Down time in Dole

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last post but we have been busy and fighting colds so the blogging has taken a back seat.

When we arrived in Dijon Terry (with cold) left for three days to visit Paris while Rosie and I worked on the boat.  Dijon is a great town but it is under major renovations while they tear up the whole town to put in a tram system from scratch – a major undertaking anywhere, let alone a medieval town.  Mind you they seem very cavalier with all their bypasses and pedestrian walkways that would have personal injury lawyers in the US falling over their clients on the way to the courthouse.
We then set off down the the straight section that is the end of the Canal de Bourgone.  Along the way we picked up my (twin) cousin Liz and her husband Bill who were touring France in a campervan.  Bill braved the clown bike to shuttle the van between boat stops as we moved down to St. Jean de Losne where Armida will spend the winter and we needed to make some preparations and line up some work to be done.
With Liz and Terry jaunting about in the campervan, Bill and I headed up the Saone and into the Canal du Rhon au Rhin, retracing the path of our first canal rental.  The patchy weather that followed us from Dijon cleared to beautiful clear and sunny days but the cool and damp nights are telling us that summer is definitely over.
Liz and Bill got to enjoy the charms of Dole before heading off back to Paris and home to Brisbane while we just sat.  Terry was not able to shake off her cold and it’s descent into her chest necessitated an encounter with the French medical system.  A jovial doctor prescribed her the necessary antibiotics along with Vin Rouge! She is following the prescription to the letter and we hope she will be feeling a lot better soon.
We head home on October 18th so we will be puttering around this region until then.
 

Highs and Lows

We have now descended most of the way down the other side of the Canal de Bourgone to Dijon, until the suburbs of Dijon and some time cohabiting with a motoroway, we have remained delighted.

The Pouilly tunnel at the top of the canal is the highest in the French canal system, but it’s clearance, at 3.10m is one of the lowest. They used to tow the big barges through here with an electric chain tug, and the empty ones that were too high they put in a big bathtub that sat lower.  Armida, with the Bimini and white canopy down was low enough but I took the windows off for extra clearance, and to see how it worked.  In the event it was no problem and one of the easier tunnels we have done.

After the tunnel the downhill locks made for easy cruising and the valleys were a little steeper and closer with some lovely views.

That is the village and chateau of Chateauneuf-en-Auxois up on the hill.  The next day we stopped at the closest lock and started the walk up the hill.  Terry hitched a ride with a tradesman leaving Rosie and me to get our exercise.  The Chateau and village were both charming, the weather was great and the views terrific. Rosie felt that she could live there.


The villages and restaurants are much more accessible and there are lots of cyclists as the tow path is well maintained.  A welcome sight was a lock keeper’s cottage that has been converted into a little store and restaurant – can’t get much more convenient than that!