Canal Entre Champagne et Borgogne

Hivernage 4 – last stage to our home port

Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne (and La Saône) 3rd to 23rd October 2024 This is one of our favourite canals, despite the 71 ascending locks and 43 descending locks over its 224km length. The first section out of Vitry-le-François is rather straight and although mostly through countryside it is not as scenic as the kilometresContinue reading “Hivernage 4 – last stage to our home port”

Down the 71 locks on the Marne side

of the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne 12th to 29th May 2024 [It took more than 3 times as long to go down the Marne side of this canal as going up the Saône side. Consequently this blog post is rather long and you might want to read it in chunks rather than all atContinue reading “Down the 71 locks on the Marne side”

Up the 43 locks on the Saône side

of the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne 7th to 11th May 2024 This canal links the Marne river to the Saône river and originally was named le Marne à la Saône, but tourist traffic and an interest in wines from different regions led to it being renamed in 2005. The T-junction towards the bottom ofContinue reading “Up the 43 locks on the Saône side”

Over the top to Champagne

Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne 25th August to 11th September 2018 This is a seriously exciting and enjoyable canal. It is 224 km along with 43 locks on the way up and 71 locks on the way down plus a 5 km tunnel through the summit – the Balesmes tunnel. It passes through glorious agriculturalContinue reading “Over the top to Champagne”

5 days and 4 nights on la Saône

August 21st to 25th We liked the Saône. It is generally a pretty river and in the southern part there are plenty of places to moor – not so many after Tournus for a biggish barge like Calliope. It would have been easy to spend far longer on the river, exploring towns and villages, butContinue reading “5 days and 4 nights on la Saône”

Langres down to Heuilley – our descent on Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne

May 31 and the first few days of June It rained all day! We had another very wet journey, starting with the two locks to the tunnel – all covered on the last chapter. We had got to about 1500 foot above sea level, which is where we began at Saint Valery-sur-Somme on AprilContinue reading “Langres down to Heuilley – our descent on Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne”

Canal Entre Champagne et Borgogne – a canal well worth the effort.

Part 1 – Going up! 2 weeks end of May 2016 Goodbye Soulanges, next stop Vitry Le Francois, to buy bread for lunch. This looked a major junction – three canals meting – we were leaving the Canal Lateral à la Marne to join Canal Entre Champagne et Borgogne, with the Canal de laContinue reading “Canal Entre Champagne et Borgogne – a canal well worth the effort.”