Montbard

We have had a few days of mysteries and history. In Tonnerre we visited Fosse Dionne – an amazingly beautiful spring partly converted to a wash-house in times gone by, its source is unknown.

We arrived in Tanlay in time to have a guided tour of the chateau, it is still lived in and beautifully kept. There is a wonderful trompe d’oeil hall and a tower with frescoes on the ceiling and a wooden floor in a spider web design – our guide spoke so beautifully I could understand nearly a third of what he said.

We didn’t go inside the chateau at D’Ancy Le Franc but sat outside to have a drink in the grounds. The caretaker didn’t notice us so we got locked inside the gates and had to through the forbidden part to the public park to try and find a way out. The gardens and moat are stunning and well worthwhile the long walk to try and find an exit. We met the security guard who didn’t have any keys and ended up wading through the moat – extremely muddy – to get on to the bank of the canal and make our way through the brambles and nettles back to the boat.

We we visited the ancient forge at Buffon. Simon asked if I wanted to get locked in again but we decided against it. It was incredibly well renovated with the water wheel going and all the huge machinery for making farm equipment intact. We stayed nearby that night and there was a huge deluge of rain – hardly any leaks this time so Simon’s weather proofing is working.

The local saint of wine and husbands is Saint Verote (a green grape is a verot) – here is the traditional prayer you can say to ask for a good man:

“Saint Verote – Good Lady of the Voie de Pacy, please bring me a pure husband as I am a virgin. And I will light you a candle> Do it for me soon and I will buy a big candle for you”.

There is a New Zealand boat parked near us here in Montbard and they tell us they had a get-together in Auckland of NZ owners of boats on the French Canals and 75 people attended. We will have a drink with them later on.

My French has been seriously stretched in conversations with lock-keepers today. I had to bike back to find someone and he was very reluctant to believe that the boat could be going in the opposite direction to me. However all was well, he went and borrowed a motor bike and woke his friend up who was doing the next two locks!