Canal du Bourgogne: Brienon - St Florentin – Flogny-la-Chapelle.

18 May to 20 May 2019. 22.3 kilometers,  11 locks.

Saturday 18 May. Brienon to St Florentin. 10 kilometers, 4 locks, 2 hours, 50 minutes (including a 25 minute wait for the first lockkeeper).

The morning dawned warm and dry and, leaving time to do the kilometer to our first lock, we set off in ideal conditions but with a back-of-mind worry about the low water levels which have been reported on this canal this year; there are no numbers listed in the guide to call for assistance, no VHF contact with the eclusiers (lockkeepers), and they will not give out their numbers when asked. So what happens when one runs aground? Dunno…yet.

Our first youngster was very late and apologized profusely, closed the gates as quickly as possible and whammed open the sluices – who needs pilates in the morning when you have lines to hang onto? A long, straight cut

Coypu

We haven't seen weed like this for ages.

 followed by a pretty lock

and then a mud-churning two kilometers to the next lock returning to ‘comfortable’ water depth thereafter.

One more high and furious lock and we exited into the port of St Florentin and what a beaut! Spotlessly clean, a gracious welcome by the young Capitain (these days, most people are ‘young’) who acceded to our request not to have to do a stern-on mooring as most cruisers have to (bigger boats have side-on moorings but there are not that many berths available) and guided us to a super spot in the inner port. So instead of staying the one night as planned, we have booked for two. Unfortunately, Bob and Penni from Lazy Notes which is moored across the way, are not aboard and will only return after we have left. Pity.

Port of St Florentin from the lock.

The canal pound part of the port. Narrow-boat Lazy Notes can just be spotted
right of picture on the opposite bank.

The inner port.

Saint Florentin is a very French, very old town dating from Roman times, dominated at the top of a hill by the large Renaissance L’eglise Saint Florentin which in turn seems to shelter a cluster of shops, cafes, and other retail outlets essential to the French way of life.

The road from the port into town.

Viaduct built in 1810.

Interesting burglar bars!

Equally interesting manhole cover.

Place des fontaines.

Hotel de Ville surrounded by political posters for the upcoming EU parliament elections.

L'eglise.

The museum - closed on Sunday.

There are also many old homes, both inhabited and derelict (you can buy a good looking three bedroomed, one bathroom house, with lounge/diner and open plan kitchen, centrally heated and with two garages, in the old town and newly renovated, for €49,000!).

The next morning we awoke to a seriously listing boat – our starboard side was high and dry!

Oops!

Taking a stroll down to the lock it was noticeable that one of the sluice paddles had not been closed properly and water was gushing its way downstream and in the process dropping the pound on which we are moored, quite considerably.

The lock at 07h30.

Carelessness on the part of the VNF? Surely not! By nine o’clock however we were afloat again and on mentioning the incident to Vincent (the Port Capitain) he told me that a group of gypsies who had been ordered off municipal land had robbed a hardware store, set a building alight and were strongly suspected of having opened the sluice during the night, not for the first time apparently.

Kayak training for the youngsters

Great name for a German-flagged barge.

More delicious fare - grilled farm chicken, salad (partly from
Lynn's garden) and potatoes garnished, inter alia, with
about a head of soul food (garlic).

Monday 20 May. St Florentin to Flogny-la-Chapelle. 12,5 kilometers, 7 locks, 3 hours, 15 minutes.

We had been told by M. Vincent that we would be sharing the pre-arranged lock opening with a ‘less experienced’ (possibly), 13.5 meter hire-boat, a prospect which we were dreading. On the morning of our departure however, we were advised that the ‘Nicols’ crowd had delayed their departure by ninety minutes (were they dreading it as much as we were?) and we would lock through on our own – we suspect that our superb Capitain might have had a hand in this new arrangement…but they passed our overnight mooring just after lunchtime and, unusually for a hireboat, slowed down as they passed, getting a thumbs up from us (bit arrogant, that) before moving along upstream toward Tonnerre.

Barring the first pair of young lockies, one of whom was much more interested in chatting to his mate than working, the cruise was seamless and most efficient and our last lock-master (for once, possibly older than we) kindly worked ten minutes into his lunch hour to allow us through to the yet-to-be-serviced but new quay near the tiny town of Flogny-la-Chapelle.

Passing the 'big' boat side of the port.

Rural France.

Personally, I believe that most of this erosion is caused by boats going too fast.
But I'm probably wrong.

The dreaded warp-around weed.

Flogny-la-Chapelle quay.

Possibly because it is ‘closed-on-a-Monday’ France, there is not much to Flogny. Half a kay uphill brings you to the main road where there is a boulangerie, boucherie and a church, all closed. Turn right and another five hundred meters later is a small shopping center with what looks like there was once a large butchery, now either permanently closed or about to undergo renovations, a boulangerie (open, and yes, we succumbed…), a tabac and a pharmacy.

The center of town.

The avenue from the port to town - beautifully kept.

Some say that the dearth of people and the number of houses for sale in these small French towns is depressing but those of them surviving work very hard to ensure that their village is clean, groomed and pretty; a bit of a Chaitén, Chile spirit where the residents were ordered to vacate the village but some three hundred of the total population of some four thousand of them refused, despite the ash being up to roof height, and continued to make the village their home (we stayed in a B&B there in 2010, two years after the event and the resilience was remarkable).

Our B&B is the house top right - ash cleared for business.