Barge Date:  09-14-2021

Up and Down the Nivernais

 This, we have been told, is one of the prettiest canals in all of France. Our judgement to follow.

The Nivernais is a canalized river.  It is the Yonne River that flows north from the high point of the canal - Sardy - to ultimately feed into the Seine. We are at one point on the river then off for a section of canal. Water levels this year are not a problem so the river and the canal are in a happy state. 

We went as far as Cuzy before we decided that we should turn around to make sure we arrive back in Auxerre in time to do more work on the boat and to get the boat ready for winter. I took some pictures and I have a few stories for you.

We expected to see a lot more hire boats on the water but instead it was reasonable. I, for one, like to be moving and having other boats coming does not bother me. You get to get out of the way and wave to the vacationers. One morning we started out thinking we would be alone in the locks but at the last moment a rather large rental entered behind us.  Not a problem as I can get real close to the front doors.  Six sailors on the rental, all with a Belgian connection of sorts. An Irishman seemed to be the captain. After the lock we were on a river section and the rental decided to pass us. Our fumes?  Anyway, for the next several locks they were in front. Going down in a lock is normally gentle so few concerns. 

Back on a canal section the rental is trying to crash his boat on the left bank. Are they trying to stop? Maybe it was someone else at the helm as we see the Irishman take over. They get a bit ahead and around a bend and as we get there we see a boat barely fitting cross-ways in the canal and something that looks like it might be a radio controlled boat in the water and moving along towards us. Once we determined it was our rental we connected the dots and realized that an umbrella - the RC boat we thought we  saw -  from their boat had blown off and they were trying to turn and recover. After much jockeying they made the turn and were able to get the umbrella.

At an upcoming lift bridge - Marianne has gotten off at  a regular bridge and walked forward to operate it - the Irish went through and then seemed not to want to clear the area. I am coming up on them and through, so I pass.  I do this knowing that we will be stopping soon and that there may be only one space for us. And we get the space.  Win some, lose some.

 

In the village of Vincelottes we are moored in a little basin.  Marianne has zeroed in on a fancy restaurant for the evening meal. We are greeted by the Chef/Owner and it is a good thing that I had cleaned up a bit. He gives us the menu, talks about specials, and I go for the fish that he says came in at a high weight and you almost never see them that way (does that mean they are better?). It was a nice meal, pretty plates and a nice dessert. So when I go to pay - he takes the money too - I can see the real cooks in the back room - I ask him about his story; how did this restaurant get started?

Forty-three years ago he found the location.  The previous 3 restaurants having gone belly up. His mom told him it was too small. But he worked at it, the restaurant worked, and he is obviously very successful.

So I throw some numbers at him.  We are off a barge that is 101 years old. Take that. And he comes back with a very uplifting story that has a tragic side to it. Forty-three years ago a lady and her family came in for her birthday and has never missed another year eating there on her birthday. She is now 104 years old and just celebrated at the restaurant with her family.  What is interesting and yet tragic is that she lives in a retirement home in town and she was the first to get COVID.  She survived. But then forty-one other residents died.

We have certainly been pacing ourselves. The engine barely gets warm before I am advised to moor. Thus we see a lot of villages. And when we stop we are hoping to find a bakery, a restaurant and someone that does ice cream up in a fancy way. What is the chance that for most of the stops these business are closed that day? Did not make for happy campers.

Tried to do some work on the lead acid batteries that start the engine. You have to crawl into the back of the boat to get close.  I want to check the water. These are the new batteries so I am removing the caps for the first time. Almost impossible.  Was able to do five.  The sixth cap was under some cables and just was not accessible.  So I get the wrench to maybe take the clamp off of the battery post. Sparks fly.

I did a post online to get some advice.  And it was mostly good. Insulate around the batteries - hey, it is a metal boat, the batteries are on a metal shelf and there is only six inches of clearance to more metal. Buy some insulated wrenches. That sounds good.  The best suggestion was from a guy that said when he put batteries in his boat some time in the past he never opened the caps.  They lasted seven years. Guess what I am going to do?

