SAINT-JEAN-DE-LOSNE - SUMMER MOORING

St-Jean-de-Losne is the uncontested barge/waterways centre of France as it is a confluence of many canals and rivers; Petite Saône, Saône (leading into the Rhône), Canal du Rhône au Rhin, Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne, Canal du Centre and the Canal de Bourgogne. (That's a bit of a mouthful!). It's a great place to leave your boat and/or set off from. It also has long quays, hotel barge moorings and three huge basins for mooring numerous large barges and other smaller boats.

Evening view from our mooring across the Saône.

We've been looking for a secure location to leave Soraya whilst we return to the UK and other destinations over the summer and after conversations with fellow bargees and various waterways companies we've found a good mooring just outside St-Jean-de-Losne in the Ancienne Écluse.

Summer mooring for Soraya. She will be in good company, all the boats are péniches.

Off to the UK and other places, so no more 'Europe on a Péniche' posts until later in the year. We hope we have kept you amused and informed about our travels. À bientôt.

PARDON DES MARINIERS AND ABLETTES

Back in Saint-Jean-de-Losne and it's fête time on the Saône. Traditionally it was a very large festival with all the commercial péniches lining up decorated across the river, with various water/boat based activities followed by the usual drinking and eating. Not to forget on Sunday the boats were blessed in the 'Pardon', wishing well for the year to come.

A couple of colourful péniches.

Lots of good food and a few specials for the bateliers (bargees). One in particular I had to try was 'Friture d'Ablettes'. Ablettes are small freshwater fish (Common Bleak) that are found in abundance in the local rivers and canals. They are a bit like whitebait without the saltiness, coated whole in a light batter with 'weld' ( yellow dye from Dyer's Rocket) and deep fried. Good healthy meal deep fried fish and chips! There was a lemon.

A massive plateful of Friture d'Ablettes.

Were they good? Yes. Would I order them again? No. One problem there were far too many.

MUSÉES

Museums are numerous in France. We went to a couple recently in Dijon. First of all Musée des Beaux-Arts which is one of the largest museums in France and used to be the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. It ranged from the very ornate burial tombs of the Dukes in a vast church-like room to very modern sculptures.

Burial tombs of the Ducs de Bourgogne 

Modern cycle sculpture

The next museum we went into was this one.

Musée Rude

We were intrigued and had to look inside.

Full size maquette of the carving on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. 

I thought this was the rude bit but no....the sculptor's name was François Rude!

TRAMS, PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND MUSTARD

Why does every town have a different system of buying and using public transport tickets? Here in Dijon it's another version. It's difficult enough trying to find out the tram you need to go to.... well you don't really know where if you've only just arrived and only been here for a couple of hours. We tussle with the ticket machine and pay for two tickets. One comes out of the machine. On the tram ticket against the ticket reader, 1 accepted, try again for the second and a big NO. So I am travelling sans ticket. Good news the ticket police did not arrive, they were having a lock down earlier, according to a fellow bargee, on all trams, looking for fare dodgers. Problem now sorted by watching other passengers. We needed two separate tickets then we could zap one each. The system is 'intelligent' and knew the ticket had been zapped on that tram at that time. So you now have the knowledge if you come to Dijon.

Yes there is mustard. In fact there's lots.

Dijon's answer to a Nespresso shop.

Strange thing about 'Dijon' mustard is that almost all is not made in Dijon. It's made locally in Beaune where we were recently tasting Bourgogne wine. All very confusing. Mustard shops in abundance with cute mini beer pumps for sampling the many mustards with tiny baguette biscuits. Excellent.

Geoff sampling the delights of Edmond Fallet mustard. 

Dijon seems a great city, lots to do and it might become our new adopted city for hivernage. We'll see.

ES TU PRÊT

Don't you want to add captions to paintings? I'd love to add speech balloons to paintings in galleries. The more pitsy (pretentious shit) the gallery the better. Dijon Beaux Arts recently, lots of important 'brown' paintings. This one caught our attention. Woman naked in the countryside, man struggling to get his armour and clothes off.

'Are you ready I'm getting cold'.

'This ******* zip always jams at the worst times!'

There could be another explanation, it just seems a bit dodgy.

