France 2012 The Canal De Bourgogne

Getting to Auxerre was time consuming but fairly easy.  Russel was at the railway station to meet me. He had arrived in the morning and had spent some time cleaning the boat so I wouldn’t be too shocked at its condition.

When he arrived and climbed the boat he was frightened by a duck that had laid her eggs in my herb container that I had left full of soil ready for this year. He moved the container to the front of the boat where it stayed for a few days until I decided that I needed to clean the boat.  We then took her and her eggs off the boat. She wasn’t very happy with us.  The eggs had started to hatch.  That night she had one little duck following her. However the next morning she had none again. Some other animal must have eaten the ducklings. The rest of the ducklings didn’t make it out of the shell alive. I felt sorry for Mum. She ended up with no bubbies!!!

We spent a day exploring Auxerre. Below are a few photos.

The Yonne River had been closed for three weeks. I felt sorry for the people who had come over for a holiday and had spent it in Auxerre waiting for the ecluse to open.  France had too much rain so all the ecluses had been closed until the river quietened down.

We spent some time in getting the boat ready and on Friday the 11^th May we sailed away from Auxerre.  We were forced in changing our planned route via Briare and we are now sailing down the Bourgogne Canal.

Our first stop was Larache Migennes   which is on the corner of the Yonne and the Canal Bourgogne. We are getting use to moving slowly as we have ecluses (Lochs) nearly every few kilometres. The town are small and not a lot to see at the moment.

We have Lynley travelling with us until Tuesday when she leaves to start her next tour.

Opening of the ecluse

Lynley at on of the ecluse

We have to have our canopy down as the bridges are too low.

Russel helping the ecluse keeper. You have to push the handle to open the ecluse gates.

we are alsmost up to the top.

Our first major stop was at a town called Tonnerre. This is where Lynley left us after a few days.

We spent some time touring the little city. The most interesting site we saw was the Fosse Dionne. It was a spring that has a permanent flow so 1758 the major built a wash house around the spring. It has a depth of 28meters.

                                                  me in front of the spring

The wash house is built around the spring

We had been having problems with the batteries not charging when we are on the move, so Russel managed to find someone to look at the situation.  The problem was he didn’t speak English and it was hard. He replaced the alternator at the cost of 470 euro. We were forced to stay three nights in Tonnerre because of this. We left with no change. We had wasted our money.

We decided to continue on until we arrived at Montbard where Russel did some investigation and found it was a fuse in the relay – cost us 8 euro. It is now fixed.

The French canals are certainly different to what we have been use to. The ecluses that we have been through are all manual and takes about 20 minutes a lock. Yesterday (in the rain) we drove 28 klm and 16 ecluses. We arrived in Montard absolutely had it.  We have been travelling with a Japanese couple since Tonnerre.  They speak a little English and we have been helping each other. It is nice to travel with people.

The Japanese Couple. He attaches his boat by himself onto one bollard

Russel at one of the ecluses. Some of them have been looked after.

This one was an artist home. He sold cheeses and wines. we bought a bottle of Chablis.

Typical view of the canal. The Japanese boat is following.

Today we rode 12 klms to see the Fontenay Abbey.  It was built in 1118 and is one of the oldest Cistercian abbeys. It has been restored after being a paper factory for a number of years.  It was a great ride and well worth it.

The Abbey

                                    Russel in front of the Abbey

Since leaving Montard the weather has turned very bad. We are living in winter clothing, raincoats and anything else we can find to keep warm and dry.

 Russel at Marigny le Cahouet just before the storm

When we arrived in Marigny le Cahouet we were struck by an electric storm. Since then we have been travelling with three boats. One South African couple with their fourteen old daughter and 7 month puppy and of course the Japanese couple.

                                                  The South African’s going into the lock

They are at the top

The South African’s go in first and take the brunt force of the lock water; we second  tied to two bollards and the Japanese couple at the back. He has to climb the ladder each time and hold his boat with his ropes. He has no bollard to attach to. He is protected from the turbulence by the front two boats, but he has to move his boat around so the lock doors can close. He is usually inches away from the back doors.  I believe we have the best position.

                                              showing our position in the lock

  Holding his boat one rope attached to the front and back.

Yesterday we did 28 locks in 10 kilometres. We started at 9 and arrived in Veneray about 5pm. We had 1 hour for lunch. It rained the whole day. We were totally exhausted. The ropes became heavier and heavier as the rain came down. I got to the stage where I couldn’t throw them they were so heavy. We were lucky to have a couple of great lock keepers who travelled with us the whole day and helped us with the ropes.  We all tipped them at the end of the day.

