Day 66 & 67: 17th and 18th August 2017 Chalon Sur Saone to Thoissey

We decided to take a gamble on going to a place named Thoissey. In the Cruising Association's "Captain's Mate" app there was an entry from earlier this year talking about a halt up a small tributary passed a derelict barge which was "close to a children's activity centre". We wanted to pause for a day or so to rest and catch up on boat jobs so the fact that this place appeared to be free with only a 1 Euro charge for water and electric made it very appealing.

I have to say as we approached the 80km mark and saw a couple of other possible moorings we were tempted not to press on the further 3km to check this place out but I'm glad we did. After a successful morning of boatschool and a very hot afternoon of motoring I somewhat tentatively motored us under a small bridge and up a small stream. Patrick was also nervous but we had already seen the swimming pool from the river so were keen to give it a try. I was very relieved when Patrick shouted that it looked ok from the foredeck and we tied up on a small pontoon in front of another yacht.

It was a beautiful tree lined spot which although attracted a few biting insects, brought welcome shade. We piled ashore with drinks, crisps and a picnic blanket to enjoy the shade of a tree. We had a bit of a laugh at ourselves as the beer I had bought in bulk and had chilled in the fridge turned out to be shandy, however it was actually really refreshing on such a hot day!

Patrick then took the kids over to the playground on the opposite bank. After a while he brought back news that the swimming pool was open until 7:30 so I took the kids over while he had some rare quiet time on the boat. The pools were lovely, one very shallow for toddlers, one very deep with a diving board, and the other just perfect for Esmé as she could just touch the bottom at the deep end so after an hour I got out and read a book in the sun while the kids continued playing.

Next morning we got up and did minimal boat school of reading, English and Maths as I wanted to wage war on the kids cabin which by now looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off in it. By lunchtime I had done about half  and it was starting to get hot, with possible thunderstorms later in the afternoon so we decided to swim after lunch and then come back to the boat jobs.

We all went over this time and spent an enjoyable couple of hours over there, this time having fun on the water slide which hadn't been open the previous evening. Back to the boat for more tidying and then a Chinese meal made with a "caramel" sauce which I had bought a few shops back, mainly due to the novelty of finding a Chinese sauce available in a French supermarket. It wasn't quite what I was expecting and Esmé voted with her feet and ate plain rice up in the cockpit as she didn't like the smell. The rest of us quite enjoyed it but it wasn't the sticky sweet sauce I was kind of anticipating.

I also got the phone number for the Lyon marina from the tourist office next to the pontoon as I had been searching unsuccessfully for it all day and thought with it being a large city we should probably book in advance. So, we are now booked in to Lyon Confluence for the next 3 nights. Two full days, one for exploring and one for jobs! 

Day 65: 16/08/17 Fun in the locks!

Early start out of Auxonne and a lovely view of the chateaux on the way out.

After a particularly stormy night on board Laurin with regards to the general mood it was time for operation zero tolerance on kids general and boatschool behaviour which has been gradually going downhill. Boat school went really well for AJ but disastrously for Esmé who lost her iPad time as well as any sweet treats for the day.

We only had 3 locks today but the last one in particular gave me a good reason to brave my first ever youtube upload. As we approached the lock we had a green and 2 reds which means the lock is being prepared but we don't have priority, in other words there are boats in the lock which need to come out first. There was a hire boat on the waiting pontoon so we decided to join it. As we approached the lock started to open so we quickly abandoned that plan and hit astern. I went backwards quite a way to give the outcoming boats some space. The charter boats watched 2 boats exit then started to approach the lock from 90 degrees. They didn't see/didn't look to see that the lights were still on red red green and not solid green. He got the fright of his life as he was hooted at and a large hotel barge nearly ran him down.

He then proceeded to spend about 5 minutes to get into the lock and a further 5 or 10 minutes to get tied up, requiring the lock keeper to come out of his tower and help. I held back until they were well and truly tied up before I dared enter. As the lock was dropping the guy managed to let go of at least one of his mooring lines leaving it dangling down the side of the lock and his boat facing the wrong direction. Once the lock gates opened we watched them recover the line and then try to exit for about 5 minutes before deciding to video their efforts for your entertainment.

Click here for charter boat playing bumper boats in lock



After lunch Esmé finally finished her school work and started to become a much nicer person to be around, keen to copy me multi tasking washing clothes and helming at the same time.


