LA BELLE BARGE TRIP
Small-scale, yet luxurious, cruising in converted log carrier on France’s Burgundy Canal
There’s a lot of numbers, but no math needed for a six-day cruise along the Burgundy Canal on La Belle Epoque: one hotel barge, 17 meals, 22 wines and 19 cheeses, one hot tub, some mountain bikes and visits to at least a dozen interesting sites.
Originally built in 1930 to carry logs from the Burgundy area to Paris and Amsterdam, the barge was renovated in 1995 by European Waterways, Europe’s largest hotel barge operator, to provide a small-scale, yet luxurious, cruising experience with a very French flavour.
La Belle Epoque can accommodate 12 people, so with only six of us on board we had the added luxury of a one-to-one crew-passenger experience.
The trip started in Paris, when barge Capt. Jolanda picked us up in a Mercedes minibus for the threehour drive to Veneray les Laumes, where the barge was moored.
We were welcomed on board with glasses of champagne and canapés as Jolanda said: “This is your home for the next six days. We take on town water every night when we tie up, so you can enjoy a shower as long as you like. If you want anything at all, just let one of us know.”
She then introduced us to Julian, the pilot; Brendan, the chef; hostess Lola and host Carlo (who take care of housekeeping as well as serving the meals) and deckhand Albert (pronounced the French way — “Albair” — even though he comes from England).
We went on a two-minute tour of the barge: the hot tub, table and chairs on the forward deck, the wood-panelled saloon-dining area, with its well-stocked (open) bar, and finally our cabins — compact but comfortable bedroom with marble ensuite, with portholes that open “but please close them when we are going through the locks, so water doesn’t come in from the lock walls,” Lola reminded us.
Ahead of us lay 34 locks going down 63 kilometres of the Canal de Bourgogne, each 40-metre gateto-gate lock a challenge for Julian, piloting our 38.67-metre barge, and with only five centimetres of space between us and the lock side-walls.
But all that was still in the future as we settled into life on the barge and prepared for the first of our gourmet dining experiences: red onion tarte tartin with whipped goat cheese and candied walnuts, black garlic chicken, pomme puree, peas and garlic foam, cheese Abondance, Brie de Meaux, St. Maure de Touraine, natural yogurt mousse with pistachio, chocolate and raspberry delice.
With dinner over, Albert set up one of the mountain bikes for me so I could burn off some of the calories. The towpath along the side of the canal (where horses used to tow the barges) was exceptionally wide and smooth, not like some that are narrow with loose gravel or tree roots.
And then to bed, with never a worry about rough seas day or night (anyway, we always tied up for the night).
I was up bright and early the next morning for another bike ride to explore sleeping villages along or just off the canal.
On some of the mornings I’d return to the barge just in time to do the daily run with Jolanda or Albert to the nearest bakery to collect a very large, very strong paper bag full of crusty baguettes, croissants and various sweet treats for breakfast (which also included fruit, cereals, freshly squeezed orange juice, cold cuts and any cooked eggs you’d like — as well as a daily hot special).
That first morning, we quickly adapted to lying on deck or strolling or riding along the towpath as the barge glided — at four km/h — from one lock to the next.
Lock operators crank the big levers to open and close the gates so our barge could be lowered to the next level.
That afternoon, we visited Alesia, famous as the site of a decisive battle in 52 BC between Julius Caesar for the Romans and Vercingetorix for the Gauls (think Asterix) … although there was some
controversy over whether this was indeed the actual site.
I have a limited attention span when it comes to relics and ruins. But this large wooden cylindrical MuseoParc interpretation centre did an excellent multimedia job of transporting my fellow cruisers and I back to the times leading up to the battle.
We then drove up a nearby hill to see the 6.6-metre sheet-copper statue of Vercingetorix with a face resembling (surprise, surprise) Napoleon III, who commissioned the statue.
Final stop for the day: Flavignysur-Ozerain, where the movie Chocolat was filmed, but which today has a greater claim to fame through les Anis de Flavigny, a candy-maker dating back to 1591.
On Tuesday, another historical site came into sight — this time the UNESCO-honoured Abbaye de Fontenay — and again another pleasant surprise for this history hesitant visitor.
Wednesday dawned windy, which meant no hot-air ballooning, much to the relief of Sue, who was celebrating a late-70s birthday on the cruise.
Instead, there was plenty of time to visit a small, local market as we wandered around medieval Noyers-sur-Serein.
Capt. Jolanda stopped by a house to take a key from the mailbox to unlock a gate, allowing us to climb up to a viewpoint on the ruins of the town ramparts. Then it was time for coffees and beers all around at a café by the market.
An afternoon cruise landed us at Ancy-le-Franc where, for a change, we went ashore for dinner at a restaurant with an impressive cheese trolley featuring some 30 different varieties.
Thursday morning brought showers — but good timing allowed us to stay dry during our indoor visit to Chateau d’ Ancy-le-Franc, with France’s largest collection of Renaissance murals. The rain lifted just in time for us to stroll through the nearby local market and then back to the barge.
Whatever the weather, several of us made good use of the hot tub, while the scenery drifted slowly by: Burgundy’s famous white Charolais cattle, hay in distinctive round bales, unharvested grain fields, bikers on the towpaths, locks to go down, bridges to go under.
On Friday, we visited the familyrun Domaine Alain Geoffroy outlet in Chablis to learn about and taste six wines ranging from a $16 (price in France) Petit Chablis to the top-of-the-line $55 Grand Cru Chablis.
Equally intriguing was the amazing variety of 4,118 corkscrews, which made up more than half of Geoffroy’s prized Corkscrew and Vineyard Museum’s entire collection of 7,953 wine-related instruments and equipment.
That evening, with the barge moored at our final port of Tanlay, we all dressed up a little for the Captain’s Dinner, and the crew joined in reminiscing and laughter, which continued well beyond the usual bedtime hour.
The van ride back to Paris the next morning was unusually quiet, as we digested that unique combination of sensory delights all with a French flavour and stirred so carefully together at four km/h. Former Vancouver Sun money columnist Mike Grenby is also a travel writer who teaches journalism at Bond University on Australia’s Gold Coast – mgrenby@bond.edu.au He was a guest of European Waterways. No one at the company read or approved of this article before publication.