Wednesday
11th June
Montceau-Les-Mines
to Blanzy
2
locks 4km
We
did a very short day today to get to Blanzy, which is a small town with a free
mooring with electric and water. Before
we set off we phoned Peter and Pauline on Peppa, who were moored at Blanzy to
confirm there was space for us on the small quay.
We
were in two minds whether to stop after the first lock to do some shopping at a
massive Leclerc supermarket but we wanted to make sure we were able to moor up
at Blanzy, so we carried on. When we
arrived at Blanzy the space was still there which was perfect. We were going to cycle back to the
supermarket to do some shopping but Pauline offered to take us in her car. They have been car hopping along the canal.
The Leclerc supermarket was ‘super’, really big, we could have spent hours
there!
In
the afternoon another barge arrived, it was a 55ft Piper called Quercy. We moved our boat along a little and they
squeezed in. After introductions and
standing in the searing heat for far too long, we invited Sue and Ulick onboard
for a cool drink. After talking all
things ‘Piper” and life onboard a barge in France they also told us that they have
their barge for sale. It is only 5 years
old so it would be perfect for anyone wanting a newish Piper barge and one that
is already in France. They are taking it
to St Jean de Losne to the brokers called H2O.
If you search for the barge use the name Piper rather than Quercy to
find it.
We
had to use our air-conditioning in the bedroom to cool it down before going to
bed, it’s been a very hot day. There was
another thunderstorm in the afternoon, which did help to clear the air a
little.
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| Leaving Montceau marina |
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| Blanzy with Peppa and Quercy |
Blanzy to St Julien-sur-Dheune
15 locks 15km
Quercy had booked the lock for 9am, we then left and Peppa followed on after us. We used our VHF radio to keep in contact with Peppa and we were able to let them know, when we arrived at St Julien, that there was space for them. We had 7 locks going up and then 4 locks going down. Two of down locks were deep, over 5m but they had floating bollards to make life easy. One of the deep locks created a big swell in the lock as the gates opened; it pushed the boat backwards. Luckily we still had our ropes on the floating bollards, usually when we see the gates opening we cast off ready to leave the lock as quickly as possible.
It is another good mooring at St Julien, but some of the quay is shallow, the up stream end. There is a big sign warning where it’s shallow but the sign hidden behind a big tree!
Yet another thunderstorm in the afternoon, but it was over pretty quickly. Peter and Pauline invited us over for drinks, and we got some more great tips on places to moor along the Canal du Centre. They have been boating for years, and had their barge built to Peters design. They have decided to sell ‘Peppa’ a 60ft barge after many years barging.
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| Peppa is for sale on the Apolloduck website http://barges.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=227216 |
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| St Julien sur Dheune with Peppa |
St Julien-sur-Dhuene to St Léger-sur-Dheune
10 locks and 12km
We woke up to another glorious day. We felt a little jaded this morning as we had supped too much wine last night with Peter and Pauline.
Peppa left at 9am and we then left 10 minutes later. We had a great trip to St Ledger-sur-Dheune, going down towards the Soane valley. We found that some of the locks did the same thing with the swell of water when the lock gates opened.
We kept our VHF radios on again today, and Peppa was able to warn us of a barge coming the other way, no problem as there was plenty of space when we met. All the locks were ready for us so we had a great trip arriving at St Léger by 12.30. We moored up behind Peppa and then Kev and I walked back to the town for a lunch at a lovely canal side restaurant by the bridge.
We then came back to the boat to read books and a little cleaning, and a little snoozing.
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| Beautiful scenery |
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| A great canal side restaurant at St Léger |
St Léger-sur-Dhuene to Santenay
4 locks 7.5km
We left our mooring at 9am, the first lock was a short distance from the town but it wasn’t switched on, there were no lights on show, we tried the telephone number for the control centre of the canal du centre, and we just got an answer phone. So I hopped off the boat and went to the lock to press the red button to speak to someone on the intercom. There was no answer, but eventually the lock traffic lights switched on and the lock went into action.
