3 Perfect Days to Besancon

Besancon 17 Sept

I've written about Dole and Besancon many times, probably more than anywhere else on this blog,  We have travelled the stretch in between them more times than I can remember since our very first trip in 2001 on a rental boat.  Still, when Caroline and Phil said they could only come from the UK for 3 days I couldn't go past this trip,  For Canal afficionados it has lots of technical interest, alternating beween the canal and the river, as well as lovely. scenery.  

Lilou and I spent a week in Dole where is was 33C every day, but cool at night and in the mornings.  By the time peak heat was reached around 6pm we were in the shade, so careful time management allowed me to get my projects done and still manage some Dole wanderings.

The day before they arrived it started cooling off and we had a light drizzle for our departure around 2 pm.  A downpour just after our second lock was the end of the rain and we arrived at an open pontoon under the cliffs by a weir for a perfect evening.  And so went the rest of the cruise, everything aligned perfectly, almost. Lunch the next day didn't go as planned as the Hotel was closed and being converted into a daycare centre.  No problem, a short walk to a Routier Cafe gave them an experience that everyone should have - a working man's lunch spot.  But in France that is a full 3 course meal with wine, and very good too.  

We arrived at our favorite weir at 5pm and it looked like there was no room.  But wait, the barge Kanumba waived at us to indicate they were just leaving and our pefect spot opened up.   

The next day took us into Besancon as the Citadel loomed over us and around the loop of the city t0 culminate in one of the few locks in the system you must operate youselves, or at least the crew must. A lovely meal in town completed 3 perfect days. 

 I'll leave you with some random photos.

Dole:  Budapest 1000km this way but please go via our historic centre

 

I finally got to the top of the Dole Chuch Tower. Well worth the wait.

One is real.

A fine lunch!

Thank you Kanumbra

Besancon ahead.

A great crew working the last  Lock

This clock has 30,000 moving parts that run (ran) the the clocks and bells in the Cathedral.  Not many of those part are moving now.

And we're away.

Dole

The welcomr cool down was not to continue and the late summer heat returned.  Not as bad as before we arrived but in the low 30's/90's with merciful cool nights.  The nice ladies in the marina put Armida in the prime spot under a tree so we only had sull sun until about noon.  Here the heat builds through the day and peaks at around 6:30pm.  I tried to get most of my errands and cleaning work done in the mornings.  Everything is up an running so I am working on restoration and varnishing.  

Dogs are very popular here:

And the town keeps to its nautical roots.

We probably should have stayed in the shade but a week in Saint Jean de Losne is enough, so early on Wednesday morning we set off up river to the Rhon au Rhin canal aiming for Choisey just before Dole.  There wan't much traffic so I expected an easy mooring but the pontoon was full. 

We continued on to Dole where there were plenty of boats but room  for us.  Here is the obligatory picture.

Dole gets evewn better than when it first wowed us on our first canal trip in 2001.  It seems to have become even more charming and character filled.  Apparenlty the odd name comes from an ancient word for the TOLL that was collected to cross the bridge over the river.  That may have been the original Roman bridge, two arches of which are still standing.You can see more on Dole here.

We'll be here for another week until Caroline and Phil arrive, along with a forecast of rain and cooler weather. Plenty of work for me to do but I will manage some Dole wanderings, in the mornings at least.  There's always something happening in Dole.

Waiting for the Crane

 St. Jean de Losne

A first French Shrug

Lilou and I have arrived in France, are back on Armida, and in the water but have already had our first French Shrug that illustrates the Uknown Unknown aspect of boating.  

It was a fairly routine trip with a minor correction when I realize on the RER train into Paris that our connection to the TVG at the Gare de Lyon was going to be tight. Fortunately the the SNCF Connect App actually worked well and let me rebook on a slightly later train to Dijon.  Picked up a rental car and arrived in, a much cooler than recently, St Jean de Losne, and much cleaner after a downpour that morning.  I got the back half of the cover off and into the clean, if a bit musty boat. and we flopped in for the night. A couple of days cleaning and organizing and we were ready to go back in the water.  I spoke to David in the yard on Monday about going in on Tuesday and he said we will load up the trailer that night.  The implication was that we would go in first thing.  Never assume!   

Next morning I heard the crane start up and wandered over to check, where I found a boat transport truck waiting and a large cruiser in the water.  Oh well, not first thing.  The cruiser was fairly tall and I am guessing it was the common story of the boat comimg up the Rhone and Saone and planning to take the canals to the North.  At St Jean de Losne is where they find out that there is a height limit of 3.5m (on good days) and a road trip is called for. I asked David how long?  Shrug.  2-4 hours?  Maybe all day, I joked.  

