St Jean de Losne and Dole

We arrived in St Jean yesterday and had a wander around, there is a huge marina and it’s where the canal de Bourgogne meets the Saone and on that first/last section of the Canal lots of boats, barges Peniches are rafted and there are chandlers, a dry dock, and lots of services mechanics, carpenters etc. when I looked on a map it made sense it’s kind of where 4different routes meet the Saône to flow into the Rhône and reach the south of France so has been a boating centre for centuries. We had thought about taking the boat to Dole but worked out that with 9locks over 19km it would be a lot faster to cycle. The cycle took longer on the way there due to a navigation error on my part but it was a beautiful town lovely buildings, great atmosphere, no one appeared in the least bit worried about Covid and a Saturday market where John was able to buy GF fougasse, Lemon tart and macaroons, delicious he informs me. The French schools are now officially on holiday and so are a lot of the French and other Europeans we have seen lots of hire boats and more liveaboards moving around. Tomorrow we plan to head to Auxonne to shop and do laundry before we enter the smaller waterways and the Canal entre Champagne and Bourgogne.Read more