Tuesday 23 September 2014

Brienon to Migennes -Canal de Bourgogne


Saturday 13th September

Brienon to Migennes the end of the Canal de Bourgogne
2 locks 8km 1½ hrs

We were up early-ish to be at our first lock for 9am.  It was another beautiful sunny morning and there was a light overnight dew on the roof of Rangali.  We had moored under some trees which was a shame as the roof of Rangali was covered in tiny seeds and leaves.  The canal to Migennes is very straight and pretty boring.  We moored up easily at Migennes, there was lots of space.  

We walked over the canal and under the railway line to Simon Evans boatyard to pick up our car, that we’d left parked up there since the end of March.  All was well, and after reconnecting the battery, it started first time.  We drove to Irancy, to our favourite wine producer Chais & Crus to buy some more St Bris (white wine) and Cremant de Bourgogne, a sparkling wine.  We still have plenty of our lovely Irancy reds left.

We then drove back via Auxerre, still beautiful as ever.  All the quayside work is now complete and it looks fabulous.  We tried to have lunch at Maxims, the hotel in the town on the quayside….we’d had a 'mean' beef burger there a couple of years ago…..but we were told they had finished lunch….it was 1.30pm!!!  So we went to our other favourite place Le Quai and had a great pizza and a glass of chilled Chablis for me… water for Kev….the nuisance of having to drive a car again!

It seems very strange to have the car back, not having driven in it for nearly 6 months.  Life is speeding up again.




The vineyards of Irancy



Olivier the very friendly Chais and Crus wine producer


Saturday 13 September 2014

Tanlay/Tonnerre/Flogny la Chappelle/St Florentine/Brienon-sur-Armançon - Canal de Bourgogne


Thursday 4th September to Sunday 7thSeptember
Tanlay

We had a lovely relaxing, long weekend with our friends Rob and Jo.  Time was spent visiting Tanlay Chateau, boules matches with girls against the boys, a car trip in Rob and Jo’s car to visit to Noyers and Chablis, and lots of eating and drinking took place!
The entrance to Tanlay Chateau

Our great friends Rob and Jo
Tanlay Chateau

The grounds of Tanlay Chateau
Arrival of Hotel barge 'Nenuphar', with Kev and Rob assisting!



Picturesque Noyers

Noyers

Noyers
We mis read info on Noyers, stating it was the "most" beautiful village in France
We questioned that until re read the info and found it actually said it was "one of the most" beautiful in France
It was lovely but no more lovely than some of the other places we have seen along our travels

We ended up really liking the mooring at Tanlay and we were sad to leave
Free electric and water, restaurant at the port, a great bakers, butcher and mini market
and just for Kev - a fabulous Aladdin's cave of a hardware shop 
 Monday 8th September

Tanlay to Tonnerre
6 locks 9km 2½ hrs

We woke up to another glorious sunny day at Tanlay.  The hotel barge Nenuphar left Tanlay with a new select group of passengers. We also left at 9am for our first lock of the day.

Leaving, a now almost deserted Tanlay


We had a wonderful trip to Tonnerre, with really lovely scenery along the way.






A good mooring at Tonnerre
Tonnerre has a great mooring, by the side of a park, there is electric and water but we didn’t need either so the mooring was free, although we were told by the lady who came to collect money from us that her colleague would have asked us to move to the other side of the canal if we didn’t take electric and water and pay the 8.90 euros!  We would have happily paid a mooring fee if asked.

Tonnerre looked a little run down, I managed to take some nice photos of the town but these made it look nicer than it really was!!  I think it has money being spent on it so it should improve over time.  We had a nice lunch though in a hotel restaurant in the town and we also found a nice boulangerie on the main road D905.
Fosse Dionne
A wash house in Tonnerre, it is fed by a natural spring
Tuesday 9th September

Tonnerre to Flogny-la-Chapelle
4 locks 13km 3hrs

We decided to move on to Flogny as we weren’t too impressed with Tonnerre.   We had another fab trip, beautiful scenery again and a sunny day once the misty clouds burnt off.  We arrived at 12 noon and luckily there was space on the quay.  There were signs said that is was shallow but we had no problems.

We walked into the small village in the afternoon to find a fabulous butcher, a very nice small, upmarket supermarket and a boulangerie.  All opened after their lunch at 3.30pm.

We decided to stay another day at Flogny as we quite liked the mooring.  There were a few young men hanging around the playground area in the afternoons, but they went before the evening, and we think there must be a dog kennels somewhere nearby as we occasionally heard dogs barking and someone shouting at them to be quiet…….the shouting was more annoying than the barking!


There was a really good butchers in the village,
we bought some really nice steaks, chicken and pork chops
which kept us going for a few days.

Our mooring at Flogny, there were warning signs about depth, we didn't have any problems




Stunning scenery along the way


Thursday 11th September
Flogny to St Florentine
7 locks 12km 3¾ hrs

We were at our first lock for 9am, the other boats moored with us looked like they weren’t planning on moving so when the lock keeper asked us, where is the other boat, we had to shrug our shoulders and say there wasn’t one coming as far as we knew.  Just as he had set our lock into motion, a small boat turned up, he wasn’t happy!  So he let us through the lock and then said we would have to wait for the small boat to join us before we did the next lock. It was pretty lucky for us that the lock keeper at our last lock of the day took us through after 12 noon, (which was his lunch break) otherwise we would have really been annoyed that the small boat had held us up.

The mooring at St Florentine is big, and we found a space easily.  We walked around the town, but it’s undergoing some road upgrade on the small backstreets, so was all in a bit of a mess.  It will be nice once its finished. 


Lots of space at St Florentine

A beautiful misty morning St Florentine
 St Florentine to Brienon-sur-Armençon

4 locks 10km 3hrs

Another beautiful morning, clear skies, mist rising off the water, and the boat was covered in a heavy dew.

We had another great trip, and made Brienon just before 12 noon.  We did consider continuing to Migennes but we found a good mooring, with electric so we thought "why not stop?" so we did!  We went for a set lunch at Auberge de la Poterne for 14 euros for three courses, it was really good and we’d like to go back there for an evening meal when we come back this way next year.  There is a fuel station within walking distance of our mooring, so Kev did a couple of fuel runs with his trolley, we are now full again.  There is also a nice new Leclerc Express supermarket just near the mooring, so very handy.  We are running our stock cupboard down in preparation to going home next week, so we didn’t need much.


Tiny rings to moor to but they were sufficient