An hour later the boat is lifted and there are people looking at the bottom.  "Oh, it has twin props, they will have to come off".  Not always easy to do, and two workers spent the rest of the morning, tapping, hammering, heating and clamping.  I thought my joke may be true.  Around 2, after lunch of course, the props finally relented and the boat was loaded and gone.  And we were in.  

No leaks, but no engine start either.  The yard had replaced some cooling pipes on the engine before I got there that involved a large mechanic poking around in the enclosed engine bay.  This can and did lead to some older wires beging disturbed, namely the Neutral interlock and the shut off solenoid.  I fixed the first the engine started straight up, and then wouldn't stop.  Fixed the second, cleand the hull and motored around to the marina pontoons.

The marina is quiet with most of the Kiwis gone but we are adjusting to this life quickly and looking forward to setting off next week.  Lilou now has a bad back and can't walk too far so we have another chariot.  It gets a lot of smiles and comments that always include "Bebe", so think they are surprised not to see a baby in there.

ised

2023 A Short Season

We had a late visit to Australia this year, only getting back to SLO in mid June.  After last year's heat there was no way we were going to rush off to France in July.  Rosie is getting more frail and Terry is having doubts about more air travel, so this year it is the skeleton crew:  me and Lilou.

No firm plans yet as I will be concentrating on sprucing up Armida with the idea of selling this year or the next but I hope to get some local cruising in.  We will be there from August 26th to October 29th and are open to visitors for up to a week at a time.  Let me know. 

Visitors, the Long Village and Heatwaves

Santenay and The Long Village

I think it was writer about the English canals who christened the Canal life "The Long Village" and the name applies just as much in France.  Santenay is a small but popular mooring but with no services so most stays are short.  In our past stops here we have often encountered familiar faces and this time was no different.  Not blong after we arrived another boat showed up with Kent and Heather from Maryland (and Aspen and the Bahamas) who have appeared in this blog in 2013 in A Sunday in Besancon, and who we encountered that same year in Santenay just after we picked up Skye, Adam and 6 month old Sean.  Again, memories were refreshed over drinks.  The next morning we motored 45 minutes to Chagny to pick up Caroline and Phil from the UK, just as we did Skye and family  nine years ago.  Kent and Heather had been replaced by a Hotel Barge taking up mosty of the mooring but leaving us two bollards. 

We sat at the picnic tables under the trees catching up and reminiscing and looking down on the valley. A guy on a bike shows up and starts chatting. He was disguised in a helmet and sunglasses but I recognized the voice as Harvey from Hoep det Leven who I met with his wife Sandra (from Boston) doing a barging course in 2010 with the legendary Tam Murrell. They are not technically part of the long village having sold their barge but they can't shake France and are renting a house in Santenay. More catching up as Sandra joined us and the afternoon was soon used up. Harvey wrote one of the best blogs about canal cruising at On A Barge in France.

The next day we set off with the crack crew back on board down the 8 Locks back to Fragnes.

What is better than Juillet 14 in France?

Well two, of course. Our plan had been to stay the night in Fragnes so we could get into Chalon-sur-Saone early on Bastille day to be assured of a berth in the busy port. We discovered on the way up that they celebrated in Fragnes on the 13th. I suspect that Fireworks operators are fully loaded over these two nights. We arrived in time to get the perfect spot, just far enough way from the festivities not to be too noisy but close enough to enjoy the fireworks. 

As mentioned before Fragnes is barely a village but has a huge open air pavilion by the canal. This was filled with enough tables for at least 200 people, who all showed up for the Moules (mussels) Frites and entertainment. Caroline and Phil went off for the food and were able to enlist help from the locals as to protocols: you needed to buy tickets here, stand in line here etc., And by the way, did you bring your own bowls? Oops, dash back to the boat. For 14 Euros they filled whatever bowl you brought with mussels and provided an endless supply of frites. A  bottle of very nice Rully Burgundy wine was 12 Euros. No one went hungry. Back to the boat for the fireworks. But first we had to wait for the next village over to do theirs, that we could see very well. Make that 2 1/2 Bastille days 

Next morning we motored down the canal, to the 10 metre lock, into the Saone and a prime spot in the marina for the Chalon Fireworks. It has been two years since they have been able to celebrate the national holiday and they must have been saving up their supplies. We all felt that we saw one of the best displays we have experienced.

Heating Up.

