Rangali Adventures: Vincelottes to Mailly-le-Chateau

Friday 11^th April

Vincelotttes to Mailly-le-Chateau

10 Locks 19km 9.45am – 4.30pm

We had a reasonably early start; we left our mooring at 9.45am after ringing the telephone number our last lock keeper gave us. I managed to get the lock keeper to understand which lock we needed preparing and we set off. It was another lovely day. For our first 3 locks we had a miserable lock keeper, we help him when we can, but it still doesn’t seem to cheer him up!

A picturesque lock keepers cottage

One of the river sections on the canal

The view of Mailly-le-Chateau up on the hill
and the mooring in the cut we were heading for on the right

We moored up at Mailly-le-Chateau at a cutting we had seen last year that had electric and water. The electric and water wasn’t mentioned in the DBA mooring guide so it must be new.

We had the mooring to ourselves the first night.

It is a lovely mooring, very rural but just a short walk along a lane and you come to the town, a very old bridge across the River Yonne. Most of the town is situated up on the hill. We had visited the place previously a few years ago so knew the views to be wonderful.

We plan to stay here for at least three nights as we have Pete (P.J Marine Services tel 00 44 78155 76532) coming to service our central heating boiler. He planned a trip to France to visit all the English boaters he knew from Thames & Kennet marina.

Saturday 12^th April

At our mooring at Mailly

We walked up to the town in the morning to see if we could find a boulangerie, we were in luck. We’ve been lucky so far and found some very good bakers; the bread has been fabulous. We chatted to an English couple up in the town that own a holiday home in Mailly with stupendous views and they told us quite a bit about the town. We had noticed there was going to be a fete/market in the town square later in the afternoon and they said the best bit was if the cheese man was there.

We walked back in the afternoon to the fete/market and bought some very strong (make your mouth sore) hard cheeses. Luckily there was also a lady selling fresh fruit and vegetables so we topped up our supplies. Most of the other stalls were crafty. There was one place where they were going to sell Bourgogne snails and with a seating area but we decided we wouldn’t stay for that.

That morning we were joined at our mooring with an English boat we had previously shared a few locks with, and then a hire boat arrived, but the spot is still lovely and quiet. It is a highly recommended mooring.

We can’t understand why they give free electric and water as there was only a boulangerie in the town where we would/could spend any money, but we are not complaining.