The canal between burgundy and champagne

-or between the river Marne and the river Soane.
We are here on the toss of a coin. We left St Jean de Losne and headed north along the Saone passing the entrance to the Doubs and pausing for a lunch break at the city of Auxonne. A night and a very ordinary meal at Pontailler sur Saone and we came to the junction of the Saone and the canal entre bourgogne et champagne. Which way? A toss of a euro and tails won. Doesn't it always? And here we are. We had absolutely no preconceptions about this canal. It doesn't seem to be on the most popular list and we'd heard nothing at all about it.
2nd lock in, enter lock, lock fills, wait for gates to open, and wait and wait. Eventually wake up and look at notices. We are supposed to phone up via a box at the lock and declare ourselvses. The person at the other end tells us he will deliver a 'telecommander' (remote control) in a few minutes. We had a remote control to operate the locks on the River Doubs so we're familiar with the concept -we think. But there's always a variation on the theme here.
We expect a delivery from a lock keeper in a little white van but are astonished when, about 5 mimutes later, said zapper is spat out of the machine I have just spoken into. Now what? we have the zapper but we're still trapped in the lock. So, after zapping everything in sight, unsuccessfully, we call up on the phone again. which is what we were supposed to do in the first place apparently. They just want to know the number of the zapper we have received and then open the gates remotely. Bon apres midi and we're on our way. Champagne and Burgundy - sounds promising.