LUNCHTIME

We're on the Canal de Bourgogne where all the locks are manual. No, that doesn't mean we have to do it ourselves. There are lock-keepers (éclusiers) who follow us on their scooters, although they always get there first and patiently wait for us. They do all the winding, turning, opening and closing of gates etc. 

The éclusier opening the paddles

But, of course they have to take time off for lunch and we all know in France that can take quite a while! Well, what else can you do when you're stuck in a lock and it's around that time of day.

Lunch in the écluse

LA MUSÉE DE L'ECLUSE

Whilst in a lock on the Canal de Bourgogne we both saw a very small sign 'Musée de L'Ecluse'. Chatting with the eclusier we inquired about if the museum existed. He asked if we would like to view his private museum/collection. What could we say but 'Yes'. Leaving Soraya in the lock we set off round the back of the old eclusier's house past the geese, guard animals, through his garden and into a vault under his house. What an amazing collection of 'anything'. All totally bizarre, vaguely connected to the Canal de Bourgogne and ecluses but in particular his lock. Lock No. 62 'Petit Ouges'.

The eclusier and his hoard.

Lots of everything. Including empty vintage wine bottles, coins, Dinky toys (French equivalent) photos of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones when they visited! Did I mention we (Brits) bombed the canal.

SUMMER STUFF

The weather has been amazing, up to 36deg. So it's summer pursuits. Firstly leaping off Soraya in the Saône for a swim. 

Margaret cooling off in the Saône.

Secondly after all that hard work the shade of a grape vine looked very attractive in a local bar for a refreshing Grimbergen or two.

Geoff in his natural habitat.

MORE LOCKS

How many can you do a day? It depends on many factors. Firstly as the old saying goes size matters, secondly reliability. It doesn't matter how big it is if it doesn't work. Thirdly and not last, other navigators. Hire boats (Tupperware) say no more! Fourthly waiting time. 

A deep one! Chalon 34b Med 10.75 metres deep.

You want me to go up again!

We were waiting at a lock on the Saône recently wondering why the fully manned lock was taking so long. The lock gates opened and this leviathan came out.

110 metres long with 60 suites, dozens of crew, swimming pool, gym, pitch and put etc. etc.

Once on the Saône as opposed to the Petit Saône these monsters come thick and fast, taking customers on cruises from Chalon-sur-Saône down to Marseille and back.

RUE DES GRANDS CRUS

Yes more wine. The weather has been amazing so it's off on Scoots to do some of the wine roads, passing through an amazing landscape pretty villages and dozens and dozens of degustations. Every other house seems to be a 'domain' with offers of degustation and of course wine sales.

One problem with Bourgogne wine (this is where it gets a bit sommelier, so skip the section if you want) is if you find a particular Bourgogne wine that you really like and would like to buy again, the wine production and labelling in this region is so complex you can virtually never have the same wine again. Unless you have exactly the same year from the same village from the same vintner and from the same field, it will be different. You have to go back to the vintner and ask if he has any of that particular vintage/field left. It becomes more complex as most Clos or fields are in multiple ownership. One person/company owning the first 20 rows, another the next 35 rows etc. The owners of their rows will then harvest their grapes take them to their own premises and make the wine. This will then be labelled differently than the person who owns the next few rows! It rightly should be labelled differently as it will be different as no two vintners will produce the same tasting wine even from the same grapes. Add onto this the 4 gradings of all the wine 'Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Village and Bourgogne'. This complication, and it actually is more complex than I've stated as there are exceptions, does a good job of keeping the price up.

If you think it's very complicated, you're right it is. Good tip, if you buy the cheaper Village classification it's all a lot simpler.

Scoots going well doing the wine roads.

One of the many clos (walled fields) of vines.

Every field is labelled by name of field, hectarage, quality of wine and sometimes the proprietor. Some down to a hectare in size and all very rocky/stoney ground with a touch of clay.

And of course a picnic in the shade. It has been very hot.

