Before we left Dijon, I decided to have a go at my first effort at splicing rope. I had bought some lengths in Saint-Jean de Losne, and needed to create a loop for one of our new mooring ropes. It was fine rope and I didn’t want to muck it up. I think I managed a good job… and subsequent intensive use has proved its longevity. I quite enjoyed it…. I might take it up as a hobby!

A couple of days after our unforgettable tour to the wine country of the Cote d’Or, we set off from Dijon to continue our journey along the Canal de Bourgogne. The canal starts fairly soon after Dijon to climb into hilly country, in contrast to the plains we have left behind. Our first night was spent in the fairly forgettable village of Velars-sur-Ouche, moored outside the supermarket, with a decent boulangerie but with not much else to recommend it. The next day, however, we arrived at Lock 34(S), Ecluse de Banet. This was more like it! This mooring is run by a couple who lease the lock and lock-house, and who have turned it into a shop, cafe and delightful stopover. Electricity and water for a few euros per night, a delightful ambience, a place to savour. The cafe was closed when we were there but we bought a few pretty nick-nacks from their shop as gifts for friends back home. We shall return!

As we proceeded up the canal, our surroundings became more and more picturesque and we felt ourselves enveloped in a soft blanket of calm and peace. We had left the city behind and we felt things unrolling in a decidedly slower fashion.

The next day brought us to La Bussière-sur-Ouche, a pleasant stop in a sweet little village, but without much in the way of services or commerce. Our highlight here was a visit to the Abbaye de la Bussière, a remarkable 12th-century Cistercian abbey that had been broken up in the Revolution, renovated at the end of the 19th century, donated to the bishopric of Dijon, which then granted it to a friends’ association, before it was sold in 2005 to an English couple who have transformed it into a luxurious estate and hotel/restaurant. Its grounds and buildings are amazing and it has a Michelin-star restaurant and bistro where we enjoyed a magnificent lunch.

Back at our mooring, walking along the canal below the village, we were reminded of how proud many French people are of their gardens, and how so many of them lovingly tend to their vegetable plots. Food in France is relatively cheap, fresh and readily available; with so many domestic veggie gardens, it’s little wonder shops and supermarkets offer superb variety at low prices… if they didn’t, the French would simply grow it!

Our next stop was at Pont d’Ouche, another village in the middle of nowhere, but a very lovely mooring with a sweet little bistro attached to the port. The proprietor, Sonya, is an absolute gem and made our stay worth every moment.

After a couple of days at Pont d’Ouche we set off quite late, on the advice of the VNF, and settled for a mooring at Crugey, a small village by the busy Autoroute de Soleil. It was pleasant enough, without services, and we were lucky to enjoy a delightful meal at Le Chemin bar/restaurant, where I had the best whitebait so far experienced in France and some really good scalloped fries.

The next day a short morning cruise brought us to Vandenesse, a pleasant mooring not far from the famous 15th-century fortress at Châteauneuf-en-Auxois. We spent three lovely nights here. On the second day we rode up to the hilltop Châteauneuf, a very hot and very difficult climb on our bikes! Not at all for the first or the last time (we have been miraculously blessed in this regard), the weather gods smiled on us: the ride up was sunny, but as soon as we entered the chateau and its museum it poured with rain, then stopped when we emerged for lunch, a walk around the village and the ride back, then bucketed down again just after we stowed our bikes and were comfortably inside.

The château and its surrounding village are delightful and fascinating and would reward an extended visit. First constructed in the 12th century by the lords of Châteauneuf, whose reign came to a sad end when the last heir, Catherine was burned at the stake in 1456 for poisoning her husband, it passed to the Dukes of Burgundy and their favoured advisors. It passed through various hands over the next 500 years, undergoing the usual ritual defacement in the Revolution, and eventually was handed to the state and, with the surrounding villlage, was declared a ‘monument historique’ .

The views from the château and the village were outstanding. The village itself was also charming, with many narrow alleys, stairs and lanes, many small shops and ateliers and studios, and a very pleasant cafe/restaurant.

Our last treat in Vandenesse was lunch on our last day at Chez Lucotte, a small restaurant opposite the port, one of those treasures of regional France, a country restaurant for workers with great food and atmosphere. A menu that offers little variety, a small carafe of wine and a large basket of bread at every setting, and some classic French dishes such as oefs meurette, boeuf bourgignon, a cheese course and creme brûlée, and absolutely no pain for the wallet. No tables for two, we shared our meal at long tables with the workers, and a few friends including a French photographer we had met a few days before at our mooring in Crugey and a couple of fellow boaters.

This sustenance and a good night’s rest prepared us for our work the next day, travelling through 8 locks and the tunnel (souterain) de Pouilly to reach the summit of the canal. One of the locks just before the tunnel was a riot of colour with flowers and a fascinating museum of old tools fixed to its walls.

The Pouilly tunnel, at 3.3 kilometres, plus another 2 kms or so of narrow cuttings at both ends of the tunnel itself, was the longest we had navigated so far. We’d approached it with some trepidation, but in the end it was a breeze*…. although after 20 minutes of the one-hour passage, time seemed to stretch on an on and on to an eternity before the light at the end appeared and approached.

* Jane has reminded me that our tunnel journey was not in fact a breeze. It was over an hour in a very narrow, low, dimly lit, dank and damp underground tube. The air was so moist that we had to keep wiping the wheelhouse windows so we could see; and our windscreen wipers didn’t work, so Jane had to crawl out onto the foredeck to wipe them by hand. I later found that our electrics system has a quirk that means you can’t operate the spotlight (which was absolutely necessary) and the windscreen wipers (which would have been decidedly handy) at the same time. 

Pouilly itself is a broad stretch of the canal offering a large and convenient port, although there’s not much there and you have to walk or ride a distance into town for shops, services and cafes. Nevertheless ,it was a pleasant stay with some nice vistas and pathways for pleasant walks along the canal.

Pouilly represented the summit of the Canal de Bourgogne, at 378 metres above sea level the highest apex of any canal in France. We could  now look forward to falling down some 290 metres (in 156 kilometres) west towards the Atlantic coast… and only 112 locks until the Yonne River!