Friday 29 September 2017

Langres to Auxonne (Or, Seems Strange to be Back In Bourgogne!)


Cheeser very satisfied with the weather and scenery

The next morning dawned bright and very, very cold and I layered up before we pushed off, early for us at 9.30am, with a longish day ahead, but an exciting one as we would reach the summit of the canal du entre champagne Bourgogne and begin our descent on to the River Saone.  We were looking forward to seeing the back of the uphill locks as they were becoming quite tiresome – going down is so much easier.  At the last lock there was a lock keeper who gave us instructions on going through the tunnel which was 1km away and just under 5km in length.  I knew I had understood him clearly as I repeated the instructions back to him, which were, even though we would see red lights, we were to go through the tunnel and go as fast as possible as there was another boat waiting to come through at the other end.  Despite clarifying I was still slightly unnerved by the ‘Go on the red light’ part of the instruction and I couldn’t help wondering if something had been lost in translation………
Our last uphill lock for a while - yay!
Okay, so we were told to go on the red light.  But there's no light and when we used our remove as the sign suggests, nothing happened.  So we just went.
Entering the well-lit tunnel
Turns out there are red lights all the way through!
 At the first of the downhill locks we pulled in to wait as we realised we’d caught up with the Belgians, who had left at 8am, but had taken much, much longer to get through the tunnel, as they are so much bigger than us and didn’t want to risk bumping off the sides.  The next lot of locks, though automated to gain entry to the chamber, were activated by pushing the blue pole rather than the remote.  Not knowing this we pulled in on the wrong side and the lock keeper had to come out of the control room and do the pole for us – oops!  We weren’t asked where we were going or what time we’d be leaving, we were nanny-free – woohoo!

As the day got hotter, our layers were peeled off and by mid-afternoon we were passing the Belgians in our shorts and t-shirts.  Our target for the night was the little village of Piepape, a rural mooring with no facilities.  You can imagine our disappointment when we pulled in to the tree-lined mooring, finding ourselves unable to enjoy the glorious sunshine and were instead stuck under shade!  However, every cloud and all that, we managed to scavenge a load of kindling and a couple of super-dry larger branches for the fire.
 
Going down!
Exploring Piepape by Ninebot.  The church had a really unusual tower.
Cute doorhandle
The shady mooring at Piepape with the Marie Celeste....
As we were about to push off and set the lock ahead the next morning, a look behind to check for traffic enlightened us of the presence a cruiser with American crew on board.  After checking boat and lock lengths we agreed to lock share to our next destination, Cussey.  It was a decision that we came to regret fairly soon as we found ourselves stuck behind an incredibly smokey and noisy engine…… 
 
First lock-share for a long time - shame it didn't last :(
A couple of locks in and the Americans announced they’d be stopping after Lock 15 for a break – thank the lord for small mercies, but our joy was short-lived as by lock 14 they’d changed their minds and decided just to keep going.  We were feeling quite sick by now and not enjoying the accompanying racket as we pootled through some beautiful countryside in the warm sunshine.  So at the next lock I went over and told them to go on ahead as we were scavenging for wood and wanted to take it easy as the weather was so nice.  “Is the smoke too much for you??”, Robin, the lady on board said, with a twinkle in her eye.  “Er, yes, actually, it is pretty awful,”.  They had only picked their ‘new to them’ boat up in July, and were having problems with the twin engines, which were gushing smoke and very, very noisy.  They had decided just to limp on as quickly as they could to their winter mooring where they would have her repaired over the winter while they returned back to the US, so we hung back and let them continue on and then followed them down the next few locks at our own pace.  In the last lock, we took on water via a hose from the lock house, which proved to be a good move as on reaching Cussey discovered that the port facilities were not working and despite a call to VNF by Robin, were not going to be working in the foreseeable future.  Robin and her dad needed water, so the VNF guy came to the port and advised them to go back to the lock, up, fill with water, turn and come back down again – he would go with them and help.  An, from the Belgian boat did a marvellous job of translating for everyone.  Conditions (weather and a low side to moor against) allowed for us to continue the ongoing project of maintaining Quaintrelle’s paintwork.  The stripped shutters were still bare and were finally drying out in the warm weather, so we left them to continue drying and did a quick prep and tape of the gunnels to do a quick coat of paint on them.  Mike meanwhile touched up some of the bald spots on the blacking and began preparation of the gas locker lid, which is very faded and has a few rusty spots.  To reward ourselves for our good work, although the pathway wasn’t great, we did a bit of Ninebotting which allowed us to practice traversing different surfaces, going over bumps and turning – we’re really getting quite good now!
 
