We woke up to rain, so weren’t in any hurry to get going. Shortly after noon, the rain turned to drizzle, so we headed out to explore in a different direction.
Our first intended destination was the monument to the Maquis in the village of Arcenant but, we took the wrong turn in the village centre (there were no signs) and it’s so tricky to turn around on these small roads, we decided to keep going and come back another day (it’s only 10 minutes from “home”). We headed through mountain passes towards Le Pont d’Ouche, then followed the Canal de Bourgogne for many kilometres, turning away only as we got close to Dijon. We will save Dijon for another day.
The canal is so unlike what we’re used to at home. To begin with, it’s not very wide but we didn’t realize how narrow it is until we came across a canal boat that had only inches available on each side in one of the locks.
And check out this vacation boat company!
There are locks every few kilometres, and all the locks are operated manually. The drops from one level to another don’t look to be more than 10 feet, and the doors are not as tight, allowing quite a rush of water to stream through them continually.
Each lock has a lock master and each lock master has a cottage residence right beside the lock. The ones we saw are all charming – some are more charming than others. Note the closure sign – experienced canal boaters told us that if you get into the lock at 11:55, you don’t get out until after lunch!!!
Our route back home took us through more wine villages, along the Route des Grands Cru. (We will learn about Grand Cru wines next week.) In Chaux, about 2 minutes from the cottage, we passed a pizza truck that served up quite the assortment of wood-oven pizzas. We each ordered one, and ate delicious gourmet pizza on our patio, washed down by a lovely bottle of red.
After dinner, we donned our jackets and grabbed our cameras for another stroll through the village. This time we ended up in the “new” section, although the homes are still built to blend into their environment, complete with the obligatory shutters and gates.