To Seurre with Love

On Monday we stayed on at Verdun sur Doubs. We had invited Terry and Zena around for drinks that evening. Wendy had met them in the Port Office the day before and after a long chat invited them over the next day. Terry retired now is a Welshman who has worked in the wine trade for his life time. Married to a French lady he has lots of connections with New Zealand and its wine. It was a good evening made even better by a fortuitous turn after Terry and Zena left. We had decided to eat out as it was so hot but the local restaurant seemed a bit expensive at 30 Euros for a 3 course meal so we decided to try one about 10 minutes walk away that we had seen advertised for 20 euros. Unfortunately that was a lunchtime only price. Fortunately the meal they served up was one of the best we had ever had. We started with substantial canapes followed by an amuse bouche (small tasty starter), then for Wendy a most unusual entree of half a bone with its marrow topped with breadcrumbed pork trotter (bone removed) with whole garlic and snails on top. Then a main course and then cheese course followed by a gourmet dessert and then petit fours. Very filling!

The next day we continued up the Saone to Seurre where we stopped the night. The temperature didn’t drop below 35C that night and we slept very badly. Next day on up the Saone to St Jean de Losne where we have been for the past three days having the boat looked at. It rained all day yesterday and half of today and the temperatures are much more moderate – thank goodness.

The boat had been smoking a lot more than usual in the past few weeks and also ‘leaking’ some oil or fuel through the exhaust. It could have been anything so we got a mechanic to do a compression test to rule out anything major. Fortunately there was no problem with the compression. We changed the oil and filter and cleaned the fuel filter but I suspect it is the injectors that need servicing – something we can’t do here easily. So we shall monitor the situation on our way up the Saone for a short cruise this week before heading back and going up the Canal Rhone au Rhin.

We have Wifi here at St Jean de Losne hence the early blog!

The Canal du Centre

We left Paray-le-Monial and passed a huge marquee filled with people singing hymns. Paray-le-Monial is a famous place of pilgrimage after a vision was seen in the 1800s. We arrived at Montceau-les-Mines later that very hot day in the company of a barge called Renaissance. Terry and Terry owned the barge and we moored up along side them in Montceau.

 

They were going to be staying the winter there but we were staying just two days as the next day was Bastille Day and a public holiday.

We went off shopping to a large hypermarket to stock up the fridge and then in the hot evening air stayed up late to watch the fireworks which were being launched in the port where we were moored. So we had front-row seats for the performance which was incredible. Incredibly loud and incredibly bright.

We were joined for the fireworks by Terry and Terry (Terence and Theresa) and afterwards sat out on deck until 1am in the warm air sipping wine and chatting. The next day we relaxed as we could do nothing and nothing was open. It was windy and unfortunately our umbrella developed a penchant for flying and so we had a quick look around any open stores to get a replacement which we couldn’t do.

And then it was off again along the very beautiful Canal du Centre. We stopped the night at St Julien sur Dheune. Unfortunately we could only stop next to a large barge. There are numerous barges all along the canals these days – mainly UK, Dutch and American. They clog up the quays and as they are large there is seldom room for other boats. On top of that they are used as floating cottages and as a result stay in the same place for weeks at a time. One Dutch barge we saw stayed in the same place all summer..

Going up the canal towards the summit as we were doing the locks are all named Ocean 1 or Ocean 34 etc as the water flows to the Atlantic ocean from that side. Once we reached the summit at Montchanin the locks are number Mediterranean for obvious reason. The view from the summit was fantastic.

  

And for the first time in weeks we started heading down locks rather than going up. Bridge Heights are always a problem on the canal and we have a stick at the front that tells us when a bridge height is less than 3.5m. Many are and we have to lower the canopy a few more centimetres. We are getting good now at estimated bridge heights to the nearest few centimetres. The clearance under the bridges is only a few centimetres. Any less and we risk losing the top of the boat. The canal follows the River Dheune and winds along the contours with vineyards above us and vineyards below us, all from the fabulous Monts d’Or where the great Burgundy wines come from.

There is virtually no commercial traffic at all these days. Once places like Montceau-les-Mines had hundreds of barges loading coal but today there is nothing. The canals are too small to compete with the railway. The bigger rivers and large canals are still busy because they can take giant barges.

Eventually one cloudy day after a thunderstorm we went down a 10 metre lock and emerged onto the mighty River Saone and left the Canal du Centre behind us. We headed downstream a few km to Chalon sur Saone where we spent the night. This morning we wandered around the town and bought lovely fruit and vegetables in the weekly market. Apricots have just come in to season  and they are lovely (and cheap) so we bought a huge bag to stew for breakfast. hen after lunch we headed upstream to Verdun sur Doubs. A lovely town at the confluence of the River Doubs and the Saone.

