Back on our old pontoon – the final post of 2016

Dijon to St Jean de Losne, locks 55-76

We left our mooring quite early, worried that there might be a queue of boats for the first lock, but in fact we needn't have worried: we travelled alone all day. The first two student lock-keepers were charming, if not very punctual, as were most of the others during the day. One boy could hardly keep his eyes off his phone long enough to wind or push gates, but I suppose that's the way it is these days.

As mentioned earlier, this last stretch of the Burgundy Canal is not very interesting. Outside Dijon, we passed a former commercial harbour now inhabited by people living on their converted barges:

Everywhere it was clear that most of the harvest is in – corn is an exception. This farmer certainly had a lot of straw bales stacked:

There was very little traffic on the canal, though this hotel barge, offering barge and bike holidays, held us up for a little at one lock:

I think the hills in the background to this shot are the fabled Cote d'Or, where the grapes for some of the world's most expensive wines are grown:

Getting close to St Jean now. It has been a long, hot day. Not to be recommended.

We think the large warehouse-like building in this shot is probably the indoor storage where Saskia will spend the winter:

Here we are about to leave the final lock – with great relief. We made it about 30 minutes before closing time:

And here we are back on the Saone, first time for about 14 months:

So that's it, really. We've had a great trip, covering more than 1,900 kilometres according to our computerized navigation system – hard to believe actually – in a couple of months. How many lifting bridges and locks is impossible to say. Too many locks on this canal, that's for sure.

Holland we enjoyed as much as last year, though this part, the northeast and Friesland, was rather different. More rural, less urban, less high culture. All the same, the great Dutch virtues of taking pride in their towns and cities, and gardens and window boxes, of enjoying themselves, particularly in the water, of not over-protecting their children – that's everywhere and we greatly appreciated these qualities.

It was noticeable, moving into Belgium and stopping in Antwerp, that rather different values prevail. It was much scruffier and also seemed at times to be two different countries – Flanders and Wallonia.

Back in France was good for many reasons, not least communicating with the natives (although of course almost all Dutch people we encountered spoke beautiful English) and shopping. There were long stretches of travel down to Paris, and then on up the Seine to get to the start of this canal.

We pledged to be a Brexit and Trump-free zone, and have stuck to that, though of course many of the people we met wanted to discuss Brexit, at least, and some Trump too. Most seemed reasonably relaxed and amused by the Brexit vote, and confident that common sense will produce a sensible solution. As for Trump – the vote is getting  alarmingly close.

Finally, thanks to those who have stuck with us through this voyage. We sign off now for the season, not sure what 2017 may hold in store: we still hanker after the south, but not in July/August. Perhaps we could go earlier in the year. Who knows?

Nearly the end of the road

Fleury to Dijon, Locks 42 to 54

We set off in company with a cheery Belgian on a rather handsome twin-engined cruiser. Unfortunately, however, after the first lock we picked up the very, very slow boat that had held us up considerably yesterday. So we had plenty of time to appreciate the charms of the Ouche valley.

Waiting for the lock to fill – no amount of staring at it will get the water in faster! Here is the charming student who saw us through the afternoon, checking her shoes – she has a lot of walking to do at each lock.

As we approached Dijon, we found many of the stretches between locks were infested with weed, although it didn't give us too much trouble. However, it did do us the favour of slowing the slow boat to a standstill, and he dropped out with weed round his propeller, leaving us to go on alone at a reasonable pace. Just before Dijon we spotted a weed-eating machine – unfortunately just moored up, not doing the job it's designed for:

There was also a cement crocodile on the bank, somewhat surprisingly:

It has to be said that the approach to Dijon by water from the north does not do justice to the charms of the historic centre, which we have explored on previous occasions. This afternoon the temperature is around 33 degrees, and I don't think we'll be venturing out.

The city harbour has been more or less taken over by barges and residential boats of various sorts – no marina for passing visitors. We eventually found a shady spot on the quayside opposite and should be comfortable here. The Belgians, who stopped earlier to do some shopping, have arrived and I think they, like us, want to get away punctually in the morning for the run down to St Jean de Losne. It's a long, straight and not very interesting day – 28 kilometres across the plain, with 21 locks to negotiate. It should be possible in a single day, so long as the slow boat doesn't try to come along too!

