Saturday Aug 23 - Sun Aug 24

 Saturday, August 23, 2025 – Gissey-sur-Ouche 

Joan shows her strength opening an ecluse door.

Off at 9am from Pont d’Ouche. We have one lock keeper by herself. One we had before - the pair of them were not very communicative or helpful. Hmmmm, could be a long day. Happily, it turns out we were wrong! We travel from lock 20 through lock 32, PK 173 to 186. Joan helps with all the gates except the couple when another lock keeper stops by. Grab a bollard on the lock side with the ladder, hand the line to Michael, hop off and close the upper gate. Once the boat is down, open a gate on the other end, climb down the ladder and hop on the boat or Michael picks me up outside the lock if there is a good spot. This gave Joan a chance to chat with her a bit. She’s been working the locks for five years and lives on a boat in Pont de Pany, which we’ll go by tomorrow. She travels and vacations all winter. We’re noting a theme here for those working by/for the canal system. Surprised to hear that the Hotel Barges don’t travel on Saturday and Sunday and no other boats are coming up today. It. Is. Quiet. We tie up on the quai. There is another pleasure boat behind us that is heading up, but having a layover day tomorrow. There is another boat a bit further up from us on the other side of the canal, don’t know their status. Maybe we’ll be sharing a lock tomorrow.

Then it's climbing down the ladder to "juniper"

Gissey-sur-Ouche - beautiful place to moor

Take a brief walk through the small, typical French village. Lovely and quiet. Lots of cyclists on the canal path being Saturday. Also, lots of photos taken of Juniper as she goes through the locks. A pair of gentlemen riding (no electric bikes here!) from Switzerland to Paris in ten days. One of them has fun helping with the lock gate. Another helper was a young boy riding with his mom. Told me he didn’t speak English, but I wonder about that. The lock keeper was great explaining how the lock system worked. He was curious and asked questions. A future VNF employee?

Sunday, August 24, 2025 – Fleurey-sur Ouche

Michael on the trail

Again, we’re off at 9am. Locks 33 – 41, PK 186-197.5 One lock keeper so Joan helps out with the gates. Fleury is another small, quiet village. We walk to see what there is to see and find a park. A sign shows a 5km trail and Michael suggests we should walk it after dinner. Joan’s thinking, ummm, sure. Dinner done, we actually head out. (Joan had her doubts we’d do this.) We leave the boat at 5:30, says it should take 1 hour 40 minutes. Don’t do it in the rain as it will be muddy and slippery. The trail is marked occasionally by yellow lines found on trees, fence posts, signs, rocks. Sometimes they are frequent, other times not so much. We start out on a flat dirt road, easy to find the markers. Then it changes to a steep, rocky climb with loose rocks as well. It had mentioned a great view! The price to pay to get there. Slow and steady and luckily not too long. The view is quite nice of the river valley. Careful walking means having to stop to appreciate the view, it’s worth it. The climb down is a bit less steep since they put a couple switch backs. Walking sticks would have been very helpful on this little jaunt. The trail was actually easy to follow as long as you paid attention and there weren’t too many places to take a wrong turn.

Plant art along the canal Fleurey-sur-Ouche

French totem pole Fleurey-sur-Ouche

Beautiful architecture Fleurey-sur-Ouch

The past few nights have been cold, upper 40s to low 50s, glad to have put on the Duvet. In the mornings by 7am the mist is rising off the canal as the day already starts to warm. Hitting upper 70s, low 80s in the afternoon. So much better than the heat wave we initially had!

Aug 21 Pouilly-en-Auxois to Aug 22 Pont d'Ouce

 

Thursday, August 21, 2025 – Pouilly-en-Auxois – Still

We decided it’s best to return to St. Jean de Losne. Sigh. We’ve never made it all the way across this canal. The draught these past many years in France has made traveling the canals a challenge. C’est la vie! The other challenge on this canal is the use of iterant lock keepers. You have to schedule ahead of time to make sure some are available. They were doubled up during the heat wave making it a bit more challenging yet, but glad they take care of them!

Now we wait for a schedule to go back through the tunnel we came through two days ago. May or may not MacGyver our “spot light” again, but will have all the flashlights ready! There are two boats heading the same direction, one is going tomorrow, the other we don’t know. At 1:30, having had lunch, filled our water and just relaxing, an Eclusier knocks on the boat. Confirms we want to go and gives us a 2pm tunnel run. Score again!

