1st - 7th June 2018. Cruising on the Canal de Bourgogne, with visits to Tanlay, Ancy-le-Franc and Cry.

It is nice to be on the canal de Bourgogne again. This wooded section is just south of Germigny.

This makes a good pillow for Shannon. She much prefers the canals.

The valley opens out near to Charrey, making a lovely wild mooring with a view.

We have been so lucky with the weather!

As we approached the wide canal at Tanlay, another boater summed up the mooring for us. “On the left you have electric and water and you pay. On the right you get nothing, and it is free!” He omitted to tell us that we would have to moor a metre from the bank, due to lack of depth, but then again, it was free!

The chateau at Tanlay is impressive, but was closed to visitors. Monday again!

St Vinnemeer is another picturesque village. The roses by the lockside cottage were the best yet.

In Ancy-le-Franc we followed signs to a viewpoint, up a track behind the church. It was quite a climb, and would have been a very good view when we got there, if someone had kept the bushes trimmed! The wild strawberries on the way up were delicious anyway.

The lock before Ravières was very well kept.

There is a big quarry, taking a lot of the hillside, before the mooring at Cry. Two long distance cyclists pitched their tent on the far side of the canal inlet here, arriving as darkness fell, and leaving at the crack of dawn too.

Some of the houses in Cry had real character.

Here's hoping that someone will harvest these cherries! We liked the garden wall.

Out in the country again.

These locks can be quite rough. We have three éclusiers travelling with us today, showing how few boats are on this canal.

16th - 18th May. Plenty of cycling, cruising on to Saint-Florentin, a meal out in Brienon, then delays at Cheny lock in Migennes. Elaine and Mary leave us.

Having moored outside Tonnerre on a wild mooring, Elaine and I cycled to Leclerc, which was quite near to us. Andy and Mary set off for the lock, so by the time we had reached the store and found it closed for the day, they had gone! We still do not know why it was closed. We caught up with them at the next lock, as we waited an hour for our lockkeeper. Andy took over my bike, and Shannon went too! Shannon managed one lock, Andy did two, while Elaine cycled all the way to Flogny-la-Chapelle.

Meanwhile, Mary took the tiller. We were very disappointed in the state of the mooring at Flogny, our lunch stop. The mooring was unfinished, with uncollected rubbish overflowing at every bin. We moved on to lock 100 for 2.30pm, our arranged locking time. After an hour and a half we gave up, and decided to move across the canal, and moored on the offside just above the lock, to stay there for the night.

Two minutes later, there was a flurry of activity at the lock, as the first locking of three boats arrived, to be followed by another eight boats in quick succession! The river Yonne is closed to navigation today, due to too much water, so all the LeBoat hire craft are being sent this way. We have certainly had a lot of rain this week, which has been disappointing for our visitors. Hopefully the Yonne will be passable by the time that we go out on Friday.

Moving on on Tuesday to Saint-Florentin, we were looking forward to seeing inside this fine church, and topping up on essential shopping. Disappointment all round here as firstly the church was locked, even though we could hear an organ playing inside. Next we were told that Saint-Florentin is closed every Tuesday!

The narrow streets of the town were very interesting though, with some coloured timbered houses.

Our only view of the church was found by looking up the steps.

The lock cottage at Duchy Lock was another gem, on the Canal de Bourgogne.

Briennon lay ahead, and at last we found a typical French restaurant, for our long awaited French lunch. We would certainly recommend the Auberge de la Poterne, if you want to eat out in Briennon.

We had to wait at both of the last two locks, with a rather superior cruiser. He moored at Briennon, and was making his way down to the river Yonne. His boat was quite high in the water, so he was a lot taller than us. However, this made it difficult for his visitor to get safely off his side ladder in the last lock. He came down the two ladder rungs, then missed the side of the lock and fell in, hitting his head on the stone edge. Fortunately, there were some fishermen at the lock, so by the time Elaine and I arrived with Shannon, he was out of the water, but staggering, and blood was pouring from a two inch gash on his forehead. Mr Eclusier fetched a chair, so that he could sit down, rather than falling in again, and his wife managed to stop the bleeding by the time the ambulance arrived. We provided dressings too, to help staunch the flow. She kept on taking the dressing off to see how it was doing, which was not a good idea!

5th - 6th May On up the valley of the river Ouche with a visit to Châteauneuf, then on through France's highest canal tunnel.

As we move on up the valley of the River Ouche, it is noticeable how slow the trees are to become green. We are not sure whether this is because we are higher, or because there are more ash trees, which are slower to come into leaf.

