On the French Waterways - 2016 cruise - Repairs and preparation
 |
| Boats at St Jean-de-Losne |
The tenet of a mariner's existence - Hurry up and wait!
I seem to be doing a lot of that lately - hanging around St Jean-de-Losne, waiting for the weather or something to happen.
 |
| Fast flowing River Saone! |
The weather has been the main problem.
The rainy and humid weather has delayed all the paint jobs at H2O.
As well as causing the Saone to flow very fast!
 |
| Shangri La ready for sandblasting. |
But finally Shangri La is in the shed, all taped and covered up ready for sandblasting and anti-fouling to be sprayed painted.
While waiting, I decided to hire a bicycle and ride along the tow path of the Canal de Bourgogne and go to Dijon.
This notion came to nothing.
Firstly, despite the canal guide saying that the towpath is in good condition and well maintained, it is actually very rough and full of potholes. I would almost certainly have had several punctures in the road bike's tyres.
 |
| Cycling the Canal de Bourgogne |
And secondly, I confirmed the fact that I don't like cycling.
Most uncomfortable and jolly hard work. I would rather walk anyday.
Also been doing some planning for our albeit short cruising season this year.
 |
| Map of region |
If you look at the map in the picture, St Jean-de-Losne is at a veritable junction of several waterways, so the choices are almost endless.
We would love to go to either Besancon or Dijon, but those trips entail going up a lot of locks, just to come all the way down again.
So I think we will do a relatively leisurely jaunt down the Saone, via Chalon-sur-Saone, and up the Seille to Louhans, and back to St Jean.
This should take about 20 days.
 |
| Canal de Bourgogne |
Only 7 locks each way, so not too arduous from that point of view.
That's it for the moment. Hopefully the next post will show the new antifouling coat - which should last for a good couple of years!!
Bon voyage.Labels: barging through France, blog, blogs, Canal du Bourgogne, European inland waterways, River Saone, St Jean-de-Losne
