The Nivernaise Canal

The approach to Auxerre, the major city of the Nivernaise canal. It is at the junction of the canal and the Yonne River and from here on up the Nivernaise there are only small towns with limited supplies – as we are finding out. It is a beautiful old medieval city with 5 major churches.

The view for 5 days our main cabin window.

The major church in the town. Started in around 1000 it was finished in the mid 1500,s. It was a very tall, light church inside and in excellent condition, also because it was built high on rock it was very dry and fresh inside. Many old building are very damp and musty inside and do not invite a long stay.

Same view from the boat but at night. There were two other churches on the river either side of this one which were also floodlight so the city was quite spectacular at night.

Evening meal time with friends from Oz. Peter and Monica hired bikes and rode along the canals in the Burgundy area and spent some time with us on the boat. They generally covered in one hour what we covered in a day.

Washing day. We stayed 5 days at a small village called Accoulay. It had free water and electricity, a boulangerie (baker), and charcuterie(butcher) and an excellent restaurant where we went for Lynda’s birthday. We did some maintenance on the boat in the mornings and exploring, mainly on bike, in the afternoon.

Afternoon tea by and old laverie (wash house) on an afternoon expedition.

The canal boating community is very small and by now we are meeting lots of people we know or know people we know. Pat and Brian are good friends of some other Oz boaties we know from home. This trip has been extremely social, in fact we decided to stop at Accoulay as there were no other boats there and we felt we could get some work done. The next port was full of Poms,Ozzies and Kiwis and one visit there on the bikes got way laid for several hours

The other end of the barge with Brian and the mini. A small hydraulic crane on the back deck swings the car on to shore. Pat says she likes to be out of sight when this operation is taking place!!!!

We came back to the boat after an afternoons cycling and smelt smoke in the boat. The tomatoes were on fire! We had placed them in a polished stainless steel bowl and the sun light was focused on the stems causing them to ignite. If we had arrived home an hour later we may have had dinner already prepared but no boat to eat it on!!!

A typical charcuterie in a small village. They sell lots of pates and other meat products as well and it is very hard to get out the door without making several unintended purchases.
They are more like our delicatessens than a butcher. You will often see the customer and butcher picking up bits of meat and discussing them in detail before a final decision is made. No one is in a hurry and every one in the shop says “bon jour” as you enter the shop and “au revoir” when you leave.

The local watering hole in the same village. Often quite busy by 8.00am

Lace curtains are the thing here. As many of the houses are hard on the street the lace give some privacy while letting in light. I am sure one is judged by the type and quality of these and many are very elaborate. Lynda has taken quite an interest in them and I am rather worried about she may have plans for Lydford Close.

One of the lifting bridges on the Nivernaise. We had to stop and open these ourselves which is not much fun in the rain. Autumn has set in here and the trees are beginning to turn colour and it is getting quite cold at nights. We are off to buy a heater later this morning.
We are wintering the boat in a small village called Baye and plan to be there in 5 days. This will leave around a week to do some maintenance and prepare the boat for winter. Back in Oz on the 26th Sept.

A day on the Canal de Bourgogne and the weed on the prop make it almost impossible to navigate. Luckily we have an inspection opening above the prop that makes a plunge into the canal waters unnecessary. Not a pleasant thought. If you can stop admiring my physique, you will notice a healthy crop of lettuces that Lynda managed to grow this year. Bottom left just under the dripping socks!!.

The rooftop view of Dijon – often the most fascinating parts of the French landscape. However walking around always looking up is a major hazard as the French insist on taking their dogs out for a walk several times a day and they never clean up afterwards. Doggy poop hopscotch is a favourite sport here.

One of the many old half timbered houses with a shop on ground floor.

A building inspectors nightmare. No nails are used in the framing, it is done with timber dowels.

The historical walk around town is marked with a series of brass plaques set in the foot path. Each place of note is numbered and a guide book explains the significance. The symbol used is a little owl.

Lynda with the original little owl which is the symbol for Dijon. Rub it’s head and make a wish.

The main city square is in a semi-circle (does that sound right?) in front of a former palace. Several rows of fountains in the paving are on axis with the main roads leading into the Square

Great place for kids to have fun.

Unfortunately some of the less sophisticated among us show little style in such elegant places

Most of the buildings have a lot of fine detailing. Many seem to have a quirky sense of humour. These little fellows are holding up the corbelling stones.

The Dijon region is well known for the multicoloured tiled roofing. A nice townhouse in central Dijon

The French are not to keen on maintenance, houses, canals, you name it, but even the most run down building, town or canal lock has a fine display of flowers. The reason for this apparent contradiction eludes me.

The hospice in Beaune, the centre of the Cote d’Or wine growing area. This building was an infirmary for the sick of the area and was built in 12C. Not bad for a 900 yo building. It was the first to use the multi coloured tiles which have become a hallmark of the Burgundy region. The building has World Heritage listing, and deservedly so. Almost worth being sick to stay in the place. The inside was just as good as the exterior.

The kitchen, a much later update. Note the elegant swan head taps over the stove for boiling water.

Lynda trying her hand at making Dijon mustard during a visit to the Edmond Fallot mustard factory. It is the only one that still crushes the seeds with a stone grinding mill. They sell produce at the factory and in special shops in Dijon. However we found it for sale in most of the local supermarkets for around half the price. Sounds like the vineyard sales on Oz.

Lizzy and Lynda learning how to become mustard connoisseurs. Unlike wine tastings you get to swallow the sample. I think Lizzy has certain reservations about the Moutarde au Pain d’Epices 2008.

Tiled roof on house near Dijon.