The port at Cussey got very busy and we ended up having someone alongside
The village of Cussey in the distance
Not much water in the Vingeanne which accompanies this part of the canal.
The first of the boats had moved off before we were up the next morning, leaving us and the Belgians, but once we had our bacon butties we readied ourselves and pushed off for a short cruise to our selected stopping point at Lock 29.  We were really enjoying cruising in the hot sun through some beautiful rural countryside and were pleased to see our mooring spot was in the sunshine.  However, there was already a boat on the tiny quay, so we tried to pull into the side and moor up with pins, which we managed to a degree, but as we sat and had our lunch the boat started listing to the left as the levels in the pound went up and down and we caught a ledge under the water.  We left it til the drawers opened and then went and slackened the ropes and pushed off the side, but everytime the water moved, which seemed a lot despite no traffic using the locks, we found ourselves stuck and listing again.  After a couple of hours we decided we wouldn’t sleep very well as we’d be worrying about hanging on the ledge, so just after 4pm we pushed off and headed to the next marked mooring four locks on.  We managed to find the ring to tie on, 4 metres back from the canal side and trimmed the overgrown edge of the described “nice, grassy bank”.  We were one again in shade, but as it was now approaching 6pm the sun wouldn’t be around for much longer anyway.  We found another couple of excellent logs which Mike zapped with the chain saw before tucking into our boeuf bourgignon, which had been put on the menu in anticipation of more cold weather!


Enjoying the glorious weather and scenery

This lock house had been made into a restaurant and had a family party going on as we passed - it felt like being gongoozled at Stoke Bruerne!
Autumn reflections


Having done a longer day on Sunday 24th it wasn’t a long cruise the next day to Reneve where once again we found ourselves on our own on the concrete quay – it’s just as well we get on……….  There wasn’t much to do so Mike got stuck into the gas locker paintwork and I cleared the bow thrusters, which had been playing up and were choked with weed.  Not long after he got the first coat of varnish on the shutters, the rain started and stayed on for the next 20 hours!
Viaduct ahead, no longer in use, but very impressive


Our mooring just before the rain started.

As heavy rain continued all the next morning, we stayed put and watched a couple of boats pass until it started to let up late morning and we pushed off.  We had a choice, we could stop at Maxilly, the last stop on the canal, or continue on to the Saone.  It was still overcast but the rain had stopped so on reaching Maxilly-sur-Saone, we decided to continue on and pressed the remote to set our second last lock on the canal.  The next and final lock was on what they refer to as a ‘chain’, so once you are in and using the first lock, the next one knows you are on your way and sets for you.  All went well and as we entered the second and last lock I hopped off to investigate the big sign and grey metal structure next to the control poles.  We had expected this lock to be manned as it was where we should return our remote control, but it wasn’t but the grey metal structure turned out to be a deposit for returning them, or a distributer if you were coming on to the canal.  I popped the remote in the slot and it disappeared, and I turned to push the pole and get us down the lock.  Nothing happened, so I pushed the pole again.  Still nothing, so I walked over to check the lights, saw they were still on green so assumed the sensor hadn’t sensed us entering the lock, so walked past the sensor a couple of times to try and trigger it.  I pushed the pole again but still nothing, so I pushed the contact button on the grey metal structure and it dialled for assistance.  It rang out.  Then the tone changed as it forwarded the call which then also rang out.  Mike then reversed the boat out and came back in to try and trigger the sensor but still nothing, so I pressed the contact button again and as it was ringing, tried the pole again.  This time it worked and the gates began to close – wooohoooooo!!!  The Belgians had now caught up with us and were in the lock above so I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d now have problems and we’d stolen their slot, as it were, on the second lock.  We exited the lock and I kept looking back, seeing that the lock was not resetting itself for the Belgians to follow down and I could see them sitting above the lock.  At the junction, we turned right and twisted the pole for the lock and it was only then we realised the lights were out, meaning it’s not in use, and someone was walking towards us from the lock hut.  It turned out the lock was closed as they were trying to get a body out from the river below the lock!  It must have happened while we were in the last two locks and probably why we had problems and why they didn’t answer the phone!  We could be waiting one or two hours, so we reversed back to the dolphin moorings and had some lunch while we waited.
 
