Retracing our steps summer 2014

After we left Moret/St. Mammes we retraced our journey of two years previously and cruised up the Seine, turning off onto the river Yonne, at the junction with the town of Montereau-fault-Yonne.   This city profited from great prosperity in the 13^th century with medieval trade-fairs.  Having a fortified castle and ramparts Montereau was a popular city in the medieval period.  But the 100 Years Wars (1337-1453) – yes I know it doesn’t add up to 100 years, but this is what the guide books says, led to terrible destruction and later centuries brought much political and religious disturbance.  Also the Religious Ware (1562-1598) and La Fronde (1648-1653) were a great hindrance to the development of the town and its region during these centuries.

In 1814, on 14^th February one of the last battles won by Napoleon 1^st took place in Montereau during the “Campagne de France”. And a statue of the Emperor on horseback overlooks the confluence as one enters the Yonne.  Later in history, the 19^th century industrial boom in Montereau saw the exploitation of local materials and the arrival of large tanneries, pottery, the tile industry, brickworks and about all earthenware factories which employed as many as 900 workers under Napoleon III. On the 14^th and 15^th June 1940 the city suffered from terrible bombing which destroyed the city centre and the bridges.

Our next stop was at Pont-sur-Yonne where, on Sundays, they have one the best street markets we have yet seen. This year they also had a Grande Jumble Sale, with stalls displaying the weird and wonderful – not that we were tempted by them!

In June we pulled into the city of Sens.  We always remember where we are for the month of our birthdays as we treat ourselves and find somewhere that looks interesting to go and eat out.  We stayed here a few days to explore the city, visiting the cathedral and its museum, which houses many ecclesiastical treasures.  The museum being formerly the Archbishop’s Palace, is a very grand building suitable for the exquisite painting, tapestries and artefacts it houses.  One of the most notable are garments which belonged to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor to Henri II of England.  Under threat from his king, he took refuge in Sens.  One of the most stunning garments was a great velvet and gold cloak decorated with fleurs-de-lis, and trimmed with ermine.

We also managed, on another very hot day – 34C -  to walk down to the tropical gardens, where we wandered under the shade of the trees, and cooled down before we left with an ice-cream.  The City Tour is worth walking around to view the many and interesting buildings, and again we braved the heat of the day.

 Sens, Hotel de Ville

Interesting staircase of Jean Cousins, architect                         

In the event we didn’t celebrate my birthday with dinner out in Sens as we were entertained all afternoon long,  by a dance class being held on the quay adjacent to our boat. We thought it was a Latin American dance, but were told it was Kisomb, African.  It involved some extremely sinuous and sexy movements!  So we sat on our deck sipping champagne and enjoyed the show!

 

A very intimate dance!

After an exhausting week of site seeing we decided to move on to the quieter town of  Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. The town was founded by King Louis VII in 1163.  There were 2Km long defensive walls, broad moat and towered walls opened by five monumental gates, two of which survive to this day. One can stroll the now tree lined moat from one town Gate of Sens to the other Gate of Joigny.    Many elegant houses remain, built for the successful merchants of the wine and leather traders.   The town subsequently suffered badly when the vineyards were destroyed by the Phylloxera virus. 

Joigny Porte and Laverie

 And so on to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne

This was the view from our boat early one morning.  We are so lucky, and feel very privileged to have such fantastic, ever changing scenery to greet us each day.

It was here in Villeneuve, on the hottest day we had experience to date – 42.1C -  that we celebrated my birthday, not by dining in the restaurant on the quay side, created by the actress, Leslie Caron, but instead we went to an evening ‘Soiree’ in a  small family run bistro.  This turned out to be a slightly different evening that we had anticipated, but hilarious nevertheless. The Soiree was in fact a Karaoke run by an MC, who interspersed film music with questions about the music played.  Well, even if we had understood what he had asked, we are so out of date with the entertainment world that we wouldn’t have known the answers anyway.  But the other diners appreciated our presence apparently, as they cheered loudly when we attempted one answer. And after dinner, taking our leave before any of the others, they again cheered us and clapped as we left, toasting us with a ‘Vive l’Anglais’.  All very bizarre, but fun and a memorable evening.  So glad we didn’t settle for a conventional meal!

This time we managed to get a mooring in Joigny (prounounced to rhyme with Swannie!), and so we went off exploring. The town grew around the 10th century castle, attributed to Raomard-le-Vieux, count of Sens. A chapel was added, then a monastic institution and further fortifications.  The tourist guide boasts 29 points of interest, including three churches which were all open to wander around.  Joigny is built on an extremely steep hillside, fascinating but tiring on a hot summers day.  So we retreated to the boat to sample some of the local produce!

One of the narrow streets of Joigny!

 The hillsides around the town are covered with vines, producing the grey Cote-Saint-Jacques Burgundy wine, white, red and Cremant Burgundy wines, all of of course have to be sampled.  Other local specialities include Pave Ragobert pastry, Dagmar sweetnesses, and Pain d'Epices bread. By the quay side there is an attractive market hall with green painted metallic structure, over red and white patterned brickwork. Built in 1887, classified as a Baltard-type building and typical of this region.  

Joigny from our back deck.

After the heady treats of the three previous towns we retreated up a small diversion to little hamlet of Cezy, with its population of 1,100.  We had stopped here two years before and sampled its restaurant, tabac, small grocer and boulangerie.  The mooring is just long enough for our 20M barge, and the village is accessed across a little bridge over an island, and through woodlands to the village streets.  This year however much excitement was created by many gendarme being present, and a helicopter landing in the nearby sports field. We never got to hear what was the cause of all this activity.