We will be travelling up the Doubs in a few weeks time but first we shall explore the River Saone upstream for a couple of hundred kilometres upstream. The weather is still hot but not quite as bad as there is a cooler Northerly wind instead of the SE hot one we have had for weeks.

The Heat goes On

 

We are tied up along the Canal du Centre in the middle of a small town called Paray-le-Monial and it is bliss. It is not that it is sunny. It is not that it is cold. It is not that there is a great view. It is not that it is free. It simply because we have found a mooring deep enough for our draught and in the shade of trees. For the last week we have endured blistering heat. It hasn’t rained for 3 weeks (except a short thunderstorm) and been over 30C every day and in the boat by the end of the day when the steel hull has absorbed all it can it can reach over 44C. The bedroom last night started at 33C  (11pm) and was down to 29C by dawn. Then it starts all over again. But today we have shade though it is still 34c in the shade.

We have been travelling along the  Lateral Canal de Loire all week some 200km at an average 20km a day. We have passed through sleepy towns like Nevers with its ancient Ducal Palace, through Decize where we dropped down from the canal and into the Loire hoping to find a shady place in the town centre. But we went aground and all our probing for a deep passage was in vain, so we tied up along an abandoned quay in the blazing sun.

And on we crawled up the canal until yesterday we crossed the Loire over a 285m aqueduct at Digoin and left behind our friend of the Lateral Canal as we joined the Canal du Centre to make the mad dash for the summit and descend into the valley of the Saone River.

 

But that is still to come.  Entering Digoin we were greeted by the news that the lock there was ‘en panne’ or out of action because of a thunderstorm that morning. It brought lots of flashes and claps and a small amount of rain which soon disappeared to leave a hot sunny day.

 

But it did knock out the electrics on the first electrically operated lock we had been through for over a 10 days!. (All the rest had been manual)Luckily there was a manual override and the lock keeper manually operated the hydraulic pumps to work the lock until they could get  a generator in place later that day. That day was also Wendy’s birthday and I had arranged dinner in a top restaurant in the town. We had wonderful food and wine and because as I mentioned before it was a hot day and the boat was shut up in the evening, when we returned the bedroom was 33c. Oh what a night!

So now in the shade of the Paray-le-Monial Plane trees I write this blog and motivate myself with the thought of an ice cold beer shortly and a the World Cup final being played later this evening. For all of those of you who are thinking how can these people complain about hot sunny days when it is so cold and wet in the southern hemisphere, then all we can say  is that there is some truth to grass being greener elsewhere. (And steel takes a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down)

This week we have Bastille Day when the locks are all closed but hopefully by the end of the week we shall have reached the great river Saone and begin our exploration of a new area of France.

Along the River Loire

The heatwave has continued with day after day of lovely sunshine and hot nights. The boat stays cool during the day but as the steel heats up it stays hot during the night. We are tempted to sleep on deck at times but teak is as not as comfortable as an inner sprung mattress.

We motored slowly along the Canal d Briare stopping at Rogny les Sept Ecluses (Rogny of the 7 locks) where there is a 1600s staircase of 7 locks built in the time of Henry IV.

They have been bypassed in the last 200 years but preserved as a National Monument. The canal is stunningly beautiful at the summit with lots of lakes and extremely rural with no sign of civilization except the occasional lock house. The canal connects the valleys of the Seine and Loire. From the summit it was downhill to the junction with the River Loire at Briare. Taking the canal across the Loire (as the Loire is not navigable) is a majestic aqueduct built by Gustav Eiffel (of the tower fame). Built in steel and over 600m long it is a work of art.

The Loire at this point is nowhere near the great Chateaux. That is some 200km down stream. The Loire is not navigable except for the first 100km from the sea and it was always too dry in summer and too fast flowing in the winter. So a Lateral Canal was built that follows the valley of the Loire and it is this canal that passes over the the aqueduct.

We passed slowly along the canal, the heat forcing us to stop early to find shade under a tree. Just before the wine town of Sancerre an enterprising lockkeeper was selling Sancerre wine at good prices so we bought a dozen. Sure beats carrying it back to the boat! The wine is Sauvignon Blanc based but a world away from the NZ Marlborough Savvy. Excellent, as is the nearby Pouilly Fume.  We took a taxi to Sancerre which is on top of a high hill nearby.

And so we continued from small town to small town. Nothing remarkable about each but each with character and usually lovely moorings like where we are now at Coure-les-Barres with a hotel boat passing us by.

This week we continue following the River Loire up to Roanne. More next week. For those of you following our maps below, you will have realised that we are on a completely different route. For a variety of reasons we decided to change the route substantially.