Ecluse #4 Very interesting

With three lock keepers again (fabulous and personable!), we’re through the 3.3 km tunnel and eight locks to Vandenesse-en-Auxois by 4pm. A déjà vu experience having just made this run…. We tie up at the end by the lock as two hotel barges are in. No power tonight since our cord won’t reach, but without the extreme heat we’re good. Nice view of Chateauneuf from the boat this time. We walk the town, small and quiet. Most activity comes from farm equipment driving down the road.

Minion at Ecluse #4

Friday, August 22, 2025 – Pont d’Ouche

Last view of Chateauneuf. Castle on the hill

We’re underway at 9:15am, meeting our three lock keepers. We had them on our last trip through andappreciate the young woman’s outgoing, smiling, helpful personality. She’s of slight build but must be all muscle as she has no problem doing it all. The two guys are nice and efficient. We get held up for about 30 minutes waiting for a hotel barge coming towards us. Once underway we figure we may not make it to Pont d’Ouche before lunch – however the lock keeper informs us only two more locks, we’ll get you through then take lunch. Bless them!! I’m sure it makes it easier for them as well, but we truly appreciate not having to wait an hour and a half to get through those last two locks.

As soon as we’re in, Michael heads up to the restaurant to see if we can get dinner reservations for tonight. Yes, if we can come in at 7pm.

Chateau Chaudenay

We have the afternoon and the weather is mild, mid-60s so unload the bikes and ride up to Chaudenay-le-Chateau. It’s a 3 km ride along the canal back to Crugey and 2.5 km up the hill. Of course all chateaus are built on top of hills because they were built during feudal times. The view from there is wonderful. The ride/walk up the hill is slow. Lovely park at the top on the backside of the Chateau, which, again, you can’t see through the trees and shrubs. Going back down was much faster and easier. We could truly appreciate how steep the climb up was and why we had to walk some of it. Our Tern folding bikes are NOT our tour or road bikes back home… That includes the brakes!

Main street of Chaudenay-le-Chateau             Lavoir from the 1800s in la Bouuiere-sur-Ouche

 

We’re back to the boat with time to relax before showering for dinner. 7pm we’re at La Brise du Port; a man sitting outside with others asks if we have reservations. We confirm and he checks us off. Then sits back down. The chef comes out and tells us to pick any table. Turns out there are only three tables with a total of six adults and two kids. The chef is the host and waiter tonight as well – he’s working by himself. We comment that he works long days, starting at 7am each day. After four or six months, I’m not clear which he said, he closes the restaurant and sleeps, eats and vacations. Another wonderful meal there, topping off a nice day.

Vandenesse-en Auxois to Pouilly-en-Auxois

 Tuesday, August 19, 2025 – Pouilly-en-Auxois

Up at 7am and in lock #8 a bit before 9am. "L’Impressionniste" is leaving at the same time so we want to be out of their way since we can move a bit faster than a barge that size. Today we have just one lock keeper. We find the locks have only two bollards, very far apart which requires using the ladder railing for the bow line. With just one lock keeper Joan helps her with the gates. This entails lassoing the ladder railing as we enter, climbing up a few rungs of the ladder while holding the line, then going towards the back for Michael to toss up the stern line, then he takes over the bow line. Joan stays on shore using the bollard with the stern line. Helping out gives us a chance to chat since she speaks some English. This is her fourth season working the locks and is in school studying Architecture. She’s very pleasant and efficient. This will be her last season as she graduates next year. Bummer, she’s really good at this job!!

She lets us know two small boats are coming the other direction. So helpful to know what’s coming so we can be prepared. It’s the peniche size boats that can be a challenge to pass depending on where you are in the canal. It’s shallow and not very wide. When we get to the next lock we get a different lock keeper. He’s just as cheerful, efficient and helpful. Whew! He too speaks good English (Merci, Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas Français. ) He tells us he is in Med school, paid for by the government. He’s looking to be a physical therapist (Kinésithérapeute). We discuss how expensive it was for our son to become a physical therapist in the US. The lock keeper is thankful for how it works here in France! At lock #1, Escommes, he educates us on the working of the tunnel. We fill out two pieces of paper, they’re the same, with one in French and one in English. He takes the French copy and hands us a VHF radio. This will be used to communicate with the monitor in case of troubles and to confirm entry and exit of the tunnel. There are cameras or detectors throughout, so they are very aware of things.

