The day before: getting started

Our round trip through the canals and rivers of Burgundy would take us 28 days. Steve and I would travel 530 kilometers and go through 213 locks. I knew it would be hectic. We would have to work pretty hard to meet our deadlines and return our boat on time. We planned a round trip from Migennes to Migennes and would be on some of France’s great rivers and canal systems. I also knew that with my really bad memory for place names it would be best to keep a diary of our daily activities, towns and villages we were to visit and our progress through the lovely gentle countryside. It was a good thing I did. Steve and I often had to refer to the diary to remember where and what we had done just a few days previously. Time had a way of expanding; days, events and places remained vividly in our memory or faded, though not because of their insignificance.

We began our journey on the 7th July and arrived in the small town of Migennes via express train from Paris. Our friend Bill Robertson, who would be with us on the boat for the first 4 days, met us at the station. Although we did the elongated circular route the town is small enough that you can walk from the station to the marina we drove there in Bills car – we had piles of luggage as we were scheduled to spend a few weeks after the boat trip in Switzerland and England. We took possession of our boat, got in a few supplies, beer, wine and unpacked boat clothes, stowed the luggage and settled back to enjoy the early evening. The little Epicerie (supermarket) had an amazing array of fresh vegetable and fruit – you weigh your own stuff and I managed to select the correct description with my lousy French. It was nice to see the other goods on the shelves – the labels for tinned goods are bright and cheerful – you kinda want to buy them because they look so good – even the dog food looks tempting!

Our boat was fairly large – we had 2 double cabins, each with its own bathroom cubicle, and large living/dining area and a well equipped kitchen with microwave, stove and oven. It was spacious enough that we were not on top of each other and a nice outdoor area to have sun-downers and a place to stretch out and sunbathe.

Migennes had tubs and hanging baskets of flowers everywhere – so, so colorful and lovely to look at. In the public gardens and traffic circles there were really large wire framed structures of birds and snails covered in flowering plants – I found them amusing. As Burgundy is the home of escargot, it was appropriate that there was this giant floral tribute to the humble snail.

We went to a small restaurant that is only open a couple of days a week and one oe two nights and had what was to be the first of many really fantastic meals. This also encouraged me to keep the diary to record the fabulous lunches and dinners we were to have. Bill and Steve had snails in a creamy garlic and fresh herb sauce to start – they said it was great and the garlic not overpowering but subtle enough to let you know the garlic was there. We all had grilled steak with a red wine sauce. The steak was served with steamed veg – carrots, green beans and flat beans sprinkled with parsley – very tasty and we sopped up the gravy with gorgeous French bread. Steve and I finished off the meal with fresh strawberries, cream and a sweet balsamic reduction. Yummy. We drank copious amounts of wine, walked the 100 metres back and poured ourselves onto the boat and slept like babies.