Nederlandse versieThird day: from Pouilly to Vandenesse

We take it easy this morning. We agreed with the lockkeeper to go through the tunnel at eleven o'clock. I cycle with Pepijn to Pouilly to get two baguettes and chocolate- and raisin-buns. After breakfast Marga and I are drinking coffee on a bench in the sunshine while Charlotte and Pepijn do some shopping in the supermarket. The weather is fine today. The sky is all blue. At random I take a picture under the plastic tent of the electrical tugboat which used to tow the barges through the tunnel. I am satisfied with the result.
At eleven I report myself to the office of lock 1 and I fill in a form. Then we are allowed to go through the tunnel. Marga is going by bicycle over the hill. She doesn't like the idea to navigate 3333 meters long under the earth. By a narrowing in the canal we navigate to the tunnel. The colony of rooks high above us, is bombarding us with their shit. Marga is waving at us  at the beginning of the tunnel and she takes some pictures. I have chosen to use the outside steering position. From outside I have the best view. Then it suddenly darkens.  

We can see a little light in the far distance. That 's the exit we are heading to. The walls of the tunnel are made of yellow bricks. It takes a while before I discover the gaps of the air-shafts. They are not in the middle of the roof as I expected but close to the sides. It is a pity they are shut off at the top.

Halfway we discover that they aren't all shut off. We stop and take a picture through the air-shaft upwards. The walls are soaked with moisture.
Stalactites are hanging at the ceiling of the tunnel. In several aspects the tunnel reminds of a cave. Some bats are flying. Meanwhile the spot of light in front of us is growing and the one behind us is shrinking. The children ask me to blow the horn. We hear the echo very long. At the other side Marga is waiting for us. She has heard the sound of the horn.

We have to get used to the bright sunlight as we navigate out of the tunnel We are coming in a groove again which is luxuriant grown with moss, ferns and other plants. The trees around us are very high, it looks as if we are navigating in the jungle. 

We moor in the port outside of the tunnel. e are the only ones. The lockkeeper tells me he expected three boats to go through the tunnel today but two of them are 'en panne'. Near the lock is the dock with the dock-tank which was used to tow boats through the tunnel which were too high.    

At two o'clock we lock down eight locks to Vandenesse-en-Auxois. It is a really wonderful part of the canal. We are navigating in an intimate valley. Meadows with white cows (Charolaise), beautiful locks and two friendly lockkeepers who are accompanying us. We see some pops sitting at the waterside from lock 6. One is fishing, an other is climbing in a tree and a third one has a little boat. It is a funny sight.

We moor in a little basin where some ship are already present: an Englishman and two hotel boats. It is a beautiful mooring place with a view on the castle of Chateauneuf. While I make this notes in the evening, the castle is illuminated.

Many people are working hardly around the port. There is a kind of festivity tomorrow. I read on the posters 'Vide Grenier', which means something like 'Empty your garret', a second hand market thus. The boys are playing with a funny little, black dog which belongs to one of the stand-builders.

At the food-shop of the village one can order anything you want. We order a football for the boys. While I am always focussed on the canal the boys see football-fields around them all the time.

In the afternoon I make a bicycle-trip along the canal. The next ten kilometers the Autoroute du Soleil is emphatic present as neighbor of the canal. At Pont d'Ouche the motorway turns south and the Canal de Bourgogne turns north. There is a little aqueduct here. By coincidence a hotel boat is arriving in a few moments. I wait making a photograph until it is navigating on the aqueduct.  
After that I cycle on. At one side the remains of an old railway are still visible. Because of the competition of railways many canal had difficulties to survive but in this case the canal outlived the railway. The river, the Ouche, is meandering at the other side of the canal. I am curious if I can find some wash houses here. There must be some of them but I expect them to be situated near Dijon . At the last village I cycle by, Pont Gissey-sur-Ouche, I find a indoor wash house (not directly situated at the river or canal).  

I cycle back by a different road but that is disappointing to me. The route might be shorter, I have to climb heavily. When I lose my way, I lose my last bit of energy too. As I finally arrive at the boat again, the others just had dinner. Only after dinner (salad with fried potatoes) I recover a little.

The weather was marvelous today. During my absence the boys have had a 'water-ballet'.