We’re required to have a 40W light. Ummm, our spot lights on front of the boat are not working. We pull together all our flashlights, totaling four. A bit short of wattage…. Michael gets his MacGyver hat on since we have 1.5 hours before we can enter the tunnel. We have 12 volt outlets on the boat. We have a new 12 volt LED light fixture we brought over for a spare. There is wire on-board and electrical connectors. (the partners have had to do a fair bit of minor electrical work on the boat over the years.) He connects the light to the wires from the closest 12 volt outlet. We put the small table in the front cockpit, attach the light to a bin on the table – voila! We have a “spot light”. We also turn on all the lights in the salon area to help illuminate the sides.

With less than 2' per side. You have to keep the
center of the boat right on the dotted white line
created by the lights

As it turns out, the lights in the tunnel work great. Makes for a great photo op and much easier passage. Truthfully, this is not a surprise; but one never knows… We get through in just under an hour.

 

exiting the tunnel doesn't give us
a wide channel till we are in town

Return the VHF and paperwork to the lock keeper at Lock #1 Pouilly and request departure on Thursday at 9am. Wednesday is scheduled to be really wet; we also need to provision and do laundry, both of which are close to the canal here. She tells us no lock keepers available on Thursday. We depart Wednesday or Friday. Sigh. We’ll consider our options and come back to let her know. We decide it’ll have to be Friday and go back to tell her. Eureka – we can depart on Thursday at 9am!.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 – Pouilly-en-Auxois

The Le Boat (a charter boat) and one other private boat that were here when we arrived depart towards the Saône this morning. Another boat heading our direction comes in today so we’ll have a lock partner. Nice man in a smaller boat.

One of the first electric tugs. Used in the tunnel

Another two boats arrive heading towards the Saône. They tell us the weeds are not a problem on the Yonne side, the direction we’re headed, but water level is low. They were told the canal may not be open all season. This would be a problem for Bill and Karen getting the boat back to St Jean de Losne.  We talk to the lock keeper and they say it all depends on the weather and it’s not looking promising. They may be feeding more water on the side of the canal we came up because all the hotel barges are running on that side. Time to converse with the boat partners!!!

Chatting with the boat partners to see what they are learning via their connections and incoming boats and the VNF, no one can determine whether the Canal de Bourgogne will remain open long enough for Bill and Karen to cross back over. 

Pont d'Ouche to Vandenesse-en-Auxois

 Sunday, August 17, 2025 – Pont d’Ouche

We three fit nicely in the locks together. We go in first, right up to the sill of the upper gate. Next the big power boat which has bow thrusters (lucky them!!!). Last the small boat. The couple on the last boat climb the ladder and hold their boat, just squeezing inside the door. The pair of lock keepers today are not very communicative or, for that matter, very helpful. The middle boat could have used help getting their lines over the bollards and they couldn’t be bothered. They get us through a few locks and then as we approach the next one we see the gates are closed. We pull over and wait. Joan is holding the lines on shore and Michael is ready at the helm. We see the upper gates are also closed, they are raising the water level. A VNF car comes by and Joan asks what’s going on and he knows nothing. He stops and chats with the lock keepers and then continues on. We still know nothing. We expect a hotel barge is coming and they have right-of-way. As the hotel barge exits the écluse the gates close again, and the water level is again raised, still no word as to what is happening. Then two lock keepers come down stream and start working the lock. Another private boat, a bit bigger than Juniper, eventually comes through.

We get through Lock 20, Pont d’Ouche with a new and very personable, helpful young lock keeper. The man from the last boat in our fleet is helping her close and open the gates since she’s by herself.  Historically having one lock keeper is the norm in most areas, but with the heat wave they were doubled up. Glad they are taking care of them!! We confirm we’re staying the night in Pont d’Ouche and she says she’ll see us tomorrow. That would be lovely!

One of the bigger boats at Pont d''Ouche Marina

Once tied up we go up to pay moorage and hope to make dinner reservations at the restaurant next to the marina. The chef handles the moorage and is too busy, we’re asked to come back around 3:30 or 4pm. We ask to make dinner reservations and are told they only do lunch on Sunday. Luckily, they’re able to get us in for lunch without reservations. We run back to the boat, close it up, take a sponge bath and change – too sweaty to sit in a restaurant amongst others. Phew! Two sisters are the hostess, waitress and bussing crew. They are working hard! Two large parties as well as several smaller groups. A couple who obviously speak English are at another table. They get moved and end up sitting next to us. Maggie and Jim are from Florida and come bike in Europe two months each summer. Not all biking, sometimes they rent a van, throw their bikes in to get where they want to go. He’s 82 and she must be close in age. They’re quite fun to chat with. They buy an electric bike in Munich, ride it for two months, then store it at the bike shop they bought it from over the winter. After a few years they ship it home and get a new bike in Europe. They’ll be in Vandenesse-en-Auxois for a few days, we’ll be there tomorrow, hopefully by lunch, so we exchange contact info. If all goes well we hope to ride our bikes to Chateau Commarin in the afternoon if it’s not too hot.

