WILDILFE, WELL HARDLY

Recently moored in Montbard, there are better French towns but we did manage a Friday night pizza, A traveller in a van down the quayside had these 2 very cute chickens. They were out all day on the canal bank doing what chickens do and returned to a tiny hutch in the evening.

Margaret the intrepid wildlife expert. Yes the three of them are all happy.

Only the next day it was cows, in this case Charolais variety. Very much the local cow in restaurants or the boucherie.

Margaret with her new friend. Yes he was asleep.

OUR DAILY ITINERANT COMPANIONS - VNF

We've mentioned éclusiers many times and they are all employed by VNF (Voies Navigables de France). On some canals or rivers the locks are permanently manned, such as the Grande Gabarit, commercial canals. Others we have a zapper, others have a pole dangling over the canal that you have to twist as you go by. Here on the Canal de Bourgogne we have lock keepers that drive ahead, normally on scooters and set the locks for our entry.

Zapper. Deliberately very chunky, hard to loose.

The éclusiers come in 1's, 2's, 3's or clutches to set the locks. They are generally great and good fun. There is the odd...... say no more.

These two were great, lovely characters.

The scooter transport, with a car visitor. Perhaps a 'très compliqué'

We sometimes have enthusiastic helpers! All good.

CHAINS OR ÉCHELLES AND BOUE

We are entering a section of intense locks formed into 3 chains or échelles (ladders). Échelle de Marigny 16 locks, Échelle de Chassey 6 locks and Échelle de Pouillenay 18 locks. 40 locks in total. These are in addition to the locks either side that are not included in the ladders. It will in theory take 3 days to complete! 

Page from our navigation guide showing the locks.

We got the feeling something was not 100% on the canal as we tried to arrange to leave a delightful mooring Pont Royal for the next day. The departure time was always 'plus'. We decided to check prior to casting off the next day with a local lock house. Calls were made and it became evident that there was a delay. We were told an éclusier would come and see us. He arrived and stated it was '....très compliqué'. OK it was agreed we will go tomorrow. We left as agreed and all good until we were waiting for the lock to be prepared in a short bief (pound, the stretch of water between locks). When ready to move forward into the lock I realised we had been beached (grounded). This got worse and Soraya was at an angle! We got ashore and after conversations with the éclusier it was agreed to reflood the bief as it was about 400mm lower than it's normal level. This took a long time! An hour later after a lot of revving and bowthrustering we eventually got off. This is the worst grounding we have ever had. So into the next lock. Things got worse. Lots of conversations and after the lock emptied and the gates opened we could see the problem. The next bief was 1+ metres lower than it should be. We draw 1.2m and the water level in the canals are normally maintained at 2.1m. Do the maths, if you remove a metre we are in the boue (mud).

Side of canal, the top of the dark mark is the normal water level.

We negotiated and said we would not move until the next lock was ready for entry about a third of a kilometre away. Hand signals were given and off we set in the boue. At almost full revs we were making little progress, literally ploughing through the mud at about a kilometre an hour. It was a long 3-400 metres. We arrived at the lock and I got the bow in. Soraya then seemed happy to go sideways. No. Foot hard down and we entered the lock with full revs, sucking out of the mud. If we release from the mud too quickly we will be entering the lock at 'grande vitesse'. Yes just a small amount of stress. Lots of conversation later, the bief must have developed a substantial leak. And the 'très compliqué' was probably whether we should go through or not. Personally I think they will have to close the canal and sort out the leak.

The good news is the rest of the biefs seem normal, we will certainly have honed our lock skills to perfection after this flight. Did I mention the other locks.......

LOCKS

Locks, locks and more locks!! We have been through 54 locks in the last 7 days of navigating. They're very straight forward as everything is done for you. We have our own éclusier (lock keeper) who scoots/drives along to the next lock and prepares it all and then does the whole procedure for us. Sometimes we have two or even three éclusiers to ourselves as there are no other boats around. You can help if you want (see below) but the éclusiers don't expect it.

Some of us work hard at it......

Others are more relaxed.

The difficult part is getting into the locks as we don't have much spare room on either side and the lock walls can be very unforgiving. The other thing we have to do is tie up so we don't get pushed around when the water is let in, it can be extremely fast. 

Lassoing the bollard in a lock

My lassoing skills have improved greatly. The bollard is actually further away than it looks. All I need now is a horse and a cowboy hat!!

All the locks have names, this one's my favourite, especially for the girls!!

My favourite lock name!!

SAÔNE TO SEINE BASINS - VOÛTE (POUILLY TUNNEL)

We've been navigating in the Sôane/Rhône basin for almost a year. However, the other day we crossed the watershed into the Seine basin on our way to Auxerre, Paris and many other places. This crossing involved the Voûte or Pouilly Tunnel. It's quite a piece of engineering 3330m long and very low, completed in 1832. It has quite a reputation in French canal circles. Not many people 'do' the Voûte, in fact we heard that on average there are only 2 boats passing through the tunnel a day in the navigation season. Prior to undertaking the tunnel we had to strip down Soraya, the first time since leaving the Thames, as we were too tall. Off with the wheel house, the blue board/wind generator, crane, flag etc. We were then given instructions, sign a liability form, a departure time, a permit du passage and a VHF radio by the canal staff.

