1999
 
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August 29th                            
Sunday
St Jean de Losne to 18 kms S of Dijon.
Usual Sunday eremonial breakfast, then straight down to St Jean, through enormous fishing competition.
To-day they are lined up on the bank like England, but yesterday they were dotted all over the water (the river must be at least half a mile wide here) in little boats.,
To re-fuel barge for diesel - 160.80 litres (35 galls) and a new gas bottle - changed day before yesterday.
Then to moor up to steps in front of town on river, and re-met "Skitavit II" lastseen at Gray.
Been over 4 years with a nice 60 year old wooden 10 metre cruiser, which he sailed across himself.
Design of boat is typical of immediate pre &? post war. He has replaced engine!
Bought bread, waffled a bit, helped some South Africans to moor their hire boat.
Then back into village to buy bread - particularly good baker in St Jean.
Finally into Canal de Burgogne on next phase of the "adventure 99"
Enjoyed this - "new country" - especially as we have been retracing steps for a month now.
Each canal is an entity of it's own under the auspices of the V.N.F., with it's own staff, employees, customs, lay-outs and habits.
We are heading up to Dijon - the canal between St J. de L. and Dijon is absolutely straight for some 25 kms, and has an average of 1 lock every km, but this is no hardship - one canot see further than the next lock which is never more than 1.5 km away.
The country is flat - presumably Saone valley - and "heavily" farmed, intersperced with quite largre areas of forest.
We into the "cote d'or", Burgundy Country as we know it, but the "Burgogne" as we think they call it.
Moored up at Longecourt on a length of concrete revetment, in deap water, tied with centre line only. Half of boat covered in young ash trees, bramble, and seeding cow parsley. Unfortuneately, towing path side busy with locals, including youths with buzz-bikes.
S. not so good, it has been very hot for the last 4 days, and dehydration could be the culprit.
This is not a busy canal - to-day, since starting, we have seen 2 hire boats, one English Dutch Barge travelling sideways, and a trimaran yacht! and now, just while writing - thrill of thrills - a hotel boat! (a converted peniche.)
Bit worried about canal staff next week. It is still technically high season, so each lock is manned, but from the 1st of Sep we believe they are back to permanent staff only - 1 L.K. to several locks running up and down in a van, always "somewhere else".
Never mind - this is France!
Re hotel boat. We watched it through the lock, and whilst we were on the bridge realised that we had stopped just opposite a lovely fairy tale chateau - all turrets and spikes.
Decided to stay on - as this canal closes at 1800 on Sundays and it was 17.30, not much alternative.
Took secateurs and garden shears to plant life impingeing upon our space, converted mooring to quite a respectable and pleasant overnighter with short sitting out grass, etc
Long gossip on towingpath with family - ma, pa, and 13 year old daughter, all harversting ghastly blackberries on smart bikes - among other things, daughter already quite good at English, learns Spanish next year. Very dismissive of idea of learning Germ,an - "only the Germans speak German, but all over the Americas Spanish is used".
 
NOTA BENE
For the last week or so, daily logs have been kept in ever-increasingly terse notes on Didgery, then every now and again, when energy (mine) is available, by some magic engineered by Paul, and with a programme "borrowed" off Andrew, the info on the Didgery is transferred onto the PC via my little disc drive, and the notes are expanded, and the typos and spelling corrected.,
 
August 30th
Monday
Lock 69 Longecourt to Dijon, Canal de Bourgogne.
Just getting up when Hotel Peniche hove on horizon.
Peniche drill was quickly called.
The Peniches are so big, in relation to the cross section of the canal, that they inevitably move a very large mass of water in front of them, thus raising the level of the water be up to 9".
Whilst they are actually passing, the water in front rushes round their sides (like sheep pent up in a field corner breaking back past the dog and shepherd) but it cannot get there fast enough, so the level can be up to 9" momentarily below normal water level.
Once they are past, a great mass of water is pulled along behind them, to fill the space they occupied, and the momentum of the rushing water again raises the actual water level.
So first Albert is lifted, leaving all mooring ropes slack, then pushed backwards, and dropped at same time onto slack ropes, so snapping them tight, then she is lifted and pulled forward again, with ropes once more slackened, until brought up short on mooring pins.
It does not matter how slow they go - and how careful they are, and they usually are very careful and considerate, it still happens to some extent.