Have varnished all of the wheelhouse on the outside.  Could be better and I will work some more on it. Started chipping paint on the cabin roof.  I will treat for rust and prime with a couple coats of good marine paint. Next year the deck, the cabin, and the wheelhouse will all be worked on and painted by me and any person I can get to do it.  Who wants to take a trip next year?

Dungeon for sale.

 

 

 

 

In Cravant there is a dungeon for sale. It is a mighty big dungeon and includes a nice garden and living space in an adjoining building.  When we stop again Marianne wants to ask the lady owner and artist for a tour. It has been listed from 350,000 to 800,000 euros.  Sounds like we can get her down a bit.

She is selling the dungeon.

This is a church and other buildings at the top of a very sharp hill.

Tell the time?

The village of Clamecy has a history of wood, firewood. There came a time when Paris could not source enough wood for the winter heating and cooking. With improvements to the Yonne River a new industry was born. Trees were felled in the greater Clamecy area and positioned near the Yonne and smaller waters that fed the Yonne. Each log had an impression stamped into the end to identify the owner.  In the spring these logs, of a particular length - I think 1m14 - were pushed into the water and gathered at Clamecy.  Here the wood would be sorted by owner and great long rafts were created and then floated north to Paris where they were disassembled and sold.  This went on until coal was able to pollute the skies over Paris

Our new runner for the hallway on Lionel

This little French sweetheart wants to eat the new tomato.

So what do we think of the Nivernais?  We have seen a good many canals and the Nivernais is not near the top in terms of the views from the boat. Our earlier trip on the Burgundy gave better views. The Meuse River from Liege to northern France is better.  The trip from Toul to Strasbourg was very nice. We did not cover all the Nivernais and we may never do it all. But from this trip this canal is down the list.

1x1=3

 

Barge Date:  08-30-2021

Summer Reading

Every summer in Europe I read a good bit.  Mostly everyday trash but sometimes I get serious. Remember the biography of U.S. Grant?

So this year I have gone deep with three books about France. A big (1800 pages) biography of N. Bonaparte, a complete history of the French revolution and lastly a biography of C. de Gaulle.

Napoleon by Andrew Roberts seems to cover the subject from beginning to end. I won't bore you with the details since you probably know as much as I did before undertaking this read. From the typical American educational standpoint, most would say Napoleon was a great man. In the sense that Genghis Khan was a great man then so was Napoleon. Did he do some great things? Yes. Did he do them with France in mind? Sometimes.  Was he always putting himself first? Always. 

Europe was a different place than it is today. Countries, empires, duchies, principalities, cities, the church, royalties, titled persons, priests, bishops, popes, sex and intrigue; all of this allowed Europe to be a mess much of the time. From Spain and Turkey to Sweden and Russia, from the seas that England ruled completely to the far east of Moscow, territory changed hands all the time. Wars, marriages and alliances were made and lost. Napoleon was part of that. From cadet to Emperor, he wanted it all.  Perhaps he even asked God to step aside so he could take over.

What do you know about the French revolution? If you are American and a product of the educational system you know you just spent a day on this and no more. They stormed the Bastille, chopped off some heads, killed a king or two and everything was just fine from there on out. Just like America. The head of state probably looked like G. Washington or T. Jefferson, there were elections and life was good.

The book I read was The French Revolution by Ian Davidson.

In fact, the French revolution continued into the 20th century.  New constitutions, new laws, new governments. There was really no settled form of France until de Gaulle. And that was nearly lost in the revolt of 1968.

The Americans were lucky.  Their oppressor was 3,000 miles away.  Had the colonies been located in south Wales or Scotland you might have seen the destruction that took place in France. Ours was a "clean" revolution. The French had a really dirty revolution and it seemed to get worse with each year until finally the head chopping stopped and reason began to take shape. But even this went on for years. New people, new constitutions, new governments, Napoleon. Compared to France, the US had a clean history (if you ignore the Civil War). France's history is very muddled.

