I confess that one of the perks of my position is that I get to try out every new narrow boat that joins the scheme, for a weekend, before we formally accept it from its builder and pass it on to its owners. With the advent of the new Dutch barges, this perk now extends to investigating the location as well. In the case of DIGOINE - the Dutch Barge in France - I went out to see it settled into its new home at the beginning of the 2000 season, but then subsequently, by kind courtesy of owners who could not use it for part of their booking, I was able to sample the French waterways in a more relaxed manner for three days in July of the same year.

Indeed, this was a good opportunity to see the barge at first hand midway through its first season at AUXERRE (at the confluence of the River Yonne and the Canal du Nivernais) and to talk to the local management face to face instead of fax to fax about how they are coping. I needn’t have worried on this last matter! As I parked the car (after a five hour drive from Calais - including a brief lunch stop), Natalie, the site manager, appeared from nowhere, waving a greeting, and assured me that everything was ready for our three day trip. (I have never asked her nationality, but I’ve yet to see her defeated by any language spoken by a visitor! This kind of service really shows us up in the UK where it is rare for a boatyard to offer anything other than the native tongue!) Soon afterwards, Paul the proprietor appeared with a few anecdotes about the owners who had used the barge so far - including one who had managed to pour water into the oil filler on the engine!! Fortunately, this owner called out the boatyard (without reference to us!) in a worried state before trying to start the engine, and they came out immediately, drained and flushed the system twice and then sent him on his very embarrassed way!. I responded with thanks and then asked him for moorings for two more barges in 2001, to which he agreed - I think without hesitation!!

But the story actually starts before this. As always on these trips, I used the channel tunnel for my crossing by car. They normally run three crossings per hour and I had booked on the 08.20 on a Saturday. Having arrived with an hour to spare (yawn!) I therefore asked if there was any space on an earlier crossing, but was advised not because this was a peak time. I hadn’t realised that the British were such early risers! For those who have never tried it, the channel tunnel is surprisingly uninspiring. You just sit in your car for thirty five minutes inside a railway carriage with not much to look at or do other than to test your French by reading the multi-lingual electronic message board that is constantly changing during the trip. Indeed, one of my co-travellers remarked that just driving in at one end and then driving out at the other makes the transition feel more like a simple domestic journey than one involving a foreign country. But that is all you do, as you are reminded on the loudspeakers to Tenez la droite when you leave. You then pass a string of warehouse retailers advertising “Best Buy Booze” and several other similarly un-French sounding names, each with small armies of British registered white vans outside. Such is now the spirit of the European Union!!

The first four hours of the run to Auxerre is on motorways, and you are immediately reminded of the fact that France has approximately half the number of people per square metre as Britain - and consequently half the number of cars. This run is punctuated by frequent turnings off into service areas that range from a few picnic tables right up to the equivalent of our own motorway service station. And here the uninitiated traveller runs into the first problem when re-fuelling is required. You need the red pump (or was it the green one?) labelled “sans plomb” for unleaded, or the blue one if, like me, you are still stuck with the need for lead replacement four-star. And you’ll need to remember your French numbers (or be able to count on your fingers!) when you go to pay....... The final hour is on ordinary roads passing through small towns and villages. These remind us of the predominantly warmer climate than here, with stone or lathe-clad walls and shutters at the windows to keep out the sun! Then, eventually, you see the beautiful cathedral at Auxerre standing out above the landscape in the distance, and fifteen minutes later you are there.
 
 

	The old part of the city of Auxerre,  between the cathedral and the port, offers a  good  selection of cafes, restaurants, patisseries, etc.
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	The Port du Plaisance at Auxerre, where the OwnerShips' barges are based, is at the top of the Canal du Nivernais, in the Burgundy region.

 

And there, too, was the Dutch barge DIGOINE. Inside she still smelt as new as she did when I first tested her out in the UK, although outside, it has to be said, there were already indications of encounters with lock sides and the like. The Port de Plaisance at Auxerre (largely owned by Paul van der Mye who looks after our barge) is one of the grandest in France, with lines of large converted residential barges, hotel barges, and restaurant barges, as well as the usual smattering of cruisers and penichettes. DIGOINE is therefore comparatively unique, and is certainly regarded as a private boat - which, of course, it is - in all of its encounters along the waterways. Indeed, reading the log I gather that many admiring passers by have been invited to view her spacious interior, with predictable reactions. My crew decided that it would be a shame to miss an opportunity to explore this rather picturesque old town, so after the compulsory visit to the supermarket (including the compulsory gasps at the relatively low prices), and an agreeable walk, we dined in a splendid (non-floating) restaurant recommended by Paul.

