France August 2010

 

Next day, Saturday we had our first experience of lock procedures and barge handling.  We were descending from the Bourgogne Canal into the River Yonne, a fall of about 4 metres.  The eclusier do do all the work of opening and closing the gates and sluices; we usually helped with one of the gates to save him (or her) walking across to the other side.

 

       

 

From Migennes we headed north stopping off at Joigny to look at the markets and have some lunch. We then proceded to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne for an overnight stop.  Seeing these  old towns was a complete contrast to anything we had seen elsewhere and we really enjoyed the change of scenery.  Things such as old walls as part of fortifications were new to us.  As sunset was quite late, around 8:30, we often ate late on the quayside.

 

               

Being on the Yonne River, we saw quite large commercial barges carry either grain or sand and gravel.

From Villeneuve we proceeded further north to Sens,a mediaeval town with a famous catherdal built in 1130.  It also has a museum attached with a Rodin statue amongst other artworks.  In the basement is a section with Roman statuary and Palaeolithic relicts.  After a couple of days exploring Sens we pushed on towards Monteraux at the junction of the Yonne and Seine rivers.  We were disappointed to discover there was nowhere where we could tie up easily so after circling for some time, we decided to give it a miss and keep going to St Mammes.

This was our closest point to Paris, only about 70km.  We found a place to tie up in St Mammes but after a look around the town, Peter wasn't happy with our position and decided to move.  This was to Moret-sur-Loing.

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