At Venarey-les-Laumes, 8 locks and 12 kilometres further on, there is a fine French cockerel by the church.
At Marigny-le Cahouët, this was one of several unique gîtes. We went up 29 locks today, covering 10.5 kilometres in just 5 hours.
The valley here is quite wide, and most of the cattle are charolais.
There are 189 locks altogether on the Canal de Bourgogne and today we have three lockkeepers to see us through as quickly as possible! Note the synchronised parking of their scooters.
Sadly, several of the lock cottages are empty.
Others, however, are in lovely condition.
Another avenue of plane trees, leading on up to Pouilly-en-Auxois. Once there, we are at a height of 378 metres, or 1241 feet, which is twice as high as at Standedge tunnel, which is on the Huddersfield narrow canal in England.
Pouilly tunnel is lit at both ends, but ahead of us can be seen the dark section in the middle. There are unused lights in this part. Possibly this is so that the passengers on the trip boat can have the experience of complete darkness in this section.
It is quite pleasant to be out in the sunshine again.
We had to wait for half an hour in the next lock, as the trip boat was following us through the tunnel. Once we were both down the lock, he turned round to return up the lock and back through the tunnel to Pouilly We have a mere 78 locks to go down to the river Saône, at St-Jean-de-Losne!
A few locks further on brings us to this unique lock cottage.
It is amazing how many different tools and implements can be found here on the walls.
The locks are so close together, that it is no hardship to walk from one to the next.
The port of Vandenesse-en-Auxois is full, but we can moor on the trip boat mooring at this end, knowing that this boat is back at Pouilly, and will not be here today. There were 5 hotel boats here, before we left on Sunday.
The next few locks follow the canal, as it curves round the hill, on which Châteauneuf sits.
The valley opens out on both sides of the canal, as we follow le Vandenesse river. Further downstream, it becomes l'Ouche, but is the same river.
This would be an interesting house to have, in la Bussière-sur-Ouche
Moving on, on Monday, this is a really pretty part of the canal.
After lunch, we met this hotel boat. We have been lucky to find them all coming towards us today. Following a hotel boat is very bad news, as they are so slow in locks, because of their size. This one was the second of four which we met today.
When Andy went to Roanne for the car, two weeks ago, he travelled over this viaduct.
It is such a contrast, seeing the high-rise buildings in Dijon. We did not stop there this time, but went on to Longecourt-en-Plaine, to be further out in the country.
This was the high point of Shannon's day, as a water rat shared a lock with us!
The mushrooms by the lock in St-Jean-de-Losne are very distinctive, as we descend on to the river Saône.
After filling up with fuel, from the floating pontoon, we moved on to moor on the steps. It was good to find 1000 Rivers there, with John and Karen.
