Canal de Bourgogne

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 - Eclusier has gone for his lunch half way through the process

The eclusier (lock keeper) is the one who does the bulk of this hard work but a crew member is expected to help where possible. During summer students are taken on as extra eclusiers and they will often accompany you by moped for a series of locks. At the end of the season they should certainly be fitter than when they began. This, though, is the being the beginning of summer and when, on a hot day, your eclusier begins to resemble a melting, pink marshmallow you wonder and worry if they will survive at all.