Caroline and Phil left the next day after another very special visit. The weather had been warm but only preparation for what was to come for them.

While writing this post I went back to 2013 to check on dates, where I found a comment on how the heat was more relentless than what we had experienced before. Now it is much more than an annoyance. It is not as dramatic here as in the UK but 39C (102F) is hot in most places so, as per the previous post, took the easy way out and enjoyed our "holiday" in an air conditioned hotel for two very comfortable nights.  We got back to the boat just before a lovely thunderstorm brought rain and cooler air.

Exit Strategy

Apartment Armida has spent enough time in Chalon-sur-Saone and it is time to think of our other home.

We will leave here today and take a couple of days to St. Jean de Losne for clean up, lift out and cover on.  Then it's off to Paris for 5 days and then back to California.

Copping or Chilling Out

Terry says it's like a holiday from our vacation.

Still Floating Around France

 Destination Dijon

With no firm sense of direction Apartment Armida finally left Besançon.  With Sharon on board, we did the familiar but always lovely cruise to Dole and showed her the delights of that small town. 

After 3 weeks we had noticed a substantial increase in the weed and feel justified for our change in plans.  After Sharon left we went back to Saint Jean de Losne for the annual fete and ceremony for the blessing of the mariners.  Being a Catholic ceremony it might be the “forgiving” of the mariners.  We probably need both.  The port had the weed clearer hard at work.

It happened on the hottest day so far with blustery southerly wind blowing.  We left after lunch and went 6 locks up the Canal de Bourgogne to a favourite wild mooring in the shade, which was delightful.

After few weedy locks the next day we set up house in the port of Dijon, which was also clogged with weed.  It didn’t matter as we ploughed through to the pontoons, which we had to ourselves.  The port in Dijon is in a park that had a reputation for being a bit seedy but it has tidied up its act and is quite pleasant.  A secret, it seems, from other boaters. We were entertained by kids in the playground and people out for a stroll, often with their dogs that we came to recognize.

Apartment Armida was just outside the old city but only a 15 minute walk or 5 minute tram ride to the center of it all.  Dijon is still a charming city that we like even more every time we come here.  It is full of history and wonderful buildings that  make a slow stroll a feast for the eyes.  We had a great time exploring (rediscovering) all the little squares and streets as well as some very nice meals. We had specifically come for the Festival of Music on June 21^st and it did not disappoint.  The threatened thunderstorms stayed away, and we strolled through the town sampling different musical groups at every turn.  I’m sorry but I don’t count DJs as a musical group, but I guess they do.  We finally settled at a café in the Place de la Cordeliers where there was a stage featuring Big Band Jazz.  We sipped wine and snacked, and people watched while the dogs in their stroller got their unfair share of attention.   For us, it now ranks second only to Paris for the best Fête de la Musique.

The wind shifted to the north and cooled off.   We had a couple of rainy days which we loved.  It’s hard to think of a more cozy place than in a comfortable boat in the rain. 9 days in Dijon was lovely but we had to move on to meet Caroline in Phil in Santenay. 

So we fought the weed out of Dijon and had another lovely night at our secret mooring before stopping a couple of nights in St. Jean de Losne.  Armida needed her stern gland repacked before we set out down river.  It is not as painful as it sounds but I preferred to have Blanquarts do it.

  They have "Simpsons" clouds in France.

Between two worlds - Chalon-sur-Saone

Then it was off down the big river with to Chalon-sur-Saone with a stopover in Gergy for dinner at the restaurant overlooking the mooring.

Chalon-sur-Saone is another charming small city and river port.  The big river cruise ships come up this far.  The marina where we made our apartment is tucked behind an island across the river from the old town.  It was like being between two worlds.  The Island has is charming with a street full of restaurants.  However if you turn the other way there is nothing but box stores in a huge shopping park.  It is all very convenient (more so with a car) and we were able to stock up.  But we preferred to walk across the bridge an pretend there was only the romantic France.

Well, maybe a Waterfront Cottage

The river seemed very busy after the canals – we saw many more boats: Dutch, Germans, Belgians. It seems they have returned in numbers, but once we left the river it was quiet again.  Even the lovely mooring at Fragnes didn’t have many boats.  This is not a city apartment type spot but a lovely park like mooring right next to the grass.  It is splendidly managed by the lovely and always helpful Celine.  We spent a couple of days here scraping and painting and cleaning, with some time left over for sitting on the grass. 

Up 8 locks to Santenay overlooking some of the better vineyards on the Cote d’Or. We will meet our guests tomorrow and make our way back down the canal for the Bastille Day celebrations.