A Bit of the Bourgogne

The past few days saw us cruising about 20 kilometers "deep" into the Canal de Bourgogne (Burgundy Canal for the English speakers), and then returning to Migennes at the junction with the Yonne River. The Bourgogne is one of France's longest watershed canals, covering a distance of 242 kilometers from the Yonne River to the Saone River. The initial efforts to create a water route in Burgundy to help link the Atlantic with the Mediterranean date back to the 15th century, but it wasn't until the mid-19th century that the canal actually went through from end-to-end. It took another few decades to standardize the lock sizes and create feeder lakes to complete the canal as it exists today.

When cruising from the Yonne junction toward the Saone, the canal elevation increases by 300 meters, and then decreases by nearly 200 meters before it empties into the Saone. It's not surprising then, that it requires 189 locks to accommodate those kinds of elevation changes. Locks can be an interesting part of a cruising day, but a kilometers/lock ratio of just under 1.3 can making the locking experience "old" very quickly. This was one factor which discouraged us from trying to cruise the entire canal. The main problem, however, is that at the summit there is a 3-km long tunnel whose maximum height at the center is rather low, about the same as the tops of our roof air conditioning units. Attempting to pass through the tunnel sounded like a recipe for disaster to us, so we decided to be happy with just a little taste of the Bourgogne. The section we covered had a more reasonable kilometers/lock ratio of about 3 and nary a tunnel in sight.

We spent one full day in Migennes on Thursday the 23rd for sightseeing and running errands. It's a nice enough place, but it does not have a huge amount to see. The oldest part of town was about a 2 km walk from the boat, and the main sight there was the outside of the much-restored Saint-Pancrace de Migennes Church (13th-16th C).

The church is a Listed Monument, but it's apparent that much
of the "very old" has been replaced. I can't speak to what the
inside was like, as the church was locked.

The Tourist Office displays this restored 6-meter
squared fragment of a 210-meter squared mosaic.
The mosaic was discovered in the 1970's and was originally
part of a 4th century Roman villa in the vicinity of Migennes.

The town had a movie theater, but unfortunately, nothing in English, so we will have to get our cinema fix elsewhere. 

It was a mostly lovely cruising day on Friday, May 24. We finally had some sun, and nothing says "spring" like baby birds.

One of the cygnets is hitching a ride on dad's (or is it mom's?) back.

Mama duck has her "hands" full with 8 little ones to corral.

The "mostly lovely" lasted until about 1:15 p.m. By noon we had cruised about 15 km, passed through 3 locks, and arrived at the 4th lock of the day. It was set to receive us and the gates were open, but once tied up we had to go into "wait mode" for at least an hour. Most of the locks on the Canal de Bourgogne require the assistance of a vnf eclusier (lock keeper), and due to staffing levels and the sacredness of the French lunch hour, the locks didn't operate from noon to 1 p.m. 

It wasn't a bad place to be stopped. The adjacent
former lock keeper's house was now privately owned,
and the landscaping was beautiful and whimsical.

The owner even had a garden gnome or two.

The eclusiers finally arrived about 1:30 p.m. to get us on our way. Unfortunately, by that time some rain had moved in. 

Lon was able to move inside to drive; I had a somewhat
more damp locking experience.

After passing through this lock the rain decided to let up and within an hour we were at our destination of the day, Saint-Florentin. This would also be the farthest we would cruise on the Bourgogne.

The port was in the perfect place to provide a view like this from our mooring, with the town
spread out on the hillside on which it's built.

Saint-Florentin is a former fortress town, now with a population of about 5,000. Its port used to be busy with cut timber making its way to Paris. It has retained some of its historic architecture, so it's quaint and cute, and rather quiet. The dominating feature of the town is the Church of Saint-Florentin. The existing building wasn't part of the church "building boom" in France in the 12th and 13th centuries, but got its start later, in the early 16th century. The "top" parts of the typical "Latin Cross" design of such churches--the choir and the transept--were finished relatively quickly and have cathedral-like dimensions. Unfortunately, wars of religion interrupted the building process until the early 17th century, and then the money ran out. As a result, the church was never finished, in that it doesn't have a nave (the lower portion of the Latin Cross that is typically where the pews are placed for the worshippers.) 

What the church does have is an astonishing collection of 500-year old stained glass, one of seven stone rood screens remaining in France, and a 17th century organ.

In order to get into the church one must climb some stairs . . . 

   

  . . . and gain entry to the interior with a key supplied either by the Tourist Office or the port office (our choice).

The choir, with some of the stained glass visible behind
the high altar.

The stone rood screen separating the choir from what little
there is of what could be called a nave.

It wouldn't be an old town without some timbered buildings.

One of the best views in town was from the hilltop that used to host a monastery established in the 9th century.

The church is, of course, the highest point. The turreted tower at mid-photo dates from the 
12th century fortifications, and is the last of six towers that formed part of the town's defense.
It currently houses the church bells, because the unfinished bell tower of the church is too weak
to handle their weight.

The town park and performance space adjacent to the port and the canal.

The tour around town didn't take up more than Saturday morning, so we spent the afternoon making some progress on our window cover snap installation project.

We started our return to Migennes on Sunday, May 26. We had cruised to Saint-Florentin on one day, but we split the return trip into two segments, and stopped at the halfway point in the town of Brienon-sur-Armancon. The 3-hour cruising day was relaxing--if rather cool and cloudy--and left us time to explore. 

Horseback riding along the canal on a Sunday morning, while the eclusier waits for
the lock to fill with water so that he can let us enter.

The town hall, backed up by the 16th century church--and
this one was finished, albeit in rather eclectic style.

A sunny mooring.

As luck would have it, there was a concert that afternoon at the Saint Loup church, with a performance by the Men's Choir of the Auxerrois (region). Free-will donations were to be allocated toward the upkeep of the church's organ. We've attended the occasional church concert in the past, and it's a nice way to feel "local" for an hour or so.

The choir sounded great, although the slightly echoing
acoustics didn't make the French any easier to decipher.

This presented the biggest challenge: sitting on 
hard, hard, hard pews with absolutely straight
backs. Sleeping was not an option. An hour of
those conditions wiped the smile off Lon's face. 

After two hours of cruising this morning we are back at the port in Migennes. We are looking forward to a lovely dinner--most unexpectedly--with boating friends Ian and Lisette. 

Tomorrow morning we will head back onto the Yonne River and continue north.