Monday, August 18, 2025 - Vandenesse-en-Auxois

We’re up at 6:30am as we need to fill our water. The Chef/Moorage care-taker said he’d be in at 7am. He arrives around 8am, already having done some shopping for the restaurant it looks like. Can’t imagine the hours he works!! He opens the water access, checks our electrical usage. After paying 17.50 euros for moorage, water and electricity, by cash, we’re down to about 10 euros in cash. And there are no cash machines to be found in most towns. Eeek! Moorage along the canal has been all cash. Who knew?! Not us – we’ll be sure to let Karen and Bill know. Payment has changed over the years and varies by area. We had to be sure to have a credit card with a true chip/pin to use in kiosks for moorage on other canals. In the USA these are not easy to find and many banks don’t understand the difference between them.

Chateauneuf seen from the canal

We’re at our first lock of the day, #19 for our scheduled 9am. We get two very efficient lock keepers. We cruise through 11 locks from PK 172 to 163.5 by lunch. The lock keeper tells us we have to be at the end of the quai as a peniche size hotel barge is coming from the other direction and needs a certain space. We’re in the process of tying up and someone connected to the hotel barge “L’Impressionniste”, of European Waterway, tells us the lock keeper was incorrect and would we move to the other open space. He’s very kind and helpful, apologizes for the confusion. Really, not a problem! We are now moored between two peniche size hotel barges (Juniper is a bit out classed and out sized!) in Vandenesse-en-Auxois at the base of the hill with Chateauneuf on top. Beautiful view! Below are photos of Vandenesse-en-Auxois in the day and at night.

The hotel barge “Magnolia” to our stern, that was already in when we arrived, is scheduled to leave in the direction we just came from at 1:00. Sometime around 1:45 they actually pull away. In the meantime, we’re watching and getting our bikes down and gear ready.

Château Cammarin - A short bike ride from "Juniper"

Having been to Chateauneuf last time we were here seven years ago, and having limited time and much higher temps this go around, we bike 4 km on the flat to Château Cammarin. The château has been in the same family for 800 years and been remodeled and added onto numerous times. On the outside you can see the various styles over the centuries – it’s quite fascinating to compare. The moat around it is fed by one pond in the back connected to the river and empties into another pond in the back. This helps keep the water fresher, along with the two types of carp they imported to keep the algae and weeds down. 

The family still lives in part of the chateau but allows the public to view the grounds, stables, an apartment, the chapel and the original kitchen. The kitchen was used until 1970. No thank you! I’ll take a bit more modern appliances…

The acluseare is working with us to get a reservation to go through the Tunnel de Pouilly-en-Auxois. It’s 3.33km long and only one boat can go through at a time. Didn’t know we needed reservations. Gulp. The original appointment she got us was Tuesday at 5:30, but we could leave Vandenesse at 9am and go up to Lock 1, just before the tunnel and wait. Then around 7pm she comes by the boat to tell us we are scheduled for 1pm instead. Score! We thank her profusely. Maybe the ice cream bars we gave the lock keepers showed how much we appreciated their hard work in the heat. 

August 15, 2025– Just above Lock 34 to La Bussiere-sur-Ouche

Joan waiting for our éclusiers to arrive

August 15: Ecluse 34 to Moulin Banet

Long hot day! Temp in the 90s. We meet our éclusiers at écluse 49 at 9:15am. They take us through écluse 44 then break for lunch at 11:30 per our request, as it gives us access to a Colruyt Super Market right next to the canal. Score!!  It’s large enough to have all of what we need. We even picked up a 10 pack of ice cream bars in preparation for hot afternoons. Provisioning places along Le Canal de Bourgogne is limited, best to stock up when you can.

Passing a hotel barge, in a relatively wide spot

At 1:30pm we meet the éclusiers and continue on to écluse 34, Moline Benet. We did 15 écluses and passed four Hotel Barges. These are péniche size boats, designed to fill an écluse with inches to spare. They require deeper water than us, so they have to come down the middle of an already narrow channel and we need to get out of their way, often very challenging.  Was it me that said there weren’t many of them out this year?! Turns out with the Canals Nivernais and Centre closed, some of them have moved to this canal.