                                                 A typical view along the canal

At Pouilly en Auxois we reached the summit. We now entered 3.33 klm unlit tunnel and start our descent. Up until then they have all been uplocks, now its down locks all the way to St Jean de Losne.

We all said our goodbyes with drinks lasting until 10 o'clock. The Japanese boat left the next morning. we have stayed a day to wash and dry everything out. we have now cleaned our boat and it looks great until the next rain day. Today we had a glorious day. It reached 30 in the boat.

We decided to pull everything down so that we have no height issues. I sat on the front of the boat with a spotlight. I held this light in one position for about 40 minutes.

The tunnel was an experience which we enjoyed but was glad when it was over.

                                      
                                             Arcturus at Vandenesse

                                         The entrance to the Tunnel

                                       Russel Driving into the Tunnel. It was compulsary to wear our life jackets.
We had to show them to the lock keeper and he checked our lighting before we were given a VHF radio to go through the tunnel.

Since then we have decided not to hurry. We stayed in places for a couple of days each and moved only in the mornings.  We stayed at Escommes, Vandenesse and now are in Pontd’ouche where we will leave the boat for two weeks. We caught the bus into Dijon and hired a car and for the last few days we have been roaming the hills of France enjoying lots of lunches. It has been very pleasant.

Our trip up to Châteauneuf was exciting but I really don’t know how we managed to push the bikes all the way up thinking it would be a great trip down. It was too steep and we had to walk down too.

Me trying to ride up the hill

Chateauneuf

Since the tunnel we are now in down ecluses and they are so much easier and quicker.

                                                     Coming into a down ecluse

Our view from the boat in Vandenesse

Arcturus tied up in Vandenesse

We sailed down to PontD’Ouche the next day where an English lady “Brinony” runs a little marina. We have left our boat there until we return after two weeks in a camper car for only 3 euros a day.

We hired a car and did some exploring in the Cote D’Or wine region for a few days before we picked up our camper car from Lyon.

We arrived back in Pont D’Ouche and back onto our boat with the Melia’s. We still had the car so we were able to travel away from the canal to visit further a field.

The first day we returned to Vandensse and Pouilly To shoe Bruno and Steph the tunnel and we lunched at Chateauneuf. It was certainly easier to drive than the bike ride we had to get there.

                                                  A Street in Chateauneuf

That night Steph and Russel drove the car to La Bussiere sur Ouche and rode the bikes back. It was Steph’s first big ride for years and she handled the 6klm easily.

The next day we went exploring a few towns and had a look over a chateau.

                               

                                                      We went on a tour over this Chateau

It was decided not to transport the car to the next stop but for Bruno and Steph to go and see some of the Cote D’Or while Russel and I sailed the boat to Moulin Banet where we were able to get some power for the night. This was the only powered site available until Dijon. That afternoon we returned the car to Dijon and the rest of the time we slowly sailed to Dijon where the Melia’s left the boat and headed to Rome.

                                                  Steph and Bruno enjoying the quiet canals

                                   We had an Italian on board - this was breakfast - very yummy

We went into an ecluse with this weed catcher. It is certainly needed in this canal.

The plant growth in the canals plus the grass clippings made us check our filters every night.

I hope this weed catcher does some good.

We spent a few days in Dijon exploring. It was a great place. We went on a gastronomy tour and visited the Maille shop where the Dijon mustards are made. Dijon and one stage took out a lot of there mustard crops and have been buying over 60% of their mustard seeds from Canada.

Some of the old houses in Dijon

                                                a fountain in Dijon

We took two days to go from Dijon to St Jean de Losne which was the last port of the Canal Bourgogne.

Russel took this from our boat. It rained misty rain all day then gave us this gorgeous rainbow. We woke the next morning to a very very hot muggy day. we can't work this weather out.

                       

                                          Prime position in St Jean De Losne



We have now completed the Canal de Bourgogne

We did 242 kilometres and 189 ecluses both ups and downs.

  

.