As we arrived at Chalon Sur Saone we were keen to get moored up before the charter guy got anywhere close. Luckily there was a guy on the pontoon who waved us into the private annual berth holders area which he later said he reserved for people who could clearly handle their boats:-) We yelled at him about the charter guy and told him to not let him in any tight spaces. We were waved to our berth by another employee who kindly took our lines, and again told the story of the lock. The guy looked very concerned and asked us for a description of the boat.... it was at that point Patrick saw it approaching the outside end of our pontoon and pointed it out at which point our line catcher was seen running quickly towards it. Luckily he seemed to get them in without too much damage!

We took a look around and Patrick pointed out that there was a retail park over the road so Esmé and I went to take a look while AJ had his well earned electronics time and Patrick checked out the price and availability of diesel. Over the road we spotted a sports shop and a McDonalds amongst other things so back we came to the boat with the suggestion we buy AJ new trainers as he has outgrown his and then head to the big yellow M for a treat.

Trainers bought we were pleased to find that the McDonalds self service screens had an English option although the kids were a little disappointed to find some of the menu was different. We could also opt for table service!

Back to the boat via Carrfour (for bread, milk and ice cream,) and the little park for a run.

Bedtime for the kids and a large glass of my favourite non alcoholic drink of the moment!

Day 64: 15/08/17 Rest day in Auxonne

Patrick wasn't feeling so well this morning so he had bread and marmalade for breakfast while we had crepes with chocolate spread and bananas. We had half a plan for a day out at Dole but it very soon became clear that we all needed rest.

I started school with the kids, maths went pretty well but my experiment of a 5 minute free write brought meltdowns from AJ and a list of rhyming words from Esmé which wasn't really the point.... will have to reconsider that one! John the Captainaire came over and took Patrick to the cheaper petrol station at the other end of town.

Once school was done I spent some time tidying the boat and doing hand washing while we have water and the kids had a bit of chill out time. We briefly considered still going to Dole but then it clouded over and started to rain so we decided to stay put.

We poked our heads above deck and saw numerous boats arrive including a motor cruiser from Maldon with grandkids on board. John was putting out a reserved sign next to their boat as he said a big boat was arriving called "rainbow" in French.

Patrick and AJ chilled out on the boat but Esmé wanted to take the beads down to the Captainaire's floating office and make necklaces. As we were getting ready I saw a big boat come through the entrance and guessed it was the one John was talking about so we pointed out their berth and helped them in.

Beads and books to swap in hand we wandered down to the empty office and made a necklace for Georgie, Johns wife. As we noticed the office wasn't officially manned until 5pm we wandered back to the boat.

More boats arrived and we eventually delivered thank you beer to John and the necklace to Georgie. Georgie was making prints and offered to show Esmé how she made them, giving a delighted Esmé the one we made together. John and Georgie have been amazingly kind to us during our stay and are largely the reason why we stayed an extra night. We will be recommending here on the basis of their hospitality.

On our return we spotted the girls from Maldon and they invited Esmé to play on their boat, their mum, Beth, and I got chatting and all 4 kids ended up going out on the inflatables while we chatted. It was lovely to have a girlie chat for an hour, enjoying the kids playing.

As I was cooking dinner the lady off the big boat brought us Toblerone for helping them in. Patrick and AJ spent some time looking at the Atlas finding all the countries of the people we have met so far. All in all we met some lovely people over the last day or so and we will be sad to leave.

Day 63: 14th August 2017 Jobs day in Auxonne

In my crazy brain we were going to get lots done today. Washing, 2 trips to the supermarket, boatschool and playing on inflatables.... and this was supposed to be a relaxing day!

In reality I got up early, rushed to the laundrette, shoved washing in machines after figuring out the instructions in French and hurried to the Intermarche. Here I raced round grabbing beer, sparkling water and other drinks before dragging the granny shopper back to the laundrette with 2 minutes to go before the end of the wash cycle. Transferred washing to dryer, fed it all the 50c pieces I had which equated to 24 minutes in the machine, then dragged the shopping back to the boat (phoning Patrick on the way to hunt out more 50c pieces). Patrick then unloaded the shopping and raced back to the laundrette with the trolley ready to add more 50c's and collect the washing while I did a bit of boatschool with the kids having been pleasantly surprised that they had started without me.

By now it was 11am and starting to get very hot but we weren't finished. Unloaded washing onto boat and collected all possible bags, scooters and trolley for the second run to the supermarket. I had noticed that there was a Brico next door which closed at 12 but Patrick wanted grease for the stern gland so he raced ahead while the kids and I headed for the park behind the chateau and supermarket.

On the way we passed under a bridge which showed flood heights of the Saone on particular years so we had a little learning moment figuring out which was the most recent year and if the kids would have been underwater in this year!

