Our
first port of call on the Canal du Centre
was Paray le Monial. The town has been a religious centre for many years,
in 973AD a Benedictine priory was established here that became the home of the
Cluny monks until 1789. It is still a major centre and there are always
gatherings of church groups in a “tent city” adjacent to the town.
We
found the town interesting – apart from its religious connections. This old
tower – part of a church in the past is used as an art gallery and houses various
exhibitions. This time we saw a display of modern mosaics in black and white.
Even
to this rendition of the periodic table.
Way
out of place, we found this english phone box. We should have checked if calls
to London were charged as local.
Our next stop was Montceau-les-Mines. In
its time the port was one of the busiest ports on the
French canal system. Coal was the primary reason with over 2.7 million tons
leaving the town during the first World War.
Today
the port is a very comfortable stop over on our trip even though at least half
of its area is now a car park.
A
few days later we crested the hill that the canal goes over and the view above
opened before us. This view is from the first ecluse downhill, on the way to
the Saone.
At
the small village of Saint-Leger-sur-Dheune we met two of the hotel barges that
we have got to know well. Hirondelle
in front of us and Adrienne behind.
We have seen these boats in many places and are on talking terms with their
crews. We are moored here in their reserved area – with their permission and using
their power and facilities. We stopped here for a few days and took the
opportunity to do some little jobs on Matilda and generally chill out.
Marg
found a jigsaw and spent many relaxing hours getting it together.
We
were in Burgundy now, Pinot Noir country
and the vineyards were appearing everywhere. We wandered into Santenay looking
for something for lunch and although the town looked prosperous and pretty, we
found it un-welcoming. So we were off to Chagny, two hours away. We planned to
stay there for a few days.
We
were visited by a young man who offered to take us to his family vineyard just
out of town to sample his wines.
This
we did and after a very pleasant few hours we returned to Matilda with some of
his produce. A very enterprising young man.
While
in Chagny we foraged and found some sloes. A couple of kilos were picked and made
into sloe gin and conserves.
Our
next stop found us near Rully, another historic wine producing village.
The
village is dominated by the Chateau Rully. We cycled around but once again found the village not
appealing to individual tourists. We
think more oriented to the groups, arriving by coach and given organised tours.
The
Canal du Centre was originally known
as the Canal du Charolais and herds
of these beef cows seem to be everywhere. Marg finds them interesting as they are really chunky beef carriers right from birth. Peter finds their meat
tough and rather tasteless. Bring on
Christmas and good Aussie steaks!
We
were soon on the Saone River heading upstream. We must report to those that
know, the Pirate Chick at Gergy has been carried away but the restaurant was
operating and our meal was very good.
We
arrived in Saint-Jean-de-Losne to find all moorings occupied so we asked the
skipper of Walhall if we could raft
up. He agreed and we noticed that his vessel is in absolutely pristine
condition. Walhall is the first commercial barge we passed on our initial
outing with Matilda. It seems a long time ago.
Tomorrow
we head to Auxonne. Helen and Peter are joining us on the 2nd of
September for a while. There will be more to tell so we will keep in touch.
No comments:
Post a Comment