Barging in Europe

Hi Everyone,

We reached the end of the Bourgogne Canal on Friday 11^th June. 81Hrs of motoring, 192 locks and 22 days. We saw a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Since Tonnerre, we visited Saint Florentin which was very interesting.

We had contacted Jo Parfitt, who runs a ship yard on the River Yonne, about the damage done when we were sucked by the Hotel Peniche off the canal bank at La Bussiere Sur Ouche. This damage was to a thick steel plate which supports one of the main driveshaft bearings. The welds were broken on one end and the plate was twisted. The drive shaft was not true in the bearing.

On Saturday, he advised that the earliest he could help us was the following Thursday due to volume of other work and the rather poor weather (frequent rain). So, we decided to go down the Yonne River.

David caught the train back to Tonnerre to buy a huge spanner which might be of assistance straightening our bent plate in case Jo could not help. He was "stuck" in Tonnerre for some hours awaiting the return train. The huge spanner caused a lot of interest from people who marvelled at its size and wanted to know what it was for. There was a huge Petanque (Boulles) tournament at Toinnerre with over 300 games in progress. Dave bought a set of Boulles along with the spanner so people were very chatty as he wondered around with the boulles and spanner.

Just as we were leaving Migennes on the Sunday, Jo rang to invite us to drinks at the boatyard in association with a National TV filming happening on the Tuesday. He also said he would look at our drive shaft problem.

So, we went to a place called Joigny which is really beautiful. We had a wonderful spot on the river from which we could view the town with the famous vineyards behind. We spent a very pleasant day exploring the town. There were many highlights including very old buildings and interesting history. The locks on the river were very different from the canal in that they were HUGE and could take a number of boats at once. There is quite a lot more commercial traffic here so you have to watch out. But, the river is very wide so it is a bit more relaxing than the canals.

On Tuesday, we went to Jo's shipyard and rafted up to a 22M barge belonging to a fairly old Frenchman. Jo had said he would look at our problem then but clearly this was not going to happen as the film crew was very active with a lot going on. Then lots of people in suits began to arrive for the drinks. We went over but were a bit out of place (even though we had dressed up). So, we collected a couple of the handouts (which were about the Nivernais Canal) and these are very useful. We had our own drinks on Anja. Jo is one of the ardent supporters of the Nivernais Canal and this was an important promotional opportunity.

Anyway, Jo came and looked at our problem 4pm Wednesday and said they would fix it Thursday as as there was also welding to do on our neighbour's boat. That night, David pulled up the floorboards and removed as much as possible of the bearing which was mounted on the twisted plate. Unfortunately, the heads were burred on many of the screws so he had to drill them out and we will need to buy more screws (a brisk ride up a long steep hill to the local Bricolage store at Migennes).

Anyway, Thursday morning dawned and after a boat was lifted back into the water by Jo's crane, our neighbour fired up his engine. Together, our two barges weighed about 80+ tonnes, but he skilfully manoeuvred us both at once to the side of the river and we made fast. His work took until mid afternoon and then it was our turn. Jean Francois was our very able worker and he straightened and re-welded the damaged plate. Then he and Dave re-assembled the bearing and other bolts and then tested at low revs. All appeared well. We were EXTREMELY grateful for Jo's assistance and the work of Jean Francois. His charges were extremely modest. Penny had been out shopping and doing various chores in Migennes. She discovered at La Poste that a parcel of books from Amazon America had arrived but she could not pick them up because she was not David.

As soon as we could, we left the boat yard and moved to a spot on the beautiful Yonne and David cycled to La Poste and picked up the books. We had exhausted our English books and they are not available here. So, this was an experiment to see if Amazon could deliver quickly to Poste Restante. The whole thing worked well at modest cost and the books came in 8 working days. This bodes well for next year when we will be away for much longer and probably will not yet be up to reading all our books in French. We will also buy second-hand English books on eBay France as there seem to be a respectable number for sale.

