Fragnes to Tournous

We ended up spending a week in Fragnes, near the end, or beginning, of the Canal du Centre, primarily because the Saone River was running high with water and there were lots of trees and branches being carried downstream.  That gave us the chance to do a little more cycling, enjoy a concert of Celtic music with Christophe Morvan, visit with friends, and have some lazy time on the boat.

Christophe Morvan, Celtic Voyage

Afternoon Shadows in Fragnes

Captain Randy, as we reach the bottom of the lock

Doors to the lock lift up to open onto the Saone River

River Lounge Lizard on the back deck, Tournous

Yesterday morning, we set off for the Saone River, clearing the big 10 meter lock between the Centre and the River.  Although we are heading northeast towards Strasbourg, we decided to hang a right and head south to the medieval town of Tournous, about 35 kilometers south, but worth the detour.  The beautiful Abbaye St. Philibert, surrounded by ramparts, dominates the town.  It is the only surviving group of 12th century monastic buildings in Europe.  There is a distinct Mediterranean feel to the architecture.  Here are a few photos:

Old building, new mailbox, shoes drying

Ancient Village Water Pump

In the cloister of the Abbaye

 Tomorrow we'll head north, to Verdun sur le Doubs.

Swans

a pair of swans came into the canal today as the Saone river is in flood

Cabottes, Soupapes and Chateaus...Part I

This morning we will shove off heading towards the end of this canal, and onto the Saone River, perhaps by the end of this week.  Its been a great week with friends Eric and Sudi on Oldtimer, who have shared their great local knowledge of this section of Burgundy with us.

Early last week, we set out by car for a little wine tasting in the villages of the Cote de Beaune, followed by lunch and shopping in the town of Beaune.  We took the back roads through the hills and vineyards.  Eric pulled off onto a tiny road in the middle of the vineyards to show us this cabotte:

We had seen small structures like this dotting the vineyards, they were originally built to provide shelter for the vineyard workers during lightening storms, or de pause casse-croute . . . snack breaks.  This one is a recent build, beautifully constructed of stacked stone from the surrounding fields.

The sun was out and so were the vineyard workers.  We saw many of the specialized tractors, which to me look like something out of Star Wars, very high off the ground in order to drive over the rows of vines on tall stakes. We were not prepared for this sight  . . .

Tilling the old fashioned way.  We watched as the horse responded to commands, going forward only a few feet, to be told to stop, as the worker repositioned the tiller.  It looked like a lot of vines were being damaged in the process, but later that day we saw two horses out working the fields.  There are many agricultural festivals around France, and often we see demonstrations of traditional methods at those events, so perhaps this was a practice session.  Hard work!  Great bicep/ tricep workout for the guy!

As we passed through the town of Cheilly-les-Marangues, we spotted signs for a Fete (festival) de Soupapes.  Having lived here for a while, you never travel anywhere without an Enlish/French dictionary.  Sudi even keeps one in the car; I have two on my Ipod and one on my new smart phone.  "Valves" said Randy as he checked Sudi's dictionary.  What was a festival of valves? Eric guessed something to do with cars, perhaps old cars.  More on that later.

We stopped at two wine villages, Volnay,  and Nuits-Saint-Georges, to taste wines:

And after shopping and lunch, headed home to the boats with a full trunk!

The next day was Thursday, the feast day of the Ascension, somewhat of a holiday here, and the Festival of Soupapes.  We rode over on our bikes to the town to see what it was about.  Eric was right, antique cars, motorcycles, electric bicycles, and a vide grenier sale of all sorts of parts for all of the above, and more:

Pas a vendre - Not for sale electric bikes

My favorite classic Citroen

A cute little Karmann Ghia, with a faux California plates, surfing stickers on the windows and a Hawaiian Lei hanging from the rear view mirror

I regret not taking a picture of the Volkswagon camper van, pop-top open, with the owners sitting out front in lawn chairs, grilling!  It even had flower stickers on it.

For the motorcycles fans, there were all sorts of antique bikes from the 30's and 40's, but I had to take a couple of pictures of the Harley, and the Indian on display:

Harley!

Indian!

More later, we are on our way to Santenay ....

Good News!