A New Castle – and more

Vandenesse to La Bussiere, locks 9-27
La Bussiere to Fleury, locks 28-41

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday, but it seems that much of the Ouche valley is an internet-free zone – or at least lacks 3G phone connections, which we need to turn our smart phone into a WiFi hotspot. We just got the occasional message or headline, so we did hear about the dreadful earthquake in Italy this morning.

We set off quite early by taxi up the hill to Chateauneuf en Auxois. More energetic visitors walk or even bicycle, but we chose the easy way. The castle is basically 15th century and reckoned to be one of the finest of its period in Burgundy. Its position, looking out over the Auxois plains, is also sensational. Here we are heading for the entrance:

The courtyard is very fine:

The main defensive tower was apparently the south one, where we came across this mediaeval artillery piece:

The great hall was a little more accommodating and less military:

And in the dining room next door, there was a rather good model showing how the castle would have been in its prime:

The views were as good as advertised:

It is not just the castle that is worth exploring. The village attracted wealthy merchants who built substantial houses for themselves, many of which remain. It rather reminded us of Le Castellet, though not quite so touristy.

This detail above a doorway caught our attention:

Another view from the edge of the village, looking down on the Burgundy Canal:

After exploring, we called the taxi to return to the port, and relaxed in a cafe meanwhile. Once back, Diana went off, still full of energy, to look at the village church, where she found this rather pleasing representation of St George and the Dragon:

Also, rather movingly, the gravestones of two young RAF flyers killed during WWII and buried here:

We departed Vandenesse at 1 p.m. sharp, after the compulsory lunch break. We were lucky to have got on well with the Australian captain of a hotel barge moored next to us who could have pulled rank and insisted on going ahead of us. The hotel barges go very slowly, take up the entire lock, and it is purgatorial getting stuck behind one.

From the canal, we got some fantastic final views of Chateauneuf – too many photos to include here.

On the advice of the lock-keepers, we pushed on past Pont d'Ouche, and also past La Bussiere, to get ahead of all the hotel barges navigating this part of the canal. It worked, even though our lock-keeper this morning was half an hour late, and the first barge was heaving into view as we descended our first lock. Our morning run was smooth, but this afternoon a rather elderly lock-keeper, working on his own, was very slow in getting locks ready, and our pace diminished. So we decided to stop here at Fleury, which is just a dozen locks short of Dijon, where we will arrive tomorrow – barring problems!

Over the top, and starting down

Pont Royal to Vendenesse, Locks 13-1 and 1-8

We set off punctually with our Belgian travelling companions – not that they were particularly friendly. After the first lock, there was a run of about an hour and a half with no locks – quite a surprise after yesterday's exertions. It did include a 1,300 metre narrow cutting through the hills, slightly easier to engineer than a tunnel:

We also passed an impressive fortified castle or farm. Unfortunately the best view lasted only a few seconds, too little to get the camera out. But Diana did get this shot:

After a final ladder of a dozen locks, we found ourselves at the summit. Here we all are going into the last lock, Lock Number 1, with  a view of the hills that we were about to tunnel through:

And here's the proof:

We have climbed 378 metres by way of 113 locks spaced out over 156 kilometers, in a little under seven days. There were some frustrations along the way, and trouble with weed in the water near the beginning, but by and large we thought the canal was in pretty good condition. Just a pity there were not more people enjoying it on their boats. Perhaps the sheer number of locks puts people off.

We lunched in a lock on the way up the final flight and decided not to stop in Pouilly, which we reached at 2.30 p.m., but push on through the tunnel. We were lucky to be able to go straight through with no waiting about. The narrow lead-in canal is tree-lined and quite unusual:

Here we are at the entrance. The light is green:

It is cold under there, and we are sorry to leave behind the bright sunshine:

Now we're deep  inside the tunnel, navigation lights and spotlight on:

The tunnel took seven years to build and cost the lives of 200 workers. It stretches 3,333 metres, and you can see the end from the entrance, a tiny pinpoint of light. It joins the Seine/Yonne basin to the Saone/Rhone one, thus effectively joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. For us it means it's downhill all the way home now.