So, now our bearing and plate are fixed, we can travel at a faster speed on the river which has a higher speed limit. Our problem did not really affect us on the canal which has a 6km/hr limit for boats over 20 tonnes (we are 36 tonnes).

So, tomorrow, we are probably off downriver to Villaneuve sur Yonne and then onto the beautiful town of Sens. We might go further (perhaps to the Seine River) but then will come back up the Yonne, probably to Auxerre to pick up Peter and Alison.

More later,

Dave and Penny

We have been in the old town of Tonnerre for a day and a half and will leave in the morning for a short trip to Saint Florentin. Since stopping at Montbard for a couple of days to rest and sight see, we have been to Ravieres, Buffon and Tanlay.

Montbard was an industrial centre for Burgundy and France for several hundred years. First, the monks invented the first hydraulic forge (in the world) at Abbeye Fontenay. Later, the renowned naturalist Buffon, built a refinery and water driven forges on the river nearby. We visited these and found them very interesting. An abundance of charcoal and iron ore in the hills kept the refinery and forges supplied.

The Renaissance Chateau of Tanlay was an interesting stop. We just made it for the last guided tour of the day. If we missed out, there would have been a day and a half wait until it was next open. "Sorry, no internal photographs allowed" was a first as nearly everywhere allows photographs though often no flash.

Here in France, nothing is open with totally regular hours. You never know before hand what will be open when. It is a little like the midday situation where shops and other services close down for anything from 1hr (eg locks) to 2.5hrs (some Super Marches).

There has been a huge increase in the number of barges- particularly fiberglass rental barges. Many of these are driven by people who are less than certain about what to do and how to do it. We have been travelling "two up" for a couple of days. Usually with a smaller barge in front. They are usually rather fearful (with good cause) of our big bowsprit hovering ominously over them.

Yesterday, the barge in front left the lock (which we were descending) and we were close behind. A rental boat had charged up, trying to get into the now vacated lock. Except we were still in it! We gave a blast on our powerful klaxon and he came to a stop (fortunately) and we left without concern. However, when we looked back, Penny noted he was broadside to the lock and stuck across the gates. He probably learned a lesson and fortunately, no harm was done. On another section, we moved over to allow two barges to pass in the other direction and ran aground! We were nowhere near the side of the canal but the water level in that section was very low. Nothing harmed except some paint underneath and that is being re-done in a few months.

Until yesterday, we did not see anything particularly remarkable plying the waters of the canal and rivers. Then, we saw a strange craft ahead- a rowing boat! A Swedish man was rowing it, from a standing position. He also had a mast and could undoubtedly set a sail if there was wind (no wind and it was raining). He called out "nice boat" to us as we crossed and you can see a photo below.

Then, after we were settled in Tonnerre, this beautiful small boat pulled in. It is solar-electric powered, with panels on the roof. As the owner observed, he could fit it into our Saloon! He is a boat builder in Germany and built the craft 14 years ago. It is beautifully made with glistening varnish work. He and his brother towed it by car from Germany to Dijon and are heading for one of the other Canals. They went off this morning- no time for sightseeing. They also plugged into 240V power overnight because of the lack of sunshine plus masses of weed which keep fouling the propeller of the tiny 6metre craft. So, suddenly, we saw two unusual craft in one day.

On Friday, we will likely be in Migennes, having completed the Bourgogne Canal. We have completed 200Km with 44 to go and we have also passed through 172 locks.

We had beautiful and hot weather (31degC) in Montbard but now it is raining heavily and more like 20degC. We saw from Meteo France, that on one day last week, the highest ever was 35deg and the lowest for the same day (in a different year) was -4.8! So, we are in a time of year that goes from cool to very warm and cycles between the two extremes.

Best Regards,

Dave and Penny

This is the smaller of the two waterwheels (the other one no longer turns).