Our next stop was Laroche St. Cydroine, as short pontoon providing free electricity and water. From here we could, and did, cycle into Migennes for the extensive market. I also managed a visit to Simon Evans at this boat yard, to say "Hello", receiving a welcome reception, despite interrupting their morning coffee break!

We stopped this year at the wood side mooring of La Graviere, just above the lock. From here we witnessed Simon Evans rescuing a boat with engine failure, by towing it away with his tug!  Lucky for them they were so close to the boat yard.  While they waited for Simon to arrive however, and so that they didn't hinder anyone's progress, they had to rise and fall in the lock with each passing boat.

We managed to get a good mooring at Gurgy in the shade, and even good TV reception for Ni to watch the British Grand Prix!  It felt quite emotional arriving at Gurgy, the place where Joli Coeur sank two years ago.

By this time we were convinced that our batteries needed replacing before our winter stop. So we pulled in to Auxerre to organise this.  We were joined here on 13th July by friends, Lissie, John and their cat Patrice, to celebrate Bastille Day as the town were putting on  their firework display that evening.

From here, and on one of the hottest days of the summer, we hired a car to visit Australian friends in St. Jean de Losne. At least we had air conditioning in the car.  We did think of sleeping in the car that night just to keep cool!  Sunday 20th July was the weekend of music all around the city of Auxerre, and various bars hosted different groups every night.  So we enjoyed the free after dinner concerts from our upper deck.

With our new batteries installed, and much appreciated help from Jean Phillipe, we moved down to the mooring by the park to await friends arrival for the weekend.

Auxerre, a quiet mooring by the park!

Towards the end of the month, we were joined by family members who cruised with us from Auxerre to Clamecy.  One ran between locks on some days, helping the eclusiers with gates and us with ropes. The other member showed off his new found skills by 'pancaking' ropes after leaving the locks.

The runner and Tashi cool off in the shade!

Looking cool with pancaked ropes!

Our visitors even managed to include a mornings rock climbing at Merry-sur-Yonne:

The explanation tells how the cliffs have been dated to be 150 million years old with much of  this are of France being underwater then.

It also tells of traces of coral being found in the limestone cliffs.

After all this exertion a well earned trip around the wine caves at Bailly was rewarded with tastings and purchases from the cave.

We arrived in Clamecy with a day to spare before they had to leave, so we took the car up to the hill fort town of Vezelay. This is said to be the height of Christendom, the gathering place of pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land, and a compulsory stop-over on the Saint-Jacques de Compostelle Road.  In fact one did feel a bit like a pilgrim, joining the flow of visitors up the steep hill, through the narrow street to the church at the top.

The Abbaye Saint-Marie-Madeleine de Vezelay was a Benedictine and Cluniac monastery.  Relics, said to be of Mary Magdalene, can be seen inside the Basilica.  The abbey church has very complicated imagery in sculpted capitals and portals, a renouned outstanding masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture. Sacked by the Huguenots in 1569, the building suffered neglect in the 17th and 18th centuries, and some further damage during the period of the French Revolution.

Both the church and hill were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979, and subsequently much sympathetic restoration has taken place.

After our visitors had left we were treated to a uniquely French spectacle in Clamecy, of the Descente Bidon, Les Crapauds de Basseville!  Basically this consisted of home made floats, carnival style, parading before the crowds gathered on the banks and bridges.  The particpants got pretty wet, getting water from all directions, sightseers on the banks and bridges had buckets which they lowered into the canal and doused them liberally.  Then a thunder storm arrived when the actual race began, and as they all had to pass through the lock they were 'sitting targets'!

The Parade!

After leaving Clamecy all the next part of the Canal du Nivernais was new to us, and we enjoyed the many delightful stopping places, too many to pick a favourite.  Although this canal is advertised as having free WiFi we found that at many places there was no signal for that nor phones or TV.  Luckily we had been warned about the scarcity of food shops after leaving Clamecy so we stocked up with long lasting food stuffs. Ni said I looked as I was preparing to go up the Amazon, so it became referred to as our 'Amazon supplies', and jolly grateful for them too we were at times.  

Our journey through the tunnels to reach the summit at Etang du Baye was unnerving.  The tunnels themselves were OK, but the bits in between had nasty sharp sided rocks narrowing our passage through.  

New effective spotlight!

Having experienced difficulties with previous unlit tunnels, Ni fitted a new spot light during the winter ready for just such an occasion.   Note the ladder/gang plank on the left hand side of the cabin roof.  This subsequently disappeared - where to, or who took it and why, we have no idea, but most annoying. Luckily we have another one, as we have needed it several times since Baye.

Other family members joined us at Baye, and it was a good job I had already emailed co-ordinates of our situation, as no further messages could be sent from here, and its a rather out of the way place. Their stay was brief but busy. One afternoon was spent canoeing

Look, no hands!

We dined at the local Chambre d'Hote on the Saturday evening. This was an usual meal in that we all sat around a table like a family, with Madame joining us in between serving the meal. We were a mixture of nationalities, Dutch, Italian, French and English, so the conversation was a bit stilted.

A day out to Guedelon was squeezed in as well, with the cart horses being the favourite!

Chateau of Guedelon

The fortified chateau is being reconstructed in the style of 12th century, using the same materials and techniques as the original. It is planned to be completed by the year 2025. It would be interesting to return then and how its progressed!