the seventh, but there we are) we take a shorter trip – only 5 kms but 18 locks – to middle of the flight at Marigny, but here we have a bit of fun.  Although rain has filled the feeder lakes and in theory water supply is not a problem, here they have some major leaks.  Three times we moor.  The first time we are suddenly tipping up in the late afternoon as they fill the lock below us to allow another boat up to the pound.  The loss of 4 ins (10cm) of water is more than enough to have our berthed side raised up, listing to that amount.

We remoor, but again by 9pm we are beginning to list again (because, as explained to us the next morning, of the leaks).  There is only 18 ins (45 cm) of water, and we need 24 /60.  A second re-mooring, but even 5 foot (1.5m) out from the bank there is only just the depth we need.  Heath Robinson like we fix gangplanks and bargepoles to try to keep us off the bank.  The next morning though  we are still listing now about 20 cms, well tilted, but we refloat and keep the back of the boat mid-channel until the locks open and we can travel.

The pounds (“biefs” in French) are intermittently very shallow from here to the summit, explained to us by the lock-keepers because of the leaks.  Otherwise there is no explanation why some have good depth and others are very shallow.

Almost at the top of the flight from Venarey to Pont-Royal

The Peace and Tranquility at Pont Royal

Fun and Games at the Summit

We moor one more night at Pont Royal – a beautiful little hamlet with excellent mooring – and then reach Pouilly-en-Auxois at the summit.

We have great fun at the Capitainerie / Tourist Office as we ask for guidance on French bus and train timetables (which even they are flummoxed by, though in the end we – more or less – sort them out), vets and sewers.  One young lady doesn’t like being known as the sewer and dog expert, so we re-christen her the town ecology and animal health expert.

Pouilly is beautiful.  We have a couple of days there - one while Glyn takes bus and train back to Migennes to collect the car (though he wishes they’d known at the Tourist office  that the 6.10am bus had been re-scheduled to 6.30) - and another while we have a day out at Beaune. 

The Stupendous Burgundy roof at the Hotel Dieu Hospice, Beaune (Photo 114 June 2012)

The Ceiling of the Grande Salle at Hotel-Dieu

Bed Rows at the Beaune Hospice c. 17^th century

Then we move through the dark tunnel (see the “Beautiful Valley of the Ouche”) and on to Vandenesse, where we have three free days.  The first we visit the beautiful Chateauneuf-en-Auxois; the second the Ouche Valley Steam Railway; and the third we just mooch about.  But we give you the story just in pictures.

The village at Chateauneuf-en-Auxois

The main residence at Chateauneuf-en-Auxois

The canal at Vandenesse looking down from Chateauneuf 

The view up to Chateauneuf from Vandenesse

Pouilly (en Auxois) in the distance from Chateauneuf

The restored railway station at Bligny-sur-Ouche

But is it only a toy engine to take us down the valley to Pont d'Ouche?

Finally we take the boat down to Pont d’Ouche and moor up where we will leave the boat for five weeks.  Bow-moored so getting on and off involves a bit of exercise, and at least once while wet Topsy slips on the gangplank and ends up in the canal.

And so we take the trip back to Normandy and the Ferry.  We let the Sat Nav do the navigating which takes us on a wonderful mystery tour over the Morvan hills, across the Nivernais canal, through Rogny of all places, and then down the Loire valley as if we had just started from Briare.  The weather is hot (35º) and we dodge the one or two showers, before overnighting once again at the Hotel du Tribunal at Mortagne in the Perche, and taking the ferry the next day.  We almost bake on the quay at Ouistreham (Caen) but three hours later in Portsmouth it is only cold, driving rain.  Oh how good it is to be in Blighty.