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.

7th - 13th May. On to Pouilly, then down the other side of the Canal de Bourgogne, with our visitors joining us at Montbard.

Having come up 76 locks from Saint-Jean-de-Losne, on the river Saone, we are starting our descent of 113 locks to Migennes, on the river Yonne. We think that this is the first lock which we have shared with another boat on this canal. It is very quiet.

Between the locks, as we descend, the Canal de Bourgogne is usually quite wide, with the landscape stretching away to the hills beyond.

We are in lock 49, which is near the end of a flight of 37 locks in just over 12 kilometres.

Narrows ahead! You would not want to meet another boat here.

As we passed Courcelles-les-Montbard the weather was threatening, but it did not rain.

This stork gave us an impressive aerial display, circling above The Puzzler.

We have now come down 62 locks from the summit in just three days sailing. We are playing catch-up after our delay last week, due to high water on the Saone. This is another delightful lock cottage. Each one is different.

At Nogent-le-Grand Shannon approved of the lavoir, finding the water really tasty.

This TGV has whisked our visitors, Elaine and Mary, directly from Paris in just 63 minutes!

Looking ahead, after lock 74, the cliffs and the Bois de Garle are ahead of us.

We found the village of Ancy-le-Libre and this old church almost by accident. It is not marked on our canal guide as a place of interest, but is a lovely village and is well worth visiting.

This has to be the oldest church which we have visited, with solid wooden pews.

There is so much detail in the carving of the Last Supper, above the altar.

I loved the way that this old barn wall had been "renovated" with thin stone, above the old original ones.

However, some of the houses are much more recent.

Moving on to Tanlay, this splendid natural tree stump has been transformed into an Easter Island sculpture.

The chateau at Tanlay is surrounded by this moat. We decided to look round the interior another time.

After a walk round the grounds of the chateau, we came to this bookshop cum café for a cup of tea.