Seurre to Verdun-sur-le-Doubs/Verdun to Fragnes (Canal du Centre)

Seurre to Verdun-sur-le-Doubs

Friday 7^th August

21km 1 lock 2 hours

We enjoyed our stay at Seurre, it was extremely hot and humid again which left us feeling very lethargic.  So we didn't do very much except perspire!

We rang ahead to Verdun to book a place to moor.  We were rather confused as we were told to arrive between 12 and 2pm….this is usually when the captainaire’s take their lunch but we found out when we arrived that the captainaire also runs the café at the port du plaisance so prefers people to arrive when he’s working over lunchtime.  We left at 9.30am and made really good time, so we tried to slow down to try arrive after 12, but we still arrived early but luckily the captainaire was there to show us where we were going to moor and he helped with our ropes.  It’s a really picturesque mooring, we were really pleased that we stopped there.

Going down at ecluse Ecuelles
It was another very hot day

Arriving at Verdun sur le Doubs

Verdun is a lovely place to moor

We were very surprised to see a commercial
come past us at our mooring at Verdun
it is coming down the Doubs to join the Saöne

Sunday 9^th August

Verdun to Fragnes on the Canal du Centre

20km 1 lock 3 hours

Last night there was a big thunderstorm which helped to clear the air.  In the morning we woke up to really heavy rain.  It was forecast to be a horrible day but we decided to move onto Fragnes, so I dressed in my wet weather gear, waterproof dungarees and jacket.  Luckily there was only one lock to deal with which was the deep 10.76m lock that was going to take us up onto the Canal du Centre.  It was still pouring with rain at the lock.  As we approached we were uncertain if we were going to have to wait a long time as we had read on the VNF website that it was only operating at specific times to preserve water but as we approached the light went green and red and we could see water coming out so we knew the lock we being prepared for us.  We had arranged a mooring at Fragnes and a spot for us was marked out with our name and red and white tape.

Travelling down the river Saöne
We haven't seen much rain for months so we can't complain

Lock 34b to take us up onto the Canal du Centre
Nearly 11m deep

You just about see me at the front getting rained on
Kev kept very dry!

Monday 10^th August

We had confirmation from Julia and Richard on Ettie that they had managed to get a mooring at Chalon sur Saone so we set off on our bikes to see them late afternoon.  We managed to find them at their unconventional mooring and we had a great time catching up and talking all things Piper and French barging.  Their guests, Malcolm and Mandy had gone for a look around the city and arrived a while later so we hope we managed not to bore them too much talking about boats.  It was so lovely to see Richard and Julia onboard Ettie, it was a shame we didn’t moor at the same spot, but possibly a good thing as we would have drunk far too much!

Julia and Richards mooring at Chalon
The port du plaisance doesn't like barges our size

Cheers!!

Ettie moored up at Chalon

Tuesday 11^th August

We got a little lost yesterday on our way to Julia and Richard, but in doing so we found where a Grand Frais supermarket was in Chalon, so we set off on our bikes again and went food shopping.  Even though we were limited to what we could carry on our bikes, we managed to get quite a bit, including a whole tray of fresh raspberries for 6 euros.

It got very busy at Fragnes with hotel barges
this one had problems with a hire boat determined to squeeze through rather than wait