Saint Jean de Losne to Gray

We exited the Rhone au Rhîne Canal and turned downstream on the Saône to spend time at our winter storage marina to meet the staff and start scheduling maintenance.  We found an empty slip and tied up to go introduce ourselves, only to be told they had no room for us, we’d have to move marinas. We did find that there was no place to get our window fixed and the company they use would take 3 weeks. Today’s plan is to go back up the Saône tomorrow morning to Auxonne, where the train to Dole runs almost hourly and is a ten minute ride. We did get the OK to have the window shipped to Saint Jean de Losne. 

A quick note to John, the Captainerie at Auxonne, and we were assured there would always be room for Juniper at his marina. The next morning, Thursday, we traveled the 20km upstream to Auxonne, tied up, and walked to the Gare (train station) for the ten minute trip to Dole.

The glass shop was wonderful to work with, and we think we have the proper window ordered. However they can't ship the finished product to us, and by the time it arrives Juniper will be back in Saint Jean de Losne for the winter, and that's an all day round trip to Dole - Still working on how we'll solve this piece of the puzzle. But hey - it's France.

The first time we've shared an ecluse all season - our one ecluse for the day

From Auxonne we continued upstream to Pontailler-sur-Saône, a small town with a quiet marina (not counting the chestnuts dropping on the dock next to us, and occasionally on our deck). The afternoon was perfect for a bike ride and after a busy road start we finally found the local bike path following the Saône then turning off to follow the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne. We managed to put in a bit over 20km of riding, earning us a glass of wine when we returned.

Mooch, the Pontailler-sur-Saône swan that swims right up to your door to beg - even hisses at you if you don't pay attention

Saturday was predicted to be quite wet, and the prediction was an understatement. We’ve all always controlled Juniper from her flying bridge. Today we decided it was too miserable so we tried the lower steering station. It was great, we were dry, had a hot cup of coffee and the boat steered better than ever. However since that station had not been used, none of us knew it had a huge leak and we soon had a container under the wheel collecting steering fluid.

Arriving in Gray, in the rain, it seemed like the perfect time to sit back and take it easy, enjoying the weather from indoors – just had to run to the store for a few groceries between storms. Looking forward to exploring Gray when it’s a little less gray and wet.