After lunch we are running through lovely farm country and mostly away from the freeway. Horses have now become cattle. Many fields of sunflowers, unfortunately no longer in bloom. They would have been amazing to see!

Moulin Banet moorage, a small quai with power and water, is run by a Swiss man. He refurbished the éclusier's house, added a small boutique with gifts and cards. Used to have a restaurant that our former partners Gary and Tosca noted as good in the chart book from way back. Unfortunately, his partner passed away and the restaurant is closed. He has a stable converted to a Gite and a floating cabin he rents out. Mostly to bicyclist. Traffic is lower than prior years, like everywhere, and especially now with the heat wave. He’s 81 and without his partner is working to pass the business on. Sure hope it all works out for him as this is a lovely, quiet place to stop.

August 16: – Moulin Banet to at La Bussiere-sur-Ouche

Sunflower fields - must have been beautiful in bloom

Friday 9:15 am we hit Lock 33 heading to La Bussiere-sur-Ouche. Hot day, again, eight écluses traveling PK 188 to 179. Arrived before the lock keepers closed for lunch. We had to call (I send SMS) to get connected to power and since it was just noon they didn’t make it down until 3pm. Connect to power and assume we’ll be the only boat there. Lunch, a bit of relaxing through the heat. At 5pm we walk to see if we can view the grounds of the Abbaye de la Bussiere, created in the early 12th century. It was known as the “Daughters of the Citeaux.: We walk by two entrances that are closed off. So we continue around to the center of town, stop at an Exposition on WWII. Small but some interesting artifacts. We continue walking the road, in the shade(!) around to see if we can get a glimpse of the Abbaye. Nope. It’s well concealed by walls, trees and shrubs. It’s now a hotel and high-end restaurant. I guess if you’re paying 400 euro a night or more you don’t want commoners looking at you. :-)

When we return to the boat we find we have company! Two private boats heading the same direction as us. Have seen so few so far on this trip! Nice couples, two of them speak a bit of English, which of course is still better than our French. They are buddy boating all the way through with one going to Paris and the other home someplace near the Champagne Canal.

Always plenty of current going upstream

Peniche tied to shore at Gissse-sur-Ouche

August 12 - Dijon Onward

 Tuesday morning we decide to see if we can depart in the morning. Joan texts the VNF before they open, hoping they see it first thing. In the meantime, the other two leisure boats have the 9:15 lockage towards St Jean de Losne. I’m waiting to talk to their lock keepers when I check and see we have text confirming a 9:15am lockage. Whew!!!

We are now in Plombiers des Dijon, plugged into power and access to water. The moorage is handled by Elegant Waterways (a company with three hotel barges), ten euros a night. The canal path is busy with bikers and walkers. Don’t know how they do it in this heat!!

Hand washed some clothes, Michael worked on getting the blog started. Spent the rest of the day reading on the boat, too hot to go out. A breeze and the fan kept it manageable.

5:15pm the VNF are now unloading a weed mower from a semi to the canal. Slow process as they have to put pieces together before it goes in. Enjoying a G&T while we watch.

9:30pm dinner up above. It is a wonderful temp with a light breeze. See others out enjoying as well!

10:15pm – time for showers and bed. Want to get up earlyish to beat the heat and get to the grocery store. We’ll spend another night here. The next tie up with power looks to be a two-day run, so will spend a night without power. Heat wave is expected to continue for at least another a week.

Thursday, August 14, 2025 Plombiers des Dijon

Wednesday morning we walked to the small Carrefour and picked up a few groceries. The town is quiet with every place shut against the heat. It’s supposed to hit 100 today. Spent the day in the shade by the boat and on the boat with the air conditioner running. Taking time to watch the weed cutting machines clearing the weeds for our upcoming passage up the canal.

Made dinner about 9pm when it finally cooled off enough. Setup to eat topside and the breeze became a wind. Rather suddenly. We made it through dinner, cleared the table so nothing would blow away, then enjoyed a glass of wine up there, but not setting down our glasses for fear they’d tip over. Don’t want to waste wine! Or break the glass. 

Put the bimini down and tied the chairs and tables to be sure they wouldn’t go anywhere if the wind picked up further. Also didn’t want them rattling around above our heads during the night. That’s annoying.

1:30am rain starts. Hard, big drops that only lasted about half an hour. Odd since the clouds seemed to be disappearing. Thursday morning woke up to some dampness and a bit cleaner air. Sunshine quickly dried everything.

