Canal du Bourgogne: Vandenesse-en-Auxois – Pont d’Ouche - Ecluse 34 - Velars-sur-Ouche

13 June to 18 June 2019.  39 kilometers, 37 locks.

Thursday 13 June. Vandenesse-en-Auxois to Pont d’Ouche. 9,5 kilometers, 11 locks. 3 hours, 30 minutes.

Tjoe maar hierdie stukkie water is heerlik – pragtig, pragtig, pragtig! (Durban okes, go figure that one out).

Woke up to 6C (some of us) and by nine, when we were heading into our first lock, it had warmed up considerably – enough so that Deckhand (Oops, sorry - First Mate[r]) could slip on a pair of shorts and do some sunning on the foredeck. Just like the Med but too early for cocktails.

It is so relaxing going downhill; okay, you have to concentrate at lock entrances and exits as each have their own current characteristics but at least you are not searching for bollards meters above your head and then having to fight the inpouring deluge. But Lynn had some hard work to do helping with closing the lock gates on one side – the lockkeepers really appreciate the help.

This canal just gets prettier and prettier (there you go Durban okes, I translated it for you) – green hills, gently winding waterway

Stunning!

and two upstream cruisers, first for ages. And two upstream hotel peniches, the second of which crowded us as we were exiting the lock and then had to do some fancy footwork to realign the boat with the lock – I suspect he was a trainee.

#1

#2 - move over fatso.

Passengers.

Realigning to enter the lock.

Our lockies were fantastic! One insisted on using our boathook to draw down some cherry tree boughs (she was tiny!) and pick bunches of cherries which she presented to Lynn,

Seeking Cherry.

Now wasn't that so kind of her?

and the other worked twenty minutes into his lunch-hour so that we could lock into Pont d’Ouche rather than sitting out the hour in the lock right at his house. Duvel reward.

One more lock to go and it's noon already.

And what a lovely port! Small (6m) fingers on the pontoons but the Port Capitaine Sonia was on hand to greet us (or perhaps to redirect us away from mooring directly in front of her restaurant) and assisted us in making fast. The restaurant seems quite popular with travelers, cyclists, campervaners and roadies popping in for an aperitif and/or a meal at lunchtime and, as there is no real village anywhere nearby, one wonders why a port was placed here. Sonia also loves Belgian beer and the restaurant stocks an erudite selection including the not oft-found Orval.

The restaurant is very popular.

We had an enjoyable meal at Le Bistrot du Port (it would have been very good if the lentils has been replaced by barley, the gravy a bit thicker and seasoning a bit more evident – but the slow-roast lamb was delicious).

A walk into town confirmed that the little Auberge was the only competition to the port restaurant – no boulangerie, chacuterie, pharmacie, coiffure, optician, fleurie(!?)…nothing. But the viaduct carrying the A6 motorway was impressive.

That's it.

Traffic on the A6 flyover.

An idyllic little oasis in which to just enjoy being afloat.

Saturday 15 June. Pont d’Ouche to (Moulin-du-Banet) Ecluse 34. 10, 5 kilometers, 14 locks. 4 hours, 10 minutes.

Not much to say about Saturday’s cruise. Gentle, a bit overcast but pleasant, emerald green hills, a tree-lined waterway hiding the occasional golden hectare of mown oats

We have no idea what this is/was.

The port of La Bussiere...

...and highlighted in red, the shallows.

The village of St Victor-sur-Ouche coming up.

What can we say?

and lockies prepared to go the extra mile to lock us through to our destination; our humble reward of a Duvel beer each was greeted with a shout from one to the other :”David, aperitifs! Duvel, Duvel!” and then to Lynn “We love Belgian beer”.

Our super lockies - lots of fun.

There were a lot of vintage cars around but only when we were too busy to take a photo
 - Lynn managed this last minute potshot.

The port at Ecluse 34 (ecluse=lock) is as tranquil as one could wish. Run by a Swiss couple who, after many years of negotiation, persuaded the VNF to allow them to rent an abandoned lockkeepers cottage and turn it into a ‘snackbar’ and port provided the VNF paid for the port’s construction, which they eventually did. So now, where there was nothing before, we have a really popular, inexpensive, mini-bistro serving good light meals and frequented by boaters, cyclists, bikers, walkers and even motor car people. And a ninety meter long, tree-lined quay with a neatly graveled walkway, electricity, and water, all for a more than reasonable cost. Bliss!

From the lock looking upstream.

And the other way.

Hard work.

Lasagne and risotto - really inexpensive so we succumbed.

Yes...

...No! Made in S-E Asia and bottled in South Africa. You have to be joking!

We had been in contact with Ian and Lisette McCauley who kindly offered to pick us up and take us to St Jean de Losne for the ‘Blessing of the Mariners’ ceremony, an offer we declined with mixed feelings. The long and the short of it was that, on their way back from St Jean, they spent the night with us and the next morning had their first cruise of the season going through two locks aboard Elle before setting off for Migennes to sort out their lovely twenty-meter converted ‘Katerwijker’ barge, Catharina Elisabeth, for their summers cruise.

Morning after coffee.

Ian lecturing Lynn on the finer points of 'proper barging' ;-)

Great fun and thanks for taking the time and making the effort to visit!

Monday 17 June. (Moulin-du-Banet) Ecluse 34 to Velars-sur-Ouche. 13 kilometers, 12 locks. 5 hours, 55 minutes (including 1 hour lunch break).

Happy Birthday, Sian!

Having said our farewells to Ian and Lisette at Ecluse Champagne (appropriate!) we continued on our way; at only one of the locks did we have two lockkeepers and all the rest were operated by a lone lockie which is why it took so long to do these thirteen kilometers. Apart from crossing past five charter/hotel barges heading upstream to Vandenesse, our cruise was uneventful, the end of which was celebrated by having to do an oil change on arrival in Velars-sur-Ouche – too hot to do the gearboxes which will have to wait until we get to Dijon.

Fleur de Lys heading our way.

Very tempting!

For some reason we have elected to stay three nights in this utterly unglamorous mooring which is very close to a Colruyt supermarket (which has an attached fuel station) – just in time as our provisions are running low.

Not the prettiest but certainly convenient.

Pensioner workday.

However…

…we were able to do a major stock-up of the necessaries, get rid of our old oil (often an issue), dump some clothing (including my red Columbia fleecy – not sure I’ll ever be the same again, Dear Friend) into the clothing re-cycle bin, slurp on a curly-whirly ice-cream (the afternoon was HOT), have a Cuisses de Poulet Fermier (farm chicken) braai, savour a pair of mini Gruère choux pastries, and enjoy a small and light (surprised?), cheese quiche, supper.

There is a cycle-path alongside the mooring (as usual, generally,) and this one has to be the M1 of cycle-paths. They zip by, high cadence, in their lycra team colours, followed by tourist bikers who seem to be following last year’s Tour d’France but who are totally lost, and then some really ancient bikes with fit, skinny riders and the occasional ‘boep’ tummied chappies making their way to the Colryt beer counter. But lots of lycra.

Ma and Pa on the left.

Peleton?

Nice shades.

Lynn managed to stop a VNF van and arrange lock service for nine tomorrow so our three night stay is now two and we don’t have to be in Dijon on a Friday night.

We are only ten canal kilometers from Dijon and already we are getting big city vibes; hard to describe but having been through such lovely countryside for so long we are not sure that we are looking forward to it.