Friday 16th May
On Wednesday we moved back to Laroche St Cydroine and did a load of washing, something we could not do when out of the water. Yesterday the lock keepers were on they, have not had a pay rise for 7 years and retiring lock keepers are not being replaced so they are understandably fed up. The lock keepers are back at work today and we arranged to start our journey along the Canal de Bourgogne at 9am tomorrow.

Sunday 18th May
On Saturday we went as far as to St Florentin accompanied by a New Zealand couple (Wayne and Lorraine) on a hire boat and today we arrived at Flogny-la-Chapelle. This is where we spent 5 days last year when the canal was closed because of floods. We walked down to the river Armancon and saw the water level was very low, so different to last year. Is there is enough water to keep the canal filled? In the village the Fete de la Gougere is under way and we go along to join the party. We sampled champagne from an amateur producer who had won various awards and bought some snacks but it was quite low key apart from the dancing troupe. Quite what they were supposed to be we were not sure but they kept going all day, we could hear the drums back on the barge.
There is a lock keepers strike again tomorrow so we were not expecting to move but in the evening the hotel barge C’est la Vie moored next to us (we had met them last year) and told us the lock keepers between Flogny and Tonnerre would be working to let them through.

River Armancon 2014

2013

2014

2013

Monday 19th May
We travelled to Tonnerre in time for lunch but could not go any further because of the strike and the New Zealanders on the hire boat are stuck here. We visited the Hotel Dieu a hospice built for the poor by Margaret of Burgundy in 1293, it had been closed on our two previous visits to Tonnerre. On the way back to the boat we had a chat with Sean, an Irishman who lives here. The Kiwi’s joined us for drinks in the evening and Sean appeared just as the wine was being opened! Anyway we had a jolly evening hearing how Sean came to France to avoid the English, his connections with the IRA, his cannabis growing endeavours and the various children he has around France.

Hotel Dieu

Tonnerre

Tuesday 20th May
The lock keepers are back at work and we and the New Zealanders moved on to Tanlay. On the way a lock keeper went early for lunch leaving the lock gate closed, the hire boat was okay but the water was too shallow at the canal bank for us to moor up. Wayne went up and opened the gates so we could tie up in the lock for the lunch hour. Wayne is not impressed by French lock keepers and tells this keeper so when he returns from lunch. Luckily he does not speak French and the lock keeper does not understand English otherwise the lock keepers would be out on strike again. In the evening we had a simple dinner one of our favourite quayside restaurants. Wayne and Lorraine had moved on this afternoon after walking around the grounds of the chateau so we will not see them again unless we meet up in New Zealand.

Tanlay

Thursday 22nd May
Yesterday we travelled to Ancy-le-Franc and stopped on a mooring reserved for hotel barges. We had spent a couple of days here last year without a problem. There was no timetable up and from what C’est la Vie’s captain had told us we did not expect any hotel boats on Wednesday night. The black tank was not emptying properly so after mooring up D. went down in the engine room and got hot and bothered trying to sort it out. In the middle of this a hotel barge arrived, not any hotel barge but the one that last year had a reputation for being generally unpleasant to everyone else on the canal. It was to late to carry on along the canal and D was hot and bothered but we had to move. With help from the skipper of an other boat and a fisherman we managed to re moor on a dodgy bit of bank and hoped we would be okay overnight. D still fretting over the black tank.
Today we moved a short distance to Ravieres and D. tackles the black tank again. After much fiddling about he decides the pipe between the tank and the pump must be blocked and the only way to sort it out is to disconnect it, this could make quite a mess in the engine room!!  L reckons the pump is not working properly and as a nurse she knows about drainage tubes and there will not be any overflow but passes down a bucket just in case. Cautiously D. disconnects the pipe it is empty and dry.  He then dismantles the pump and finds some debris, which could have been in the tank since the barge was built. When reconnected everything works perfectly and the black tank empties. (L thinks D was a bit disappointed that it was all so simple in the end)

Debris in the black water pump

Ravieres

Saturday 24th May
On Friday we stopped at Montbard and restocked with supplies from the local supermarket. Today we moved to Venarey-les-Laumes to find the moorings filled by 3 hotel barges all waiting to take on new guests. We tuck ourselves in between the last hotel boat and the bridge. Tomorrow we start the flight of 40 locks over 13 km leading to the summit of the canal. We had arranged to leave at  9am to tackle the first 29 locks but in the evening a lock keeper appeared and tells us we cannot leave until the afternoon as they are short of staff.

Veneray-les-Laumes

Tuesday 27th May
On Sunday we left at 1pm as arranged and were only able to travel up 10 locks. We were quite grateful for this as it was a very hot afternoon and we did not fancy doing another 19 locks with only one keeper accompanying us. Instead we enjoyed sundowners on the back deck, a much better option. On Monday it was cooler and overcast which was better day for working the locks. There was still a shortage of lock keepers and again we only had one lock keeper; last year we had 2 keepers all the way up. Although progress was slow we made it to Pont Royal, going up 32 locks the most we had ever done in one day. We decided to stay at Pont Royal today to recover as we have moved each day for the last10 days, another record for us.

Heading up the Staircase

Pouillenay

Only 30 locks left!

Evening sun at Pont Royal