Canal de Bourgogne, travel-report 2002: tenth day

This evening we are moored close to the village Flogny-la-Chapelle. It is almost nine o'clock in the evening and the sun is setting. We are at a sheltered place and the birds are emphaticly present with their singing in the trees. The lockkeeper's house and the somewhat orange colored evening sky are mirroring in the water of the Canal de Bourgogne.
	As always we left in time this morning and were the first to lay before the lock of Tanlay. We navigate through a more open landscape. The still green cornfields and the yellow cool-seed fields are alternating.

We are lucky with a number of oncoming boats which are locked just before us, so the right side of the locks is open side as we arrive. We make good progress this way. After the locks 91 and 92 which are close to each other, the length of the canal sections is increasing, about two kilometers now. We only have to go through six locks to arrive in in Tonnerre. We moor in the port. The first hour we look particular to the other side of the canal where a Belgian trailer with a boat on it is standing. We see a crane hoisting the boat into the water.

The weather is sunny today. After lunch we do some shopping in an enormous LeClerq which is situated close to the next lock. After that we walk into Tonnerre.

We take a look at La Fosse Dionne. It is a well with a wash house built around it. The water is deep green-blue and comes from 45 kilometers away. It is very busy as we arrive at Fosse Dionne. It 's probably a school trip or something like that. Later on we are practically the only ones. It 's a very special place.

We climb from Fosse Dionne to a church on top of a rock, the Saint-Pierre. Curiously the church is open only one afternoon a month and that isn't today of course. We descend therefore to the city again. I find an interesting book about the Canal de Bourgogne in a bookshop.

At a quarter to four we decide to go on. We see again various wash houses today. This morning close to Commissey near a little stream parallel of the canal and this afternoon in Dannemoine and Cheney close to the locks and also in Flogny we find a neglected one close to the church. In contrary to the morning we navigate through a intimate section of the canal this afternoon. There are always bushes and strips with trees along the canal. At our left side the Armançon streams as always. We come along a castle which dates from the Renaissance, Chateau de Cheney. For the first time we meet a lockkeeper who does not allow us to help with opening the sluices. The we navigate to three long sections of about four kilometers. We even are a little bit bored. While I am navigating the wind surprises me a couple of times. Because of the bushes and trees I wasn't aware of the wind which blows at the more openly situated locks. The boat is blown against the walls of the lock.

We moor close to an other boat at a quay in Flogny-la-Chapelle. Because the concrete edge of the quay is very high, we have to tie up the fenders with a rope to protect the boat.

Later on a third boats arrives. He needs more than a quarter of an hour to moor in the cue. Only after I tell him to navigate forward in stead of backwards the German captain manages to moor the boot. Pepijn finds a huge spherical fender which he connects to the front of our boat.

We are having dinner at a picnic table this evening. I enjoy it very much. I like eating outside in the sunshine close to the waterside very much. Later that evening I cycle to the village to look for tomorrow's bakery. The boys have found some French boys to play football with in the meantime.