Canal du Centre

26th April 2009 [Sally]

Two weeks of glorious spring weather and we have seen the trees change from bare stalks to a fine mist of green and they are now all in full leaf. The change from winter to spring is a delight to all but for us who are unused to seasonal changes it is even more so. In the month of cruising we have seen the primula, blossom, forsythia and tiny violets on the banks give way to displays of iris, peony and great swatches of wisteria clinging to walls. The crops are also responding and on either side we see the green of winter wheat and yellow canola that is bright enough to hurt one’s eyes. The absence of water fowl has been marked, save for the occasional male duck. All the mums must be nesting so we expect that in the next few days we will see a plethora of newly hatched ducklings to take up the surplus bread we accumulate on board.

Our time on the Canal du Centre was very leisurely; we reached Montchanin at the very top of the canal in time to meet up with our first visitors of the season. Kristy our eldest granddaughter and her friend Cameron arrived by train from Paris. They had had a frantic two days in Dubai and the same in Paris so the very sedate form of travel with us was a welcome change. We cruised down through lovely countryside to St Léger d’Heune where we dined at a restaurant we had frequented before. It is run by a young English girl who saw a derelict bar from the deck of a hotel barge she was working on, thought it had possibilities and now six years later she is the owner of a good little business. France must be full of such possibilities but unfortunately the French seem not to see them. The next day we arrived at Santenay, the beginning of the Burgundy vineyards where we gave our visitors a walking tour of the town and then loaded them on the motorbikes and sent them off through the vines. That has got to be one of the best ways to appreciate it all as you are so close to all the action- and there is always some activity. The vines have been pruned over winter to one shoot and at the moment this is being clipped to the support wire. It is slow back-breaking work, just one of the many days of labour that goes into every bottle of wine.

On Friday we took a ten-minute train ride to Beaune. To young people from the Gold Coast where nothing is more than 30 years old a town as ancient as Beaune is such an eye opener, and nothing more so than the Hospices de Beaune. Built in 1443 as a Hospice for the poor it still stands today as a jewel of medieval architecture with its ward room with the beds all made, chapel, pharmacy, and kitchen all sited around a wonderful courtyard. The original donor spared no expense in setting it up and there are several masterpieces of art but the one that stops you in wonder is a 15th century polyptych, 9 panels depicting the final judgement. A wonderful piece of work and an even bigger wonder that it has survived. It was found abandoned in an attic at one stage and in a crazy act of censorship clothes were painted on the naked figures. The Hospice continues to receive a substantial bequest from the original donor, as he also gave them 29 hectares of vines and the proceeds of these are auctioned off in November of each year. One of the biggest events of the year. After lunch Kristy and Cameron went off on a tasting tour of Burgundy’s finest while we meandered around the old streets. Beaune was occupied during WWII and as it was such an important railhead the Frenchv expected fierce resistance when they tried to take it back. On Sept 7th 1944 the Free French surrounded the town and on the morning of the 8th woke to find the Germans had departed so Beaune was liberated without a shot fired. It was then a race to contact the Americans as it had been arranged that they would provide bombing support. Fortunately that was cancelled in time so nothing of the town was lost. Next day we sadly said goodbye to our visitors and put them on the train to Strasbourg, then to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, while we continued our very slow pace.

Next stop Fragnes, about twenty houses, no shops but a wonderful new quay complete with electricity and a very nice restaurant all for 6€  a night. It was such a pleasant place to moor we ended up staying for four days. Quite an assortment of fellow travellers, some Scots, British, and fellow Australians so we socialized, swapped travelling stories and shared an occasional glass of wine in the evenings while waiting for the sun to go down. Fragnes is only 5kms from Chalon sur Saône, so we were able to make good use of the cycles and visit the town. Last time we were there it was cold and windy so on a bright sunny day we decided to do what we do best and soak up the atmosphere with a walk around town and lunch in the square. It took three attempts before we found a table;the financial crisis has not extended to the French curtailing their déjeuner.

While in Burgundy we have explored with both the cycles and the motorbikes.   Burgundy has an extensive network of bikeways;they call it the VoieVere,(Green Way) and have constructed 800kms of well-paved and signposted rides through the most picturesque parts of the countryside. So many more people are using them than even last year, might have a lot to do with school holidays of course. We met a Swiss girl, cycling from Basel to Nevers who had never left the green way. Our efforts are very insignificant compared to that.

Our Anzac Day commemoration was confined to flying our largest Australian flag on our very short mast as we travelled up the Saône to Verdun sur le Doubs and watching the video of the special day Tony shared with Peter last year at Villers Bretonneux. Verdun sur le Doubs is having its annual springtime garden fete today so the square is a collection of stalls selling a huge collection of seedlings both flowers and vegies. We have weakened and now have three new window boxes with petunias, pansies and lettuces. We’re off tomorrow for St Jean de Losne where we hope to get all the maintenance done in time to continue up the Saône to meet our next visitors in May.