Langres to our winter base at Saint Jean de Losne

We ended up staying in Langres for a week in the company of our good friends Pete and Glen. The remnants of tropical storm Henri were forecast to cross central France. When it arrived on Wednesday we battened down our hatches and did the only sensible thing, ate and drank the day away, out for lunch at the auberge near the port and then back to Pete and Glen's boat. Great fun! 

On Friday morning we said our goodbyes and set off in opposite directions. Pete and Glen are staying out cruising a while longer before returning to St Jean and are then heading off to sunnier climes in Portugal for the winter so we shan't see them again until next year.

We had the 5 kilometre Balesmes tunnel to go through but unfortunately the storm had knocked out the electricity supply to the tunnel lighting which meant Chris having to concentrate hard for an hour and a half with only the tunnel light on the boat to see by. There was also a tree branch down in the cut as we approached the mouth of the tunnel. The VNF (French waterways authority) are not always very quick off the mark in removing debris.

We had been forewarned that on leaving Langres we would not come across any shops until we got to the bottom of the canal and back out onto the river Saone. As this would take us 4 days we had stocked up the cupboards before we left. We really enjoyed the peace and quiet and lovely scenery though as we knew this was our last bit of cruising this year.

Gorgeous last mooring on the canal

On Monday we left this lovely canal, turned right onto the river Saone and arrived in Auxonne late afternoon. We managed to squeeze onto the town quay next to Andy and Chris on Edwina Rose. We spent a great evening on their boat with Roger and Margaret from Phoenix who were returning to the UK next day.

Our planned early start next morning for the last leg of our journey to Saint Jean was unexpectedly delayed by fog.

By mid morning it had cleared and the sun came out. We had a delightful 3 hour river cruise down to Saint Jean with not a breath of wind.

We were a week early to go into port so were hoping to get a space on the steps at the town quay. There is a real holiday atmosphere with the bars and restaurants and the comings and goings on the river, a good way to end the season. With a cruiser close on our heels Chris made sure we got into the only available gap before he got there first. Ten minutes after we had tied up two guys came along in a truck and put a board up saying no mooring for 40 metres as a hotel boat was due in. Fortunately a boat behind us was pulling out after stopping for lunch so we quickly untied again and took their space. It wasn't until late evening that the hotel boat finally turned up and it was the biggest we had seen on this river so far, 115 metres long carrying 142 passengers. Just as well we moved when we did!

We had some very noisy neighbours waking us up early some mornings with all their quacking.

And some very noisy guests onboard to watch the Wales v England rugby match. Two Welsh, four Kiwis all supporting Wales, and us two Brits. They nearly took the roof off our boat when Wales won!

Edwina Rose joined us on the quay along with Kiwis Guy and Vicky on Piper barge Manuka who had brought her over the Channel from the UK into Calais earlier this year.

On Tuesday we had arranged to meet James and Linda from widebeam Poppy for lunch in Dijon. We had met them out cruising in the summer and they were winter mooring in Auxonne. They got the train to Dijon and we drove and met them there. As we were clinking glasses James commented on how lucky we all were to be here enjoying wonderful company in a wonderful city, in wonderful weather, on a weekday lunchtime. Cheers to that! We should definitely not take it for granted, especially as we are all still in our fifties! 

Not only did we get to have lunch out that day but dinner too as a farewell to Cyn and Ían as they head back to New Zealand for another summer over there. These antipodeans never get to experience winter now. We shall miss you guys.

After a week on the quay Chris took the JR on her last little trip of the year into the marina whilst I walked round and took photos. This year we have travelled a total of 1080 kilometres and gone through 457 locks.

We have managed to secure a lovely mooring spot on the very end of a long pontoon. It is between two islands within the basin, full of bird life and even goats on one of them. The kingfishers flit across the water from one island to the other, the sight of them always makes me smile but they are too quick for the camera.

So this is the final blog of the year. We have created more marvellous memories to look back on and will continue our journey next May.