We arrived at Santenay around 11.30, and there was space for us. It’s a really lovely mooring, trees either side, the canal is quite narrow here, and there are glorious views across to the town and the hills with vineyards. Santenay is a famous wine-producing village, with over 30 producers of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines.
We went for a cycle ride to the village, not far, and we found ourselves at Chateau de Santenay, at a beautiful moated chateau. We sampled a couple of chardonnays, and purchased the one we liked the best, (we actually prefer the sauvignon blanc grape but felt we should buy something!)
This evening the hotel barge, Caprice, that was moored up at St Léger-sur-Dhuene came past us, the canal here is very narrow but all was fine, he went past very slowly. After the hotel had gone by we looked back along the canal and it looked like a Le Boat hire boat was leaving the mooring to follow the hotel barge with two Loco (hire) boats following. What actually was happening was that the Le Boat had been moored up on pins but as the Hotel Barge went by it pulled it off it’s mooring. We leapt to see what we could do, along with another couple, who are also moored up here on their cruiser. The Le Boat was floating free on the other side of the canal out of our reach.
The two Loco hire boats were going to just motor on past but we managed to get them to understand that we needed them to help us get this Le Boat moored up. So with none of us speaking anyone else’s language we managed to secure the Le Boat back up but this time on bollards. We don’t know where the people who have hired this boat are, we did see a taxi turn up earlier today and pick up two ladies with a load of luggage, maybe they didn’t like boating and decided to leave their Le Boat by the side of the canal!
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| 1st lock of the day |
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| Cycle ride into Santernay, a lovely village |
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| Just above Santernay |
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| Caprice the hotel boat, coming past very slowly |
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| The Le Boat hire boat floating free after the hotel boat had past |
Sunday 15th June
We decided to stay moored here at Santernay and cycle to Chagny to a big Sunday market they have there every week. We left early by 8.30am and had a very enjoyable 5km ride along by the canal. The market was big, covering at least two streets. We were pleased we didn’t moor at Chagny, not a nice mooring at all, looked very industrial. Caprice the hotel barge was there, and we checked with them when they were moving on and where their next mooring would be. They were going at 10.30 so they wouldn’t pose us a problem tomorrow.
We cycled back and we had the mooring to ourselves, the barge moored behind us hasn’t had anyone on board since we arrived Saturday, and the Le Boat hire boat is still moored up, no one onboard. The canal cycle way is really busy with cyclists and people on roller blades. It was a beautiful sunny day with a cooling breeze. I sunbathed on the roof and read a whole paperback from cover to cover, very relaxing. Kev did some fishing a caught a couple of Catfish, he was very pleased with himself.
There have been quite a few hire boats going through so we are happy not to have been moving today. Best to keep out of their way!
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| Chagny Sunday Market, worth going to |
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| Beautiful cycle ride from Santernay to Chagny and back |
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| We threw it back into the canal |
Monday 16th June
3 locks and 9km
We set off at 8.15am as we had 7km to cover before our first lock. We got to the lock at 9am and Quercy, who had gone by us yesterday, were waiting for the lock to open. The lock set into action a 9.10am. Once they had gone through we followed going through 3 down locks locks to arrive at a mooring spot just after lock 26 so that we could cycle into Rully.
The wine growers in Rully have been producing wine for over four centuries. We cycled into the village get to the bolangerie by 12 noon before it closed for lunch, and we then cycled around the beautiful village; cycling up to the medieval castle but this is only open to the public in July-August. The wine caves were all closed for lunch so we are going to cycle back this afternoon to try some Crémant de Bourgogne, a champagne look a like they are very famous for.
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| Chagny, not a nice mooring |
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| Every lock and bridge has evidence of Caprice the hotel boat having been through I am surprised if she has any paint left at the end of the trip! |
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| Rully Chateau |
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| A view looking back down to Rully Well worth a cycle ride |
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