Once out, we headed for the small port of Vendenesse, just eight downhill locks away. Easy stuff, with two energetic lock-keepers doing the work, and a rather speedy British barge ahead of us. Oh, the delights of downhill locks – including this unusually decorated lock-keeper's house:

The owner is obviously passionate about old agricultural machinery too:

As we approached Lock 8, which was to be the last of the day, we got a spectacular view of Chateauneuf, which we plan to visit tomorrow morning, taking a break from incessant locking.

Vandenesse itself is attractive and has a rather famous restaurant – the menus looked enticing but unfortunately it is closed on Monday!

We'll head on down tomorrow afternoon and see how far we get. It shouldn't be more than three days to Dijon, and then one more to St Jean de Losne.

A lotta locks

Pouillenay to Pont Royal, locks 45-14

You get to the stage where you don't want to see another uphill lock in your life – and then the next one heaves round the corner. All the same, we made it as planned, thanks to an efficient lock-keeper who was with us all day. In the morning he was on his own, since the colleague rostered to help him simply didn't turn up. Hangover, maybe. So we were wondering whether we could make it all the way to Pont Royal, because the going is obviously slower with just one person.

But after lunch a second guy appeared – who also helped Diana in getting our line over invisible bollards some three metres above us on the quayside. The two men believed in speedy locking – winding the sluices fully open as quickly as possible. Fortunately, apart from a few bumps, we were OK near the back of the lock, though controlling the boat with one line was hard work.

Steadily climbing, we saw the landscape become more remote, with a hill country feel, though with plenty of agriculture still:

Cows dotted the upper slopes, busily munching the grass:

The locks were so close together, barely 100 metres at times, that our compulsory lunch break was spent at the bottom of the next lock to be negotiated. It wasn't too bad, even when the heavy doors closed out the beautiful view:

Having set off at about 9 a.m., we finally arrived at Pont Royal at 5.15 p.m. feeling pleased with ourselves, but pretty exhausted.

There is a Belgian boat moored behind us, with which we will be locking through tomorrow. There are just 13 locks left to reach the summit at Pouilly en Auxois, and the Belgian gentleman, who helped us moor, is happy to go through in front, which suits us fine.

Making good progress

Ravieres to Montbard, Locks 75-65
Montbard to Pouillenay, Locks 64-46

Once again two for the price of one, but really yesterday fell into the category of Not Much Happened, so it seemed a good idea to skip a day. The first thing to report was the spectacular sunset at Ravieres, after we had posted. We sat out on the aft deck and admired:

Travelling was not too easy yesterday, since this time we were the first of three boats in the locks, the others being hire boats and sometimes not wholly under control. But nothing untoward resulted, and one of them dropped out at lunchtime. We found a good mooring in the small marina at Montbard, next to another happy quartet of New Zealanders who had just arrived to start a week-long cruise in the other direction on a rather smart hire boat. Montbard also boasts a Casino supermarket within walking distance, so we replenished supplies. Storage on board is not extensive so we have to shop quite often.

We set off alone in the locks this morning, and did well with some enthusiastic young lock-keepers, zipping back and forth on their scooters. Towards the end of the day, the locks were coming thick and fast, but before then we managed to enjoy the landscape and the agriculture.

We passed through some pretty villages, though the rain was incessant all morning. This, seen through the murk, is Courcelles:

We are climbing all the time, and will eventually reach 378 metres, or more than 1,000 feet. Apparently this is the highest of any canal in France. The landscape has a more upland feel to it now:

The chart shows that we are moving into ladders of locks:

We reached Pouillenay in mid-afternoon, but our accompanying youngsters had to head back the other way to look after other boats. And, in fact, we are quite comfortable here:

We have just been visited by the lock-keeper who will be accompanying us tomorrow, and he says we should make it to Pont Royal by evening. That would be 32 locks and 17 kilometres: quite a marathon!