Expanding on a good idea.

The next day was fine and warm, we decided to head in the other direction and go a little further down the Bourgogne Canal from Montbard. About 6 kilometres is the little village of Buffon. There is a nice little hotel here with a good restaurant – so we are told. Marg and I cycled past on the other side of the canal as we were off to see another famous site in the area. With the demise of the Fontenay Abbey, the area lost its local supply of iron.

George Leclerc – the Count of Buffon is a famous son of Montbard. He was a well educated naturalist and was requested by the King to develop a better system for making iron. He designed the forerunner of a modern blast furnace and his Grand Forge de Buffon produced pig iron that was rolled and forged into useable iron strips and bars. The mill produced iron from 1769 to 1866 when the plant became a cement factory. The present owners have done wonders with the  restoration which is still  on-going.

The foundry building was beautifully made – for a factory. A pair of sweeping stone stairs leads from the entrance to the blast furnace floor. Two massive sets of bellows driven by a large waterwheel forced air into a 7 metre high furnace. Pig iron was drawn from the bottom as it is in furnaces today. 

Modern Montbard has a factory that produces stainless steel products, one being very fine stainless steel mesh of the type that is used in the production of quality paper thus linking the past industries of the area with the present.

Enough of the history. We will be moving on this weekend. Tonnerre will be our next major stop.

So, keep in touch.    

Taking a break

Montbard is the largest town we have been in since leaving Dijon. It still is small but is a nice mixture of old buildings, winding alleys and nice little shops as well as its more modern side. It has a good feel and is alive. Some of the towns we have stopped at are virtually empty, being just groups of houses where people come home in the evening and go to bed. All the little shops are closed as the supermarkets in the larger towns attract all the business.– Same the world over.

We arrived on the 9^th of June and decided to take a break and spend some time here taking in some local history and sights. We also needed to do some shopping and even though we have not been terribly rushed about anything, we decided we could sit still for a week or so. Besides friends were coming to visit and as Montbard was a stop on the Paris to Dijon rail line it was the ideal spot to meet them. Unfortunately their trip developed a few logistic problems and they were not able to join us.

The Abbey of Fontenay is a well known local historic site. Started up by the Cistercian monks in 1118 on swampy ground about 4 km south of  Montbard, and developed through the 12^th to 14^th centuries. The church, started in 1139 was typical of the architecture of the Cistercians, simple, massive and very functional. We spent a number of hours admiring the site which has been beautifully restored by the family who have owned the grounds for over 100 years. The abbey lost its religious standing in 1790, was taken over by the government and sold. The buildings were used as a paper mill for nearly 100 years. This saved them from the fate of a lot of the old French castles and abbeys – becoming stone supply quarries for local buildings.

One interesting activity of the monks was to set up an iron foundry. With a local supply of iron ore they produced a spongy lump iron which they forged into usable iron using water wheel powered hammers and other machines. They used this iron for their spades, forks, ploughs and other farm implements. They also sold iron products as a source of income.

The original of this hammer mill, driven by a water wheel in a stream running outside the building was leading technology for its day and the abbey was well known at the time for its high degree of technical achievement. They even pioneered fish farming, breeding and selling trout.

Enough for one day, Marg and I made our way back to Matilda for a late lunch and a relaxing afternoon. Tomorrow there will be more to explore.

So keep in touch.

Going Down

We left the Pouilly pound on at 0900 on Friday 3^rd June and commenced our decent to the Yonne River. You will all remember from a previous lesson, that we have to descend 298 meters through 112 ecluses.

It is now Wednesday 8^th June and we are moored at Venarey les Laumes. We arrived yesterday forlunch and since starting our decent we have passed through 55 ecluses, descended 136 meters over a distance of 40 kilometres.

At times on this trip, the ecluses are no more than 200 meters apart and are one after the other as we rapidly descend down into the valley. Look closely at the above photo, click on it to enlarge it. You will see another boat in the second ecluse down. The stretch of the canal from Marigny-le-Cahouet to Pouillenay was the hardest we would want to travel. The ecluses are very close together and our eclusier had to travel ahead and fill and open the gates for us. The canal twists and turns as it winds around the side of the hills. It was extremely hard work. We went through 19 ecluses in about 6 kilometres. If you have Google Earth, check out this reference then travel north on the canal and you will see how much it turns and twists.

Marigny-le-Cahouet - 050611.kmz

We met an Australian couple in Pouilly, vets from South Australia (retired) who plan to spend summers on the canals here and we have found them good company. Their recognition of the qualities of Foxhounds as pets of course was a major factor. We will cross paths again further down the canal.

We leave Venarey tomorrow morning and head for Montbard where we will spend a week or so. We are expecting visitors. Penny and Craig, friends from Perth will be joining us for a few days. They are coming from Paris by train and we will walk the short distance to the station to meet them. We are looking forward to the arrival of our first guests since the Captain (guinea pig) left us at the end of March.

Montbard is also quite a large centre and we will be able to restock on things essential to modern life. We will report again soon.

So, keep in touch.

A boat should have Whiskers.

The Pouilly tunnel was dug in Napoleon's time. He insisted that after the revolution the construction of the Bourgogne Canal had top priority. The dimensions of the tunnel are well known and we knew that if Matilda was going to fit we would have to set up a system for mechanically holding her close to the centreline. The common method is to attach "whiskers", timber beams tied to the boat, usually through mooring bollards that can hold it in a stable position.

We arrived at the top pound at Escommes Basin about midday 30th May and found a timber mill in the local area that produced packing timber and pallets. Familiar territory for Peter with experiences of IPE Packaging.We bought four pieces of green oak measuring 120 x 80 x 1500mm, fairly tough pieces of wood. These were delivered to the boat and Peter made the "whiskers"

We departed after lunch today and entered the tunnel at 1335hrs (12.35pm). The first thing that happened was that the rear right hand whisker snapped - like a carrot. Peter entered the tunnel at the wrong angle and put too much strain on the timber. So he had to nurse Matilda for 3.333 kilometres at a slow walking pace and not let her drift off line more than an few inches.

One hour later we exited at the northern end of the tunnel into the Pouilly harbour. Both Marg and I are now relaxing and unwinding after perhaps our most challenging achievement on our trip. We have put the boat back togeather as we had to remove our back verandah to fit the tunnel. We have done a bit of shopping and will head on toward Paris tomorrow.

It is all downhill from here.

Keep in touch.