After breakfast we fill the water tank and bottles. All our bottles were empty so we couldn’t wait any longer. Next project is gas cannisters for the BBQ. We talked to the very nice gentleman at Elegant Waterways who speaks very good English. Paid for our third night and ask if he knew where the closest place is we could purchase said gas canisters. The one we have is almost empty and we REALLY don’t want to cook inside in this heat. After a short discussion he says he’s going someplace that may have them, he’ll pick them up for us if possible. We get the one we have to make sure he gets the correct one. Before we left St.Jean de Losne we gave away two that were onboard and didn’t work with our BBQ. This magnificent man comes back with three for us!!

In the mean time we rode our bikes to Lake Kir. Lovely lake with swimming beaches, rental canoes, kayaks, tennis courts, frisbee golf, etc. Stopped to watch some young guys playing a game called Beach Ball, at least that’s what I think the young man told me. It’s like soccer, with nets at each end, but you play with a small ball and use your hands. Can’t run with the ball but can roll it on the sand and pick it up or toss it to your team mate. 

Lunch is done and Michael is replacing the line on a front fender that was frayed and ready to break. Luckily we still had line onboard for this.

Although there was no tourist things to do. Walking around town there were some lovely buildings

Aug 8 - Aug 11: On Our Way At Last

From Joan's Journal

Friday and Saturday were spent doing a bit of provisioning and cleaning, but mostly trying to not melt. It’s upper 90s and no shade on the quai of Blanguarts. We moved there for the pressure washing and didn’t bother to move back around to our slip since we’re heading up the Canal de Bourgogne.

Saturday afternoon Michael talked to VNF to schedule éclusiers at 9am on Sunday.

Sunday August 10

We are underway at 8:45am to meet the éclusiers at écluse #75 Viranne. We get there before them, but the lock is ready so we enter and tie up. After about 10 minutes we shut down the engine and call VNF. My French was not working, nor was his English. Then the éclusier arrives and I hand him the phone to explain, all is good now.

éclusier's house - écluse 75

We have two éclusiers to take us, just us, from écluse #75, PK241, St Usage/St Jean de Losne through écluse 62 at PK221, Petit Ouges. The temp is upper 90s, thankfully there is a breeze. We stopped at PK 228 just after écluse #69, Longecourt, for lunch. Nice little wild-tie to a bollard. Put up the bimini and enjoyed our lunch. We get through écluse 62 and drive our stakes into the ground to spend the evening on the shady side of the canal. The other side has bollards, but also the sun.

It’s August and we have met no other boats moving through the canal. Very weird. Typically, the height of tourist season on the canals you share locks and hope to find space for tie-ups. Looks like no buddy-boating this year! Ouges at 5:13pm and it’s 88 degrees F. Thank god for the shade and breeze!

Anchored

6pm-ish update – two down stream boats traveling together arrive! Both with more draft than us so they are not able to tie alongside the canal wall. The mast-less sailboat ties his bow to a bollard leaving his stern sticking out. The other, a larger powerboat, drops anchor in the canal. First time we’ve seen this! So we are not alone on our wild-tie after all.

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – Écluse 55 at Dijon

Juniper wild-tied to the shady side of the canal

We head up the Canal for our 9:15am écluse appointment; we have two éclusiers to get us through again. Didn’t make it to Dijon before lunch, as we had to give right of way to a hotel barge and a large private boat keeping us hanging on to shore for two lockages. Instead of Dijon we grab a bollard just after écluse 57 Romelet. An industrial area, but between there and Dijon, there was really no other good place to tie. We’re thankful for the lock keepers knowledge!

We find Dijon has changed a lot. The old port/marina on the town side has been removed and boats can no longer stay there. The quai on the other side is primarily for hotel barges and they are the only ones with access to power and water. We are helped by a couple from one pleasure craft as we come along the quai and find two other pleasure craft as well. We’re ok tied there until a hotel barge comes and needs the space. (Not many hotel barges moving along the canal this year.) One of the other pleasure craft is a couple from Belgium and we chat with them to get more info. She had biked down the canal and stopped by while we were eating lunch, asked if she could take a photo of our boat name as her friend is named Juniper. They show us the map from the Dutch Barge Association that shows where along the canal we can access power and water. Power is important since it’s hitting a hundred and upper 90s for two weeks. Our one solar panel helps but is not enough. Our refrigerator is a drain on the batteries so we can only be off power one night. Plus with the heat we really want the fans! We decide that much as we were hoping to enjoy the sights in Dijon we need to move on. This evening we walk to the square in Dijon that has a pond surrounded by restaurants. We ate there last time we were in Dijon. Some restaurants are closed because it’s August and they’re vacationing. This is a theme throughout France, and Europe in general. We hit happy hour at the Bambu Café then moved to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Thinking pizza, but find more enticing options – Joan gnocchi, salad and mixed veggies while  Michael chooses lasagna with salad. And wine, of course.

