Thursday 29th
May
We arrived at Pouilly-en-Auxois
yesterday. This is the summit of the Bourgogne canal and over 1240 feet above
sea level and the temperature is definitely cooler here. The port is full of
English speaking boaters and we had seven for drinks in the evening. Our guests
included Antiope a boat shared by two owners and last year we travelled along
the canal de Bourgogne with the other owners.
Today we restocked
with fuel and geraniums and got the boat ready to go through the tunnel at 9am
tomorrow. In the evening we were told we cannot leave till 1pm, so there goes
the early night with no alcohol and we join another boat for drinks in the
evening.
The journey to the
summit has been so different to last year, which was cold and very wet. We
hardly recognise some places seeing them in sunshine instead of through mist
and cloud. The bird song has been incredible we are woken at five thirty by the
dawn chorus but the best thing is being sung to sleep by nightingales.
Friday 30thMay
We used the same technique
as last year going through the tunnel. We tied saplings on each side to keep us
off the tunnel walls and hung a couple of buoys on wheelhouse in case the
saplings did not work. We were through the tunnel in 45 minutes (1hour 15mins
last year). Our mooring for the
night was at Vandenesse where the lock keeper warned us that a hotel barge
would be arriving in the evening so not wanting a repeat of Ancy-le-Franc we moored
on the other side of the port. About half an hour before the hotel barge
arrived a member of the crew turned up and made several boats move. When it
arrived the hotel barge (Amarylis) needed to turn around and we did have to
move a few metres to give it enough space to manoeuvre without hitting our
stern. The crewman helped us hold on to Tesserae for about five minutes and
then pull her back up to our mooring; so different from the hotel barge at Ancy-le-Franc.
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| Vandenesse |
Saturday 31thMay
Today’s trip from Vandenesse
has been very quick. The first lock keeper actually ran around the lock to open
the gates and seemed almost offended when D tried to help with them. Then we
had a pair of lockkeepers who worked very efficiently and we quickly covered 17
km and 18 locks. They helped us moor up on a new mooring at La Bussiere-sur-Ouche
and we gave them each a couple of well-earned beers. Amarylis arrived in the
evening and we had to move along the quay to make space, they were very
apologetic about making us move again. We presumed they would leave first in
the morning but no, they had been told by the lock keepers that they had to
follow us – amazing what a couple of beers can do!
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| Chateauneuf in the sunshine |
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| Hard working lock keepers |
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| The VNF are actually repairing the canal de bourgogne! |
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| Our friendly lock keepers |
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| New mooring at La Bussiere with Amarylis |
Sunday 1st
June
The lock keepers today
were the complete opposite of yesterday walking very slowly around the locks
and taking ages getting them ready. We arrived Fleurey-sur-Ouche an hour later
than expected. We reached here on this date last year but we had taken twice as
long partly because we were sight seeing and partly because of the awful
weather.
Tuesday 3rd
June
Yesterday we travelled
a short distance to Velars-sur-Ouche. Last year the town was holding a
“Carnavelo” but this year it takes place on 15th June. The local
supermarket does have the cheapest diesel and wine on the canal so it is well
worth the stop.
Today we travelled to
Dijon and arrived in time for lunch. The jolly lock keeper who works the 3
locks before Dijon lives at the last one and he let us through it after midday!
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| Mooring at Dijon |
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| Mini motorised whale? no capsized model boat |
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| Oh dear, who had the controls? |
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| Rescue boat |
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