Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne to the River Saône. Maxilly-sur-Saône – Auxonne – Saint Jean de Losne – Seurre.

13 July to 23 July 2018.

56 kilometers, 5 locks.

Friday 13 July - Maxilly-sur-Saône to Auxonne. 22 kilometers, 4 locks, 2 hours 40 minutes.

On another glorious day lines were cast, the first lock filled, we glided in and then out and then straight into the next one which was standing ready for us. After a bit of an issue with handing back our telecommand (the ‘drop’ did not register on the computer so the exit had to be manually cycled by the man-in-the-box) we were soon in sight of the blue girdered bridge which we had passed last year

and, as we entered the Petite Saône, it was a Dutch cruiser to our right, a hireboat to our left, a hireboat going down in the lock, and another one waiting to come up in the lock.

Hurry up!

The exiting boat exited and eventually the waiting boat entered; ever so slowly the gates closed then tiredly they re-opened and our hirers ducktailed out of the lock – it must have taken them at least twenty five minutes from the time they could enter to the time they exited. And there were two more waiting behind us and another, in the company of two very small barges, waiting to enter at the bottom. By the time we had exited and reached the first bend in the river about five hundred meters away from the lock the lead hireboat was still trying to line himself up for the lock entrance approach; I could feel the frustration emanating from the two Swiss flagged boats – welcome back to the world of a busy hireboat route!

We had decided not to stop at Pontailler because of the depth and water-ski issues we had experienced last year - the mooring was taped off in preparation for the Bastille Day fireworks display anyway - and headed instead for Lamarche-sur- Saône instead, a town we had never visited. But their quay had also been taped off!

So it was next stop Auxonne

Auxonne coming up.

where the visitors quays were virtually empty apart from South African flagged Sojourn and one other boat;

Sojourn on our bow.

however, by evening and for the rest of the weekend, it was packed, mainly with Le Boat hirers. We weren’t in the mood to do anything after the past two days of hectic activity so it was a trip to the supermarket to provision up, a trip to the laundry and an afternoon watching the antics of the hirers - and water-skiers!

Rob and Pam, the owners of Sojourn who were away exploring the Alsace, sent us an invitation to meet aboard their boat for drinks and to watch the Bastille Day fireworks display on their return the next evening, a kind gesture on which we took a rain-check but at about eight the following evening we greeted over the pontoons and Rob came over to say ‘Hi’; Pam hobbled over (too much walking in the vineyards) to join him and they left at ten thirty after a wee dram or two and an agreement to meet for lunch at a tiny restaurant Lynn had found.

Rob & Pam.

The fireworks from across the river started at eleven and were spectacular although we felt desperately sorry for the old Labrador on the boat behind which had already been wide eyed and panting at the sound of the preliminary kiddies crackers.

Lunch was interesting in what must class as one of the smallest ‘restaurants’ in France with two tables on the pavement and about three inside – most of the trade seemed to be in take-aways but our meal was very good and cheap too. If you are stopping in Auxonne try and find ‘Cuisses de Mouche’ and you might be pleasantly surprised – and it’s three hundred meters from the municipal moorings which is a bonus.

Sadly Kevin Anderson lost in the Wimbledon Men’s Final but happily France won the Soccer World Cup amid much hooting and tooting in the streets – Allez les Bleus!

A storm brewing.

The morning after.

Having been most slothful during our extended stay in Auxonne, the bikes were off loaded and we did the dutiful tourist thing before retiring back to Elle for a braai which was concluded in pouring tropical rain but the day thankfully ended cooler and quite still and clear. I think the weather so far this year has been the best we have ever known it to be.

And the spectacular morning after that.

The 15th Century chateau built by Louis XI to remind the Auxonnais to behave themselves.

The hospital.

16thC half timbered house.

The Notre Dame church.

The townhall, former dwelling of the Dukes of Burgundy.

Napoleon.

16thC detail on one of the church's pillars - St Hubert.

The Arsenal.

Tower of Belvoir.

