DATE: Thursday 27 July, 1995

PLACE: Verdun sur Ie Doubs to Chagny

WEATHER: Cool but warming

Real Canal sailing!

REMARKS: The night's rain has reduced the temperatures - indeed I resort to a jersey while on the river!

We leave at 0830 and retrace our steps for a few kilometres until we enter the Canal du Centre. The morning is cool and cloudy, and we even encounter a brief shower of rain which drives us inside.

Immediately we enter the Canal we encounter the first Lock - the first of 10 which will lift us anywhere between 3.19m and 5.20m at a time.

After the first one or two, Dave gets me to take over and negotiate the lock entry - of course we hit the side once or (more likely) several times, and hard words are uttered about positioning for tying up.

From then on he 'abandons ship' and rides and walks from lock to lock. They are close together - only 250 or 300 metres apart in a couple of cases. Driving into the locks is a little intimidating, but four pairs of hands makes a difference to tying up, and my confidence grows.

We lunch briefly en route, and then continue our leisurely pace, into an increasingly hot afternoon, reaching Chagny in time to shop, pause at a bar, and depart for a quiet mooring. We even have the strange sensation of traveling over a railway line, on which the TGV passes.

This is achieved on a quiet stretch opposite Santenay - a beautiful, picturesque village backed by vineyards on the hill-slopes.

Much of the day has been spent following a contour of the land, which has meant we have a view as the canal passes up-slope. We have returned to arable lands, and magnificent sun-flower fields line the canal-side. Many of the trees have clumps of mistletoe, some of which I liberate at lunch-time.


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