Through the Vineyards

Sunset on the Centre Canal in St Leger.

The two trees in the fore ground are 400 years old . This photo was taken in the courtyard of the vineyard Chateau Santenay.

Lush green vineyards along the southern end of Bourgogne, Burgundy, Cote D'Or - so many names for one region and so many wines. We spent several weeks on the Centre Canal and riding our bikes through the vineyards of the area. Such beautiful places and we felt so comfortable there that we decided we must have been vineyard owners in a previous life. The land is such a patchwork of visual textures - colors and smells. The buildings in the area are ancient and of beautiful stone that has often been white washed. Something that you could not reproduce. Just as the bread and wine are a result of earth, wind, water and love of the people of this area so are the buildings. Even the most rundown of buildings immediately sparks your imagination about how you might renovate it into something that would show its beauty. Then there is the wine......what can we say - just delicious.

Alas lest you think that all is alway easy with this canal cruising - the day we left St Leger sur Dheune we realized that the wind was a bit stronger than we thought. Wind and these relatively flat bottom barges do not go together. So we approached the first ecluse(lock) carefully - well we bumped and bounced into the ecluse only to discover that we also did not have reverse - an essential part of stopping. As we were shreiking ( me) and yelling (him) at each other the eclusier (lock keeper) stayed just long enough to be sure we were secure - these locks are semi automatic - then he scurried away - far away from this ranting couple. We decided to press on to a place we could stop for the night - the eclusier put in a guest appearance at the 4th ecluse - just to be sure we were still alive, I am sure. In my less than perfect French I explained to him how sorry we were for the commotion but we had discovered we did not have reverse, we cannot hear each other over the sound of the motor, we are both over 65 yo so hearing is an issue anyway and we have been married for 29 years - so who is listening anymore. He laughed and we moved on without further incident to moor for the night and fix our stopping problem.

The last ecluse on the Centre Canal as you enter the Saone River - 10.76 meters deep.

After the Centre Canal there is the Saone River on which we went for just a short stretch - 70 k or so -to St Jean de Losne. St Jean de Losne is where we started this adventure in 2005 as we were looking for a barge. Rather than do all 70 K upriver in one day we stopped in Verdun sur le Doubs on the way. Small old village with charming waterways throughout including the petite Doubs(river).

The sign literally reads - Light (meaning traffic light) - Bridge - Bad - last word on top line unreadable) - Bikers - see you in a bit - (last word unreadable). This gentleman explained to me - I think I understood - that he rides into town (Verdun sur le Doubs) each day for his coffee at the local bar and his sign cautions car drivers to pay attention .