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.