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Sunday 7th
Our penultimate day on the canal.
We had a lovely meal last night in Corbingny after getting over the shock of the 18.50E taxi ride to the Pizza restaurant we chose to go to – all of 3 km away. We were seated at a very long table catering for about 20 each side. There were tables down each side of the restaurant for 4 – 6 people all of which were booked. We arrived at 7 pm which is the time the restaurant opened and already there were about 4 parties ahead of us. We all ordered an entrée – Kevin Langoustines, Paul Baguette, Jan a plain salad with tomato and I had Jambon something or other, which turned out to be a huge plate of ham with big chunks of butter on it. The ham was the smoked Italian type and really delicious.
Well, then we all thought we would have pizza, sharing one between 2. They were huge and after we had all fallen about laughing we tried to eat as much as we could. End result was that I asked for a box and we took home about 2/3rds of what we ordered. Dinner tonight is Pizza and salad. Taxi home was 20E which made the evening quite expensive even though the meal was reasonably cheap.
We all slept well and woke to a fine morning. Great, first thing was to get our washing done and all the wet things hung out. We have been hanging our washing on the railing as there is nowhere to hang our travel washing lines. A distinct lack of hooks etc. on the boat has made it interesting to say the least.
Once we had the washing all under control we motored down to the Locoboat headquarters about 3 km down the canal and through 4 locks, one of which was a double lock. Our entire journey has been ‘uphill’ and we have actually climbed 145.6m from start to finish. This is done obviously with the help of the locks, as for the uninitiated, the canals are all level of course!!! The locks varied in height from just over 1m to 4m. As we were going ‘uphill’ we had to get very good at throwing the rope whereas if you are going ‘downhill’ it is simple just to step off the boat and tie on at the locks.
Arrived at the Locoboat depot and tied up and got the washing all sorted. Then decided to go back the way we came on our bicycles to the little café by the side of the lock. Simple food – sausage and chips, steak and chips, chipolata and chips – you get the picture. Anyway it was very tasty. Biked back to the boat and since then we have been reading, dozing etc. Jan and I went for a walk along the tow path to 2 x locks down and back along the other side.
Now at 5.30 one or two more boats have come into the mooring, but it has been a very slow day through the locks today. Only about 6 or 8 boats have passed in either direction. France like every other country is feeling the effect of the economy squeeze, and the inconsistent weather.
Pizza and salad for dinner and anything else we can find to use up as we have to be off the boat by 9 am. We will pack up our bags tonight and, at great expense, we have ordered a taxi to take us to Dijon – about 2.5hr trip away. It all got too difficult to get there any other way – taxi to the bus, then local train, then fast train, then walking at the other end to the hotel. That plus the fact that the boys have at least 30 cans of beer left and we also have about 4 bottles of wine, some water etc. that we didn’t really want to leave behind, it all seemed too difficult. Cost….250E. Oh well easy come easy go!!
We have been given quite a few bottles of wine over the trip – for services rendered at the locks, the lifting bridges, etc. helping fellow travellers to tie up etc. All gratefully accepted.
All for now. Hopefully we will have wifi tomorrow at Dijon and can start downloading all this stuff.
- comments
Claire Great to hear from you at last- quite a challenge for you coping with all those locks -and having to travel 'up-hill' as well!! Hard to believe your holiday is almost over - so enjoy the rest of the time you have there. love C
Dianne Love reading about your canal boat trip, sounds excellent fun, we can't wait to do our trip....but we are doing the UK not France. Love reading all about your travels...gosh how your time has flown...soon you will be home with wonderful memories. Take Care xx