And what do you know about de Gaulle? If you are my age you can remember seeing him (very tall) and being told that he was always against the American political position with regards to Europe, NATO and anything else.  A trouble maker. Churchill wanted to like him but the Americans of WWII always thought the worst of him and did a lot to force him out and to ignore his wartime work and ambitions.

If you are younger than 40 you might not even know who de Gaulle was.

I read De Gaulle by Douglas Boyd.  While the writer certainly has pro de Gaulle sentiments that puts the French leader in positive light, I have to say that my opinion of de Gaulle is now very supportive. I believe the man wanted what rightly should be France's. A place on the world stage, a French view that did not support the US in all regards, the ability to make strategic decisions that were in the interest of France. France first.

De Gaulle brought stability to France.

 

Barge Date:  08-24-2021

Where Have We Been

You might think that we had some terrible thing happen to us.  But for you that view Marianne's FB postings of pictures and comments you must know that one of us is alive.  I will need the last blog to know where to begin here.

 We are on our way to Auxerre where we will spend about a week doing work on the barge. But we are in no hurry to get there so a few stops along the way.

We have been watching for canal weeds as we move forward.  Had a lot of this stuff after leaving Dijon but it suddenly stopped at one point.  Been told to expect more but it really has not been bad.  One section between 2 locks was heavy with the stuff but we found this weed harvester tied up to the bank (it was a Sunday) and some weeds dumped on the bank.

In the city of Saint Florentin we were joined by family from Belgium.  They did not want to stay on the barge or have a run down the canal so we spent a good bit of time just relaxing on the boat, exploring the town, eating well and making some runs to stores for boat supplies. This last part was much appreciated. Here are some pictures around town.

The church in Saint Florentin was having some work done on it but we were able to go inside after first requesting the key from the tourist office. If I have it right, the stained  glass windows are somewhat unique in that the small panes tell stories and those with a Catholic background probably could follow along.

The next town was Brienon sur Armancon.  The moment you find one round wash house you find another. Each has its own character so each stands alone just fine. The ladies had to descend a good number of steps to get to work then a walk back up with their load.

We were hoping to have lunch in town but it looked like a dim chance.  The one restaurant we found said it was open for lunch but it was empty and when we called out the owner said sorry. Where could we go?  Didn't seem to want to help but said maybe, just maybe, the place down the street and a right turn is open.

This did not look good either. Not a soul but we did round up the chef/owner and he said he would serve us. So picture this:  we are the only customers. We had no idea what to do so we said surprise us.  And he did. Now here is where you need to get over to Marianne's picture page because she takes pictures of food, not me. But the chef did a wonderful job from beginning to end. The name of the place is El Toreador (because of an earlier girlfriend from Spain when the restaurant was more tapas).  Now it is  more French food. Try telling your next chef to just go for it and surprise you. We did.

 We asked about the empty restaurant.  He said that when the French COVID rules changed that require diners to show their health pass his patrons just stopped coming. Perhaps the noon crowd more than evenings, but none the less he was hoping he was past the grim days of no income. We helped him out.

Stayed a couple of days in Migennes which is at the very north end of the Burgundy Canal.  Nice large basin and easy tie-up. Here is the one picture I took.

Now it is out on the Yonne River and heading south.  With the river the speed limit changes to 15kph and I opened it up.  This was suggested as a way to loosen the engine and turbocharge up.  Even up stream we could make good speed, but not 15. We are headed to Auxerre but we made a half way stop for the evening in Gurgy then on to Auxerre.

A busy port so we elected to moor opposite the marina but we found it much more convenient for shopping and eating.  I spent a good deal of time on board so I don't have a lot to say about the city; we will be back in five weeks and again next Spring.  But here are some pics around town.

