Away at last.

Canal de Bourgogne

We departed St Symphorien sur Saone on Friday 20^th May 2011. We managed with quite a degree of trepidation to extract Matilda from her shore side mooring into the canal through boats rafted up to five deep, turn her around, into Ecluse 75 (that is French for lock) and then out onto the Saone River. I was a sweating mess and Marg was a bundle of nerves but we did it well and were proud of our effort. We were complimented later by seasoned bargees on our boat handling on getting out of the tight mooring.

Downstream on the Saone for four kilometres and into Ecluse 76-S the southern entry to the  Canal de Bourgogne. Our adventures had really started. We stopped at the port of St Jean-de-Losne to pick up a new battery for our VHF radio and then off. It was all up-hill from here (montant).

Our first night was spent at Longecourt-en-Plaine, a little village around a beautiful old chateau. A grand house for its day, built in brick then rendered with all the beautiful detail in the render. Over the years the render has deteriorated but still the beauty of the building is there. It is privately owned and the family still farm a large area of the local countryside. Some of the farm buildings have been converted to B & B accommodation that must be pleasant for a short stay.

Next day we made Dijon and our plan was to stay here for a few days, stock up with food and purchase a few things needed for the boat. We have fitted a new alternator to the main engine and needed the correct vee belts to drive it. Our batteries weren’t charging correctly so we spent an extra day having that seen to. We cycled to Chenove (a commercial suburb) for the belts, Marg taking the opportunity to visit some fabric shops there.

Wednesday morning  we departed Dijon and found we had to share our first ecluse with a 12 metre fibreglass cruiser. We came in behind it and I could see 75 tonne of Matilda crushing 5 tonne of plastic if anything went wrong. We all survived but we went into the next lock first, at the Eclusier’s request making things easier. And so we travelled till lunch time.

After lunch the Swiss group in the accompanying vessel decided to stay behind and we travelled on alone. More comfortable for everyone.  We made Velars-sur-Ouche early in the afternoon and stopped for the night. Some shopping in the local supermarket and we relaxed on the rear deck watching trains on the way to and from Dijon as they passed over a 100 year old viaduct.

A relaxing end to an exiting day.

We look forward to Tomorrow.

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