TASTING IN THE VINEYARDS

As we were moored so close to the vineyards in Bourgogne (Burgundy) we had to go for a degustation. It would be rude not to! We were chatting to the captain of an exclusive hotel barge (50,000 for six people for a week!) and asked where the best wine tours were. He didn't give much away but told us there was a tour with an off road vehicle into the vineyards with degustations. So off to Beaune to find out more, we came across the company and organised a tour. The price definitely wasn't for the faint hearted but it was awesome!! Our guide was amazingly knowledgable. It was just the two of us, in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, which was necessary, as we went on dirt, stony tracks up to the top of the vineyards with amazing views of the valleys. 

Vineyards all around

Then it was onto the tastings. We tasted ten wines, five reds and five whites. The interesting thing was that we actually went to the plot of land that the grapes for that particular wine had come from. Definitely tasting the 'terroir'.

Degustation amongst the vines

Vine discussions with our guide, this one was Pinot Noir

RULES FOR SOME

There are not many rules on the canal system of France. There are two which while not being enforced, there is no one to do the enforcing, they are expected to be observed:

Do not tie up to signs or trees.

Do not moor in designated no mooring areas.

Perhaps he's short sighted! Yes the stern was tied to a tree.

A DISLIKE OF ?

We have a very strange neighbour. At about 9 pm he leaves his house and walks down the canal bank. Returns home and comes out with his bike and a gun. He cycles past us, all very polite, arrives at the spot he looked at earlier takes aim and fires. After that he gets back onto his bicycle and cycles home.

Mass or discriminate killer?

We have no idea what he is shooting at. Whatever it is it only required one bullet a night! It's not the wife she is still alive and very chatty. You can imagine the conversation.

Where are you going darling?

Just going to shoot something.

Will you be long?

They're vermin Fawlty.....

You must remember the German sketch.

CLOS DES MOUCHES

We are in 'the' region if your tipple is wine. Moored on the Canal du Centre in the Bourgogne (or as us British call it Burgundy). So off comes scoots and we do the wine chateaux, roads, cellars and obviously the degustation. Don't worry it was/is all smell, taste and spit (it was with a few of our cousins from across the pond). Margaret not amused at the noise of the virtual gargling and violent spitting. She thought it was uncouth and what a waste. This waste was even commented upon by other 'fellow' Americans. It's all in a day's work tasting France's finest.

Clos des Mouches at Joseph Drouhin in Beaune.

A well known wine in France. A bit on the pricy side at €7400 for a party bottles as bellow.

A couple of Jeroboams of Clos des Mouches.

They could have dusted before we came. Apparently the mould is a penicillin mould which as we know is the basis of many antibiotics and protects the wine and the bottle from other not so friendly growths.

CATS

We have lots of cats. Visiting ones, checking us out ones and others that seem to want to take up permenant residence. This particular cat at Fragnes was determined to come aboard and stay. Don't fret it was not abandoned. We had a chat with the Capitaine and she informed us that we must check Soraya before we leave as the cat may stowaway! Checking was done and apart from the odd scratching and meow there is no sign of her!!

Investigating the gunwales.

Perhaps we should have this sign on board, seen recently in Beaune.

Lost in translation.

Leaving cats to one side a really nice element of Fragnes was the fruit garden. The Capitaine showed us a garden next to the canal which was planted with all soft and top fruits. You were invited to help yourself, leaving fruit for others. So gooseberry tart here we come.

LIGHT AT THE END.....

Tunnels are always challenging. You're never quite sure if there's going to be enough headroom until you're in and often they're completely dark inside. Fortunately this one was lit, 680m long and you could see light at the end. However, not quite sure how you get to those steps if you wanted to walk over the top.

In we go.....

And out the other side

ONE SLICE OR TWO

Chalon-sur-Saône is a very difficult place to moor, but more of that later. The Sunday morning market is huge. In front of the cathedral and down adjacent streets with every kind of food and drink you would ever want. What makes it very unusual is that fact that it's 'Sunday'. Most French towns are deserted on Sundays but this is hectic. Not just the market is busy but all the adjacent shops, bars, cafes and restaurants are open. Amazing.

Margaret beside a peach and nectarine stall. Always a bit of a fruitarian.

Baker cutting a slice from a loaf. Yes he was struggling, obviously a good solid loaf. Note the 'table top' is the next loaf!

Amazing cheeses. Looks like the cheese mites are winning the day on this 36 month old Salers Fermier. Tasted mature.

Well with all that bread you would need a bit a cheese.