July 5th We visit Château Ray sur Saône

 

July 5 – Sunday – Morning Scey-sur-Saône:

Last night temp dropped to 54° with a breeze. We remove as many of the window in the staterooms (bedrooms) as we can to allow more air flow. It cooled enough to be comfortable. Depart Scey-Sur- Saône at 8:50am. It’s 68° on the way to a high of 87°. Arrive at écluse (lock) #7 and the lights are red – green, indicating it’s preparing for us. Then go red. We wait until 9am when the écluse officially opens – still not working. Michael brings our bow close enough to shore for Joan to jump off to use the call box on the hut at the écluse to call VNF (organization that manages the canals and rivers). A very nice lady answers, looks via a camera and fixes the problem. We’re on our way.

Narrow exit from St Albin Tunnel

Around the corner is the St Albin Tunnel – 681 metres long built in the 19th century and improved in 1880 with locks built upstream designed to protect it against floods. As we go into the of the tunnel we pass by the restaurant we stopped at yesterday on our bike ride Five écluses and 19km later we arrive in Ray-sur-Saône at 12:35.

Château Ray-sur-Saône

Had tried to make reservations at the Château at Ray-sur-Saône as recommended online, but we were unsuccessful. We decide to walk up early and take our chance on getting into a tour of the inside. At the very least we can enjoy the park like grounds and enjoy some shade. No problem getting a tour. Just as we start, Gabor and Julianna, who we shared wine with last night, join the tour. They ere the nice couple from Hungary and speak good English, which was very helpful because, as you guessed, we don’t speak Hungarian. They are moored a bit down from us and invite us to join them for a BBQ that evening. Table and chairs moved to the grass where it’s roomier and a lot cooler than on the boat. Wonderful visit talking about everything from families and work to politics. They talk about the regime change in Hungary and we talk about the direction the US is headed, made for a very interesting conversation