22nd - 29th April. A week spent at Fragnes, waiting for the flooded Saône to go down, then up the Saône to Chazelle, which lies to the south of Seurre.

We have enjoyed our week at Fragnes, doing all those little jobs that always need doing. The boulangerie is closed for annual holidays, but Celine, our helpful capitaine, sells bread every day. Fragnes is a very pleasant village, with a good restaurant, and many lovely houses. We found a table tennis table in the park too, so put it to good use!

Holes have been dug for new mooring bollards to be fixed in place. The metal bollard, currently lying on the grass behind the hole, will be held in place by the wooden pole, once the concrete fills the hole.

This man is levelling the concrete, but there is not quite enough around this bollard, so he has called for more.

The tipper truck is full of concrete for the next hole, but stops here so that our man can take a few more shovels full, to level off the base of his bollard. However, the ground is too soft to take the weight of the full truck, and the front wheel slowly sinks up to its axle! At this we thought that we should leave them to it!

Our last painting job this year is the roof. We had thought that this was a task too far, but our enforced stop at Fragnes has made it possible. After washing the roof, we started the painting with grey gloss around the edges. Two days later, having masked this, Andy is now adding the nonslip surface by roller, while my job is to keep the tray full of paint of the right consistency. This seemed to work, apart from a break for rain, half way along the roof!

On Thursday 28th April we set off from Fragnes at last, to go 3km and stop for shopping at Le Clerc at Crissey, which is very near to Chalon-sur-Saône. This mooring, with its own garden, is very convenient for the supermarket. The lock can be seen at the end of the canal, but we stayed here overnight. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!

We had planned to be at the lock for a 9am descent, but were foiled by two Le Boat hireboats, which shot past us to take the lock. They too had been stuck at Fragnes, while their hirers had to taxi back to the hire base for their cars. Obviously the hire company had sent crew out to bring them home! This lock at Chalon-sur-Saône has a drop of 10.76 metres, being the deepest on the Canal du Centre.

The water in the Saône is still flowing quite fast, and we have to look out for obstacles, like this log which was held across a marker by the flow of the water.

We paused briefly at Gergy, beside barge Eendje. The water level here has been halfway up the fencing above the jetty.

There are a lot of floating logs, wedged to the right hand end of the jetty, here at Gergy.

This fine house overlooks the river, upstream of Gergy.

Spring has suddenly arrived, and all the trees are green!

Ecuelles lock would hold about 50 narrowboats, but we are the only one today!

After 36km on the river, we had had enough, and found a friendly bank for the night, near to the hamlet of Chazelle, just to the south of Seurre.

21st - 26th August. On the Rhône to Rhine canal, then on to Saint-Jean-de Losne on the river Saône, then the Canal du Centre from Chalon-sur-Saône to Saint-Leger-sur Dheune.

Continuing along the Rhône to Rhine Canal, we reached the final three locks, which drop us back down into the river Saône.

We soon arrived at Saint-Jean-de-Losne, where a family from King's Lynn moored outside us. We visited Blanquart's Chandlery, to discover that the Canal de Bourgogne was closed last week, until November. We had been going to go that way so it is a change of plan! It is lucky that the Canal du Centre is still open.

This pretty evening light over the Saône was followed by a superb firework display. Shannon hated it! Life can be tough at times!

Moving on down the river, we pulled in at Gergy. It makes a change to be on such wide water again. We have pushed on through some very wet weather to get here, covering 42.5 kilometres today.

At Chalon-sur-Saône it is a right turn off the river, where we rise up on to the Canal du Centre, through this ten metre lock. It is numbered Mediterrenée 35.

The bottom gate closes in two sections behind us, as it is such a deep lock.

The calm waters of the Canal du Centre lie ahead of The Puzzler.

This is the best lock garden which we have seen, with so many different flowers.

Passing a wood yard, it was interesting to see the tree trunks being sprayed to keep them wet, while they are seasoning.

Our first rainbow for ages.

In the centre of Chagney, this metal cockerel rules the roost. The cockerel is the national symbol of France.

We have been seeing vineyards all along the hillsides, but here they are very close to the canal.

It was nice to meet our Swiss friends again, as they return along the Canal du Centre.

Walking through Saint-Léger-sur-Dheune, the trees are starting to show their autumn colours.

From Saint-Léger-sur-Dheune there are five very deep locks. There are floating bollards for the ropes, which does help. All the locks up from the Saône are numbered from Mediterranée 35 to 1.

The boat must be tied securely, as the side ground paddles are quite fierce. In one lock this incoming water reached the top deck of The Puzzler, to soak our canal guide book.

It was a relief to reach the calm waters of the summit pound. This canal has been so much better than we were expecting. Our next locks will start at Océan 1.