Barging in Burgundy Part 2

Barging in Burgundy

To read from the beginning use this link – Barging in Burgundy

Heading down the Saone

Day Three – 30th June 2017
St-Jean-de-Losne to Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
My husband made us a divine melon/banana/oat smoothie for breakfast. And the obligatory plunger of good coffee. Then we headed up on deck to untie and make our way south along the River Saône. First, we topped up with 250 litres of fuel which came to €318.00. We passed through two medium locks – one was 3.75 metres.

We gave Seurre a miss. Last time they charged us for full services which we never received. The office/centre was closed and we couldn’t access or use their amenities. Bit cheeky methinks. Verdun-sur-le-Doubs on the other hand we remembered fondly. Friendly and a full range of services. Even their wi-fi worked. It was a no brainer to stop there again.

Verdun-sur-le-Doubs

A bloke came down and helped us tie up. Always handy that. We tied up backwards (stern to) in Verdun-sur-le-Doubs. On our previous trip we had done their village walking tour. The Tourist Info Office is right next to the marina. They gave us a guide and we followed little yellow fish painted on the road. This time we ambled about slowly and headed for their Atac supermarket. There is nothing you could possibly need that Atac don’t stock. It was still drizzly and cool so we stayed inside the boat. I made a big fat veggie frittata which we ate with French Carrot salad. You can buy it ready made in most shops. It’s divine. And of course, we had a few blocks of local Cotê d’Or chocolate.

Shangri La in Verdun-sur-le-Doubs

Day Four – 1st July 2017
Verdun-sur-le-Doubs to Chalon-sur-Saône
My other half got up reasonably early and joined the queue outside the Boulangerie to buy pastries for my mother and freshly baked whole-wheat bread (pain complet) for brekka. OMW the baked goods in France are divine. As we were gearing up to untie and head off we got chatting to a friendly English bloke who had been cruising the waterways for the last 25 years. These guys need to download their info onto some sort of site. They know so much. One thing he mentioned was rainfall on the canals. This had contributed to more weeds in the water than normal. A possible problem when using canal water with weeds is blockages in toilets. Another thing we hadn’t considered – low rainfall means less water in the canals. Which could mean they have to close some of the canals. We needed to be vigilant and keep up to date with VNF news in this regard.

Shangri La arrived in Chalon-sur-Saône to find a super friendly bloke who spoke perfect English guiding us into the best mooring spot and helping with our ropes. Nice! After we tied up we had a lunch of bread, crackers, spreads, pâtés and fruit and then headed up to find a wi-fi (or wiffy as they call it in France) Café. The amenities at Chalon-sur-Saône are excellent but like most marinas, the wi-fi was useless. Chalon-sur-Saône is one of the best marinas in the area.

Tied up in Chalon-sur-Saone

We’ve often wondered why the cafés and bars right next to the marinas can provide perfect high speed wi-fi, yet most marinas have rubbish wi-fi. C’est la vie. After catching up on life we wandered around a bit and then headed back to the boat just in time to miss the rain. The aromas of on-board cooking permeated the marina. We could see folks settled in with glasses of wine at the ready. Life on the waterways is truly idyllic.