Tonnerre (a DIY fix that worked!)

Yes, another wash house – this one’s at Tonnerre
On Monday we sat having breakfast while watching the early morning activity on the hotel boat opposite.  The crew were getting ready to leave by nine and the guests were slowly appearing on deck to be served their breakfast.  After exchanging goodbyes with those of the crew that we had met, they were off with the deck canopy lowering for the bridge at the end of the port.

Soon after they had gone, we did a figure of eight to end up where they were moored but slightly behind and opposite where we had started from.  We wanted to top up with water in case we couldn’t get any more before getting to Migennes next week.

Everything was timed perfectly as by the time we had topped up, put the hose away and got to the first lock it was bang on our allotted time of ten o’clock.  Rain was forecast for the afternoon, so we hoped to get to Tonnerre by lunchtime.

Enterprising advertising by the second lock offering pick ups from and wine deliveries to boats
Unlike most days there were other boats on the move and four hire boats passed us in the opposite direction during the morning.  We remembered that there is a large hire boat base down at Migennes so guessed that’s where they were coming from.

By 11 o’clock the clouds were rolling in and we were beginning to wonder if we would get to Tonnerre before the rain came.

Clouds starting to roll in
At the final lock, which was just before the town moorings, the rain started.  It came down quite heavily for a while, so it was on with the waterproofs while we moored up.  There was a concrete sided quay stretching for a 100 metres or so but without rings and bollards for the first 30 metres, making it impossible to moor on that stretch as stakes can’t really be driven into the pavement!  Saying that we did see a couple of boaters doing just that on the Ashton canal up near Manchester.  The tarmac on the towpath had just been laid and was still soft and these guys hammered their stakes into the drying tarmac.

We eventually found a spot between two rings that were so far apart that we had to use both the extra-long lines we had specially bought for use over here.

Our mooring outside the captainerie in Tonnerre for a couple of days
It continued raining while we had lunch and didn’t stop for another couple of hours and then we took Buddy out for a walk around the town.  The older part of town was like a larger version of Raviéres, some lovely looking buildings/architecture but most in need of a lot of love and attention.  We did find the town lavoir (as shown at the top) which was really interesting.

It was built in 1758 on the site of the spring that supplied the water for the townsfolk.  It was fairly large and consequently had four fireplaces but there was no sign of there being any drying rails or toilets 😉  I have since re-learnt that wood ash is a good cleansing material and was mixed with fat to produce soaps so my assertion that the fireplaces were for drying clothes was probably not the complete story.

Part of the washing area and one of the fireplaces

Look how green the water is from the minerals in the ground
I shared a picture of the lavoir on our family WhatsUp group and my daughter Sophie gave the feminist point of view that “increased mass production of white goods was detrimental for women because although they had things to help with the volume of housework, they were removed from public space like the wash houses and the female social networks that came with it”.  She’s right of course, but what happened before we became civilised enough to start washing clothes?

While on history, a fellow boater (Shaun on Elle) provided a link to a very interesting website that includes details on the different types and construction of the lock houses on the Burgundian canals.  I won’t dwell on it here, but this is the link, so thanks Shaun.  

During Monday we dropped down six locks over nine kilometres.

I had a DIY success while Karen & Buddy went for their morning run on Monday.  I managed to get the electric hook up working.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that we tried the hook up for the first time since we bought the boat in a place call Franges.  It wouldn’t work and we even had the nice girl from the captiniere come along to check that the supply was okay. 

A few days ago, when I was doing my monthly rain channel clearing duties around the engine bay, I noticed a couple of wires were adrift at the bottom of the control panel.  Upon investigation I found that they were wires at the back of the hook up plug so I connected them back up.  As we were moored right next to an electricity point here at Tonnerre I tried the hook up and, to my surprise, it all worked fine.  I didn’t leave it hooked up as the solar panels provide enough juice even on the two greyish days we’ve had today and yesterday.

After lunch we went on a historical tour of Tonnerre; Karen had picked up a leaflet from the tourist office on Monday, so she led the tour.  The tour all started well, and the first stop included a descriptive plaque in English, so we learnt all about the secret agents of Louis XV of France.  The Knight of Eon was one such agent and fooled his enemies by dressing as a woman.

Where the Knight of Eon was put under house arrest for six years from 1779
From the next stop onwards, there were no more plaques The guide sheet just had numbers on a stylised plan of the town.  The numbers had a key that gave a small clue like ‘Mansion XVIIIe siecle’ but no description or picture to make sure we had found the right place.  As the numbers were on a stylised plan we also had to guess where each point of interest was.  

The tour itself was fun and Karen improved it by finding things that really should have been included!  I say improved because we really had to stretch our imagination to understand why many of the items of interest were on the tour in the first place.  Although it was a grey day, it wasn’t cold and it didn’t rain and, as we’ve come to expect on days like these, the sun came out for the evening.

Here are some of the highlights of the tour, including some that should have been in the tour:

The main street with a blue door in a 17th century archway

'Beautiful' wrought iron grills

Neo-Gothic house dated 1893
There are three waterways plus the canal that run through town including the River Armançon that the canal has been running alongside for the last week or so.

The Petite Venise part of town (not on the tour)

At least one of these houses dates from the 16th century

An old mill waterwheel

No idea about this one

An entrance to a chapel, dated 1709, that has been built around
Not on the tour but must have been quite grand in its day
We walked to the top of the hill in the middle of town to find the church of Saint Pierre.  Buddy wasn’t allowed in so I didn’t bother either, but Karen popped in to get a couple of shots of the stained glass.

 


Looking over the old town from the church with new town high rises in the background
The seventh century Sainte Catherine’s crypt is in a medieval square and, although on the tour, it is no longer open.  It has been paved over but at least the planters were full of tomato plants that were advertised as being for the community to share.

Crypte Sainte Catherine
The general sad state of the buildings of Tonnerre old town

A statue of some biblical relevance
We came across a redundant sweet shop that doesn’t look like it has been entered for years.  It even had a plaque in the window explaining that Charles de Gaulle’s wife used to pop in to buy his favourite sweets.

Thévenin confectioners (not on the tour)
Probably the grandest building is the Hôtel d’Uzès, built in 1532 as a private mansion and converted to a bank in 1907 but now closed down and decaying.

Hôtel d’Uzès
As it was a Tuesday the place we really wanted to visit was closed of course.  This was the hospital built between 1293 and 1295 and now houses a museum.  The blurb says: “it is one of the most emblematic medieval relief structures in Burgundy, if not the country itself”.

It certainly was an impressive building given its age
We don’t want to put you off Tonnerre because it certainly is well worth a look around, just don’t put it high on your list if you’re looking for somewhere to base yourself in Burgundy for a holiday.  The local wine from Épineuil is very good though, well the red provided by Don & Cathy when we visited them on Oldtimer was, so do look out for it, I certainly will be.  

We will be leaving after lunch on Wednesday as it’s one of Tonnerre’s market days and we must pay a visit, not only because we need to top up with provisions, but also because we can 😊

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