"Peniche drill" takes 2 forms. If there is time, all pegs are hammered more firmly into the ground, ropes are tightened, fenders checked, and most importantly, if springs (ropes going backwards from the bows and forwards from the stern to their own pegs) have not been used to moor up, they are very quickly put in. On these occasions "Albert" looks like and overturned antheap as we rush madly around to get finished, and the peniche skipper passes in much laughter and bon-home. (Usually the drill works, and nothing disastrous like pulled out pins, or drifting Albert happens.
The second emergency form is when we have done all the above, but the ground is not good pin holding ground. Then we merely stand on the bow and stern rope at the pins. At least, this way, we do not loose the pins if they are pulled out.
Having recovered from that lot, had breakfast, and set off.
Immediately, as we set off, a hire boat that had been moored 300 metres further up, did the disturbed antheap trick, and set as we arrived.
Incredibly politely we ushered him on ahead of us, so that from then on right into Dijon he had the shitty end of the locks, and however tight his knitting he got bumped and bashed by the incoming water, whilst we sat at the back, totally stationary.
In all fairness, he did not help with the locking through at all, whilst we always did 1 gate at each end, which did involve the climbing of the gate ladder.
The canal passes about 100 metres from the end of the main runway of Dijon Airport, and as we passed 2 Mirages (?) (they certainly weren't Spitfires) did a lovely fast flyover, snappy break away as the curved around, and came in just over our heads and landed
Hell of a noise, but very great fun.
Stopped for lunch at 1200 - getting slightly bored with featureless plain and locks every 750 metres. This is one of the features of this canal - the crossing of the river plain, straight for 21 kms, and 25 locks.
To enliven the party 2 days made up soup left the stove, and spread itself around the floor to an even depth of 12 mms. Looked like sick.
Into Dijon 15.30 and straight to nice P. de P. - believed to be very expensive. Worked it out to about ff80 a night - £8.00. Appeared quiet and secure.
Trotted of into town - but promptly lost our way - did not yet have town map, and tried to follow the ones on the walls of the bus stops. Not a success, and we lost our way !!
We were aiming to replace our insect repellent, our itch soother (for after bite had taken place), to buy the IGN maps for the next stages of our trip, to get the last batch of photographs instantly developed, and to have a look at, and get the feel of, the city.
By the time we had bought the French equivalent to "Autan" in an aerosol, and "Waspeeze" in a tube, deposited the photos, and found our way, we had missed the IGN - they were shut 10 mins ago.
Had a beer and Citron at a street cafe, whist awaiting the photos.
Rather disappointedly, and foot sore, back to boat for more beer, and found the photos far too yellow in colour.
Charged FF72 for the mooring.
"Quiet" night, except for ducks..
 
August 31st
Tuesday
Dijon toVelars-sur-Ouche, Canal de Bourgogne.
Back into Dijon first thing, to do properly what we didn't manage yesterday evening.
Photos re-done - well. Most satisfactory.
Map shop totally fascinating - but run by a real thicky - he could not understand my French, and really knew very little about maps. Got our topo maps in spite of him, and also a very good one of SNCF system superimposed on topo map of whole country. Should help future visits enormously.
Super Market for "last minuters" (Including extra loo paper)
Lunch in P. de P. on the boat - no good attempting to move between 1200 and 1330.
Left at 13.30 going uphill.through town. Nice open park land, public spaces, nice housing, and neat small blocks of flats. In fact it looks as though most people actually live in Star Wars sort of complexes miles away on the hills surrounding the town.
Canal is lined on both sides by poplar trees, now beginning to shed their leaves.
trees on canal-side, but very much what we have always expected and imagined French canals to be.
At a little moorings above town - Plombiers - moorings in hire base, passed a smart Narrow Boat moored up, in good nick, enormous French flag on tiller. No-one about, but obviously not deserted. Complete with satellite dish, TV and all.
5 more locks - all with open gates awaiting us.
Moored up Velars-sur-Ouche, 1715, significance of this site was that canal has been running parallel with noisy Autoroute only about 20 feet away, and a little kink in it took us to about 300 metres away, with houses between us and the traffic.
Amazing place - clearly in the past they had set out to build a proper mooring jetty for the village. (Very necessary on this canal - sides are very tatty and shallow)
Canal was deepened, steel piling put in, steel coping put along the top of the piling, all gravelled, electricity and water hoses, cables etc set in ground, sticking out in clusters of corrugated conduit. At this point the whole thing was left, we think some years ago. Pity, because very nice mooring, but we gather that there were large rushes of blood to the head quite often about 7 years ago, when all the canals were to become tourist paradises, and make terrific sums of money for the local villagers, and grandiose schemes shot up everywhere paid for by the state tourist board.
