Canal de Bourgogne, travel-report 2002: second day

We all slept better the second night. I get up at half past seven. We made an appointment with the lockkeeper to travel on at nine o'clock. De bakery appears to be closed at a quarter to eight and when I walk again to the bakery it appears that the bakery is always closed on Mondays. Fortunately we have some bread in stock but we are looking forward even more to the first fresh baguettes.

Before noon we arrive at the top of the chain of locks. Just two more locks and we 'll arrive at the longest section of the canal. At the last lock the lockkeeper gets a dead deer out of the canal. We look at the animal together. Boef tells that regularly there are found dead animals in the water. This section of the canal has steep edges and when a deer falls or jumps into the water it can't get out again.

The last locks of the chain we and our French followers are accompanied by a black dog. Just after the lock with the dead deer the dog jumps into the water. He also can't get out. We stop immediately and the French behind us help to save the dog. With a hook the French women succeeds to pull the dog to the side so she can pull it out of the canal.

However, some time later he jumps in the water again. The French pull it out again.

He continues to follow us and jumps into the water for the third time. Now it's our turn to get him out.

Near the village Braux we stop for lunch. The dog is laying at the waterside close to our boat while we are having lunch. The children give him some water. Despite his jumps into the canal he apparently was still thirsty. After lunch I walk into the village and the dog follows me all time. In the village I see nothing special indeed.

We have eaten our last stock of bread for lunch. We inform the lockkeeper of the next lock about the dog. She doesn't know the dog but when we are leaving her daughter runs after us. She has informed other lockkeepers by telephone and the dog belongs to a lockkeeper many kilometers back. She takes him with her by a chain. We are happy the problem is solved this way.

After that the French stop at Pont Royal. We now have the whole Canal de Bourgogne to ourselves.

We arrive at the longest section of the canal now (more then 10 kilometers). We are navigating in the beginning through a long channel (Tranchée de Creusot) which is dug through a hill. It is a one-way traffic with a couple of places where one can pass one another. It is a beautiful part of the canal. The longest section is a relief after all the locks we have gone through so far. Marga is resting at the deck. One after another heron is flying up when we are coming close by.

We are still navigating on a kind of uplands. At the end of the longest section we come between the hill again. As apposed to this morning the weather is dry this afternoon but the cold wind is present all day.

We are navigating on and on and so we take the last twelve locks upward. These are mostly electrical served locks but unfortunately for Pepijn a lockkeeper is going with us to tend the buttons. There are some problems with several locks so some of them has to be tended manually.

Though the river Brenne still meanders aside us, this part of the canal is dominated by the Autoroute du Soleil which is situated at a short distance.

Meanwhile we discover the inconveniences of this boat. The warm water is produced by the motor but after Maarten has taken a shower, Marga is standing under a cold shower. (for the second time this holidays).

We still have some problems with the wind when we are locking. There is a side-wind and when we want to get out of the locks we are blown against the side. I try to steer the head of the boat against the wind but that doesn't work because the back of the boat is bumping against the lock-walls.

Except for the French who accompanied us until Pont Royal we have not seen any other boat today.

At the last lock before the watershed the lockkeeper controls our search-light. It must be all right when we want to navigate through the tunnel tomorrow. She also tells us that we are obliged to put our life-jackets on. We make an appointment to go through the tunnel at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning.

The port of Pouilly is a yawning empty, rectangular piece of water. We are the only boat in the port. It feels a bit lonely. Later we are accompanied by a kind of tourist boat. At the opposite side some grain elevators are situated and at our side a building-materials trading-firm is situated. Though the port basically is well equipped, water and electricity are cut off. At the other side of the port a fisherman is sitting in his car, looking at three fishing-rods. Under a plastic tent lays the electrical tugboat which used to tow barges through the tunnel in earlier days.

We make instant Chinese food from bags we bought at home. It tastes very good. We are satisfied. We navigated 29 kilometers today and climbed 26 locks. In the afternoon it was sunny and so we are sitting with red heads at the table this evening.

After dinner I take a look at the tunnel with Pepijn. I find it very impressing. A giant groove cut deeper and deeper in the landscape. Along both sides are plane-trees growing. A colony of rooks is living high in the plane-trees. We also hear a woodpecker. Around the corner is the entrance of the tunnel. It isn't a very impressing hill the tunnel goes through. The village is situated straight above the tunnel.

I walk with Pepijn along the air-shafts. There is one at every hundred meters. Most of them are closed at the top because children (like Pepijn) like to throw little stones in the air-shafts. That can be dangerous. At the highest point the tunnel is 48 meters below the surface. The path, called Allée des Platanes, is situated in a straight line above the tunnel. In earlier days the skipper-wives and children used this route while the skipper was trying to survive behind the steam-tugboat in the smoke. The members of the family could see where the tugboat was by the smoke coming from the air-shafts. Later on the steam-tugboat is replaced by an electrical tugboat. This is the one we saw in the port of Pouilly.