Soraya ready for the off, all stripped down.

Entering the tunnel is quite spooky, it's so long and only partially lit. The width is barely wider than Soraya and the height as can be seen from the photographs not much higher even in a stripped down state.

Yes it was very tight.

The good news is, it's straight so you can see the end, although it took us 1 hour 15 minutes to complete. It seems a lot longer than an hour and a quarter when navigating 80 tons of steel with only a few centimetres spare on either side. We also had to wear life jackets, a requirement.

Geoff focusing on the 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

At either ends of the tunnel there are a kilometre length of 'cut' which is almost as difficult to negotiate, as it is the same width as the tunnel plus it bends.

The canal cut out of the tunnel.

Looks more like a drainage ditch than canal but this is the link between Paris and the Saône and hence the wine region of the Bourgogne. Originally the barges were pulled by hand through the tunnel by 6 men. This took ~10 hours for the transit. Steam driven tug boats were then used in 1867 but the fumes from the coal fired boats caused deaths by asphyxiation. An electric tug was later introduced in 1893 which was successful until its retirement. Now it's over to yourself. A great experience.

The electric tug in its preserved state next to the canal in a shelter supported by cardboard tubes.

OUT WITH THE NEW IN WITH THE OLD

You have to do certain tourist stuff at times and Châteauneuf is on the list. It's old it's big it's commanding. Some of the interiors are beautiful, I particularly liked the design concepts in the ablutions department.

Margaret and Scoots on our way.

Great tiled floors, tapestries, huge bath. Not totally sure of the use for the plank over the bath. The calico looks good, unsure about the practically.

Le grand bain.

The adjacent parlour with undeniably French Oak floors.

The parlour.

I think it's to time to rethink modern bathrooms. After all what is wrong with a bit of wet fabric and distressed panelling.

WEATHER

What is happening? Last week it was 20deg C with shorts and T shirts, this morning it was -1.5deg C.

BBQ!

It would take hours to heat up the barbie never mind searing the crevettes. Good news Soraya lovely and warm due to French power supplies.

RESTAURANTS

As many of you know, we are always ready to try a new restaurant. So when we heard there was a Michelin Star Restaurant on our route, we had to look it up. We arrived at La Bussière-sur-Ouche which is in the middle of nowhere and went in search of the restaurant which is in an old Abbaye. We found the Abbaye but the gates to the grounds were firmly closed. We phoned up and tried to book, but the whole place was fully booked for 3 days for a wedding. We must at least have a look at it!!

Abbaye de la Bussière

Inside L'Abbaye

The Abbaye has been renovated and is now a Country House/Hotel. The proprietor, who is British, showed us round. It's absolutely superb. I wouldn't mind staying or at least having a meal there sometime. We'll have to come again.

Having missed out on our Michelin Star meal, we were told by the owner that there was a lovely Bistrot at Pont d'Ouche which was our next mooring. We arrived around lunchtime and went for a drink in the hope of booking for the evening. The owner was rather reluctant as she closed at 7.30 and didn't really  want to cook after 6. We said we'd just come for a drink and arrived at 6 to find her just locking up! Sorry, she said, but there's nobody around, no custom so I've cleared up and closed! This was Saturday night and the Bistrot was closing at 6!! Oh la la........

GUI AND GIROFLÉE

We know where to come next Christmas for a good supply of Gui (Mistletoe - Viscum album), the Bourgogne Canal it's almost a pest. Some trees seem to be more mistletoe than tree.

Poplar trees covered in Gui along the banks of the canal.

The other plant in abundance is Giroflée (Wallflower - Erysimum sp.) in its native state before plant breeding, it's superb. You wonder why we did not leave it in its natural form.

Natural uncultivated Giroflée in preferred habitat, a wall! Clue's in the name.

CHÂTEAUX AND CASTLES

Yes we set off at last. A difficult decision as we were at home in Dijon. It's spring time on Le Canal de Bourgogne and everything is looking beautiful. We've recently had very mixed weather, glorious sunshine, half an hour of intense rain and wind then back to the sun. What's going on? Our stay in Dijon has been great with lots of friends visiting and as we have previously mentioned a very cost effective place to live. Dijon city has so much to offer and a very friendly and content place, with great transport both within the city and from afar. It's now time for navigation. We can't wait. Jobs done, people seen, shopping done, the cellar is full.

Bye bye Dijon see you?? Auxerre, Paris and the Champagne region here we come.

The Canal de Bourgogne is beautiful with so much to see, scenery and historical places and artefacts.

One of the many châteaux along the canal. This small château at Fleurey-sur-Ouche.

Scoots has been off Soraya a few times for excursions. A delightful one was to the ruins of a castle at Mâlain. It has been under restoration for ~20 years and they seem to have not yet started.

Mâlain castle on a vantage point looking over vast tracts of Bourgogne.

Our progress is very slow as there is a lock on average every kilometre and with so much to see we sometimes only go ~6km per day. Could be a long trip.