Here was the end of another fabulous cycle way like the Strasbourg one, smoothly tarred, from the middle of Dijon, very busy with apart from lots of cyclists, a number of roller bladers - some very good, and some just very pretty. Only the tar ended here - it continued for ever gravelled as towing path.
In Dijon, as a matter of interest, we had watched family cycling group of Pa in front, 6 year old slightly wobbly kid in middle, Ma at back, cycling in single file in city traffic. Traffic appeared, without making big thing of it, to give them plenty of space, no attempt to overtake and then squeeze the into the side.
Same on the cycle way, there appears to be no conflict between fishermen with long poles (they just don't seem to use them in this sort of situation), family cycling groups with kids (quite small, just bigger than toddlers), cycling clubs in fancy dress and helmets in pairs 10 to 18 strong going fast, and boaters sitting around drinking beer.
Also just behind us was the terminus for a "ligne touristique". A dreadful little narrow gauge railway - also running out of Dijon, with trucks of sit and beg seats, pulled by a noisy diesel loco.
Enjoyed the SNCF railway, which ran across a huge viaduct away up behind us. very busy, with quite frequent TGV trains. Very quiet, and very smart and clean, and very long. Most impressed. Didn't see one go fast, though. After dark looked strings of fairy lanterns.
 
September 1st
Wednesday
Velars-sur-Ouche to Gissey sur Ouche, Canal de Bourgogne.
Set of 0930 in nice cool to warm, sun, clear.
Quite incredible change in the environment.
We are well into tourist country, meeting 2 Dutch Barges in our first 2 locks, the 2nd was a hotel boat - occupants tried their French on us, but were English.
Then we met a trip boat - a converted peniche, "Escagot" - full of old dears like us, and an English barman who promised us gin and tonics out of the bar window. but never delivered.
The general character of the countryside very pretty, with lovely villages.. Now that the canal is getting away from the Autoroute it is superb. Lines of Poplars along both banks of the canal, small fields, very rural, bucolic and peaceful. Tiny fields, Charollais cattle & apples.
Bought bread in village Fleury sur Ouche. Nice village - very French, but are they bad at giving directions. Walked virtually round complete village from canal - on directions from L.K. (a student) - found boulangerie, it was quite 20 yards from the next bridge over the canal, where I found S. + boat playing at "painted ship".
Caught out by 1200 lunch knock-off time - had forgotten - so spent 1st half of lunch break under bridge in shade, but L.K. took pity on us and put us through, and proper lunch under trees at pretty spot - Pont de Pany. Continued at 1400, but decided that 1600 was as long as we wanted to go on - afternoon hot - so moored up at pretty spot in shade overlooking stream, with good view. All stops have to have good views - we don't spend hours admiring them, in fact probably don't even look at them, but they must be available.
1 more hotel/trip type boat past us - driven by Australian ?? - and 2 hire boat penichets.
All apparently stopped in village to go to Auberge, along with elderly 4 playing bridge all day under trees.
Got last 2 weeks of Aug log onto Compuserve, ready to go, but "no network".
 
September 2nd
Thursday
Gissey sur Ouche to just beyond Vervey sur Ouche, Canal de Bourgogne.
Fiddled with oil bath prop shaft gland, last time "propeller thrash" considerably reduced. This time the same, but no idea why.
Beautiful run from first thing - one completely forgets the hot grind up to Dijon in these conditions. We are 3 weeks early to get the "autumn colours" - but find them depressing, anyway. As things are the valley is most attractive.
Met 2 penichets of Catalans, as they described themselves (not Spaniards), at lock 29, St Victor. Weather fine, but very strong cool wind from behind all day. Made driving really quite difficult.
Stopped for lunch in time not to be refused entry to lock with gesticulations to-wards a wrist watch, and the mouth ("you can't go in - it is our lunch break")
First lock after lunch, Forge 25, S. was doing usual manoeuvres in back of lock to keep boat straight, when gear selector ceased to select, whilst boat in reverse.
Much throwing of ropes, pushing at boat at lock gates, turning on and off of engine, jumping into engine hold and selecting gear by hand.
However, although so described, we think the L.K. did not, in fact, realise there was anything wrong until I asked for both gates to be opened. Even then being a thicky, he still didn't understand.
To escape lock, just selected forward, drove out and round the corner into some shade, and checked gear selector out.
Exactly the same problem as on the Marne au Rhine, - nut come off end of cable.
Re-assembled (found nut) and put lock nut - should have done that in first place, but why wasn't there one originally, and how did it last so long without?
Re-assessed our habit of holding boat steady in lock with engine, gear box and rudder.