Motor Home France 2012

Day 1

 We picked up our van at about 3pm and after returning our hire car to the middle of Lyon we headed off on our trip. Guess what?  Peak hour traffic!!!. It was very nerve racking for Russel.  We decided to go on the motor ways to get out of town quickly, however we hit the traffic that was going no where. Perhaps there was an accident further down but we got a bit frustrated as we were very tired. We had driven from Pont D’Ouche ( 4 hours) and then it had been very hot. I asked Tom Tom where there was a campsite.- over 200 klm away (really). I then tried yacht club and it said 30 klm. So off the motor way and headed to the club. We went high into the mountains and then down down on these tiny narrow windy roads. I was a nervous wreck and Russel was getting quite fed up with me breaking. We finally came to the Rhone River. It looked gorgeous, but no where to camp!!! Finally we drove along a road close to the club and saw a concrete pad. This will do we said lets pull out the bottle of hot wine!!! 

We sat by the Rhone relaxing. We were watching another motor home doing the same wandering around that we had done. Finally he turned and came towards us. Oh no we thought. The van stopped and a male voice said “ Do you speak English”

It was an Australian couple with a little girl who had also picked up their van that day.

They joined us. They were so relieved to stop and have someone tell them that they could.

The picture below shows us both on our little concrete pad.

                                                            The Motorway!!!

Day 2

The next day ( after using all power to the van over night) we headed back to the motorway ( not up the windy hilly though) and kept on the freeway so we could get down to the Dordogne area which we thought might be interesting.  If we stayed off the motor ways and go through every little town we would be still going a year later and would be complete nervous wrecks. The roads through these little towns are narrow and the motor home is quite wide. It would be different in a car.

Our main problem each night was to find a camping spot. We had no books and were hoping for signs to camp sites. Not so. Going through Tulle I spotted a tourist bureau so Russel pulled over ( one seems to stop anyway here) and I raced in and asked for a camp site. We ended up a great little spot by the river run by an English couple.

Below shows our camp site for Night 2

Day 3

Next day we headed for our gorgeous little town called Montignac.

We visited this area as we wanted to visit Grotte de Lascaux.  This cave contains prehistoric paintings that apparently go back some 15 thousand years. They were very impressive with lots of colour. They were far more detailed than the aboriginal art we have seen in Australia. We were not allowed to take pictures so I can’t show you. They have actually closed the original caves as the continual visits were causing the paintings to deteriorate so they made an exact replica of.

 It was a very hot humid day so we spent the afternoon in the swimming pool. Next morning we woke to pouring rain.

Below is our campsite in Night 3

                                                                Montignac

Day 4

We were slow to leave due to the rain but this was a very interesting day. We were driving along heading for a cave we wanted to look over and saw all these people in a rock formation so we drove in and saw an amazing sight. This was la Roche Saint Christophe. It was a very large rock face that people had lived on. There were holes and cuttings in the rock face.

                                                          A Cave

                                                   This is what we saw so went to invesigate

                                                            They built houses into the rock

                                                This shows the view from the rock face.

we had to pass this car on the narrow road

We then headed off to see the Grotte Cave – Grand Roc. The cave is a mineral forest made of unrivalled variety and density of crystallization. I have never seen such gorgeous ice formation. It was mind blowing.

This is also the area called Perigord. This is where the ducks are raised for the famous Foie Gras de Canard and the Canard de Confit. I notice a farm as we drove toward Bergerac and asked Russel to stop so I could take a photo. The smell was dreadful when I opened the window to take the photo. I am not sure how the farmer could cope.

                                                        The Duck farm

We decided to leave the area and head to Bergerac a wine growing region. At about 5pm we arrived and still couldn’t see any signs for camping grounds. Russel decided to go over a large bridge and get off the main road. Voila!! We followed a sign to the river and we had a lovely site under the trees by the Dordogne River.

Day 5

Next day we headed to Bordeaux but decided at the last minute to continue through to the Atlantic coast. We thought that we could catch the train to Bordeaux if we wished.

However this area has so much to offer that we have decided to stay here for 2 days.

We are in the Bay of Arcachon and not far from the Atlantic Ocean. We went for a long ride along the beaches and port of Arcachon. The beaches are all not white sand like ours but a light yellow colour and look inviting. There were plenty of sun bathers, (topless) restaurants and shops. It is a real beach resort and in July when the holidays start it will be very crowded.

Day 6

The next day we drove out to Dune de plat. This colossal sand dune is already the largest in Europe – 3klm in length. It is spreading at the rate of 4.5 meters a year and has already swallowed up trees, a road junction and even a hotel.

One of the reasons we went to this area was to taste the oysters and see the oyster farms. We then headed to the other side of the bay to the oyster ports where we had lunch – Russel sampling the oyster – me the prawns – with bread and a glass of vino!!