The quai is noisy well into the night with people out enjoying the cooler weather. I’m guessing many of them don’t have air conditioning. Unfortunately, smoking is still very common and it drifts into the boat (ugh!) and they are not concerned about noise bothering anyone else.

No Pictures of Dijon - We didn't feel like we were welcome with their new non-harbor. Guess it effected our picture taking. On to better times.

Blanquart Yachting's Quay Aug 5 - 9

 August 5: Pressure Washing

Looking at the amount of scrubbing we were going to have to do over the next few days we decided to have Juniper pressure washed. Actually a few years back we had decided this should be an all partner expense looking at the amount of time it would take to hand scrub. 

We made an appointment to move Juniper from her slip the Saône to the Blanquart quay on Le Canal de Bourgogne. We got all set to make the move and went to start the engine, nothing happens, try again, still nothing. Checked the battery voltage and it looked good. Tried the lower steering station and the engine started very easy. Looks like it's just an ignition switch. Moving Juniper through the first of 193 écluses we will transit in the next six weeks. Like riding a bike, it all came back to us even after a two year break.

The pressure washing team was ready for us and as soon as we had everything off our decks they started in with a scrub brush and the pressure washer. 3 1/2 hours, plus an hour or two for lunch and Juniper was looking much better. Now we start on the inside.

August 6 Birthday Time:

Today there was a significant birthday in the group. Joan officially became a senior citizen. At breakfast she received cards from our family and her work. Then Béatrice (the owner of the B&B) brought her a candle lit jar of homemade jam. We spent the rest of the day scrubbing till shower and dinner time. Our dinner reservation was at "La Barge Gourmande". A nice French restaurant, built on a barge, with about a dozen tables and three dinner choices each night. Dinner was finished with a sparkler candle on top of our dessert and everyone in the restaurant clapping in unison.

Dinner at La Barge Gourmande

Dessert at La Barge Gourmande

 August 7: Time to move aboard:

We've been staying at Les Charmilles (a wonderful B&B within walking distance from the boat. Today is the day we move aboard. It's been really hot since we arrived and getting even hotter every day. Our refrigerator craps out on us today. Not sure if we blew a fuse, or the refrigerator had died. We check in with David, the owner of Blanquart Yachting to see if his electrician could come take a look. Unfortunately he had just left on a two week holiday. David came down and discovered the issue appeared to be corrosion on the power cable. Luckily our newly minted senior citizen was nimble enough to get behind the refrigerator, disconnect the cables, sand the corrosion away and put it back together. It's beginning to look like we will be on our way soon.

August 8: Time to Provision:

Refrigerator is working (hopefully reliably), the ignition switch has been fixed (turned out to be a wire that somehow disconnected itself and the loose end was no where near the switch), and Juniper is clean enough to let us get underway. We spent the day provisioning and scheduling with the VNF to have an éclusier assigned to handle the many écluses (locks) we will pass through.

Le Canal de Bourgogne: Seattle to St Jean-de-Losne

August 2 - Seattle to Paris

After a hectic week getting ready to return to France after missing a year due to medical issues,we are ready. Our neighbor drove us to a nearby light rail station  to catch a train to SeaTac airport for our flight to Paris. Arrived at the station and walked directly onto the train. At SeaTac the new baggage checking took well under 10 minutes, and finally using SpotSaver for TSA we were all checked in and ready to wait in no time at all

August 3 Paris

Dinner at a street side cafe

Caught a cab to our hotel, found a nice restaurant with outdoor seating and returned to our room for a shower and ready for bed

August 4 Paris - Saint Jean-de-Losne

Got up at 05:00 to take advantage of a cheap fare on the 6:50 train from Paris Gare du Lyon to Dijon, with a few minutes to change trains in Dijon to the local RER to Saint Jean-de-Losne. Somehow Michael got his wires crossed about having a taxi meet us at the train station. Fortunately it was a beautiful morning, so we set off on a nice mile walk to the boat, with all our luggage. Along the way a very nice lady pulled over and offered us a ride (not sure where the French ever get the reputation of being less friendly).

