You are welcome on board any time after 2pm. Get settled in your cabins and have a drink. The captain will then show you around the barge.

We will not cruise today so you have time to explore the local countryside. Take a walk or a bike ride and relax. Do some shopping or organise tonight's restaurant. There are plenty of shops and restaurants in town.

You can also visit the romanesque  church of Sanvignes, the mining museum at Blanzy.

Enjoy your first evening on board and hopefully watch the sun set from the deck. 

We will cast off at around 9am. Time to start discovering the bargee's life and the pace of the barge as it slowly glides around the tree lined bends. 

You will soon understand how the locks work and you can try your hand at winding one of the gate paddles.

We halt over the lunch period as the locks close and this is after all lunch time in France.

After lunch and maybe a short nap, the journey resumes until we reach our moorings for the night.

At Ecuisses is a flight of locks and the Canal Museum. This is a high pound and water in this section flows either to the Atlantic or the Mediterranean.

A cruising day on the winding canal. Visits possible to the Chateau de Couches. 10kms away are the vineyards of Mercurey and Rully.

The town of Santenay also boasts vineyards and a winetasting is possible in a local cave. There is a 13th century church and also quite a famous gambling casino!

Don't forget to try your hand at driving the boat (if the captain thinks you are capable). Why not visit the engine room and find out how this little ship works.

With a bit of energy, walk between locks easily keeping up with the barge. Collect some flowers for the table, chat with the fishermen who line the banks, wander through the tiny stone built villages.......

Chagny is a medium sized town with plenty of restaurants including the famous Lameloise. Plenty of interesting buildings to visit including a 17th century salt store and an 18th centuru apothecary.

This is an ideal day to take a long excursion to Beaune and the vineyards of Burgundy.

Beaune is the wine capital and a very attractive and sophisticated town. There are plenty of museums, fine shops. Its a real challenge not to sample at least one patisserie or excuisite chocolate.

A visit to the Hotel Dieu is highly recommended. Highlight is the Last Judgement from Roger van der Weyden

A short trip on the barge brings us into the fair sized town of Chalon sur Saône. 

This is a busy town with a big area of the centre reserved for foot traffic. There is a good market, plenty of shops, a Cathedral and many half-timbered houses.

Also in town is the Photography museum dedicated to the founder of photography Niecephore Niepce.

Sadly its time to leave and pack your bags until next time.

You will be surprised fast a motor car seems after traveling at 4 mph all week.

This is really a great and economic way to discover the very best of the french canals.

This cruise may also run in reverse on alternate weeks.