Day 7 and 8

The next day we drove to Francescar (near Nerac) to see our friends Nicky and Alan. They have been coming to this area for a number of years fro their holidays. We stayed for two days. It was great to catch up with friends and they showed us around their little neck of the woods.

Below is their house and local streets. It is a very quiet town. We went out for dinner the second night and had great food.!!!

The garden in Nicky and Allan's house

                                                           The Front door

                                                A view down their very quiet village

Day 9

The next morning we all went to a town near by called Lecture where there was a local market on. It was great to wander around. We brought some local cheeses which we had for lunch.

                                                 
                                                              Market Day

We said our goodbyes to Nicky and Alan and head toward Toulouse. To our surprise the Mella’s arrive also so we had a few drinks and caught up on all the news of Australia.

Day 10

We decided to ride into Toulouse along the Canal Garonne and then turn into the Canal De Midi. This is the reason we came down this way.—to see this canal. We followed it into the port and then continued through the city.  We rode for a few hours and then headed home to the caravan park for lunch.  In the afternoon we headed out for a tour of the Airbus A380 production plant. We learnt heaps. It is here that the A380 is assembled of components manufactured in the UK, Spain, Germany and France.

I can’t show any photos as we weren’t allowed to take our cameras.

Day 11

We left Toulouse and headed to Carcassonne. We spent most of the day looking over the old city. Bruno and Steph hit the shops.   It was a fascinating old city.

 We then headed toward Narbonne where we are camped on a bay off the Mediterranean. It is blowing a gale but the view is gorgeous.  We have the Pyrenees in the background - that is Spain not far away.

We are free camping tonight with a gorgeous view beside a bay that leads to the Mediterranean ocean.  We sat outside until the wind blew up. It blew all night.

                                         Our camp over looking the Med!!

Day 12

We headed to Sete which is on the Mediterranean Sea. This is Frances largest fishing port on the Med. It was a very busy town with narrow and many one way streets. We somehow got separated from the Melia’s and it took ages to get back together. Whilst we were lost we found a place to park the van right beside the water.

                                            A view of Sete

We went for a ride and watched the boats come in and sort their fish.

That night we went out for a seafood meal. It was great.

Day 13

We were headed to Monpellier to spend the day. We worked out that we could park the car in a parking lot that we had on the map and then walk in to explore. It didn’t quite happen like that at all. The Tom Tom took us to the street but we couldn’t see the parking lot. We took a wrong turn and ended up in a driveway that headed for a park that we couldn’t fit under. We had to back all the way back and it wasn’t much fun. Once we managed to get out of this bad situation, we stopped at a roadside spot to work out what to do.

The Melia’s mutineerd!!! Steph had had enough of trying to get these vans into big towns and wanted to head for the mountains. They did. We just had a call from them and they are still in the mountains but at last enjoying the trip.

We consulted our lonely planet at what to do. We knew the next day we wanted to go to Avignon but needed a campsite with washing machines and electricity that night.

I read that Pont Du Gard was a great site so off we went. We found a fabulous camp site in the forrest and spent the afternoon looking over the Pont Du Gard. It was fabulous.

Day14

Today we headed for Avignon, parked the car easily and rode our bikes into the walled city. We did a train trip which took us around the city and gave us an explanation in English. We had a great traditional lunch – quiche and salad and Crogue monsier and salad then headed off to find the Rhone.

                                        me on our little bus

                                            View from the top overlooking the Rhone

We came down this area so that we could see the midi and the Rhone River. On reflection we are glad we did as the Rhone looked very angry and the midi busy.

We stopped over night in Viviers in front of all the canal boats. There were four travelling together. The Rhone was flowing so fast that they were hardly making headway down the river. We spoke to a New Zealander who said it wasn’t worth going all the way down. He seemed quite disgruntled and would be glad to be back to the canals further north.

                                          Us Motor homers overlooking the marina

Viviers was a great little town. We rode right up to the top and visited the church.

Day 15

We spent the day following the Rhone and ended up in Condrieu  just out of Vienne where we once again met up with the Melia’s. They had had a fabulous trip flying around the mountains. They did 200 klm in one week – we did 2000 in two weeks. They must like driving.

I am sitting in the van outside waiting for Russel to return with a car so we can return to our boat. I will be very glad to be on our boat relaxing. Bruno and Steph are coming too.

Personally I didn’t enjoy the van  - it was very hard to park and the narrow streets were nerve racking.  I have put my dream of doing America and Canada in a motor home away.

                                               The Rhone

                             The Rhone Again