Catching Up

This should have been posted two or three days ago. The problem is, we are discovering that our internet connectivity is very spotty in this part of France. As a result, e-mail, blogs, and all things requiring the internet cannot always be done in the timeframe that we would prefer. Hence, the need to "catch up" with things left unsaid during the last several days.

We made our about-face on the Petite Saone on Wednesday, July 7 (our 42nd wedding anniversary!) and made great time returning to Gray in one day. We stocked up on groceries at the local Intermarche and followed up with a relaxing pizza and salad anniversary dinner at a nice restaurant just across the road from our mooring location. The following morning saw Lon making a quick bicycle trip to buy a replacement battery for our generator and then we were off again downstream.

After 30 km we made a right turn onto the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne (Canal between Champagne and Burgundy). At its completion in 1907 (the last to be completed of the Freycinet canal network in central France) it was known as the Canal de la Marne a la Saone, so-named for the two rivers that it connected. Apparently wine-related names promote tourism better than river names, hence the relatively recent re-naming of the canal.

We were more than a little concerned when we turned onto the canal, because what met us was a waterway containing masses of weeds. It was a slog just to get to the first lock, where we retrieved a remote control device that we use to operate the automatic locks. The VNF have figured out some ingenious ways to cut down on the need for staffing at the locks. Instead of a lock keeper being on site, the remote was dispensed via an automat-type process. One more lock and then we tied up for the night near a little village called Maxilly-sur-Saone. It was early enough in the day that we were able to go walking in the area.

The Chateau de Talmay is a privately owned residence
in a neighboring town. The tower dates from 1250, the
elegant lower structure from the mid-1700s. Not open for
tours at this time of year, but the whole complex looked stunning.

An area of concern for us was that a report to mariners on the VNF website mentioned weeds as being a problem along the whole length of the canal. If the rest of the canal was going to be as bad as what we encountered when we first turned onto the waterway, we were going to be in deep trouble trying to get to the Netherlands via this route. Fortunately, we have a boat that is “keel cooled”, that is, it has pipes running along the exterior of the hull that contain engine coolant and the heat exchange takes place at that interface without the need to pull raw water from the canal through filters and into the boat. This avoids the problem of filters clogged with weed and an overheated engine. Nevertheless, our boat prop cannot efficiently propel us when it is fighting through weeds, and masses of plant material can wreak havoc with the valves and gates of the locks on the canal.

Noxious weeds in the canal. Not too troublesome if
they stay to the edges of the waterway, but that's not
always the case.

VNF employees working to clear weed from in front
of the upper lock gates, as a commercial barge waits
for us to leave the lock.

Our first full day on the canal had good sections and bad sections, but fortunately most sections did not have enough weeds to cause a problem. We had great weather and enjoyed a very peaceful cruise through what is a very rural part of France.

We had to contact the vnf to open this lift bridge at Cheuge
because the automatic opening feature was malfunctioning.

Our hoped-for mooring spot on July 9 was already
occupied by a large barge (Baron de l'ecluse, i.e. Baron of the lock)
 crewed by the lovely Swiss couple pictured above. So we pulled
 into a slightly weedier spot behind them and joined
them on the deck of their boat for Happy Hour. 

The subsequent days have been much the same: underway by 9 a.m. or so, cruise for 4 or 5 hours, and use the bikes or walking to do a little bit of exploring. We've had a problem or two with malfunctioning locks, but those issues were resolved fairly quickly (what's amazing to me is that I've been able to communicate well enough in French over the phone to explain the problems.) And we've been pleasantly surprised that weeds haven't caused many problems or been particularly thick.

The chateau or fortress (not sure which) in Cusey that
had apparently been converted into a private dwelling.

Lon canalside on one of our biking expeditions

                      

We shared a mooring spot with "the Baron" again
on July 10 in Cusey--and another Happy Hour with Markus 
and Angela

Biking by the unusual church in Piepape on 
July 11

The Reservoir de la Vingeanne, one of four
artificial lakes that provides water for the canal.
It appears to be a vacation area, but was relatively
 uncrowded on Sunday the 11th. Maybe it's the
weather, maybe it's still the effects of the pandemic.

A warm bike ride deserves a break for liquid refreshment.

C.A.R.I.B. III settled for the evening in a green
and peaceful mooring spot near Piepape.

When we cruised the Rhone au Rhin Canal two years ago we also dealt with automated locks. The remote control system was a little different, and we have to say that the system we are currently dealing with has a couple of lovely features.

Our current remote control device for operating 
the locks.

After we've entered a lock and are secured to the bollards, we have to activate the process to fill--or empty--the lock (depending on whether we're going up or down). On the Rhone au Rhin, this was always done by physically raising the blue bar on the apparatus pictured below. This could sometimes be difficult if the bar was located in a difficult-to-reach part of the lock wall. The beauty of our current remote control device is that its "bassinee" button allows us to compete this step electronically (well, most of the time).

Another cool feature this year are the "ici signs" posted prior to the locks that tell us when to push the button on the remote to activate the lock preparation process. No more guesswork as to whether we're too far away from the lock for the signal to reach, although we've found it's still helpful to have line-of-sight to the lock.

Tonight we are at the summit of the Champagne and Bourgogne canal, which means that we have been climbing during the last few days of our cruising--a total of 43 locks. Tomorrow we start our day with a tunnel that is 5 kilometers (3 miles) long. When we come out the other side, we begin going downhill, and will pass through 70-some locks before we reach the end of this canal. At that point we will have two choices of route: continue north or make a right turn and head east. At this point we're thinking that the eastern route will be our choice, but as we have already found out, much depends upon the condition of the respective canals. 

The profile of the "eastern route": Canal entre Champagne et
Bourgogne, Canal du Marne au Rhin Ouest, Le canal de la Meuse,
La Meuse. The purple cross marks our position at
Cusey on July 11; we are currently at the top of the first peak.

Here's hoping we have better and more consistent internet going forward!