Novices

After 10 minutes of instruction from the boat company representative we signed for the keys to 'Celeste', a 14m long floating tub with a dodgy steering system. The rep went with us from the port at Saint Florentin to the first canal lock to help us get accustomed to the boat .... a distance of approximately 100m. It's amazing how much desperate learning you can cram into 100m but there's a heck of a lot that you don't know if, like us, you've never been in control of a canal boat. Perhaps the word 'control' gives the wrong impression at this stage of our journey.

Armed with maps and manuals in three languages we waved goodbye to the boat rep mid-afternoon and set off on our own down the Canal de Bourgogne. We had the canal to ourselves which was a very good thing as we tried to get the hang of keeping a giant bath tub travelling in the direction we wanted it to go. It was very easy to over-correct when The Tub started to wander off-track and we had a hilarious stretch of slow-mo chicaning and drift sliding down the canal, at one point almost ending in the opposite direction to where we should have been. The lock-keepers must have been laughing themselves silly as The Tub weaved it's way into the locks, bouncing off the walls on both sides with the extremely inexperienced crew getting themselves tangled in the ropes.

When we weren't giggling at our own ineptitude or making unhelpful navigation suggestions, we were slowly wobbling down the canal to the sound of birds and lapping water. We didn't go very far on our first outing ... just through a couple of locks until we found a nice spot to tie up and start tucking into our pre-delivered supplies. This is going to be a very relaxing part of our holiday ... just as long as there are no icebergs to run into Titanic-style.Weiterlesen