 |
| Moored on the outside at Migennes boatyard for the next week |
Although the sun was out when we awoke on Tuesday, we had
cloud cover by the time we set off at 9.30.
Saying that though, it was very warm and another day in the low 30s
despite the cloud cover.
After about four kilometres we were approaching
Migennes. When we left here in March, we
had thought it quite a drab quiet town with some industry. Of course, now it’s summer, it looks
completely different and is busy, but without the sun when we went through it
didn’t really look its best in pictures.
 |
| Industry as we approached Migennes |
A couple of boats were coming out of the first lock when we
arrived so there wasn’t a problem, for once, about whether or not the message had got
through to the éclusier that we were on our way.
 |
| Straight stretch before the port |
The town had put on a fine display of plant pots on the
bridges and along the streets and even around the lock in the centre of town.
The port was jam packed with hire boats when we were last
here as it was before the hire season, but today there were only a few boats
not rented out.
The lock in the centre of town marks the northern end of the
Canal de Bourgogne and drops boats onto the River Yonne. As there is a river on one side, the drop is
variable but the éclusier told us it was five metres today. We can remember seeing this lock when we took
a walk around Migennes and being full of trepidation about going through such a
deep lock. As we had dropped 11 metres
to get onto the River Saône from the Canal du Centre a month ago we wondered
what we had been worried about 😉
 |
| Leaving the last lock on the Canal de Bourgogne |
We were soon on the River Yonne, which was very calm, and
turned left towards Simon Evan’s boatyard where we had been dropped in the
water all those weeks ago.
 |
| Back on the River Yonne |
As soon as we were on the river, I rang Simon to check where
we should moor. He gave us a temporary
mooring on the outside of three other boats while we sort ourselves out for the
next couple of days. We will then move
it on Wednesday evening to a more permanent position whilst we are back in the
UK.
As we were mooring up, I could hear Karen talking to a
couple of people and it turned out to be Ian & Lisette on Catharina
Elisabeth. We were moored next to them
before setting off at the start of the season and had conversed by email off
and on over the last few weeks. They
have been coming over from Australia for the last six summers to cruise on
their boat and had arrived for this season last weekend. It was good to finally meet
them in the flesh and, as we have to traipse over their boat to get on and off
ours, we will be bumping into them a lot over the next day or so. Oh, and Lisette is mad keen on lavoirs!
 |
| Ian & Lisette washing down Catharina Elisabeth |
Everyone in the yard seemed to be busy working on or
cleaning their boats ready for extended cruises but we did have a quick cuppa
with Ian & Lisette before lunch. As
we haven’t been inside a Dutch barge before nor they a narrowboat we will be
closing that gap tomorrow, no doubt with some wine to celebrate. During the day we also chatted quite a bit
with the other couple in the picture who were protecting themselves from the sun but
I’m afraid I don’t recall their names.
The clouds all but disappeared over lunch and it became even
hotter, but we had jobs to do. Poor old
Buddy, being nervous, found it difficult getting onto the quayside. As we are a low boat, he has to get on our
roof first which he really hates but once on the barge next to us he was soon
getting across the three larger boats to reach dry land.
One of the first jobs was to make sure the car was Ok, which
it was, so we took a trip down to Grand Frais near Auxerre as we promised Sue
& Paul, who will be looking after Buddy for the next week, that we would get them some
halloumi. It seems Grand Frais (= French
Waitrose) is the only supermarket that stocks it over here. While we were out, we also got a French gas
bottle (yes, the fixings are different to UK ones) and filled up our jerry cans
with diesel.
It was hot work carrying the jerry cans and full gas bottle
across to the boat when we got back but we did it without any mishap. And some other good news, the gas adaptor I
had purchased in the UK worked on the French gas bottle 😊. It always amazes us how long gas bottles last (up to three months) considering we do all our cooking using gas apart from barbeques of course.
|
| Evening at Migennes |
After Tuesday’s seven kilometres down two locks we are back
where we started from having covered a circular route around Burgundy covering
663 kilometres through 389 locks. Apart
from feeling very nervous when we cruised in extremely windy weather on the
River Saône we have enjoyed every minute of it and would do it all again. It was our fault that we cruised on that
windy day so even those nerves could have been avoided.
Our journey started by heading south to Auxerre on the River Yonne where we picked up the Canal du Nivernais and continued south to Decize. After a short stint on the River Loire we continued south east to Digoin on the Canal Latéral à la Loire. Then we joined the Canal du Centre heading north east to Châlon-sur-Saône. That was when we joined the River Saône up to St-Jean-de-Losne where we joined the last canal, the Bourgogne to head back north(ish) to Migennes.
We have seen some beautiful countryside in a part of France neither of us really knew before. We have met some lovely people, both boaters and non, and realise
now that the trepidation of how we would be accepted as Brits was totally
unfounded. Without exception we have
been made to feel at home and many French people have told us we are more than
welcome over here and should stay.
So that’s the end of our first epic adventure which we would highly recommend and would love to repeat. The next one
will be a lot shorter as we are only going down the Yonne and then the Seine
into Paris, but it will be quite different.
No comments:
Post a Comment