Ecorsaint.

Swimming, eating, drinking, family, cool in hills near Flavigny. Super.

June 16 Monday

Ecorsaint.

Swimming, eating, drinking, family, cool in hills near Flavigny. Super.

June 17 Tuesday

Ecorsaint.

Swimming, eating, drinking, family, cool in hills near Flavigny. Super.

June 18 Wednesday

Ecorsaint.

Swimming, eating, drinking, family, cool in hills near Flavigny. Super.

June 19 Thursday

Ecorsaint.

Swimming, eating, drinking, family, cool in hills near Flavigny. Super.

Venarey to Montbard. Canal de Bourgogne

Left Ecorsaint a.m. for boat. Filled diesel, beer, gas, all heavies, courtesy Canon’s enormous car - hereinafter referred to as "the gun-carriage" - from S.M. in Venarey.

Pulled out in heavy squally hot weather - bright sun, still, for Montbard.

Plans - lunch, bicycle meetings, etc, all shamboliered by first LK who kept us waiting far too long, for boat coming up. 45 minutes+ ??. Subsequent LKs behaved similarly - same one usually - they "travel" on this section - others carried on in similar way.

Lunch canal side, extra crew - with push chair - walked last 2 kms into Montbard. Boat progress pathetically slow, as is wont on Bourgogne even in normal weather.

However, throughout our trip over the Bourgogne it must be credited to the L.K.s they were good, helpful, and professional, however trying the conditions - except Fri 20th June!!

Into Montbard basin, coupled up lekistry, etc, and met Paul Merschdorf of Flojita - chap who put a very nice picture of us in his book year before last.

He warned us of horrific mooring charges in basin, but municipal police had already been to collect to-day’s fees, and wouldn’t be back to-morrow as it is the w/e. Coupled up none the less, so we could have fan running.

Met Sister R. off TGV at Montbard station - up to time, good trip, all well.

Moved to boat - 2 bikes, third walking, so all walked. Unpacked haggis, ginger tablet, Sister, etc onto boat, and settled in - still warmish to hot.

June 21 Saturday

Montbard to Pouillinay Canal de Bourgogne.

Very hot!

Countryside different to the luscious green we remembered it. No rain since winter, and a stinking hot spring and summer has left it bleached and parched and dead!

Hay is almost completely off, seen no sign of silage cutting this year at all, and the small grain harvest is well under way.

This section of canal is a chain, and initially we started off with one traveling L.K. doing usual idiocy of putting us through, then waiting and re-draining the lock and opening the bottom gates.

However, we entered a pound that was - unlike all the others which were all up to a metre below normal level - overflowing over the gates and sluices, and met a frantic supervisor who apologised profusely, left us in a lock, whilst hurriedly running water through it with all gates shut, but both top and bottom paddles opened.

We never discovered the culprit - suspected a couple of older children who seemed to be causing the L.K.s (we now had 4) a lot of interest, but it could easily have been one of the student L.K.s.

From then on we never had less than 2 L.K.s and there was no more running back to turn used locks round needlessly.

Pulled in to Pouillinay - a rather desiccated mooring, in a slightly desiccated village on a main road, to find only shaded mooring spot already taken by a boat occupied by Paul, Linda, and a sick crow, with lots of noisy farm machinery cutting and baling hay in the fields right next to the basin.

Little auberge in village appears to be finally closed, but boulangerie open normally for to-morrow’s bread.