The Yonne
Thursday 24th June
The past week has been spent on the Yonne River. It has been interesting to experience the differences between this large river with its enormous locks, some with sloping sides; and the Burgundy Canal, much narrower with locks which are quite predictable in their size and shape. We also need to become used to dealing with enormous commercial barges. Their drivers are very skilful so as long as we keep alert, all will be well. At Villeneuve, two such barges spent the night at the lock waiting for it to open in the morning. We were very happy to delay our departure until they had passed along that section of the river.
We have enjoyed visiting a variety of beautiful towns along the Yonne River. First was Villeneuve, with its well- preserved mediaeval gates and towers. The previous moats have been transformed to become parks which ring the town. Next stop was Sens where we were very impressed by the Cathedral which at one time was the centre of Catholicism in France. We admired stained glass windows up to 800 years old and architecture which gave the enormous Church a sense of light, in its time was very innovative. The Treasury and Museum attached to the Cathedral had items dating from palaeolithic times found locally, a Gallo- Roman mosaic found in the cellars and more recent artefacts, treasure and art works. At Sens we also visited the pretty public gardens and the market.
Auxerre, the capital of the Yonne, was our next stop. Auxerre sits on a hill above the River Yonne and its spectacular skyline is interesting both by day and night. The view is dominated by the Abbey Church of St Germain which was originally established in the 5th Century. Much of the Abbey is now in use as a museum and there is a crypt where St Germain is buried. We took time to explore the city, with its well- preserved half timbered houses and interesting remnants of the original town which date back to Gallo- Roman times. There is an amazing vineyard very close to the centre of town which has been there for centuries, still producing wine. and which, perhaps because of its isolation, escaped the 19th century phylloxera plague.
Today friends Peter and Alison were due to arrive from Paris to spend time on the barge with us, and then to use it for a couple of months before returning it to Migennes for winter. We had an early call to say that they were unable to come until tomorrow because of a train strike. They found a hotel near the station in Paris while we decided what to do with our spare day. Our first thought was to go back up the Yonne to the town of Moneteau which had looked quite attractive- but no, the lock was closed until the next day because the lock-keeper was on strike (though he was still mowing the grass, so it was a limited strike). We returned to our mooring on the river bank and had a quiet afternoon until we became aware of thousands of people marching along the river front, with placards, drums, loudspeakers and balloons: a march (we think Laurent would describe it as a "manifestation") protesting for worker's rights.
The weather throughout June has been quite cool (10 to 15 degrees C) and rather overcast, and the first day of summer, June 21st, was just the same- starting at 10 degrees and warming to 15 in the middle of the day. From June 22nd however summer moved in with each day warmer than the last. Amazing for us from higher latitudes was that on June 21st, the longest day, it was still light enough to read a book outside at 10.30pm. Penny can't say what time it was light in the morning, as she likes to sleep until a decent hour, but David is always up early to ride to the nearest Boulangerie for a fresh baguette for breakfast.
