After a night of “recovery” from my mishaps on the way to Migennes, it was time to take on the Burgundy Canal. Suzanne and I had tried the first section as our first outing with Desormais and found it to be a very weedy journey. As a result, we only went south to Saint Florentin as the first leg and then turned back. Setting out on Wednesday July 17th for that same destination, it seemed to be easier going, though there was still plenty of vegetation to be seen, much of it floating on the top of the water.
The trip from Migennes to Saint Florentin doesn’t climb very much, so there are long stretches of canal between the locks (ecluses). The canal is also often deep in the trees and heavily shaded, even over-grown on the side in places. Perhaps because of this seclusion, there seems to be a great deal of wildlife to be seen – all sorts of fish, birds, and different types of swimming mammals (not certain what type!).
A heavily treed section: 0120ECA7-7787-479C-AADA-21E7FBB7AE8C
Coming out of one lock, I was surprised to find the answer to the diminished weed problem – I found a 3-man mowing crew. They were literally mowing the bottom of the canal and removing the weeds! One manned the floating mower, and odd contraption with a vicious looking moving blade (much like that used for cutting hay) that lowed into the water at the bow.
Behind it came a much larger conveyor barge, skimming the cut weeds out of the water and into a hold. Finally, there was a smaller boat doing cleanup, scooting around with a tined scoop that could be lowered, raised and dumped.
He was responsible for catching
the errant clumps that got away from the conveyor barge.
The trip was relatively easy this time, though I was going upstream and had to adjust again to reaching up to secure my lines on bollards in the locks.
The scenery around the canal begins to open up a bit as one approaches St. Florentin. The last lock is actually a normal lock that raises you into a short section of viaduct. The viaduct serves to carry the canal over the Armanace River, which feeds the canal, and
into the larger port area at St. Florentin.
On our first visit, we found the Captainiere to be quite helpful. Mooring isn’t cheap, but the port office is modern and offers some supplies, and the port is being expanded and modernized.As I entered the port, there was a carnival in full swing in the park beside the canal. As we really hadn’t seen much of the town on our fist visit, I thought I’d stay two nights and look around some.