On to the park which was by now baking hot, swapped with Patrick who had found the required grease and I hit Lidl. 1/2 hour later Patrick calls asking where I am as it had got too hot in the playground so he had taken kids to look for me in the Intermarche. Patrick likes supermarkets about as much as I like sewing so he was not best pleased when I was in a different one and he had to round the kids up all by himself.

Bought way too much stuff in Lidl but we managed to get most of it in the bags and trolley and set off to find a tree to sit under for some shade so we could have ice creams and picnic lunch.

Once finished kids wanted to go the park again (no its too hot!) and we started to walk back. On seeing a skate/scooter park Patrick nearly lost the will to live so he headed back to the boat with trolley and one rucksack while I stayed with the kids for 10 minutes or so.

Long hot walk back to the boat with a short stop to let Esmé climb a random ladder.

Exhausted we give the kids iPad time while we try to summon the energy to play fridge tetris and get the rest of the stuff away. In the meantime Patrick sees that the landing craft with on board caravan is returning from an outing so we take a picture as it needs to be seen to be believed. John the Captainaire turns up with more grease for us:-) and offers to drive us with jerrycans to the petrol station tomorrow so we can buy cheap diesel rather than expensive stuff from the fuel barge.

Boatschool and tantrums followed before we finally let the kids loose on the inflatables.

Cold tea including frikandels which were supposedly chicken and turkey but AJ said tasted like mini sausages.

More playing on inflatables, this time with Esgar and Eda.

Mum finally loses the will to live and decides to give Esmé her shower but there's a queue.

Lovely lady Georgie who is the partner of the Captainaire entertains Esmé while John sprays her with the hosepipe. Georgie suggests we have a day out which sounds like an excellent plan as we need a change.... if only I can get the washing away and tidy up the tip of a boat first (as well as doing boatschool).

Kids still messing about gone bedtime so I decide to take a walk and a shower and leave Patrick to it until they are asleep. Beautiful evening, would have been even better without the bitey insects!

Day 62: 13th August 2017 Traffic!!!!

Today saw us entering the River Saone and encountering a very different and varying breed of boats including the dreaded "charter boats". But first we had to exit the Champagne and Bourgogne canal and enter the Saone.

We passed under the last bridge marking our exit from the canal, turned right and then came up against these light signals at the lock.

A brief moment of hesitation (would I have to speak French to another VNF guy on the phone) before we remembered this meant that we could go, but another boat had priority, in other words there was a boat coming up the lock.

It was here that we encountered the first charter boat. I hate that we are so prejudice that we want to avoid charter boats in close quarters. Perhaps because Laurin is now both our home, our transport, and our ticket to our 2 year adventure we have so much more to lose if we get into a scrape with another boat. I know that many charterers are have careful skippers and crew but in this particular case perhaps we were right to be a little cautious; there were about 3 kids on the foredeck repeatedly casting fishing lines as the boat was motoring out of the lock. I held back until they were safely out of our way, there was no way I wanted anything wrapped round our prop, even knowing that our rope cutter is now in place.

Next we admired the different scenery, the lovely wide river, and the ability to travel at our normal cruising speed rather than a measly 4 knots.

There was much more traffic on this stretch, a combination of charter boats, private cruisers and barges, tiny rowing boats used as fishing platforms, and then the really obscure home made catamaran made from 4 surf boards, some pallets, car seats and an outboard motor!

We were making excellent time and looking forward to being in Auxonne for an early lunch when we got held up by a queue for the last lock. After waiting for 3/4 hour we finally locked in and were promptly rammed up the rear end by a rowing boat! This really wasn't a problem for Laurin and we enjoyed a bit of banter with the German rowing club who had brought the rowing boat down from Germany and chartered a motor cruiser as support vessel.

Finally we arrived at Auxonne to be greeted by an Aussi Captainaire taking our lines in our spot next to Polux. A lazy afternoon followed, then SUP and Canoe were pumped up for early evening fun.

We plan to stay here a couple of nights before moving on.

Day 61: 12th August 2017 Maxilly Sur Saone... the end of the canal!

Today we had a relatively short hop of 20km to Maxilly at the end of the Champagne Bourgogne canal. From tomorrow the locks will be few and far between unlike the last week or so where boatschool has been somewhat disrupted due to locks being negotiated every 15 to 30 minutes.

We made an earlyish start due to our precarious position rafted outside Polux on the dolphin. As it is Saturday there was no formal school although Esmé wrote a lovely page of writing about the Eiffel Tower which she stuck in her memory book that her school friends gave her.

AJ was particularly interested in helming today, both in the canals, and driving us out of locks. This was a big achievement for him as he had a little wobble the other day when his driving out of a lock didn't go exactly to plan. We were really proud of him giving it another go and doing it well. He also learned the art of lassoing bollards in locks.

