We enjoyed a few nights mooring au sauvage (in the wild), staking into a grassy bank somewhere peaceful, just us and nature.
We moored up just outside the village of Vandenesse and this has to be one of the best views so far from our home on the water. The chateau in the medieval village of Chateauneuf looks down on us, magical when lit up at night.
We stayed for two nights and walked up that hill to the village on a hot morning for lunch and to visit the castle. We could see our boat down on the canal from the turret windows. Chateauneuf is listed as one of the 100 most beautiful villages in France.
A lovely lunch outside in the sunshine
Didn't expect to find an English tea shop here in the middle of France!
But waiting for us the other side of this quite lovely location was one of the challenges Chris was not really looking forward to, the 3.5 kilometre Pouilly tunnel. Due to it's dome shape it is one of the longest and narrowest waterway tunnels in France. We were confident we would fit in but it meant having to concentrate on staying in the centre for an hour and a quarter.
Unfortunately for us the tunnel lights weren't working that day so we were reliant on our own navigation lights. I was told by the skipper to go inside so retreated to the bedroom and my Kindle to distract me (cowardly I know). I did pop up once to the helm but Chris was concentrating so hard he wasn't even aware that I was there and I thought it best to leave him to it, he needed no distraction! He did a great job though and eventually we emerged into the light again. His first words were " I wouldn't want to do that every day!"
The Pouilly tunnel is at the summit of the canal. Up to this point we have been steadily climbing upwards by means of locks. From this point on we will be descending, and in a couple of days quite sharply by means of three staircases or flights of locks, 37 locks in 13.3 kilometres.
Just before the flights we stopped at Pont Royal, nothing much there but a delightful mooring with a village green in front where local children were having fun. You could go back a hundred years and nothing much would have changed. We had arranged to meet up there with Roger and Margaret on boat Phoenix. We met them on our travels last year and knew they were headed up this canal in the opposite direction. We spent a lovely afternoon and evening with them in the local (only) restaurant for lunch and on the back of their boat. Lots of laughs.
Next morning we left Pont Royal prepared for a couple of full on days descending the lock flights. We travelled in the company of John and Jill on their yacht, sharing the locks with them. They have been in France for three years having crossed the channel from Poole Harbour, travelled to the south on the midi and are now on their way back up to return to Poole. It's so interesting to talk to people who have been there and done it. We both had a challenging day last Tuesday when there were strong gusts of wind invariably just as we were about to go into a lock. Going in sideways is not a good idea!
We rewarded ourselves with another day out, this time to the village of Flavigny, another of the 'plus beaux villages de France'. The film Chocolat with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche was shot here and it is just as quaint, picturesque and charming as it was depicted in the film. The buildings truly seem not to have changed in a millennium.
It is also famous for it's aniseed candies, Les Anis de Flavigny. The monks first started making the candy in the 9th century and the recipe used today has not changed since 1591. The factory is still in the old Abbey and we had a tour of the factory with free samples. Each candy is made in a process starting with a single anise seed and covered over a period of 15 days with coats of sugar syrup. The pretty oval tins, still depicting a shepherd and shepherdess sharing a tender moment where he offers her a candy, can be seen in shops all over France.
We arrived in Ancy le Franc this afternoon just as the weather became showery. After 30 degrees yesterday it is a nice change and I am now settled down watching Wimbledon on tv whilst writing this blog.
There are some nice stops on our last few days on this canal before we arrive in Migennes at the top. This will be something of a milestone as Joli Roger was put in the water there just a year ago and it was from there she started her voyages on the French waterways.
To date we have clocked up a total of 890 kilometres and have been through 445 locks of different shapes and sizes. We must be getting the hang of it now!
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