That’s it .... we’ve left the canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne and have entered the Saône. What a difference. We now have a wide river and gone are the little narrow canals with apple trees, blackberries and plums for the scrumping (made delicious compotes). Gone is the emptiness and now we have other […]
We have been hard at work managing lines as we come down the canal. We’ve also been hard pressed to find places to stop overnight because of our draft and have ended up doing far more locks than we’d first planned! 16 in one day was our maximum!
Oh my goodness what an experience! The tunnel’s 5km long and the walled channel, just 8m wide, that leads into and out of it is a further 5km so a restricted passage of 10km. There’s a speed limit too of 2knots so all very organised until 2km into the tunnel ..... all the lights […]
An amazing walled city on top of a hill, steeped in history and a real challenge to get to on a bicycle! However, well worth the effort as we cycled the ramparts, toured the City and visited St Memmes Cathedral. Langres even has its own rather delicious cheese which, once infused with champagne, is […]
12 locks today with a lunch stop at Rolanport and overnight stop at Humes. We are now officially just over halfway to Marseille!! Doesn’t mean we’re going downhill yet though!! This lovely butterfly came to visit ... I’m reliably informed it’s a lesser marbled fritillary! So loving the canals (but they’d be even better […]
We’re now moving into sunflower countryside but a little too early yet to see them in their full glory. We’ve visited an ancient church at Vignory with Carolignian knave and enjoyed Joinville, town of flowers. Something to see at every stop on the way.
The scenery is changing and we are now very definitely out of the vineyards. We’ve also had our first real rain while travelling which made rope handling slightly heavier work! The locks are coming thick and fast and we foolishly looked in the book to see when they eased up! Suffice to say the fitness […]
Our most energetic day yet! Eleven locks, a change of canals - we’re now on the Canal de Champagne and Bourgogne - a distance of 15nm and a climb of 26 metres pulling a 10tonne boat has finished us off!! There must be a better way of travelling ..... ah yes, there is .... it’s […]