L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

I had intended this post to tell you how much we have enjoyed our stay in Dijon with its quaint medieval streets, handsome Place de la Liberation, imposing Palais des Ducs,   cathedrals, restaurants, mustard, pain d’epice (gingerbread) and more. Sadly, all that has been overshadowed by a couple of incidents. For the first time in our 6 years of cruising we have been bothered by thieves – twice in one week. Perhaps we have just been lucky up until now. The port at Dijon is a short tram ride to the city (and, for those Melbournites amongst you, the trams are great. You can easily buy a rechargeable cardboard ticket at any stop and you touch on by waving your ticket in front of the machine as you board – works even if it’s in your wallet or bag. No touching off. Simple, efficient, cheap.) The port has water and electricity but no captain to collect mooring fees and so, at the moment, it is entirely free. Thank you city of Dijon. Perhaps that’s the reason that one or two ...

The Canal de Bourgogne is not as popular as some French waterways. When we mentioned our plans to other boaters, before setting off, the usual response was one word expelled on a sigh – locks. There are 189 of them over a distance of 242 km. It is, perhaps, a canal you travel only once, although lots of people regularly make the 30km trip   from St Jean de Losne to Dijon and back despite it being a dead straight and fairly uninteresting stretch (with   21 locks each way). That is because Dijon is a fascinating city and, with its TGV station, a convenient place to pick up or drop off visitors. There is no commercial traffic at all other than several hotel boats. Of course, if you are a (high) paying guest you are perfectly entitled to sit back with your wine and gourmet food, enjoy the beautiful countryside and watch others do the hard work at the locks. Eclusier at work Lock Cottage on Canal de Bourgogne Sharing a lock on Canal de Bourgogne - Eclus...

With May over the sun finally decided to ‘cast her clout’ of gloomy, grey clouds and make an appearance. Those still on their boats (many from the UK having given up in disgust and gone home) emerged blinking into unaccustomed sunlight clutching scrubbing brushes, paint brushes and plants to pot. Spring cleaning needed to be done and dusted pretty quickly this year – it’ll be midsummer in a few weeks. We gave it 2 days and then decided we needed to escape. So, as soon as the port office reopened after the weekend and the bill had been settled we waved our goodbyes and set off. Strong, gusty winds were whipping up waves on the river and there was still a fair current running against us but we were finally on our way -but not the way according to ‘the plan’ which had been turn sharp right (sorry, starboard) at the marina exit and head directly into the first lock of the Canal de Bourgogne. We wanted to spend a day or two cleaning on the go with the aid of a newly purch...