Autumn colours are on their way but are not being shown at their best on the overcast day :(
After 224km, it's time to hand back the remote

Second-last lock on the canal entre champagne bourgogne
Finally exiting the last lock and leaving the Belgians stuck above it!

An hour later, just as another boat was pulling alongside us to wait, the lights suddenly came on and the lock was setting itself for us, allowing us to continue.  At the lock there was no one around, now the drama was over, they’d all gone, and it was as if nothing had happened!
Bye bye canal - hello Saone!!
Waiting for them to find the body........
We pulled into the port at Pontallier-sur-Saone, but moored on the free pontoon just ahead of the port, which had no facilities but we didn’t need them at the moment.  It was a very autumnal mooring with a row of chestnut trees next to the quay and I was worried we’d be kept awake all night by conkers dropping on the roof, but they didn’t quite reach us and the sound of them plopping into the water wasn’t as disturbing.  We walked through the town, stopping at the butcher, baker and mini-mart for some supplies and then spent quite a bit of time playing on the Ninebot as we had a brilliant tarmac track leading into a car park, which was great for practising turns.  With a good internet signal, we were able to catch up on some tv in the evening, including the penultimate episode of Dr Foster!!!

A thick mist greeted us the next morning which looked as though it was trying to lift, but just not quite making it, so we set off when it was suitably clear for a 20 minute cruise to La Marche-sur-Soane.  La Marche isn’t as nice a town as Pontallier and doesn’t have nearly the amount of shops and no restaurant, so after a quick walk round, we had our coffee on board and then moved off again to head for Auxonne.  Having gone for days on the canal seeing no boats or just one or two, it was now like being on the M25; back in the land of hire boats there were quite a few late-holiday makers and many more private boats zipping around.  As we’d headed for our walk into La Marche, the Belgians had gone past, so as we reached the lock to take us to Auxonne, we were surprised to see them only just going into the lock with another boat.  We hung back, but soon there was a burst of flashing light from them indicating we could fit in too, so I replied by flashing our tunnel light and headed as quickly as I could into the lock.  It turned out that there had been a problem with the lock when they arrived which had resulted in a queue once it was working again, so we were glad we had stopped off after all.
Leaving our misty mooring at Pontallier
Locking down with Hector the bassett hound
As we came into Auxonne we passed the port and heard someone shouting at us as we cruised by.  We slowed up to listen and it was the Capitain shouting that he had a parcel for us!!!  What service, he’d recognised the boat name as we passed as we are booked in for a week while we head south on a wee jolly, so they’d said we could have something delivered there.  We said we’d be in later to collect it and continued onto the town pontoon moorings which are free, and have facilities there, but they are not switched on!  A wander around the town presented a rather shabby, uninspiring town and we bought some tatties in a little corner shop that was like something out of the 50s and headed back to the boat where we continued with our painting and varnishing before taking a wander out on the Ninebot.  This was one of the best tracks, with tarmac all along the front back to the port, with plenty of turns and right down to the port reception, so we managed to get a bit of distance under our belts as well.  I wasn’t managing to set off as well as I had been and ended up with a scratch down one leg where my nail caught it as I grabbed the Ninebot, and a bruise on the other from pressing to hard against the Ninebot.  Later in the evening, when the capitainerie opened at 5pm, Mike went along on the Ninebot to collect his parcel – his first unaccompanied errand on it – yeeeeeehaaaaaah!!!

On Thursday we treated ourselves to an outing to Intermarche Super and Bricomarche and then did more diy and Ninebotting in the afternoon.  In the evening, again with good internet, we freaked ourselves out watching the first four episodes of Black Lake on the tv.
 
This little chap stopped by for a drink next to the mooring.  He made me think of our friends' Neil and Karen's dog, Buddy, who prefers to drink from the canal ;)
The bridge at Auxonne, with the river like a mirror this morning.

An, Steve and Hector head onwards to St Jean des Losne

Today, Friday, I got my legs waxed at the local beautician’s, who said, “I speak a little English”, and then proceeded to speak better English than some English people!  She was lovely and said she’d speak English but I had to speak French back to her, which was great.  We’ve now moved into the marina where Quaintrelle will spend the week while we head down to Carcassonne for a week’s holiday with some of the ski crowd – not to ski, obviously, but for some wine-tasting and there’s some mention of hiring bikes! So the remainder of the day will be packing, painting and I’m sure we’ll squeeze in a bit of Ninebotting too!