In future will put centre line ashore and hold loosely as emergency stop, whilst still stabilising boat as before with engine. If this happenstance had happened when there was another boat in the lock while carrying out violent manoeuvre, such as straightening boat during entry of water, and had there been another boat tied up in front of the lock, situation could have been ugly.
We had chosen - all unwittingly - quite a nice spot, so stayed put and had lunch.
It was here that once again we met a relatively frequent phenomenon. A guy took miles and miles of video of us doing all the things we normally do, and of Albert in and out of locks, etc, etc, etc. However, unlike other occasions, the photographer behaved as if we, as people, did not exist, and made no contact - eye or verbal - with us at all. Very weird.
It was suddenly brought home to us at Lock 21, where there is a Nicholl's hire base why we had had the canal entirely to ourselves all day.
THE SEASON IS OVER.
There were something like 10 a.c.c. type boats tied up. For the for the past 6 weeks every hire base we have passed has been totally empty, but this place was completely full and completely dead, except for a couple of people lethargically cleaning.
On after lunch, but it was still very bright and windy, and hearts not really in it - boat kept hitting lock sides, etc, so 1600 to 1630 knocked off at spot with nice shade, wind sheltered, nice view, but lightly used tar road just over the canal.
Turned out to be most satisfactory stop - only came in from chairs, drinks, etc at dusk - relatively few bugs.
 
September 3rd
Friday
Just beyond Vervey sur Ouche to Vandenessey en Auxois, Canal de Bourgogne.
Set off "early" at 0930 - weather cool, bright, sunny, and again windy.
These next 5 or 6 locks are still in the beautiful Ouche valley, but at Pont d'Ouche the canal is joined by a major motorway, and there are 3 sets of power lines scattered across it.
The countryside is getting almost Scots in character - with a few drystone walls, the appearance of altitude, extensive forest, etc, and big areas of tidy rough grazing, or parkland.
However, it is only 400 - 500 metres a.s.l. so really altitude doesn't come into it - may be an attitude of mind brought about by remoteness, although having said that, when looking at the maps, the area is not all that remote, either. But it is certainly very attractive.
The last few locks since Vervey, although mechanically sound, seem to be getting more neglected, environs-wise, with gone to seed gardens, or no gardens at all, and straggly unmown grass, and some of the most difficult L.K. to communicate with that we have found
The motorway stayed with us until lock 13, including our lunch stop, where we were only about 120 yds from it whilst eating.
The temperatures were none too hot, so while it was nice stopping in shade, it was also nice having access to sitting in the sun.
The flight from 12 to the top are D.I.Y. locks. This is a big adventure and departure from the norm in France, so we got a comprehensive briefing and reams of bumf at Lock 15, then a sort of run down at 13 & 14.
However, at 12, as usual, there was a travelling L.K. on a Velocette who ran with us from lock to lock operating everything, while all I did was climb the ladder and close the offside gate, stand around, and look spare, and wonder if I should be grateful.
This, we deduced was a product of the time of month/year - we are, quite literally, the only boat on the flight
This bit of canal runs around the bottom of the hill upon which sits Chateau Neuf. This is one of the great tourist spots of the Bourgogne and it was absolutely stunning, sitting up on it's hilltop with it's village, and acre upon acre of grassland and forest all around.
Just beyond - maybe 3 kms - at Lock 9 we came into moorings at Vandenesses en Auxois. A lovely and very French village, with the enormous disadvantage of being colonised very largely by the English. But still thoroughly, and very beautifully, overlooked by Chateau Neuf.
There were 2 peniches moored up, rather uncomfortably away from the shallow bank, one a hotel boat and the other a bed-and-breakfast. Quite ghastly. The only space left was occupied by a very nice Swiss cruiser crewed by ancient with young wife.
Just a thought - what is the state of the water and silt in the basin where the water is virtually static, after a busy summer of "sanitary disposal" through sea toilets from high occupancy passenger boats?
We moored on the other side of the canal in the shade in lonely state, with Albert looking quite tiny. Indication of the season - not one boat appeared behind us, and not one boat passed.
There were several "facilities" in the village - auberge, cafe, restaurant, etc , but we felt that they would be crowded out by the English, so stayed "in" and checked out the "new, improved, 20% extra gratuit", beer bottle size.
Tried out patching black paint on bows, where it got badly dinged and scratched on the K.& A. Quite successful, but very boring.