So I did some grinding and painting on the deck of the boat. Actually not too bad.  What does not look good is the peeling paint job on the deck. It has been some time since proper boat paint has been used on Lionel. Talked to some Kiwis off of Petronella who were  in M igennes about to take their barge in to a yard to have deck and cabin steel stripped with a high pressure system.  Not your garden version of a pressure washer; this baby will knock you off your feet if treated poorly. John said it did the trick and was fast.  Made a big mess too.  Next it will be painted and when he is done they will be coming our way and I want to inspect.  May have the same done next year.

 

Barge Date:  08-08-2021

Where Have The Days Gone?

Where are we?  What have we been doing?  Going to look at the pictures to figure this out.

Stopped in Montbard, home of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, the father of all thoughts on natural history in the second half of the 18th century.  He wrote 36 volumes on this and was one of the first to think about evolving life.  But he was also a mathematician, astronomer and had many other interests. He probably did not have enough time in each day to do what he wanted to do. He should be someone that is mentioned in the history of science. He had a colleague that did a lot of drawings of animals and would be Europe's Audubon. At one point he purchased a nearby town and named it Buffon.

Many of the following pictures are of a park called Parc Buffon in Montbard.

On to Ancy-le-Franc. Big chateau here. A number of owners over time. See one of the gardens from Google Earth. The fancy garden can only be best seen from above rather than walking around it.

Room after room of interesting styles, floors, ceilings, woodworking and art work of various sorts. Take a look. Or skip if bored. But you will miss the exhibition of Lego Star Wars works that were on display in some of the rooms. Remember, if you click on a picture you can have a slide show of all pictures.

 

The gardens were interesting to walk through. Not much to the town but had a nice meal up the rue from the chateau.

And if one chateau is not enough the next village of Tanlay had its version of a get away place. The village was interesting for its upkeep. Road, sidewalks, building, etc. all seemed to be well taken care of. Often you walk a village and you wonder why the outside of homes and other buildings are not "fresh looking". Tanlay looked gentrified. So you will see more pictures of the town plus the chateau. A note on the Chateau: most of the walls were painted so not a lot of hung art.

This little work of iron is placed so no one can jump or climb from the wall to the bridge to get around the large metal gate.  Everything rotates so no good hold.

 

A production of Cyrano de Bergerac was going to be played at night.

YouTube is not playing nice and will not let me put this video up in a normal manner. Click the link to see it.   The video is of a ceiling in the chateau that tells a story about the conflicts between Catholic and Protestants. Why the people are mostly naked I don't know why. The Catholics are depicted as warriors and the Protestants as peaceful. The faces were known to be of  persons in history. The mural was hidden in the chateau for years until discovered in the 19th century.

Have started to see some traffic on the water. Hire boats, some cruisers and some barges. Gets you excited to have to pass some traffic coming at you.

Working our way north and will soon get to visit with some family members.  That will happen on August 9 in Saint-Florentin. So we are taking some small legs of the Bourgogne odyssey. The last town we were in is Tonnerre. 

No castles here. But two very interesting sites. The first is the laundry.  We have seen this in other towns and have posted pictures. Normally the water is taken from a stream that is diverted though the laundry. In Tonnerre the water is from an underground spring such as you see a lot in Florida. Very clean.  It has some depth but very little opportunity to explore under water. So take a look.

Water from the large pool would be diverted along a washing channel under the overhang.

 

The second site is called Hotel Dieu.  It was built in the 12th century as a hospital/church. Huge. You might come here to die close to God.

This structure was the work of Marguerite de Bourgogne, Countess of Tonnerre, queen of Sicily and Jerusalem and widow of the king of several properties. It was constructed in two years, 1293-1295. She became a servant of the poor. Important people and commoners are buried under the floor. 

The building was used mostly as a religious site and hospital but notably also as a warehouse by the Americans during WWI  and bombed by the Americans during WWII. This bombing destroyed part of the building. The roof is the original put on in the 12th century (less the bombed part).  Try to get that guarantee for your next roof. The pictures may not show it well but this roof is very steep.

 

This gnomon was added to the floor some time after construction.  It gives indication of astronomic time.

 

 So this is an off day.  I get to do the blog.