Waters and Wines of North Burgundy. Way to Auxerre

By bufo_raddei, 02/11/2022 18:18

Waters and Wines of North Burgundy
Waters and Wines of North Burgundy. Joigny

The first main stop on our way was Auxerre, the capital of the Yonna department, and also the centre of AC Auxerre, but first, we should manage to get there. Many boat travellers spend the first night at the start place and begin to move only the following day. In Aquitane we did the same because you can get the boat only after two pm, it takes time – to do all documents, get a boating lesson (or show that you can do it), loading and so on – all this stuff takes two-three hours, locks stop to work at seven pm, you are not allowed to move at dark – as a result, you don’t have much time to start at the same day.

This time we had a very tight schedule and planned to start as soon as possible. There was no chance to reach Auxerre on the same day, but we planned to stay overnight in a small village and come to Auxerre in the middle of the next day.

After the morning walk in Joigny, and lunch in the small cafe, where we tried such feathers in Burgundy’s culinary cap as Escargots de Bourgogne and Boeuf de Bourgogne, washed them down with perfect local Burgundy wine, our company arrived at the mooring.
The rest of the company went shopping at the nearest store, and we with the captain started the barge-obtaining process.

When we did a demonstration circle on the river with the company mechanic, he asked us – when you are going? Tomorrow? We – No! Today! He – OOOo!, and started to cry to the barge that just started to move to pass the word to the lockman to wait for us. We started to worry and asked what going on.

Here I should step aside and explain the peculiarities of boating in Burgundy. In Aquitane, where we got our first experience, and in most other places in France, most locks are automatic and you control them yourself – pull a cord, push a button and so on. Yes, the lock working time is between 9 am and 7 pm approximately, but during this time you can pass the locks as you wish. In Aquitane we met only one lock with an operator – between the river and the canal. If the lock doesn’t work for some reason, you can call the lockman via a special gadget on the lock. We did it once. So, nobody interferes with your movement across the locks.

But Burgundy is a special place. All locks here are operated by lockmen. Even automatic. This makes your movement along the river much slower and more complicated. First, the locks have lunch brack. Well, at least it has a predictable time. The funnier thing – the lockman doesn’t present on the lock at all work times, you need somehow find he/she and make arrangements. Every lockman serves two-three locks. When he passes you through his first one, he usually asks you, do you intend to go through the next one right now? If yes – he goes to open it for you. If not – you need to arrange the time when he will open it for you. If the next lock is not in the current keeper’s jurisdiction, he will call the next lockman. Or give his phone number to you – try to rich him yourself. Sometimes you come to the lock, and nobody is present. So, you need to call to boat rental office and ask them to solve the problem. Some locks work according to their own very special schedule, and this fact you will find only in place. All these things dramatically slow down your already slow movement, sometimes in unpredictable places.

The icing on the cake: Canal du Nivernais is the most locked canal in France. It’s 174 km crossed with 112 locks. We passed 62 of them.

Another type of icing started after the Auxerre, but I tell you about it later.

Back to Joigny. The big locks waited for us just behind Joigny. Suddenly we find out that they work not until 7 pm, as all others, but until 5 pm. Without any reason. Just because. And our only chance to pass them today – if the barge that just started to these locks, will wait for us. Because the locks would not run another cycle today. The mechanic promised to call the lockman and ask him to wait for us, but we should finish loading and start in twenty minutes. If we are not passing the locks right now, there is no reason to leave Joigny today. And in the Auxerre, we will come only tomorrow evening.

The mechanic called to the lockman, we did miracle quick loading, and after half an hour our boat started to move upstream Yonna. I even had time to buy two last bottles of local Aligote in the rental place, partly solving my sommelier problem, but it is another story.

Came to the first lock. The first boat is waiting for us. I even don’t want to know, what the owners thought about us.

These three locks are huge and can house a whole batch of boats. It takes a long time to fill them with water.

The gates are open, going out.

Second lock.

The third one. So funny how they put the prohibition sign right above the dam. Looks like we are salmons on the spawning run, and can start jumping.

Going further, the first boat still cannot outrun us.

Early down we reached Bassow, a little village, where we platted to stop for the night. Planned? Do it!

Bassou is a very small village. The mooring on the riverside is just for one boat, and that is it. Well, it has a new thing for water and electricity, but it doesn’t work. It was not disappointed us. We just started; in theory, we had water for two days, and we can use electricity from the accumulator. Next day we will be in Auxerre, where is a huge mooring with everything.

Another problem worried me. My first wine session was on the line. Well, actually the second one. The first one was a winery visit in Joigny. However, the winery visit was unscheduled, because most participants arrived at Joigny just before the boat descent. And we had a good first touch of local wine in the cafe. However, I planned to use the winery visit to buy wine for the first planned session. Every evening over dinner, I gave a small session about Burgundy viticulture with examples.
After the disappointment with the wineries, I decided to run into the store during our loading, but the locks problem resulted that I had only two Aligote bottles, that is good, but not enough representatives.

So, I decided to walk to the village looking for wine.
Some comrades went with me. Time – 7 pm. The village is small and completely empty. We decided to go to church because it is in the centre of the village.
We were right. Near the church, we found the street with the only open place in the whole village. The place at the same time was the post office, the bakery, the wine store, and the bar. The most important thing for life. The place was full of locals with glasses. Wines were represented by local wineries, and I found everything I needed. One of the locals with English knowledge even helped me to find everything. So, we bought wine and a freaking awesome baguette and went to the boat for a Burgundy wine lesson.

The next morning, while most of our companions still had sweet dreams, we with the captain started to move to come to our first lock just at the open time.

Here is the lock. The big ones are behind us, now is the time for the small ones.

The lockman house. Well, decades ago, when canals were used for cargo transportation, lockmen always should be in a place ready to pass the barge at any time. Those times every lock has its own lockman, who lived in such houses just near the lock. Nowadays most houses are sold to people, who just live in them, and some are used by lockmen for technical proposes.

Bridges above the canal are sometimes so low, that the boat doesn’t have enough space to move under them freely. We put down the umbrella on the boat bridge forever to prevent its damage. People on the boat bridge pretty often should bend to avoid interaction of their heads with bridges.

Foggy morning.

When we passed several locks, the lock woman told us, that lunchtime is coming, so she open the next lock for us only after lunch. And we went to walk around the closest village Moneteau.

Somebody immediately found fan stuff.