July 15 to 16: Canal Trip Continued

July 15... 25km and 13 locks to Vermenton. The last few days of our trip see a dramatic change in weather. Scorchio! 37 degrees several days. The little boat is rather hot. We stop and walk up a hill to see a village and otherwise don't have too many stops today. Vermenton is a little place at the end of a side tributary to the main canal. Tony buys flowers. The locals have bought in sand to create a little swimming spot further upstream. The water is pretty dark and murky so we are not tempted to try it out.

The following day we explore the town, buy bread and a few groceries before heading off. On the way back to the bost we come across a couple of guys with a huge bucket of snails. They are at the local lavoir (buildings built by clean water to use for washing clothes). The water looks very clean but we are not tempted like these guys are to go snail hunting. They show us what they have gathered.

Again photos are lost from this day.

July 16... 24km and 13 locks to Auxerre. The canal is the busiest we have seen it so far today. Sometimes there are three boats to a lock. We steam on to lovely Auxere enjoying a few lovely bike rides along the way. We also stop at a wine cellar which is built into the rock. We are told the rock from this area was used for many buildings in Paris, including the Notre Dame.

On arrival a very funny Frenchman helps us out and gives Clare and Millie a ride to the closest supermarket in his van. After dinner we wander into the town. It is very beautiful here. The girls love playing in the water fountain.

This is pretty much the end of the canal proper. It runs alongside the Yonne river and merges at various points but from here it is soley the Yonne with a few locks built along one side. The canal was built several hundred years ago as a path to bring firewood from the Morven hills down into Paris. It was a major business and people would tie the wood into giant rafts to go down the canal.