Lézinnes (a very late start)

This part of Burgundy has corn fields in place of the rolling hills or vineyards

Thursday morning was meant to incorporate a supermarket and fuel station visit.  First though, I emptied two 20 litre jerry cans of diesel into the fuel tank with the intention of trolleying them to the supermarket to replenish them.  As the tank wasn’t far off from being full after the top up, we decided to wait until we get back to Migennes before filling up the jerry cans.  As we will have the car, we will no doubt be doing all sorts of trips to get things before heading back to the UK for a week’s holiday.

It was only just over a kilometre to the Bi1 supermarket on the outskirts of Ancy-le-Franc so not too far to walk with backpacks and bags.  We don’t leave Buddy tied up outside shops over here, so I took him butterflying while Karen did the shopping.  There weren’t many butterflies around but there was a field full of pyramidal and bee orchids.

Bee orchid

Reading up on the bee orchid I learnt that the bee that cross pollinates the male and female flowers doesn’t live in the UK, so the plants rely on self-pollination.  Over here the plants are more fortunate as the bee does occur in France and helps them reproduce.

Nice fresh small heath butterfly…

…and a very worn out first brood small copper

Soon after getting home our éclusière stopped by to tell us that the hotel boat was setting off at 1.00 as well as us.  As they were a lock in front, she suggested we either wait until the following day or leave later in the afternoon.  In the end we agreed to leave at 4.00pm, a late start in the day for us.

We took the opportunity to have a look around Ancy-le-Franc where there was a stunning château that had been built in the first part of the 16^th century.  The town itself was really quite pretty only spoilt by the occasional quarry truck passing through.

Château Ancy-le-Franc

One day we will pay a proper visit to a château, but we are hampered at present because of Buddy.  No doubt we will find one close enough to a canal on a cool day when we will be happy leaving him on the boat for a couple of hours or so.

At 3.30 the éclusière stopped by again and told us that it would be OK to leave now as the hotel boat was far enough ahead.  She took us down all five locks of the afternoon and was very informative about the area.  She also told us that she had lived in the lock cottage at lock 80, the first lock of the day, for the last 14 years since working for the VNF.

We were headed for Lézinnes as she convinced us that it would be a good place to moor as the only other boat would be the hotel boat.

As mentioned yesterday the landscape has changed as can be seen from the photo at the top.

Tall trees providing needed shade

Approaching the last lock of the day we could see a large factory with an overhead gantry jutting out across the cut.  Our éclusière explained that it was originally a cement producing works but closed down in 2012.  A new company has recently bought the plant and is using it to produce wood chippings.

We arrived at Lézinnes to find the hotel boat was moored in the spot we had been told was free, so we moored up just before it at the spot we had been told it usually moors at.  Clearly our French understanding hadn’t been as good as we thought it had been.

Our mooring at Lézinnes with hotel boat just in sight

Later on, a couple of the English crew that we had met before, came over to the picnic tables for a break and a beer.  They explained that the boat always uses the spot where they were moored as there is an electricity box that they tap into.  They also told us that they would be leaving at nine on Friday for a morning cruise followed by a visit to Chablis in the afternoon for their guests, obviously for wine tasting. 

As their mooring was more open than ours, we said we would take their spot as soon as they left in the morning.  With strong winds forecast we had already decided not to move on Friday.

On Thursday we cruised 11 kilometres down five locks.

We awoke to no sound of wind on Friday morning and it was also quite sunny.  The hotel boat left at nine as expected and I moved around to take their spot.  When Karen was out for a run I noticed the wind beginning to start and by the time she returned, the trees were beginning to sway and the clouds were rolling in.

Around mid morning Don & Cathy moored up in front of us on a nice old barge called Oldtimer which was built in 1927.  They popped around to introduce themselves and came on board for a chat and some coffee.  They were Californians who have been cruising around Europe every summer for the last ten years or so. 

Our new mooring on Friday (about 40 metres from the previous one)

We were going to have a walk after lunch but by the time we finished eating the rain had started so we put it off until mid-afternoon.  To while away the time, I started cataloguing our collection of lavoirs as per Karen’s suggestion.  I have a long way to go to get up to date but I have started a new page on the blog cunningly entitled ‘Lavoirs’ and added a few of the lavoirs we have seen recently – see tab at the top ‘Lavoirs’.

We did go out for a walk and took in the town of Lézinnes which boasted the usual municipal camping ground and a boulangerie as well as kayaking on the River Armançon, some pretty houses and, of course, a lavoir.  This one was of more modern construction having been built in 1874, it also boasted two fireplaces.  It is stream-fed as well as using the method of pitched roofs partly covering the basin to provide rainwater.

Lavoir de Lézinnes

The pitched roofs positioned to drop the rainwater into the basin

Don & Cathy invited us around to theirs for drinks later in the afternoon and we spent a couple of pleasant hours exchanging stories.  They made us very welcome and hopefully we will meet up again on our travels - we are travelling in opposite directions currently and we are all leaving first thing on Saturday morning.

Moored up with Oldtimer on Friday

On Friday we cruised about 40 metres down no locks.