Braaing in the rain.

After the rain.

Wednesday 18 July – Auxonne to Saint Jean de Losne. 18 kilometers, 1 lock, 2 hours 20 minutes.

Sometimes boating can be quite tedious especially when maintenance starts getting on top of the enjoyment of long term cruising. Our six year old paintwork is not looking good especially as the painter used cheap polyester filler rather than the more expensive epoxy filler resulting in water expansion below the paint which causes it to lift and crack so it was out with the scrapers and then Lynn mixed a pile of (proper) filler and between stops sanded the front window area back to smooth – not fun!

We had also had water accumulating at an ever faster rate in the bilges after even the shortest cruise and, after consultation with guru Ian, had identified the cause as being water leaking from the seals behind the impeller on the cooling pumps. Initially however I had thought that the leak was from a damaged rubber elbow boot which attaches to the radiator but after having pulled the darn thing apart which entailed unfastening three other rubber bits and dumping litres of water and coolant into the bilges, it was inspected and found to be in perfect condition – my body was not. Bruised and bleeding from working in a confined space amidst unyielding metal, the stiffness was still to come.

So we move Elle from the lovely town steps quay

into the weed infested, unattractive private marina (one of three)

where the proprietor arrived two hours after the agreed meeting time, told a young apprentice mechanic to remove the pumps

(an easy job so I did the one) and then they would see if they could source the parts. The long and the short was that we were presented with a bill for three and a half hours labour but when I suggested that there might have been a typing error as it was impossible for a one and a half hour job to have taken so long - “perhaps you meant to have put two and a half hours on the invoice?” – the labour charge was reduced by an hour…and the leak has now stopped!

But we had a great meal at the well recommended and unbelievably inexpensive restaurant l’Ecu (thanks Rory) – thirteen Euro each for a starter, main course, desert, cheese, coffee and a pitcher of wine – and good service too despite one table of sixteen ‘pompieurs’ who had to be attended to and who were obviously on a tight schedule.

Place d'Armes, St Jean de Losne.

The main street.

Saturday 21 July – Saint Jean de Losne to Seurre. 16 kilometers, 1 lock, 2 hours.

Relieved of a lot of money (chandlers are expensive, fun shops) and a lot of mechanical worry we set off to the waterside fuel pump just outside the marina on a beautiful Saturday morning, pumped in three hundred and sixty litres of diesel at a price ten centimes a litre more expensive that at the Intermarche filling station – a great deal for the convenience – a process interrupted only by the ‘lady’ pump operator who arrived for work and switched off the pumps without explanation and had to be asked to switch them on again, then switched them off again when we paused our filling and, very bad naturedly, switched them on again so we could continue filling, and then switched them off when we paused during a jerry-can fill and then refused to switch them on so that we could complete to job. Butch-woman, you win the prize for the rudest person we have met since the beer bar proprietor in Maastricht in 2015.

The cruise down to Seurre was dreamy with the single, huge lock being open to us on arrival and then dumping its ten thousand ton contents just so that we could proceed on our solitary way. On arrival it was engine oil change time but the transmission oil change will have to wait as I had thought that the gearboxes took less than they do and as a result we had insufficient lubricant to do the job. The steamy afternoon ended with a braai and we eventually retired below to the sound of overworked bow-thrusters positioning the hirers onto the fingers of the pontoon.

At €16,50 a night for a 12 meter to 15 meter boat it is not cheap here for our 12,25 meters although this price includes water and electricity which we do not need.

Seurre in a lovely, small town with all the conveniences and some lovely old buildings, none of which we saw when we were here in 2012 on a Le Boat from which we did not disembark.

Preparing for the Sunday service.

The main road.

Previously a convent, now an exhibition centre.

And the town also has stuff which punctures tyres…not again!

On our third day in Seurre Dreamflower arrived

Dreamflower

and Durban friends Tony and Elaine joined us for a braai on Elle

and reciprocated with a cheesy affair on their boat later that evening.