Thursday 21 September 2017

Joinville to Langres (Or, "We Appear To Be In Some Sort of Arctic Microclimate....")


Mooring at Rolampont - it's a very rural canal and very beautiful.

We were sad to say goodbye to Paul and Carol the next morning as we’ve loved their company, but we left promising to come and visit them in Spain over winter, as they are renting an apartment for a few months in the new year.  We were also sad to be on the move as it was pissing it down (to put it mildly).  It wasn’t to be our best day’s boating…..  The locks were deep and as we were going up, I was having to climb on the roof and do ‘ma thang’ with the pole and rope.  This is not fun in the rain with a wet slippy roof, wearing wet, slippy waterproofs, so I put on a life jacket just in case but as we pulled into one lock, slightly deeper than the rest, I just couldn’t reach up over the lip of the lock to reach the bollard – I could barely see the bollard let alone lasso it…..  So we swapped places and I manoeuvred Quaintrelle over to a ladder so Mike could climb up the wet, slimy ladder with the rope to get us tied on.
Not happy.
Then one of the locks wouldn’t activate.  We sat in the chamber waiting, having pressed the magic button on our remote control, but nothing.  So Mike climbed the ladder again, pressed the remote again and then went over to the little control hut where there was an emergency contact button you could use to speak to the control back at St Dizier.  He did so, and managed to give them the lock number and the word ‘problem’ in French.  When he came back, there was no sign of anyone so I called the number on the control and said the gates wouldn’t shut.  The response, after a brief exchange, was, “Quelle can arrive”.  I had no idea what this meant, quelle = what, arrive = to come but what the hell was that in the middle???......  I gave our direction of travel, which was met with a patient, “Je sais.” And finally after a few minutes of trying every available piece of information he might be asking me for, he said,” Someone is coming.”  Ahhhhh…..”Quelqu’un arrive….” – why didn’t he say……..

We continued on in the rain, with the fire lit, in September, in France – not what we had experienced at this time of year last time we were here.  We weren’t happy.

We arrived at the little Haulte Nautique at Donjeaux, moored up behind DB Brunel, had a very quick chat with the chap who came out to say hello and explain that only one of the amenities posts had electric working, but the water was on, and then ducked inside as the heavens opened again.  We spent the rest of the day shut up inside with the fire on trying to dry off and moaning about the weather, which was due to be more of the same for the next week or so.  Boo!!
At least the rain allowed me to finish the jigsaw!
The next morning Brunel were off and away just as we were getting out of bed, our body clocks thrown by the darkness of the morning and thundery clouds overhead.  Well, actually, we’re never up before 8.40am………during the week……..9.30am on the weekend…….  We had our breakfast, wrapped up got the fire on and set off.  It’s a really pretty canal with some stunning scenery, but unfortunately our opinion of it has been tainted by the terrible weather and tricky locks.  They’re not that tricky I suppose, but we’re just too little to easily reach the bollards when coming up.  In lock 28 we were hugely pleased to see stepped bollards in the wall of the lock, which meant we could easily reach to get a rope on, and would just need to cut the revs half way up to move the rope from this bollard up on to the side.  It’s a manoeuvre we’ve done several times so we weren’t worried and we had a smooth ride up.  At lock 29 it was the same set up, different side with the stepped bollards spaced out differently – which is where we made our first error.  We always try and stay as far back as possible when coming up a lock as you get bounced about less, so we hooked on to a stepped bollard that allowed us to do so.  Mike shouted to me asking if there was enough space at the back, and I thought he meant between me and the lower gates, which there was, so I gave an affirmative.  What he was really meaning was, is there enough space at the back to reverse so I can reach the stepped bollard to get the rope off and move it, as it was halfway along the boat……

