Canal du Bourgogne: Velars-sur-Ouche - Dijon

Wednesday 19 & Thursday 20 June - Velars-sur-Ouche to Dijon. 11 kilometers, 9 locks. 3 hours, 30 minutes (including delays).

Weed, weed and even more weed!

We had been warned that it would be bad for the ten kilometers before and after Dijon but we were really amazed at how bad it was; if it weren’t for the hotel boats plying their trade along the waterway, it would be totally impassable to private boats.

Firstly our lockkeeper (temporary staff – he says his occupation is ‘journaliste’ but he likes working outdoors so this is his summer job) arrived at our mooring, to which we had reversed eight hundred meters after having waited in vain for half an hour after our arranged lock through time, at ten to ten, announcing that he was ready.

So back to the lock we went, entered, exited and the weed started – the squirrel-tail stuff which loves detaching itself from its mother-lode and wrapping itself tightly around the propshaft, choking speed down from just over six kilometers per hour to a frustrating three.

Find a slightly clear spot, neutral, idle reverse, lotsa revs reverse, idle reverse, neutral, idle forward, and fourteen hundred revs ahead. Six and a bit kph. Lock. Repeat prop clearing procedure just in case, but the lock is full of weed so we exit at 4kph and repeat clearing process in a clear patch. After five locks we reached the port of Plombieres, the channel through which was weed-clogged

Plombieres weed.

but once through and just before the lock, a lovely weed-free area appeared where we could give a good prop cleanout – problem was that with the wind behind and very little propulsion we were going to hit the quayside. Thank goodness for bow-thruster steering devices!

After the Plombiereres lock we arrived to really, really, thick weed, spread right across the canal and camouflaging any channel so we just plodded along for just over a kilometer and then stopped in Ecluse 51 for lockie lunchtime and an opportunity to check the cooling strainers – remarkably little weed at all! Another late lockie arrival, then after fifteen hundred meters of really, unbelievably thick stuff it was two quick locks and on exiting the second, we couldn’t believe our eyes – we could see the bottom again, all the way to the Port of Dijon which we entered at three after a long day to be greeted by the sight of the brand new weed-cutter, which had arrived two days before, chugging around the island mooring areas.

Outskirts of Dijon.

We are the red line on the long wall on the left.

Entering the Port.

The 'long stay' Port de Plaisance and our quay on the right.
All services out of order.

The pontooned Port de Plaisace still needs serious weeding but, as it is full of mostly long-stayers, I think its tidy-up is low on the VNF agenda.

Greeted by a young seventy-five year old Dijonnaise as we were tying up, Lynn was asked about our flag, where we lived in South Africa, and then given a tourist-guide list of the things we should visit in her city – lovely lady. Did I mention that we are moored alongside an old age residence?

A ‘Four du St Laurent ('four' is French for oven)’ (Weber braai), a blustery blow, some hard rain, and exploring was written off as an option for the rest of the afternoon so Lynn photographed the birdlife,

Coot babies.

we chatted to Ian and Sian who were in a queue at Charles de Gaulle, read and went to sleep.

Ancient Dijon is lovely once reached through the surrounding suburbia; much of the inner city has been converted into pedestrian walkways and there are small, chic boutiques, coiffures, the odd boulangerie/patisserie and an ample scattering of wood framed and still inhabited, old houses.

A beautiful doorway, entrance
to the law-courts or something.

We ‘did’ the Cathedral Notre Dame

Have a Gargoyle

and the Musée des Beau Arts which is attached to the Palais des Ducs,

The Palace

The plaque records that three of the
Dukes of Burgundy lived here.

once home to one of the greatest dynasties ofEurope - and then our camera battery failed and so did Lynn’s phone battery. At no charge for the museum, it really is a must visit. The museum is set out over four floors; Ground: Reception and expositions, First: Objects of antiquity through Middle Age Europe up to the 19^th Century, Second: Middle Age Bourgogne up to 20^th Century Europe (it’s a real challenge finding the section housing late 19thC and early 20thC art), Third: Middle Age Europe to 20^th Century Europe

A statue of François Devosge, founder of the 1776 art school
which later morphed into the museum.

Artiste madame Rude surrounded by bronze work by her artist husband.

A work from the Fontainebleau School.

A Middle Ages tapestry

School children being taught about the work of  Paolo Veronese, The finding of Moses, 1713.

The reconstructed tombs of Philip the Bold,
John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria

Their mourners, carefully crafted in marble.

Pissarro.

Monet.

Sisley - St Mammes.

Manet.

Degas.

Eduard Manet.

From the tortured mind of Picasso.

To those not versed in pre-Revolutionary French history, it is not realised how powerful the Burgundian state was, controlling lands in central and eastern France, Luxembourg, and Flanders. They fought bitter wars against the French Kings, even allying themselves with the English, and were the captors of Jeanne d’Arc whom they handed over to the French Catholic cardinals, and we all know what happened to her, poor, brave soul. But the Kings of France prevailed and the Dukes of Burgundy became subjects of France.

Back through the light traffic to our mooring and Lynn decided to do a load of washing at the nearby laundry followed by lunch and, in the gathering clouds and wind, the afternoon was whittled away. Our planned afternoon cycle back into the city was abandoned to the sin of laziness – call it rural withdrawal.

Dijon port.