Vandenasse to La Forge/La Forge to Moulin Banet

Monday 25^th May
Pouilly en Auxois to Vandenasse

8 locks, 1 tunnel 3.33km long and 9.5km 3 hours (including 1 hour wait just after the tunnel

We spent a very lazy 5 days at Pouilly.  Our first evening at Pouilly we had a lovely time getting to know Caya and Julian the new owners of Quercy.  They seem to have very quickly got to grips with the new boat and really enjoying their time onboard Quercy.  It was a shame they moved off so quickly, it maybe a while before we meet up with them again as they are going in opposite direction to us.  

Quercy departing Pouilly

Pouilly is a good mooring to be stuck at as they have electric and water, a supermarket, fuel station etc

We were stuck in Pouilly until a new alternator arrived as we’d been having battery charging problems over the past few days travel.  Luckily we were recommended by Simon Piper a company called Sutton Marine Services run by Paul Ladyman, an expert in generators and all things electrical.  A new alternator to be delivered to Paul in Kent on Thursday and he came to see us on Saturday.  Luckily he has a house in France and we weren’t too far away for him to travel to us.  www.suttonmarineservices.com

We dropped just one end of our canopy down this time.
Last year we took it right off.

A lovely sunny morning to leave Pouilly

We booked the tunnel for Monday morning, and it all went well.  As we had been through the tunnel last year, we were much more relaxed about it, knowing we would fit!!  The first section of the tunnel was really well lit, but around halfway along there were no lights and the tunnel was pitch black.  We had our spot light on, so we could see in front of us but by mistake we hadn’t got our side navigation lights on, which until we turned them on, we really struggled to see the sides of the tunnel. 

The lighting is really bright

The lighting only went half way, it would have been pitch black without our lights on

After the tunnel we had to wait about an hour before we could go down the 8 locks to Vanenasse-en-Auxois.  The weather was a bit dull and miserable by the time we moored up.  We are hoping it will be nicer tomorrow.

Tuesday 26^th May

Vandenasse en Auxois

Such a beautiful mooring, one of my favourites....no hotel barges either so lots of space

Chateauneuf in the background...we went there last year

It rained quite heavily during the night but we woke up to a lovely sunny, but windy day.  I managed to persuade Kev that it was a good idea to get the bikes out and we had a mornings cycle ride to a nearby reservoir (reservoir de Panthier) and Commarin Chateau.  The reservoir has a campsite, with a restaurant and bakers, which is useful as there is no bakers at Vandenasse.   We had Pete, from PJ Marine coming to see us just after lunch to service our central heating boiler so we didn't have time to look around the Chateau and its grounds, but the cycle ride was a good one to do first timeout this year.  No hills and quiet roads.  Kev's shoulder held up well, so he hasn't that excuse not to go next time!

It was so windy the reservoir had waves

Chateau Commarin about 7km from Vandenasse via a cycle route

Wednesday 27^th May

Vandenasse to La Forge/La Bussière

16km 17 locks 5 hours

We shared the first 11 locks to Pont d’Ouche with John and Nancy on Gruble.  We had already phoned ahead to Sonia at Pont d’Ouche (06.80.02.17.38) to be told she had no room for us but we could moor on the bank opposite.  We asked the lock keepers if we could possibly carry on in the afternoon but we were told they were too busy with hotel boats and we would have to wait until Thursday afternoon to move on.  It wasn’t a problem although we had booked lunch at Abbaye La Bussière for tomorrow, so that booking would have to be changed. 

We managed to moor up ok on the bank opposite the port and we went and had a lovely lunch at Le Bistrot du Port, managed by Sonia.  As we weren’t going to be moving on in the afternoon, we ordered a nice bottle of Chablis.  Around 2pm one of the lock keepers came to the bistro to look for us to say they could now take us at 3pm, so we put the cork in the remainder of our bottle of wine, and went back to the boat to have a coffee to clear our heads (and me a snooze!) We don’t normally drink and drive and luckily we were ok.  

We arrived at La Forge between lock 25 and 26 around 3pm, with lots of space for us, no other boats here as yet. 

Thursday 28^th May

Abbaye La Bussière

We had a lazy morning and then got dressed up smart for our lunch at the hotel Abbaye La Bussière.  We went there last year for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed our posh meal, which we didn’t think was that expensive, and definitely worth it.  We were really lucky that it was a sunny day, with a light breeze.

I almost didn't recognise this smart looking man!

We wouldn't come along the Canal de Bourgogne without coming here for lunch, its superb!

Its very strange arriving by foot to such a posh hotel

The grounds are immaculate

This 'soup' was delicious

We walked into La Bussière after our lunch to look for the war graves we had read about in the DBA mooring guide.
Very sad, the plane wouldn't have had a chance as it is so wooded and hilly around La Bussière

R.A.F Base: Chedburgh, Suffolk
Unit: 214 Sqdn. Bomber Command
Aircraft: Short Stirling, Mk l, serial EF390
Target: Torino, Northern Italy
Incident: The Stirling was damaged by flak and finally shot down by Capt. Hans Wolfgang Niebelschütz. The aircraft crashed at La Bussière and all the crew perished.

http://www.histavia21.net/HISTAV2/BUSSTIR002-GB.htm 

Our mooring at La Forge - We were joined by a hotel barge on Thursday evening
We hadn't heard it arriving as we were down below,
it gave us the shock of our lives as we looked out our window,
it looked like it was going to hit us but actually it was miles away!
They very politely in asked us if we could move along to give them room to moor up, which we did happily. 

Friday 29^th May

La Forge to Moulin Banet

6.5 km 6 locks 2.5 hrs

The lock keeper arrived dead on 9am and we had a fabulous trip to Moulin Banet, a mooring just before lock 34.  The scenery is beautiful, with heavily wooded hills.  We moored up just in time for lunch at the café by lock 34 run by Uls and Doris a very friendly Swiss couple.  The café is only open Friday/Saturday/Sunday.  When we arrived last year it was closed and I was thoroughly fed up, as it seemed that all the places we’d been recommended to go to along the canal de Bourgogne, had been closed, either we arrived the wrong day of the week or they were closed for their annual holidays.  So this year we are planning our stops better!

We passed two hotel barges today, the lock keepers warn us and its horrible knowing you are going to meet one,
keeping your fingers crossed its not going to be on a corner

This hotel barge didn't seem to slow down or move over much for us

Moulin Banet lock 34, a great place to stop