Well, it turns out there wasn’t enough space and Mike couldn’t get back to get the rope off and move it, so we had to loosen the rope off the boat and rise with the rope left around the bollard several feet under water.  At the top we got the boat hook and tried for about 10 minutes to get the rope off.  You’d think it would be easy, but as the VNF guys said when they arrived a few minutes later, it was impossible.  “You go ahead, we’ll empty the lock, retrieve your rope and leave it at the next lock for you.”  We did as they said and sure enough, at the next lock, there was our rope hanging down the side waiting for us.  Great guys!!  Through a lift bridge and the rain was now coming and going in heavy showers, but when it wasn’t raining, it was windy and we reached the port we hoped to moor in and there wasn’t space for us.  The lock keepers had warned us they didn’t think there was when they’d helped with our rope and advised there was a quay we could moor at after the next couple of locks.  Having not enjoyed the day so far, the thought of an extended cruise as the skies became thundery again did not please us and I’d have traded the boat at that moment for a wooden shack on land (with running water, a toilet, fitted kitchen, good internet  and a king-size bed obviously…..).  We finally moored up at Bologne for the night, which was a really pleasant mooring but as the rain came on again, we battened down the hatches for the night fairly early on and didn’t really see much of the area.
Huge fields of sunflowers waiting to be harvested line the canal in this region
Mike runs ahead to check mooring space as I bring her through yet another lift bridge

 
Bologne??  We are in France....aren't we..????
Lovely quiet rural mooring
Extremely hacked off with the weather and expecting more rain later in the day, we set off on Friday 15th for Chaumont where we would stay a few days.  The morning was clear and bright but bitterly cold and you could see your breath in the morning air, it felt just like being in England!  It was an interesting day’s cruise with more locks, bridges and then a short tunnel with a lock at one end and a lift-bridge at the other.  We would have probably enjoyed it had the weather been better but it tainted everything.  Just to endear us further to this day, at the end of the tunnel after the swing bridge, a lock keeper pulled up and gave us a row for something.  He seemed unhappy that we had pressed the button on the remote twice to get entry to a few of the locks further back.  I explained that when we pressed it once nothing happened, and it was only on the second press that the green light came on and the lock began to prepare for us.  He was trying to tell me why we shouldn't (I think, he spoke no english), and at one point said "too long to leave", which further confused me as we're always quick off the mark getting out of a lock and had been previously given a row for leaving before the gates were fully open!  Maybe he was just having a bad day, so I said, Je suis desolee.  Je ne comprends pas bien mais j'appuye le bouttonne une fois seule."  At the next lock, the sign to press the button was round the corner before the lock and remote signals don't bend!  We sat and waited and waited, but the green light didn't come on so we pressed it a second time and it did.  Maybe we were on candid camera waiting........
 
This little village's welcome committee next to the visitors mooring
One of the prettiest village moorings we've seen.
The river Marne running along below the canal



In one end.....
......and out the other..
And straight under a lift bridge - keeps you busy this canal

The old stone Kilometre marker tells me we have done 106kms of the 224kms of this canal
Three hours and 12km and 4 locks later, the heavens opened and the rain was coming down in stair rods as we entered our fifth and final lock of the day, finally mooring up and taking shelter until it stopped.  The little port at Chaumont is a couple of kilometres from the town, so once the rain abated and the sun came out, we walked up the hill for a look and to top up on our food stocks.  Before heading into the supermarket we decided to explore the town and bit and see if there was a butcher we could buy our meat at.  There was, and after initial annoyance at the woman who started to serve us but then went to answer the phone and didn’t come back, my day improved 100-fold with the arrival of the handsome young man who came to take over.  He was soooooooo good looking!!  I was delighted.  Dark hair, cheek bones, bright blue eyes and a smile that made his whole face twinkle.  I tried to think of as many bits of meat we wanted as possible as I wanted to stay in there as long as I could smiling away at him……sigh……….  I’ll never forget the butcher at Chaumont……..  The town itself was nice, good shops and a wonderful Jesuit church which was hosting an exhibition celebrating 100 years of the Americans helping them out in WWI.  We stayed there for three days, but as the weather was so crap the whole time, I didn’t get any pictures at all!!

On Saturday Brunel turned up and we managed a chat with them before another visit up to the town later on in the day, as the ‘sunny!!’ (yes, SUNNY) morning was spent playing on the Ninebot.  Having got so far with our new skills, we’d hit a wall and really needed some quality practice time to learn setting off on our own and turning.  One of the buildings next to the port provided the perfect practice circuit of tarmac allowing us to go round and around the building undisturbed, as it was closed for the weekend.


On Sunday, it rained all day, but we got some more Ninebot practice in in between showers and before Fran and Sally arrived.  They were staying in a nearby b&b and would use a combination of bikes and car to accompany us along the canal for the next couple of days.  It was great to see them, not least because they brought a box of Kipling Bakewell Tarts and a jar of jam – thank you!!  Sadly the rain stayed all night, so our dreams of drinks on the back deck in the balmy evening were fouled and we all huddled indoors around the fire.