We spent a day with some American boaty friends, Don and Laura, wandering around the Cote de Nuit, the most prestigious area of the Cote d’Or. The vineyards just visible on the right are possibly the most valuable in the world. The bag on Don’s shoulder had their little terrier dog which goes everywhere with them. In typical French manner we ate at a restaurant with the dog sitting under the table. Unfortunately the limit on our credit card precluded us from sampling the local produce.

A typical overnight spot in a small rural village on the Canal de Bourgogne. The ecluses (locks) in this part of the world are less than one kilometre apart and keep you very busy. This year we have not had any trouble coping with them, maybe a combination of experience, luck and attitude. We figure we will do just over 500 this year so we have to get it right.
We from are now in the Canal de Bourgogne which run 240 km St Jean de Losne NW to Migennes (approx 150km south of Paris) It run right though the Burgundy wine region, The canal was completed in 1832 after various stages had been started in 1775. It is the shortest route from Paris to the Med but is the most heavily locked. Today it is only used by pleasure craft and from our experience not many at that. We are now in the peak cruising season and rarely see more that 4-6 other boats a day. We often have two eclusiers (lock keepers) follow us for the whole day working the locks for us. They travel from one to the next on motor scooters and when you finish for the day they ask when you plan to continue. You can say 3 days time at 10.30 am and they will be there on time. Quite amazing when you consider how inefficient so many other things are in France. However we have also found the train service very good so maybe it is a transport thing!!
Generally we try and do no more than 8-10 locks a day however in the next few days we will be doing over 20 a day, but they are all down and in a “staircase” i.e. one after the next with only 100mts between each one. There is also little of interest in this section of the canal. But before we do this we have a 3.2 km tunnel to negotiate – always an interesting experience.

The town of Chateauneuf perched 1.5 km away from the canal. It is an old medieval walled city with a grand chateau that remained largely unchanged since the 14c. Luckily there have been no new additional buildings since that time and the town is fully contained with in the city walls – about the size of the MCG. It formed a wonderful backdrop for our cruising for 3 days. We visited it one evening when the locals were all dressed in period costume and had lots of local street stall selling some good stuff and some kitsch.
Maybe the whole thing was a bit too much like Disneyland.
On second thoughts maybe nothing had changed – including the locals - over the last few hundred years.

The welcoming committee at Chateauneuf.

Some more friendly locals.

The lock at a little village of Vandenesse where we stayed 3 nights. Chateauneuf is in the background and a very feral lockkeeper is on right, and of course the flowers on the lock gates. Here we help operate the lock gates. They are quite hard work as they are basically the same as when the canals were built i.e. they are a 200 year old bit of machinery.

Me being arty farty. Still not a bad sight to wake up to.

Early morning in Vandenesse. We have had quite humid weather, misty mornings, sunny days and thunderstorms in the evenings.
A 100 year old 38 mt long converted working boat. It is typical of the boats that used to work the canals up until the 1960,s. This one has been converted into a hotel boat – around 6-12 guests depending on the level of accommodation. They fit into the locks with less than 30 cm to spare and travel painfully slow. We check when they are leaving and try and jump the locks otherwise a days travel distance can be halved.

Early morning – heading back for breakfast with a fresh baguette.

Many of the lockkeepers houses are decorated with different themes. This one had lots of old tools. Garden gnomes, especially Snow White and her seven folk of shorter statue are a common theme. One garden left little doubt what attracted Snow to the seven no so small (in certain parts) lads.

Abdul and the missus heading up the canal in their velos. Must be nice to get a bit of fresh air up the birkah. This bicycle track runs the full length of the canal and it is rare to go for more than 15mins without seeing a rider – many in full touring mode obviously riding all the way, Abdul and company only did several km and I figure the run home into the head wind would have been a real challenge.

Coming out of the Tunnel de Pouilly. It takes bout 3/4 hour to do the 3.2 km but as there is only about 1 mt clearance all round the concentration makes the trip quite exhausting. No lost paint this time.

Me with a couple of friends from the UK who drove over and joined us for a few days. The round building is a pigeon tower and the inside it is lined with several hundred little square stone boxes for birds. It is now the tourist office and all the brochures are stored in the pigeon holes –yes that is where the name came from.

ALONG THE CANALS

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs – a variation of Gnome culture.

These “Beaver Rats” are a South American rodent about the size of a small dog. They are found in many of the waterways from Strasbourg to central France. In some areasyou can hand feed them but they are very short sighted. Have to watch your fingers and feet during the process

One of the many beautiful villages we passed as we travelled along the Soane River.

Two of the many Lavoirs (Washing Houses) which were built across France in the 19th century as a result of a fear of contagious diseases. These began to appear after a cholera outbreak in 1832. The towns in this region often have several Lavoirs.

Ray - probably the pick of the villages on the Soane, the main street wound it’s way up to a Castle/Chateau still inhabited by the family who has owned it for 300 years. The town has been diligently restored to it’s former glorey.

Many of the locks in the Canal de Voges were ‘ manned’ by university students during the holidays. The young girls seem to enjoy the work even though it is fairly physically demanding at times. It is expected that someone off the boat cranks the lock gates on the opposite side to help them out

It’s a hard life on the canals - planning the next day’s trip with Dutch friends Walter & Nicky and dog Zeno.

Lizzie stepping aboard an English Narrow Boat to see just how much you can fit inside one of these 6foot 8 inch wide boats.
English couple Pat & John had fitted it out very skilfully but it is like livibg in a sausage.

A local choir concert we attended in the church in the village of Ormoy. The town only had a population of around 100 - most of which were in attendence. Acoustics complemented the singing and flute performances.