Water in the Canal du Centre! We shoved off from Parey Le Monial, steaming towards the end of the canal, with stops in the port of Genelard,  the town of Montceau-les-Mines, and the village of St. Julien-sur- Dheune.  We've had rain, off and on, for weeks, and last Friday, it was announced that the Canal will remain open, at least until August 20th.  Great news for us, we can slow down, and are now enjoying this beautiful region in Burgundy.  We had planned to stay in the port of St. Leger-sur-Dheune, one of our favorite little ports, but as we pulled in, the docks were full, so we passed through the port, past the a spot where hotel barges berth, and on down the canal to a beautiful sight, off the grid (no electricity or other services), where we are moored under beautiful trees, with a view of the church steeple peeking through the branches.  Here we were able to meet up with our friends Eric and Sudi on their barge, Oldtimer. Eric and Sudi know this area well, and took us on a beautiful bike ride up the canal path, to an old railway bed, now a bike path, up to the village of Nolay, with its 14th century market (Les Halles) constructed with huge posts and beams, topped with a stone roof.  It is still used today as the town's open air market. We stopped for lunch in Nolay at the charming tea room, Le The dans la Vigne, which opens out onto Les Halles.

Sudi and Sylvie

Madame Sylvie, the charming proprietess, even brought us blankets to use until the sun warmed our table.

 

The guys ordered the chicken stew - delivered in a big casserole

Fresh strawberries and a slice of Gateau Chocolate

 Back on our bikes, we headed down to the village of Sampigny les Maranges, to the pottery studio and home of Sylvie and Francois Fresnais.  We had seen their work last year at a big pottery show in the Abbey in Charlieu, and Sudi has collected several of their pieces.  So here's the "six degrees of separation" - Sylvie and Francois travel to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and exhibit their work at the big summer Folk Art Festival in July.  We had seen them, and their work before, not just in Charlieu, but in Santa Fe!  As a wanna-be-artist, I feel in love with their artist compound, complete with a water mill, as well as their work.  I'm attaching a link to their website, and a few pictures below. Small world . . . and we hope our Sante Fe friends will stop in to see them in July!

Roanne to Parey le Monial

After many days of rain, we shoved off under beautiful blue partly cloudy skies the morning of May 3rd, 2012.  Thanks to our friends Simon and Mae for the photos below:

We pulled into the port of Melay, about half way up the Canal Roanne a Digoin, and were joined a few hours later by our good friends Andrew and Laurel on Affleur D'O.

It was wonderful to finally be back on the canals after a long winter, and very rainy spring!  We enjoyed the lush scenery, green rolling hills, curious Charolais, blue herons, and wonderful songbirds along the way.


After a quiet night in the countryside, we moved on to an area outside the entrance to the Canal du Centre, just before the lock at Digoin.   We met up with our friends Brad and Nancy on Libellule, and while Brad and Randy did a little work on the boats and bikes, Nancy and I shoved off by car for a little shopping.  The skies were gray as we left, and while we were gone, a violent thunderstorm flared up, complete with hail.  I had just planted all of my flower boxes and herb boxes, and after years of living in Colorado, where you could be sure to have a hailstorm as soon as you planted your annuals, or as soon as the tomatoes set fruit, sure enough, this storm was a doozy, stripping the leaves off of the trees we were moored under.  Randy, my hero, got all of my flowers and herbs under the rear canopy and they were saved.  The boat was a mess, however, with shredded leaves and twigs everywhere.

Hail still coming down

Dimitri, checking out the size of the hailstones

We moved on to Parey Le Monial on Sunday, and spent a quiet afternoon washing down the boat.  We're still in a weather pattern with lots of rainy days followed by a day or two of sunshine.  We're glad we were able to get in a few days of painting in early April.  And even though its not as pleasant of a cruise in the rain (especially for me up on the bow handling the lines), we keep repeating the mantra . . . water for the canals . . . water for the canals.  There appears to be a lot of water, but this canal is scheduled to close on May 20th unless the reservoirs feeding it are full.  So we will push on ahead to the junction with the Saone River.  From there, the original plan is to hang a left and turn north towards Strasbourg, but then, we can always change our minds, hang a left and go south.  Cruising on slow time again!