Canal du Bourgogne: Montbard – Veneray-les-Laumes - Marigny-le-Cahouët – Pont Royal

1 June to 4 June 2019.  35 kilometers, 51 locks.

This is what 35 kilometers and 51 locks look like. Each step is a lock.

Saturday 1 June. Montbard to Veneray-les-Laumes. 13 kilometers, 9 locks,  3 hours,  15 minutes.

One of the fascinating aspects of cruising the French waterways is spotting the various lockkeepers cottages, some beautifully and tastefully restored, some restored by gnomes, goblins, frogs and other assorted statuary, and some completely dilapidated. The owners of the Vermenton base had told us that the VNF only allow a maximum lease of five years and one is not compensated for any improvements to the property which makes moving into a fixer-upper a bit of a dubious proposal.

What we did not know is that there are essentially different genres of buildings on the Burgundy Canal: lockkeeper houses, collection (tax?) offices, guard houses and engineers’ dwelling structures. Other canals have more uniformity but because of the timespan over which the Burgundy was built several people influenced the style of building.

The waterway has 222 houses, most of which are lockkeepers homes, divided into the following styles:

141 of Foucherot type

Lock house on the Yonne side of the river at Mussy-la-Fosse.

41 of type Forey

Lock house of the reach 75 of the Saônside, in Brazey-en-Plainee

15 of the type Poirée

Lock house on bief 87 at Argentenay

10 of type Robillard

Lock house on the Yonne side of the river at Saint-Florentin

2 of type Montfeu

Lockkeeper house on the bief at Brienon-sur-Armancon.

and 7 atypical, combining more than one function

All this and more fascinating information can be found at the website Itinéraire numérique descanaux de Bourgogne (use Google Transate unless your French is up to it).

But we didn’t notice any lockkeepers houses on this stretch. A minute or two after nine our first lady lockie arrived and, expertly and quickly, locked us through. And this was repeated for all the remaining locks; at one stage we had three lockkeepers working together and we sensed that they were happy with our lock-through competence and were determined to get us to Venarey before their midday lunchtime stop – we exited the last of the nine locks at eleven fifty-nine!

Chalkhill Blue II waiting to enter the lock.

And in they go.

Only one pound was clogged with weed - we had to clear props twice.

June 1 and summer has arrived with a vengeance; the spiders have been spinning webs frantically to make up for the cold days before, and the temperature inside the saloon rising to 37C.

Our mooring, adjacent to a Nicols hireboat base, is Spartan being at the end of a stone wall behind two restoration-in-progress barges.

We're the white blob in the distance.

The original wooden rudder had rotted
so they sculpted this one
based on a little floating whale
they have in their bathroom.

Looking back down the canal.

There is nothing much to Venarey, and Les Laumes, on the eastern side of the canal, is a town essentially established at the end of the nineteenth century when the large railway marshaling yards were built.

The main road through Les Laumes.

The huge station.

Looking down from above.

Nearby however, is the site at which Vercingetorix, the first leader of a combined Gaul force which forced Caesar to withdraw from Gaul, was defeated by Caesar in 52BC. He is still considered to be the first leader of France.

We made the pilgrimage to the delightful village of Alise-Sainte-Reine up a steep hill

Joan wos 'ere.

The roofs of Alise-Sainte-Reine

and then up some even steeper steps to the statue of Vercingetorix then returned to the bikes and set off in search of the remains of the Gallo-Roman village; the way is clearly marked (up another steep hill – I pushed my bike to conserve battery and I’m sure I heard the grave-tending lady in the cemetery ask Lynn if she was looking for a vacant space as it looked as if I might need it soon) and barely one hundred meters away was the statue which we had toiled so hard to reach.

Lynn, a supporter of Vercingetorix.

Because of a bit of confusion in the signage, we did not pay to go inside the site of the ruins and for the same reason did not visit Le MuséoParc Alésia, an interpretative center built on the place where, purportedly, the last battle between Vercingetorix and the Romans took place.

By mid-afternoon the previously deserted port had six hireboats and one Piper barge (Quercy) moored against its walls, and another Piper, Rangali, came in and moored up behind us.