After filling with water on Monday morning we headed off around 10.30 (again cold enough to see your breath), expecting Sally and Fran to catch us up on their bikes within the hour.  Just as we were starting to get a bit worried, at almost 12.30 they appeared after a longer cycle than they’d anticipated as they’d taken a bit of wrong turn somewhere.  They accompanied us to Foulain, where our mooring for the evening provided a picnic table where we enjoyed curry and a few glasses of wine for tea.  Fran went log hunting for us and we had a play on the Ninebot, using it to go into the small village for a look around.
 
Feels like boating through the mountains with these great trees!
Bring on the Bakewells!  Happy days :)
They're in the process of automating the last remaining manual locks on this canal, so for a day or two we were accompanied by a lock keeper who put us through. It did mean being back to the nanny-state boating; where are you going? What time are you leaving tomorrow? Where will you be going?...........
There they are!!
Lovely mooring with our own picnic site :)
Cute wee church at Foulains
Despite the damage, this is one of the most beautiful little statues.  I was really taken with her.
 The next day was dry but cold again and Fran and Sally arrived for their day’s excursion just as we were getting out of bed, having slept in a little – I blame the cold!!  Fran took the helm for most of the journey down to Rolampont where we moored up with a cruiser with an English couple (who had previously owned a narrowboat!) on board.  Fran and Sally took off back to Foulains to collect the car and Mike and I took the Ninebot into Rolampont and bought some cakes for afternoon tea when they got back.  After a game of boules, which Mike won (we’ll never hear the end of it…..) we went out in the car to Langres for dinner.  We then said our farewells as Fran and Sally were driving back home the next day whilst we would take the boat to Langres.
The signs on the lock houses still have the old name of the Canal de la Marne a la Saone - now, of course, the Canal Entre Champagne Bourgogne
Brace! Brace! Brace!..... Fran's at the helm... ;)

Very pleased with myself having just started off by myself
The start of the winter wood collecting.....
Looks like a pro - shame he doesn't play like one!
You can tell by MIke's face that Fran has taken the lead at this point.
But he clawed it back from 9-4 to win!!!

Most of the locks on this stretch were over my limit of 3.5m to reach the rope over with the boat hook from the roof, so Mike was up and down the ladders for most of the day.  Like Chaumont, the port at Langres is quite a distance from the actual town which sits on top of a hill, but after two runs to the Intermarche, one for fuel, and one for food, we didn’t have the energy to go all the way up into the town and decided to leave that for the next day.  As Mike was making dinner, a couple, who were camping nearby in their motorhome, came past to chat.  I only got the wive’s name, Doreen, which is annoying as they were a really interesting and lovely couple.  They had bought a narrowboat in 1976 and had cruised around the UK for 20 years on her, Tandy was her name.  They would have been pioneers of the waterways for leisure at that time and said there were hardly any other boats on the water, especially around London – changed days!!  They had lived in Bristol and Fenny Compton (Jill and Alan R!), where Doreen was the caretaker of the marina, which was fairly empty in those days, as it was the only way they were allowed a residential mooring!  They only gave her up when Doreen’s health took a turn for the worse when she was diagnosed with MS and sadly, she is now wheelchair bound.  It hasn’t stopped them exploring though and they were off on the road again early the next morning.
 
Last lift bridge before Langres
Moored at Langres in the sun again at last!
The next day dawned bright and sunny and was due to get warmer as the day went on.   We were staying another night in Langres so took advantage of the weather to strip the varnish back from the shutters as, yet again, over the summer they had blackened with moisture getting in under the varnish.  We both worked away with the electric sander and paper, and when we were finally done mid-afternoon, gave the boat a wash to get rid of the dust.  Unfortunately the owners of the boat behind came back from town to find they also needed to give their boat a wash – sorry………..  We had been going to get the bus up into town, but couldn’t be bothered, so instead, entertained the other boaters by getting the Ninebot out and having a practice, before heading to a little restaurant on the canal for dinner, Relais la Marne.  The meal was good and excellent value at 20.90 euros for a three course meal, and we were joined by two of the other boaters, a Belgian couple and their basset hound, Hector.  An and Steve have been boating a while and were good company, so hopefully we’ll see them again.

We’d be off in the morning, and after two locks, would be on the summit of the Canal Entre Champagne Bourgogne.  It will be all downhill after this…….