As we arrived early in Maxilly Esmé and I went in search of the Boulangerie for bread but unfortunately it was shut for August so we had crepes for lunch instead, as well as sampling the luncheon meat that I had mistakenly bought thinking it was bacon grill which we all love. Patrick and I were definitely underwhelmed by it but thought it might supplement pasta at some point, AJ said it was ok as emergency rations, and Esmé loved it!

As we were tidying up lunch Esmé came to find me talking about finding apples. She had found an apple tree and was busy trying to knock apples down. We went and collected some in a bag and then added them to the blackberries she picked yesterday before stewing them for future eating. Perhaps they will be breakfast with our home made yoghurt. I'm sure we would have all loved a crumble but I'm not sure the boat oven is up to that!

After a while the Danes arrived and the kids played ashore pretty much all afternoon. AJ came wanting me to get our tent out but as its buried in the forepeak I refused. Instead I got out some rope, lightweight picnic blanket and their den building kit to help him build one. AJ was not too impressed but Esmé seemed interested so I helped her make a simple shelter using a rope between two posts and stones to hold down the edges of the sheet before I retired to the boat to read. As I was relaxing I was vaguely aware of noises on the front of the boat but didn't really register what was going on until about 10 minutes later Esmé came asking for the hammer to bang the peg in.... she had dragged one of our mooring stakes out of the anchor locker to use for her den which was now much improved!

All in all a pleasant and relaxed day. Onwards to Auxonne tomorrow where we plan to stay for a couple of nights.

Day 60: August 11th 2017 Rafted on a dolphin!

Last night we agreed the Danes would set off ahead of us as we didn't think that 2 boats in a lock was a good idea on the way down as the rearmost bollard was pretty much in line with the sill of the lock which could damage Laurin if we hit it on the way down. They left around 8 while we enjoyed bacon and eggs before leaving around 9. We had agreed where we were likely to stop but were a bit concerned as stopping points seemed few and far between and the one we had identified was only for one boat!

Locks were every km or so, which meant getting any jobs or school done was tricky. Add to the mix that we had invited the Danes for dinner and it made for a very busy day. Esme did really well managing to get a section of maths completed and AJ did some lovely reading to me. We also had a bit of a tidy up of the boat.

In contrast to many of the locks we travelled through on this journey, we had some spectators at a number of the locks today. Some ramblers, a Dutch couple cycling from Amsterdam to Barcelona, and a family or 2.


I got a little excited at one lock which appeared to have a bar next to it but sadly it was closed. Not sure where we could have tied up nearby other than sitting in the lock and hoping nobody else came but it would have been nice....

 Other than that we admired the countryside. There is an abundance of dragonflies and pond skaters as well as herons and other wildlife. Today I was also amazed by the fields of sunflowers which I can only imagine are to be harvested for the seeds.

On arriving at our agreed stopping point we were somewhat discouraged to find another boat there... not Danish! As we knew of no other stopping place that we could reach before the locks shut we were a little concerned as we started to operate the next lock as well as franticly looking for Ola's phone number. Happily Ola got back to us saying that they had found a dolphin a couple of locks further on and we could probably raft alongside them. Dolphins are kind of little jetties that stick out for commercial barges to lie alongside with bollards on the shore to tie lines to.

Unfortunately at this point the lock decided not to work and we had to go through the rigmarole of using the telecom to get a VNF guy to help. At the next lock we so Ola and Esgar coming towards us so let AJ off to meet his friend. It was amazing seeing them run to meet each other and play on the shore so we let AJ run on to the Dolphin with his friend, racing Laurin.

When we were finally alongside Polux in a somewhat precarious position well out into the canal I got started on making a curry while the kids played and Patrick stayed on deck to look out for other boats coming. This stretch has been remarkably quiet and so we didn't really expect any more traffic, but if something commercial came along we may have had to move as we were taking up a great deal of the width of the river. Finally with all the food prepared I decided to take a shower and then true to form, right as I was completely naked and wet Patrick shouted to say a boat was coming! I got rinsed and dried in a hurry but thankfully the boat could squeeze by.

The Danes came over for dinner and looked like they were enjoying my curry (well 3 of the 4 came back for seconds so I'll take that as a good sign) and we had a pleasant evening. We discussed the next few days, agreeing to stop in Auxone for a couple of nights before heading quite quickly for Lyon, although we need to stop in St Jean de Losne for the Chandlery.

Early start tomorrow as we need to be up at 7 to watch out for any commercial boats that might need us to move so that they can squeeze by!