The Petite Saône: Lamarche-sur-Saône – Mantoche – Gray.

3 July to 10 July 2019.  35,2 kilometers, 2 locks

Wednesday 3 July. Lamarche-sur-Saône to Mantoche. 28,2 kilometers, 2 locks. 4 hours, 0 minutes.

Making an earlyish start to catch the first lock nine kilometers away, we pass through Pontailler-sur-Saône and are followed by a small, Swiss-flagged cruiser which means that we will have to face the uncomfortable in-rush at the front of the lock.

Anchored on the Petite Saone

Pontailler-sur-Saone

This bridge again!

Le Bateau - Australian flagged.

Our Swiss companions.

All goes well with Lynn having to do some sturdy hanging on (engines were off) and then we trundle off up the fourteen or so tree sided kilometers of cutting and river until the next lock where a large (fifteen meter) dredger-shaped cruiser is waiting. Perhaps thinking that we are going to take their place going first into the lock (why would we be so stupid?), a small, very square woman on the foredeck starts gesticulating and shouting instructions at the boat’s driver who moves across to the waiting ‘Ducs d’Albe’ where they tie up directly in front of the lock – not sure why as the boat descending in the lock is already half way down.

A few minutes later said boat exits, The-Boat-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named enters and we follow, very slowly, unfortunately leaving our small Swiss cruiser to wait for the next cycle. Much shouting and arm waving from said bow-person and they eventually manage to attach a front line so we edge forward to attach our bow line to the in-wall bollard. Before Lynn even has had a chance to get near the thing she is screamed at “Get back, get back, you must move back!” – quite shocked, Lynn replies “Would you mind if I get a line on first?” but I could see that she was seething at this display of bad manners. Two minutes later we are tied up, and have moved back and well out of their way; more shouting and gesticulating ensue until finally, they get a stern line around a bollard. Lynn asks the driver if we can activate the lock mechanism which is on our beam but the driver asks that she please wait a minute as he wants to sort something out. Not good enough for foredeck madame – “Push the pole, push the pole! What are you waiting for!” – Lynn, with gritted teeth, was given the go-ahead by the driver and had a bit of a chuckle when the stern deckhand, obviously embarrassed at what had transpired, said to her, in perfect English “What a lovely day, isn’t it”.

Anyway, we followed them to Mantoche where we filled the last mooring space with The-Boat-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named two long boats in front of us. Fortunately…

A lovely family of South Africans pulled in behind us, luckily filling a space just vacated by another hirer. They needed water but did not have enough hose length to reach the tap so we joined our bits to make the required fifty meters and we sat chatting while they filled up, did some trip planning, and departed.

Mantoche, with its five hundred or so inhabitants does not have much to offer apart from a riverfront private chateau, a 12^th Century church (locked) and a house, once the property of Brigadier-General Étienne Guyot, one of Napoleon’s generals.

The busy main road.

We couldn't tell the time - the sundial was in shadow.

A 'keep' in the Chateau grounds.

le Chateau

The church.

Brigadier-General Étienne Guyot's former home with trusty steed outside.

But a pleasant enough village with a fabulous mooring.

Friday 5 to Thursday 11 July. Mantoche to Gray. 7 kilometers, 0 locks. 1 hour, 10 minutes.

While wasting time so that we did not arrive in Gray too early, a New Zealand flagged cruiser, the second boat to come through Mantoche from direction Grey, passed close enough for us to shout across to them and to confirm that they had indeed come from Gray and that yes, there was now space on the quay – we just hoped it was near the services bournes.

It was really an idyllic morning for our short cruise and, after passing the six-finger, fully serviced pontoon at Arc-les-Gray (only two kilometers from Gray) hosting but a single cruiser, we arrived at almost exactly the same mooring spot as we have used before and, most importantly, directly opposite a water and electricity point (no charge). We immediately called Restaurant Le Crato, somewhere we have enjoyed thoroughly before, for a lunchtime booking. Full. Saturday? Full. Monday? Closed (they used to be open on Mondays). Tuesday? Oui, deux persons? Oui, merci beacoup! So we will have to struggle on at delightful Gray for a while until we wander over to the restaurant on Tuesday, before departing on Wednesday.

An oddity.

Saloon with a view.

This bridge is captivating!

Or maybe Thursday….

The heatwave continued through Friday as the port slowly filled; we had Dream On, a cruiser owned by an American ex-Lufthansa pilot and his German partner on our stern – they are resident in Germany and have been on the water this year for two months.