After a surprisingly late sunset (at around 10.30pm local time) we retired early ready for our first day’s cruising in the morning - an easy run down the Nivernais to Vincelles. Well it’s down on the map, but up in terms of the current. The Nivernais is actually made up of navigable sections of the River Yonne at its northern end, reverting to a proper canal only as it gets further south. So it has to be said that it is more like the Thames with its manned locks in specially excavated lock cuts alongside vigorously flowing weirs. The lock keepers are different, however. Two locks down (or rather up) my two female crew members almost passed out at the figure of Adonis adorned only in sunglasses and shorts who swaggered out to turn the mechanisms (with his little finger!). A far cry from the uniformed officers who man the Thames locks! They both felt compelled to buy two bottles of local wine from this creature, and then had to rest for a while!

As we progressed, we noticed that several of the pleasure craft (almost invariably hired from one of the many British owned operators) were sporting national flags. At first I wasn’t sure of the reason for this, until I realised that this was a good way of indicating which language to try first when making contact. In fact, the nationalities were many and varied, from the Scandinavian countries in the north, through German and Dutch crews to Swiss, French, and Spanish - these last three not being so well represented. A large proportion, however, were British or American (although we did encounter one Israeli crew) and so after the initial Bonjour, speech tended to lapse into English for most communications.

Another of Paul’s recommendations was visited that evening - a rather up market establishment with a cluster of tables outside overlooking the water under a canopy (to provide protection from the sun!) called “Les Tilleuls”. Having been shown to a very smartly laid corner table, we were addressed by the chef - a delightful French custom. How do they know we’re English just by looking at us? - I never know! And the table next to us was also occupied by English guests, the combination of which caused the poor man to raise his hands to his head in friendly frustration as he embarked on a conversation with both tables in English that was as good as a native!! They really do know how to show us up (well I speak for myself here!). Anyway, the food that followed was the best of our brief holiday, and so we placed the restaurant’s calling card on board DIGOINE so that others might enjoy the same.

Further leisurely cruising on the next day took us to Vermenton, from where we intended to return (downstream) to Auxerre on our final (third) day - in a slightly less leisurely fashion. Our mooring was in a largish basin owned by Burgundy Cruisers - disturbingly close to a railway line, until we discovered that it supported relatively few trains. As we stopped, we were accosted by a burly fisherman with a Yul Brinner hairstyle who demanded to know, in French, how long we would be stopping. It seemed that boaters made his life tediously difficult, particularly if they moved! He then offered us advice about how to rope up!!

And so our adventure was repeated in reverse, including the compulsory purchase of two more bottles of the local Chablis at Adonis lock! In fact, we realised that we were cruising through one of the most popular wine regions of France, where many “caves” (cellars) offered opportunities to taste their wares only a short distance from the waterway (one or two actually by the water). It was, indeed, a shame that we had so little time to do justice to them.

All too soon, therefore, we were running back to Auxerre, experts, by now, at operating locks. The etiquette, incidentally, is that you are obliged to wait for the lock keeper to emerge before any of the (manual) mechanisms may be operated - this may take a little while if he (or she) is busy finishing his/her coffee! And once he (or she) does emerge, they prefer you to do ALL of the operating!! - well, let’s just say that they are grateful if you do, they’re actually very friendly and obliging. Each may then offer you the opportunity to buy some local produce - ranging from home grown vegetables to wine - although there is really no obligation to do so. And yes, they will always close the lock after you as you leave.

This little story is not complete, I have to say, without the reporting of an incident that was, perhaps, the most exciting of our trip. Having stopped in a lock going downstream, and closed the gates behind us, we idly gazed around while the middle aged male lock keeper walked his large dog the full distance of the lock. Then, without any warning, there was a major commotion - in French. This hitherto somnolent gentleman was suddenly gesticulating and shouting to all who would listen, although the frustrating thing was that his use of his own language was far too fast for me to comprehend. Then I realised that his attention was directed at something in the water just ahead of the boat. Strange, I thought, the dog was still there, and I saw nothing drop from the sky! And then I saw it. A head bobbing about. And then I realised!! My number two crew member was no longer holding the rope!!! The poor soul accepted a worried hand from our lock keeper as she dripped her way fully clothed up the lockside ladder and back onto dry land. How it happened we don’t know to this day. One minute she was standing by the boat, and the next minute she wasn’t. It’s easily done, it seems, and maybe this should be a lesson to us all! Anyway, all’s well that ends well. As she was still dripping, I read the rule book to her about No swimming in locks! and she then explained to the lock keeper that this was her first ducking, to which he replied that the French have a word for that - but she couldn’t remember later what it was! (Perhaps the reader can enlighten us??).

And so we returned (via the pretty nearby town of Briare, incidentally), this time through Paris just to make a change. But not before having passed on to Paul and his team a summary of the many complimentary remarks in the log about their friendly and helpful service, and yet another compulsory visit to the supermarket! In this regard, I can recommend the use of a new breed of coolboxes (well new to my experience anyway) that you can plug into your car’s cigar lighter socket. They keep things cool that need to be kept cool, even in heatwave conditions, and are something of a necessity if you are going to do anything other than just zip from boat to supermarket and back.

I am now looking forward to testing out the next two barges to arrive in Auxerre - but not until next Spring. Boo hoo!!
 

Allen Matthews
Founder/Director of OwnerShips
 
 
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