Winter had not been very nice to Juniper. Do to medical issues we had missed using her last fall, as did our partners that had the first shift this year, in addition to the six months she sat by herself for the winter. She had been moored under a tree and had dead rotting leaves on her decks as well as tucked into every crevice possible. Plus nearly a year's worth of dust and dirt. Inside, the spiders had taken care of decorating the walls, cabin tops etc with their poop. We were going to have our work cut out for us

Satenay to Franges Aug 1 - 4

 August 1, 2023 – Tuesday – Santenay to Chagny 

Shortest day yet! No écluses and only 5km. We were headed Chagny yesterday when we decided to stay the night in Satenay. Rain was due to start at 10h00 this morning so we departed at 09h30, had a bit of drizzle but were tied up by 10h20 or so. A bit of drizzle while underway. A couple gentlemen from a Le Boat came and grabbed our lines as it was pretty windy when we arrived in Chagny. Turns out everyone from their boat was from the US and many of them, if not all, were sailors. Nice chat on the dock before they headed to the train to go to Beune. 

 

The rain came in. We hunkered down and put buckets under the new solar fans we had installed back in Migennes. So bummed!! Guess we know what we'll be doing when the rain stops

 

Joan and Marilyn at Charbonnaud Rum & Wine for a tasting

Malcolm, Marilyn (the South African couple we met yesterday) and we rode a few km down the bike trail to Charbonnaud Rum & Wine de Bourgogne for a tasting. Malcolm and Marilyn had been there last time they passed through but it wasn’t open. It was closd again, when we arrived, looks like you need to call if no one is there. Lucky for us someone had done that! A family from the Netherlands had made the call and were also waiting. The young man hosting the tasting was able to present in English. Merci!! He did a bang-up job! We bought two reds and two whites, we’ll have a red with dinner on Jameela tonight. Malcolm and Marilyn are making oxtail stew! A new dish for us. J 

 

August 2, 2023 – Wednesday – Chagny 

On the way for morning croissants
Older mansion in Chagny

Layover day to catch up on things. Laundry, groceries, looking for something to seal the solar vents that continue to leak. Really windy too! 

 

Some boats left, some came in, but not full tonight. This is the fullest harbor we’ve had yet this year. 

 

August 3, 2023 – Thursday – Chagny 

Still really windy – gusts to 39! It was a rocky, rolly night last night. No boat to port blocking the wind so we really felt it. 

 

Sue came over around 10 after an appointment and we have a lovely visit for a couple of hours. She’s an English expat, that we had met last year, and has been living in Burgundy for something like 20 years and has led a very interesting life – still does! She runs a Facebook group English Expats Living in Burgandy and we got to hear how she handles all that, including those who aren’t so nice. She used to run a company for food and wine tours in Burgundy, had worked on hotel barges. 

 

Still really windy, so we decided to stay another night. Invited Malcolm and Marilyn over for dinner so had to go for groceries. Too windy, with rain on/off so we had to eat inside. Kicked us into cleaning the boat a bit more. J I made Herbes de Provance Chicken, pasta and sautéed carrots. Not bad, but not as good as it could have been. We had another enjoyable evening swapping stories, pictures and laughing. 

 

August 4, 2023 – Friday -Chagny to Fragnes 

Yesterday we had scheduled with VNF to arrive at our first écluse at 09h00 this morning. It was pouring!! Around 08h45 we checked with Malcolm about holding off until 13h00, when the rain should be done and the écluse opens following lunch. Being automatic, they don’t really shut for lunch, but if you encounter a problem, you won’t get help until after the lunch hour. Caught the éclusier at 08h50 and he said no problem bumping departure to 13h00. So, a morning to read and get caught up on the journal. 10h15 and the rain has stopped. For now. 

 

Quite a run today! Several écluses were 20' deep, or more. Rain stayed away. Wind, not so much. Much stronger than predicted, but manageable. The écluses were a challenge. We encountered a number of them not ready for us, even when another boat had just come up. They seemed to be defaulting to empty and downhill gates open. Luckily Malcolm had gotten the éclusiers phone number because we had to call him a few times. Jameela had the most challenges – they draw more water than us so they actually went aground a couple time tied to the side waiting for the locks. The water would go down enough to fill the lock and they’d hit bottom. One time, we got off the side and into the écluse, they couldn’t get off. I ran back to help push, then a young woman biking by stopped and helped as well. Rocking the boat eventually got them off, but they may have dinged their prop on underground rocks – it didn’t sound good. L 

 

Getting to Fragnes around 5:30pm we were hoping there’d be room. Turns out there was plenty. Tied up and had a happy hour on Jameela that lasted until 9pm. Back on Juniper we had a quick dinner and hit the sack.