The port on our first morning.

And the next morning.

Monday 3 June. Venarey-les-Laumes to Marigny-le-Cahouët. 11.6 kilometers, 29 locks, 6 hours, 15 minutes (including one hour for lunch tied up in a lock).

Dressed in beach wear and expecting another warm day, we set off the short distance to the first lock just before nine; by the time we exited, there were banks of black cloud rapidly approaching and in the distance could be heard the sound thunder accompanied by quick flashes of lightning.

Ominous.

Lynn just had time to scurry downstairs and grab a weatherproof jacket before the heavens opened and the temperature plummeted – and so it remained through the next six kilometers and fifteen locks,

The windscreen wiper kept on getting in the way.

Windscreen wiper off...

and then typically, as we tied up for lockie-lunchtime, it cleared, the sun popped out and the temperatures climbed.

Locked in fpr lunch.

By now Lynn was fully kitted out in long sleeves, goosedown jacket, oilskin pants and wellies, this attire lasting two more locks until the wellies, pants and jacket were discarded – now, instead of being freezing cold and wet, Madame was boiling hot but no time between locks to get rid of the tracksuit pants and long-sleeved top.

After lock number one, we had a girl-guy combination of lockies who were really great

and who whisked us through until the twenty-fourth lock when the guy (reluctantly) was replaced by a team of four which had us a record five lockkeepers to do the last five locks – and did we then get a move on. Drive in, hit the brakes, one door closes, assistance with lines and then other door closes, both sluices opened, engines used for stabilization, doors whacked open (two on each door) and out we go and almost directly into the next lock. Fifteen locks in the three hours before lunch and another fourteen after lunch in just over two hours – not bad going even if we say so ourselves!

A lock followed by a lock.

Lock-side summer flowers.

Tomorrow we share thirteen locks over twelve kilometers with Mon Amie which is moored in front of us.

Shallow at the sides.

Later that evening we hear a knock on the window and, lo and behold, there are two people from a campervan parked a few meters away who are/were/could be South Africans. Let me explain: Linda was born in Durban, married an English passport holder, moved to the UK, acquired British citizenship, her late husband preferred France so they bought a house in a village somewhere in the center of the country where he eventually passed away but where she still lives having acquired French permanent residence. She speaks with a strong SA accent and says that her French is still very poor. Kevan lives in Pretoria but is a British citizen and still speaks with a strong English (not sure which county) accent. They spend six months in France and six months in South Africa together.

Flying the colours.

Tuesday 4 June. Marigny-le-Cahouët to Pont Royal. 11.7 kilometers, 13 locks, 3 hours, 30 minutes.

A lovely warm and lightly clouded morning, by eight the big raindrops had started falling. Only a teaser though and as the single black cloud moved on it turned into a glorious but breezy day.

We agreed with Mon Amie that they would do the first six locks in front and that we would swop and do the last seven – no-one likes to be in front in ascending locks. There was a slight change of plan brought on by them being stuck hard and fast and, despite their best efforts they simply could not extricate themselves. We then tried pulling them off sternwards which didn’t work but a hard ahead, oblique tug pried them loose leaving us ahead of them anyway so we said we would go up-lock first and that’s the way it stayed through all thirteen locks. We lent them our “ladder hook” for which they were most grateful and they admired Lynn’s “TV antenna” bollard lassoing gadget.

Our traveling companions.

Levels are low but we are managing comfortably but
leave a trail of mud wherever we go. Like driving a
bakkie on a dirt road. Mon Amie, at 1.2m are also managing.

The water levels don't detract from the beauty of the waterway.

Lynn playing figurehead - and keeping the stern a bit higher.

Luckily for us, the lockkeeper at lock number fourteen (our one hundredth on this canal) decided to lock us through even although we only arrived at ten past twelve, and a couple of minutes later we were safely tied up in the lovely country port of Pont Royal – a grand name for a very simple village. At €12 for two nights, water and electricity included, it’s a gift.

Port de Plaisance Pont Royal - superb!

The Capitainerie and hotel.