Barge Date:  07-10-2021

To Dijon

We have made the first move on the Canal de Bourgogne or the Burgundy Canal. This is one of several commercial routes for north/south travel.  We have not seen any commercial other than one hotel barge.

Lots of weeds in a canal that is quite wide;  normally there is a clear path up the middle. When we tried to pull over for the night the weeds and the bottom worked against us. Spent the first night at Longecourt-en-Plaine. Used a ramp to get Marianne off the boat. 

The restaurant I entered in Google said it would be closed by the time we got there.  Good start.  

There is a "smallish" castle in town; in the same family for 400 years.  A hotel if you want to stay there and rates are reasonable. With restaurant closed we saw that the bakery was open and made some purchases

Pastry - Interesting - so I got it

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On the canal we are followed by 2-3 lock workers on motorbikes or small trucks. All the locks are manual in operation and having 2 people to do the work is good. We are going up at this time. The second night we are in Dijon, a city we have traveled before to by train.  The marina we are in is nice but filled with weeds.  We are on a quay that is away from the marina and may not be charged. In fact the marina side looks ugly and not sure it is in operation.

On the barge I have begun work on confirming air draft by taking measurements that I can know are right on. At the wheelhouse I needed to add water to the port tank to level the boat to get a true reading.  Had purchased a piece of extruded aluminum t-bar that I clamped to the edge of the highest solar panel and which could also be extended over the water.  A weighted string was lowered to the water and the string was marked.  The air draft matched the reading I was given when we bought the barge plus the new solar panels.

Then I made measurements at the bow where I have a small, permanent wooden mast. Here was the problem and why I wanted to do all of this.  This mast was well above the height of the wheelhouse. If entering a bridge or tunnel with low clearance I would have been given notice by the sound of the mast breaking and 2 cameras hitting the deck. This could have  been a reality this summer as we will be facing some low clearances.

So I got out the saw and cut  off about 25 cm of wood so the top of the mast is now about 11cm lower than the wheelhouse. To the mast I will be adding a metal rod that will extend beyond the top of the mast and is designed to rake against the top of a bridge or tunnel and make noise that will alert the ever vigilant captain that he might be about to have a collision. Hopefully in time to stop the barge.

We have been into the city center several times.  A very nice, clean city with lots of pedestrian streets. Does not have as many tourist stores as we saw in Strasbourg.

Thomas Jefferson, slave owner and President, was here as first ambassador to France. Was Sally with him?

Below is a picture of the route we are taking to get to Auxerre and more from around Dijon.

Manual biocide dispenser