We do not like Hotel barges very much, having previously been sucked off the bank by one, mangling a nice long and new mooring line plus damaging the bearing on our drive shaft (to be fixed in Migenne). They are typically 145ft (38.5M) long and a few centimetres narrower than 5metres. Locks are 38.5x5M and they only jusst fit. They are so wide that they cannot have fenders. They just keep repainting the scratches on the sides. Buth the real problem is if you meet one coming around a bend because they take the whole canal. Stopping or turning our own 36tonnes is a slow process and even more for the hotels so it can be dangerous.

More art at a Lock Keeper cottage

The reaches of the canal can vary in depth. This photo shows the water cascading from the previous section into our lock. When things are as full as this, we have to be careful about our fenders as otherwise the sides of the barge can be scraping stone and concrete.

People here are mad about fishing- particularly in the canals. Many of them spend many thousands of dollars on huge carbon fibre rods and associated equipment and we rarely see anything longer than a few centimetres actually caught. We have seen some large dead fish floating along with other dead animals. We sure would not eat anything out of these canals!

Water and sunsets always go together as at Ravieres. The fishermen had long since departed and it was about 10:30PM!

Many of the people living in the Lock Keeping cottages have an erxcellent sense of humour, as illustrated here.

The VNF owns thousands of Ecluses and associated cottages. They lease them at a "peppercorn" rate in exchange for the lessees undertaking renovation and modernisation.

Sometimes, the people living in the cottages are also lock keepers (Eclusiers) but they might also be artists, retired, rent cycles, run art galleries, run restaurants etc.

Well, it's been a busy week. In Pouilly, we caught up on cleaning, washing and some general barge maintenance chores as well as cycling to see various sites. The town was bustling on the weekend with the first stage of the Tour de Cote d'Or ( a lead up to the Tour de France) plus a Fete du Canal which was right where we were moored.

We had covered 90Km and 77 locks getting to Pouilly, which is at the top of a mountain (well, a small one). Mont Bourgogne. Because the standard setup for a lock is with the lock empty, these locks had been fairly quick.

Now, on the other side of Pouilly, we have covered 63 locks in 5 days and descended all the way. So, nearly every lock has had to be changed from empty to full and then back again as we descend. This is a much slower process. On top of that, most of the locks have been “Staircase locks” packed tightly together. One day, we did 20 locks and only travelled 6Km! This is because the terrain for those sections of canal was relatively steep.

We are over half way along the Bourgogne Canal and have covered 140 locks.

Fortunately, we are through the staircases and as of today, had more reasonable distances of 1-2Km between locks. We arrived in the picturesque town of Montbard which has the famous Fontenay Abbey (which we have already visited). We are spending almost two days here to replenish ourselves and our supplies. David has been sick for a few days (Penny had the virus for one day) and now Penny has the worst hay-fever she has ever had.

The weather has been very variable with cold days of 9-18 but now it is glorious again with 15-28.

We have done LOTS of cycling this week. Some of it up some rather steep hills as historic sites are often on the tops of hills. Yesterday we went up to 408metres- a tough ride but nicer coming down! That's two steep rides in two days.

In particular, we saw the ancient cities of Flavigny and then Alesia yesterday. Alesia was the scene of the epic battle between Julius Caesar and Vercingetorix in 52BC. It is also the place that Saint Reine came from (866) and was martyred. We saw the Church with her relics. We also saw the excavations of the Gallic City that was besieged (100BC to 52BC) as well as the Roman ruins which are quite amazing. They even had central heating (would have needed it on that hill). We think that the comic book hero Asterix (beloved of the French) arose from this epic battle. There were almost 300,000 Gallic soldiers involved and a large number of Romans.

There are churches everywhere, commonly from the 13^th to 14^th centuries. Oldest so far was one from 1030 at St Thibault. It is rather amazing to stand in a structure that is close to 1,000 years old.

We have picked out just a random sampling of the hundreds of photos and these follow this entry.

Best Regards,

Dave and Penny

You can cycle along the top of the Pouilly tunnel and part of the town is built on it. Here you can see one of the ventilation towers through which the dirt was also removed (there were 40).