South on the Nivernais

We travelled a short way downstream (North) on the Yonne River so that Tess and Frank could see St Cydroin plus Joigny and also have a fabulous dinner at the Paris Nice Restaurant- one of our favourites and a truly excellent restaurant.Historic town of Auxerre

We then delivered them to the Gare at Migennes, so they did experience 200metres of the Bourgogne (Burgundy) Canal. However, the real reason was to be near a close station for their trip to Paris and then Barcelona.

After that, we set off South along the Yonne and over-nighted at Moneteau, a small village outside Auxerre. We were astonished to meet with our friends Chantal and Christian just before heading to the lock the following morning. They had dropped their grandson at school and then gone for a walk. Seeing an Australian flag on a boat, they investigated and found it was us! What a nice surprise.

We had a speedy trip past Auxerre and ended up in Vincelles. This is the sister village to Vincelottes where we attended our first Vide Grenier of the year and successfully bought a number of French books for our grand daughters (who are studying French at pre-school).

Vincelles, in the Yonne River valley

After Vincelles, we went up the "Vermenton arm" of the canal and stopped at Accolay, just short of Vermenton. This branch of the canal follows the Cure River rather than the Yonne which is followed by the Nivernais. Some year ago, we visited fascinating prehistoric caves at Arcy, on the Cure River.

The Cure River

From Accolay, we backtracked a short distance to the town of Cravant where we stayed an extra day so that Penny could travel up to Paris and spend the day with her sister who was travelling from Jerusalem to Sydney with a longish stopover in Paris. That day was relatively fine in Paris but quite wet in Cravant, so it was g good day not to be travelling on the canal. Indeed a couple of lock keepers mentioned that there were no boats travelling that day.

The Vermenton Branch Canal

After Cravant, we travelled to the picturesque town of Mailly le Chateau which is perched high on a cliff. We visited this fortified town last in 2010. Amazingly, since our last visit here, the authorities have provided free water and electricity for up to 12 boats. But we are the only boat within kilometres. People think that the depressed European economy plus the high cost of rental boats is keeping down the number of visitors. In the peak season, in previous years, there have been 30-40 boats per day passing any particular spot. Many of these are rental boats.

Best Regards,

David and Penelope

Typical Nivernais bridge and lockAttractive wood house in Cravant (built 1380!)Main town gate of Cravant