Unexcused Absences Fall 2011 - Week 1 Recap (he said)

Fall 2011 – Week 1 Recap (he said)

by Kent 18 Sep 2011

Wow, where does the time go? Just a week ago we were camped out between locks 11 and 12 on the Sardy Lock Staircase, and so much has happened that we haven’t even gotten a mid-week post uploaded.

Locking through with the Kiwis and Americans

Sunday morning we met up with an American couple and a Kiwi couple in a rental boat, and traveled north with them all day through 14 locks. We still had our rental car, so I had to pedal from Chitry-les-Mines back to Sardy-les-Epiry, somehow stuff the small bike into an even smaller rental car, then drive back to C-les-M. The bonus was that because we temporarily had a car, and because our new friends were so delightful, we were able to drive (albeit in two shifts) about 10 minutes north to a delightful little country restaurant we had discovered two years ago in Monceaux-le-Comte called the Auberge du Centre. It was as lovely as we had remembered. The husband/wife chef/hostess make a fabulous team. I believe he’s Dutch and she’s Swiss and she speaks something like eight languages (all the major European languages plus English plus Chinese!), and they put together a fantastic evening.

Grapes almost ready to harvest

The six of us spent close to four hours at the restaurant, swapping stories. Our new American and Kiwi friends are both retired pilots from Northwest Airlines and Air New Zealand, respectively, and they now fly for Emirates Airlines and live in Dubai. Really interesting stuff, and what a “post-retirement” adventure for all of them!

Parking spot in Tannay

Monday was the big day when our long-lost luggage was due to arrive. We had updated American Airlines with our latest location, and Ted Johnson of Marine Diesel agreed to let them deliver our bag to his shop. Sure enough, mid-day Monday our bag full of boat projects finally showed up, six days after we checked it in at Dulles in Washington, DC. I really didn’t expect to see that bag again, but there it was, thank goodness. All 21 curtains, plus four outside window covers, plus a transom-modification project were all in the bag. *Whew*.

Apples EVERYWHERE

Tuesday we cruised the four hours to Tannay, where we’d pick up Dad Thursday. The countryside is completely different from the south of France where we spent the spring and early summer. Our cruise started in the area called “Baye”, not even a real village, but sort of a rural crossroads with a chantier fluvial (boatyard). It has a couple big lakes, and from the looks of it could just as easily be located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley or central Pennsylvania as in north/central France. The canal passes through three tunnels, then descends about 35 meters (~100 feet) down a large wooded ravine to the upper Yonne River valley. From there the land opens up into gently rolling fields and stands of trees filled with white Charolais cattle, famous throughout France for their deliciousness. Oh, and there are “public” apple trees everywhere, loaded with free apples!

A fully manual lift-bridge

The locks are all fully manual, not manual as in push-a-button, but manual as in turn-a-crank, so we’re getting a decent upper-body workout on this stretch. This section of the Nivernais also has a number of manual lift bridges, where you put someone ashore, they crank the bridge open, you drive the boat through, they crank the bridge closed, and then you pick them up again. It’s a very enjoyable way to travel, giving us just a taste of what it must have been like 150 years ago when this canal was in its commercial heyday.

Installing the new curtains

Wednesday we had to return the rental car in Auxerre, do some provisioning and laundry, then hop a train back to Tannay, where we spent the rest of the day of installing the boat projects that showed up in our luggage Monday. Thursday morning was more boat projects, and then mid-afternoon there was Dad getting off the bus from Clamecy. A little cheese, a little beer (Dad prefers beer to wine, even in France), then we cast off again, headed north. A two hour drive brought us to Villiers-sur-Yonne, a mere speck of a village, but a beautiful spot to spend the night. A late afternoon walk through the village, some more cheese and beer, and a “field conditions” dinner of spicy sausage and pasta in cream sauce from Heather wrapped up the day. The nights are getting chilly, it was definitely a winter-pajamas-and-down-comforter night.

Cave du Val d'Or in Clamecy

Friday morning was a quick two-hour cruise to a free (!) mooring in downtown Clamecy, the second-biggest town we’ll see for the next two-to-three weeks. Clamecy is a fun town to explore by foot, the old town is on a hill with a series of narrow, twisting streets that aren’t streets at all but more like wide paved footpaths lined with artist’s shops and a few restaurants. The port area is clean, convenient, and did I mention free?!? In the afternoon we finally found a tasting room for vin-en-vrac (bulk wine), because our table wine selection was running low. We still had some bottles of Moulin Gimie from Capestang on the Canal du Midi, but we were spoiled by all the delicious Languedoc table wines we had enjoyed all spring and summer. Monsieur was very helpful in walking us through all the bulk wine options, and we settled on a 5 liter carton of red from Bergerac (ironically, in the south near where we ended our spring/summer cruise), and a carton of red from the Cotes du Nuites in Bourgogne. I do love that you can buy world-class red wine in a five liter box!

2 Pieces Cuisine in Clamecy

Wine cellar restocked, we discovered (thank you, TripAdvisor) a delicious and cozy little restaurant, 2 Pieces Cuisine. Run by a husband/wife chef/hostess team, similar to Auberge du Centre, the meal was very simple but delicious, and a great value. Four course meal and wine for three people for under 100 euros? Fantastic!

Saturday was market day in Clamecy, and Heather put together a fantastic dinner menu right on the spot; roast beef with potatoes, mushrooms, and leeks in a red-wine-cream sauce. Yum, and yum. We topped it off with fresh pear, bleu cheese, and Muscat (a sweet, white desert wine, just imagine if Port were made with white wine) from the south of France.

Next week we’ll continue north on the Nivernais canal, then drop Dad off and join the Yonne River in Auxerre and follow that until it connects with the Seine.

Fall 2011 Week 1 Numbers: