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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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