Entertained, in the evening, by a thoroughly physical free fight on the far side of the canal. Some woman in a Citroen knocked over somebody's Velocette (we think - just heard the crash). He was cross, and lots of poopopopooping ensued in 2 octaves. Finally she tried to drive off, he wouldn't let her, and elderly bystander - brother, husband, car passenger?? kicked him in the crutch. She drove off, and the 2 men (Velocette owner and bystander) flailed arms and pushed each other. No visible conclusion - except entertainment for the rest of us.
 
September 4th
Saturday
Vandenessey en Auxois to Gissey le Viel, Canal de Bourgogne.
Cool, sunny, and pleasant. Cool enough for a sweat shirt to breakfast, but pretty hot during day, especially if exercising.
Watched B & B. boat's guests get their breakfast served to them on the open deck. Probably a touch chilly for that, but dead romantic.
Set off in the hope that yesterday's minder would stay at home. He did, so able to do the 6 locks to the summit in our own way and time.
As the locks were close to-gether, did the same as England - walked the flight, "lock-wheeling ahead" to be technical, setting gates and levels ready for boat, following behind, driven by S.
Only supposed to use the ground paddles, but cheated, by making up extra windlass with an English lock windlass and a shifting spanner wired to it (baling wire - what else?) This virtually doubled our speed with very little extra work, as we could let water through the gate paddles, which are about twice the size of the ground. Got hot and sweaty, but no trouble. This is the first, and as far as we know only, serious attempt to make more than 1 consecutive lock D.I.Y.
Greeted at tunnel pound on top by a bloke who checked that we had working headlight, life-jackets, life ring, etc, then inviting me into his office, sitting me down, and filling in sundry forms, and eventually, after a tel call, giving us written authorisation to pass through the 3400 metre tunnel!
Went through - absolutely dead straight, could see tiny bright circle of far end as soon as we entered.
Out into Pouilly-en-Auxois at 12.15.and moored up in P. de P for lunch under the trees.
Moored next to the rather boring Danish guy we met at Digoin in May/June. Still quite boring!
Beyond him an enormous custom built Dutch Barge/Peniche/inland waterway yacht/floating home for the incredibly rich - registered in Jersey, but NOT sea going, called "Tigre Royal". All deck fittings, including ventilators were stainless steel and highly polished, paintwork was automotive finish royal blue, decks and all other woodwork were teak, as was deck furniture. Spoke to bloke in charge, who with girl seemed to be running the boat, admired his cleanliness (Albert is currently filthy). Reckoned she must be "toy" of some incredibly rich person.
Learnt that she only jut fitted in tunnel, with deck-house roof on either top corner only having a couple of spare inches. Takes him 3 hours (us 50 minutes), which he has to book ahead, of course.
Time of departure elicited from us by L.K. (lady) of down/out-going flight - 1400, so had 1.5 hours for nice leisurely lunch.
Then off down flight, and found rather surprisedly, that the locks had all been made electric/automatic some while ago, but were operated by L.K.s on scooters! Bit silly, but probably a sop to the Union's demand for an end to automation. All locks were set for us, and we were through some 12 locks in 2.25 hours! This was a lovely run, even though a motor-way runs close alongside the canal, for the 2nd half of the run, the countryside is still the same as on the "other side" of the watershed, lovely big open park land, rough grazing and natural meadow now sunscorched to biscuit colour.. Charollais cattle dotting the hillside looking like sheep in the distance,, big areas and stretches of forest. This is the stretch of canal that was just saved when it was proposed to use it as the bed of the motorway 20 or 30 years ago.
Even so, they put the M.W, complete with service area, slap through the front garden of a most lovely chateau! "They" are trying to resurrect it now.
It is noticeable that they have not had the August rain that we experienced on the Canal de l'Est, and Marne au Rhine, grass and herbage being rank, burnt and dried out.
We eventually moored up - about 1700, after lock 12 - the first manual seen on this side of the tunnel, and right opposite an auberge. Not an ideal mooring, sides silted up, and to prevent collapse of original concrete revetment, steel piling has been inserted just in front of it (on the water side), and although it is nicely capped, it is all a bit untidy, with strange levels, and neither the concrete nor the steel have been filled in behind, do there are horrid trenches to be jumped, even if the water is deep enough to get the boat right in. We always put the gangplanks out on these occasions, but this was the first time they weren't totally safe, but tried to make like see-saws.
Talking of forest, this is the country of the wild boar - Obelix, eat your heart out - and there were a set of kennels of a pack of wild boar hunting dogs just near the auberge where we tied up for the night. Apparently they actually do quite a lot of damage to the crops.
Out to the auberge for supper. Very quiet, even though Saturday, but well looked after and fed. Lovely salads, good beef and chicken, and carafes of local cheap wine.
Started raining, but we had brolley.