To the Summit

We forgot to mention that there is a re-enactment of the flottage in June/July this year. They are building a modern day raft of logs and will float it to Paris. We think they will be taking considerably longer than the original norm of 11 days and it might cause some small disruptions on the river and canal.

Us at Villiers sur Yonne

David rode from Clamecy further up the canal to measure the actual bridges in an attempt to see if we would fit. We found that we COULD fit, provided we went exactly through the centre of the bridges. In some cases, this was complicated because the towpath consumed some of the sideways space under the bridges. Anyway, the result was that even though the guaranteed height was only 2.95 metres to the summit level, we could fit our 3.22 metres if we were careful.

Needless to say, we were worried by the first bridge at the lower height, but all was well. We were able to travel considerably further than Clamecy, until the point where the bridges and tunnels further restricted height to a mere 2.70metres. We therefore stopped at Chitry les Mines and cycled the relatively short distance to the summit. We could easily have taken the boat but it was hardly worth it to then turn around and would have necessitated transitioning 50 locks. Instead, David cycled 33Km return and Penny 24Km return. Penny reached the summit and first tunnel and David cycled over the small mountain to the other side. It was possible to see the Seine Basin and then the Loire Valley.

Yonne at Monceaux le Compte with Lavoir and millstream left

We visited many small towns on the route and had a truly excellent dinner at the "Auberge du Centre" in Monceaux le Compte. The scenery between Clamecy and the summit was excellent. Very rural with sweeping views, meadows, forests, pleasant villages and of course, the Yonne River. We have now travelled the full length of the Yonne- another to add to the list of rivers traversed for the full navigable length.

Towns on rivers are called "xxxx sur yyyy" where xxxx is the name of the town and yyyy is the name of the river and "sur" means "on". One remarkable small town has no name! It is simply called "sur Yonne"!

When we were in Belgium and more particularly the Netherlands, there were many lifting bridges and we found a number of those in the Netherlands somewhat frustrating. Previously on the Nivernais, we had experienced only one such bridge and we had to operate it manually last time. Now it has been automated and was operated for us. However, we found about a dozen more lifting bridges further up the canal. We operated them ourselves or sometimes a lock-keeper did so. On one occasion, a gentleman walking his dog did it for us. When Penny thanked him, he said "It's nothing, you are in France!" Typical of the generous attitude we experience. One bridge was very old, made of wood and did not raise completely so we had to be very careful not to scrape the roof on it. Another had to be operated manually- a task which we shared. David up and Penny down.

There were not many boats and almost 100% of those we saw were rental boats. Maybe there will be more private boats later in the season?

Best Regards,
Dave and Penny

Mailly la Ville

Spring flowers

The old Guard Post at sur Yonne