Early Saturday morning a short electrical storm hit and it poured for about fifteen minutes but at least it cooled things down. After some shopping at the Intermarche and Brico two hundred meters away, we returned clutching some reinforced, clear hose (been searching for the stuff for ages), two five micron water filters, some wine and a pair of chicken Marylands for the midday meal.

And then it was just boat watching, lending out hoses, electrical extension cables and powerpoint ‘splitters’. Lynn also managed to lightly sand the two deck box-tops and apply a second preventative layer of varnish (that makes about nine layers in all) to the handrails and a first to the boxes.

A late afternoon voice says “You probably do not recognize us but we met you in Namur in 2016” – it was Louise from barge Ricall and we arranged to meet for coffee aboard their boat the next morning.

Our nocturne was interrupted twice by fireworks, at eleven and at midnight, and then at three in the morning a big storm hit pushing the swell up to at least thirty centimeters which would normally not raise an eyebrow but as we are moored on a bit of a ledge, the bang, bang, bang of our hull against concrete was more than a bit disconcerting so I relocated my pillow to the forepeak and hoped it helped by lifting the stern a bit (some would say by at least thirty centimeters!); Lynn couldn’t say as she had fallen asleep as soon as I had departed.

Sunday morning, everything was still again so the bikes were unloaded, coffee taken aboard Ricall with Alex and Louise which was fun,

Louise and Alex

another fruitless search for the hotel we had stayed in on our first visit to Gray in 2012,

The market where we bought a Paellla lunch in 2012.

Oops! Storm damage?

Outside the Le Boat office where we departed on our first waterway trip in 2012.
Now sadly deserted.

The long Le Boat pontoon from whence we departed in 2012 - eerie.

assisting a young man and his wife and parents on their first end-of-day mooring in nasty ‘wind against current’ conditions and then lending them an extension cord as theirs was too short – I thought he was going to kiss me when he jumped ashore but instead presented us with a bottle of wine when he returned our cable the next morning. And then there was the grizzled Flemish gent (no pun intended) who was slightly affronted when I offered to help with his lines – I was just en route after berthing the Le Boat – but changed attitude-gear when he realized that both electricity outlets were taken and that his ‘splitter’ had shorted out some time ago. I was rewarded with a beer in exchange for the loan of ours. This could become profitable!

Monday, Lynn decided, was varnishing, spring cleaning (read: How to convince Shaun to part with some of his ‘vitally necessary’ junk) and then preparing a delicious moules mariniere lunch. Man but she works hard!

And some Belgian flagged idiot, playing silly buggers by coming too close to us in an effort to say Hi to his pal on our bow, bumped into his mate and, in fending off from his bow, his stern swung shorewards and hit us forcefully enough to send our rail-leaning bikes flying. Lynn had some words for him!! It turned out that he was not a friend of the boat in front but, as an actual friend explained to us while apologizing for the man’s behavior, some crazy, apparently well known in these parts.

Post lunchtime there were nineteen pleasure boats lined up along Gray’s lovely, long wall – if you want a mooring here near the Intermarche ‘in season’, arrive on a Friday or Saturday morning between ten and eleven thirty.

Boats in front...

...and behind.

Two hireboats looking for a space.

Odd name for a boat but nice people.

Time passed quickly: Not much sightseeing after our marathon stint in 2017

Anyone want to buy the Courts?

The stunning Town Hall.

Notre-Dame de Gray.

Chapel of St Pierre Fourier.

but we enjoyed another delicious lunch at Le Crato,

did a lot more spring-cleaning and rearranging, and spent a morning riding around the town in search of the Hotel Dieu which is listed as one of the top ten attractions of Gray but when we eventually found it, we discovered that it was an old age home and we did not dare venture past the piercing stares of a couple of the residents sitting outside, to see if we could gain admittance.

The Hotel Dieu.

 But during our search, we came across a huge clothes market.

The weekend ahead is a prelude to Bastille Day on Monday and a fun-fair has been set up in the nearby parking space and, apparently, there is going to be a huge fireworks display on Sunday which could be the reason why so many boats are not moving – but our time in this delightful town is up and we need to move on again.

Did I mention that we were rewarded with a fine bottle of Burgundy red for the overnight loan of a ‘splitter’ and an adaptor? That makes one pen, one beer and two bottles of wine in a week!