There have been a lot of cyclists all the way up the canal de Bourgogne, but this must be a tandem club, out for the day.

This is a really scenic canal, as we pass through various villages, but this view has to be the best, with Châteauneuf high up behind The Puzzler.

 

Looking closer, it really is a castle up there! Most of it was rebuilt in the 15th century by Philippe Pot, Seneschal of Burgundy. Can't you imagine the knights of old, charging up the hill to attack the castle!

We arrived at the port of Vandenesse-en-Auxois and were allowed to moor on a trip boat mooring, near to the lock. This is due to three hotel boats which are here, taking most of the mooring. Tomorrow they have priority at the locks, so we will not be allowed to go until 4 pm.

We spent Friday morning climbing up the steep road to the village of Châteauneuf, which gave us a splendid view over the Auxois plains.

We were hoping that Shannon would be allowed to view the castle from our rucksack. However, she wasn't, so we didn't either! This is as close as we got.

The village centre was very picturesque.

This tree was on the outskirts of the village, and looked as though it would speak to us at any moment!

Andy and Shannon went right inside the tree from behind. Shannon found a different exit!

Back at the port, the hotel boat, L'Impressionniste, is squeezing under the bridge into the lock. He even has to remove his steering wheel to get under the bridge!

He absolutely fills the lock.

At 3.30pm, earlier than promised, we set off to complete the last 8 locks to the summit level. The front of the lock house at lock 4 is worth seeing! There are so many farm implements fixed to the walls!

We leave lock 1, having had our lifejackets and headlight checked before we were allowed to continue on to Pouilly tunnel. Our checker even reported one dog with a lifejacket on board too! This is the highest point on the French Waterways. We are at a height of 378 metres (1241 feet) so is nearly twice as high as Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield narrow canal in the UK.

Crossing the top pound, there is then a long cutting before the tunnel. Having been given our time, and told to go, we decided to ignore the red lights, and continued.  Luckily we were right, and no-one was coming!

The first half of the tunnel is well lit from the roof, creating eerie circles of light as we go. The second half has lights, but they are not working, so the boat headlight is needed there. The tunnel is just over two miles long.

It is always good to see the light at the end of the tunnel, leading us here into another deep cutting, and then on to Pouilly-en-Auxois.
 We now have flowers on the roof, thanks to the garden centre in Pouilly, and SuperU is very handy too, for shopping.

2nd - 4th May 2016. On to Dijon for a town visit. Next we travel on along the Canal De Bourgogne to La Bussiere-sur-Ouche.

Shannon and I walked on to lock 68 in the morning. It is nice to see The Puzzler from the towpath for a change!

In Dijon we went behind the island to moor in the park. We expected to have to pay for mooring here, but no-one came to ask us, so we kept our heads down.

On our first afternoon in town we visited the Roman Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame de Dijon. It was built between 1220 and 1240 on the site of an 11th Century chapel. The front façade is unique in French Architecture, as the rectangular surface has no buttresses and is enhanced by many false gargoyles.

Next morning it was off to see the Cathedral of St Beningus, which was rebuilt between 1280 and 1314, on the site of a former Romanesque basilica.

We found this mini Arc de Triomphe in Place Darcy, but it is not mentioned anywhere.

This interesting building was to be found facing Grangier Place.

Maison Maillard was built for Jean Maillard, who was the mayor of Dijon in 1560. It has a fascinating façade.

Having had our spot of culture, we headed out of Dijon, passing the technical college on our way.

This crocodile guarded his part of town from any passing boats. We kept going!

This is to show that Sally does occasionally take the tiller! The sides of the valley are quite close to the canal here at Crucifix rock.

Sadly we did not see any trains passing on the Viaduct de Fain. There are plenty of cyclists about though.

We moored above lock 42 in Fleury-sur-Ouche, in front of Calypso, another English cruiser. It was a lovely evening for a walk.

The valley of the river Ouche is opening out now, though the wooded hills are not too far away. This stand of trees has a serious attack of mistletoe to contend with.

We moored at La Bussiere-sur-Ouche and went for a walk. We started by climbing up through the village, then off to the left across a field, and on into the woods. This view is across the Ouche valley, just before we went into the woods. The canal, far below us, is mostly hidden by the trees, but the red arrow pinpoints The Puzzler.

We carried on, and on, through the woods, but met a nice lady who reassured us that we would eventually rejoin the canal. Shannon was getting quite thirsty, so this waterfall was a welcome find. She enjoyed a swim too.

We found the canal again at St Victor-sur-Ouche, by lock 29, so we were then about 3 kilometres from The Puzzler. It was a really good walk, if a little long!