It was my 30^th birthday and everyone wished me as soon as I was up and out of bed. I was hoping it was going to be a bright sunny day but that was not to be. Megs handed me a birthday card from Anne (which she had posted to Sally's in December) which I was really glad to receive. After breakfast, Megs and I set off on our bikes in the pouring rain to cycle about 4km into the nearest town. We were nearly out of groceries (and definitely out of wine and cheese!), so it was time to stock up. The tow path was paved so it was an easy ride into town but we were dripping wet by the time we got there. On the ride in, we could see that the water in the canal was very high. The little streams alongside the canal were now gushing rivers and there was lots of runoff water flowing into the canal. I commented to Megs that I wondered if they would be closing the canal today due to the high water levels. The grocery store was a small one but we found most of what we needed and more importantly, there was an excellent boulangerie/patisserie nearby. Instead of getting individual patisseries, I opted for a chocolate cake covered with whipped cream. Just as we were about to head back, we got a text message from Rob saying that the locks were closed due to the high water levels and that they were tied up at the same place as in the morning (the original plan had been for them to get started down the canal and for us to catch up if needed as we were faster on the bikes). With our backpacks loaded to the brim with groceries and a bag of patisseries and bread strung over my handle bar, we cycled back to the boat. When we got back, we were dripping wet again and were glad for a hot pot of tea and some dry clothes. After a short lived IA (independent activity) time, we had a game of Settlers, followed by lunch. My parents called to wish me a happy birthday and I had a brief, but nice chat with them. Rob and I then went for a short walk as he wanted to see how badly the canal was flooded. It was definitely a lot worse than it had been this morning but the canal was still not overflowing. It had stopped raining for a bit but by the time we reached the boat, it had really picked up again. Having not heard from the boat rental company, we decided to call them and let them know our situation and discuss possible options. That’s when the base manager in Migennes informed us that this was the first time in 25 years that he’d seen anything quite like this – they were systematically shutting down the entire canal system due to flooding! He wasn’t sure whether this meant the end of our vacation of whether we’d be able to resume it in a few days’ time but promised to keep us updated with the latest news. Rob had looked at the maps and if the canals didn’t open tomorrow morning, which seemed highly unlikely, we would be unable to cover the distance to Decize by the following Saturday. We had already completed about a 120 locks and covered about 150 miles, but our drop-off in Decize was still a long ways away. With not much else to do, we opted for another cup of tea with the pain aux raisins and chaussons that we had picked up at the boulangerie. Sheahan called to pass on her birthday wishes and we chatted for some time as I brought her up to speed on our canal boating trip so far. She had also looked up the weather forecast in Dijon for us since we were without internet connectivity and informed us that it was looking pretty grim, except for a day or two of sunshine in the next week. We were soon playing Settlers again– our eighth game so far – and Rob managed to get his first victory, finally breaking his spell of bad luck. Janet and I rode into the nearest town again to pick up a roast chicken for dinner as Megs and I hadn’t been able to carry it in the morning. As soon as I stepped out of the boat, I could see that the bank where we were tied up was partially under water and that the water was flowing across the towpath into the houses just a few meters in front of us! We were amazed at how much the water had risen in just a couple of hours since Rob and I had been back. As we prepared to ride into town, I went to the top deck to undo the bike locks. The view from up there was pretty grim as I could see that the little stream next to the tow path was now a raging river. I returned to undoing the bike locks and as I got the first lock undone, the Kryptonite cable lock that we had securing the bikes slipped through the spokes of the bike, bounced on the side of the of the boat and then slid quietly into the water before I could blink an eye. I was so frustrated that I had let it slip but there was no hope of retrieving it, especially with the water levels so high. There was no point crying over spilt milk as the saying goes so I tried to look forward to the roast chicken we were getting for dinner. We set off down the path and within a few minutes, I could see that the flooding was getting much worse. Entire fields of pasture were now under fast moving water and banks that had just a trickle of water coming off them were overflowing. Even the sluice gates on the sides on the canals, opened fully, were unable to handle the flow and water was just running over the banks and onto the tow path. We reached the grocery store but our trip was in vain as they were all out! We turned around and cycled back and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. Oh well, at least there was that delicious looking chocolate cake to look forward to! Even in the short time – probably about 20-30 minutes – since we had been on the cycle path, we could see that the water levels had gone up even further. Certain sections of the tow path now had streams of water running down them and a couple of the lock houses were flooding. It started raining again on the way back to the boat and by the time we got back, I was wet again for the second time that day and no dinner to show for it. We undid the mooring lines and parked ourselves a little further upstream so that we could tie up to more securely. There was a restaurant nearby and we had a look at their menu for dinner but it didn’t look particularly appealing as there was no set menu. I decided I would rather wait for a menu that I was actually excited about. We had a nice dinner of greek salad alongside a rice casserole of broccoli and cheese. After dishes were done (I didn’t have to help out since I was the birthday boy), we walked into town to see how bad the flooding was. Many houses were flooded, the schoolyard was underwater and the water was nearly reaching the top of the arches of the bridge. Park benches and trash cans were almost submerged, so that gives you an idea of how high the water was. We met a local French couple on the bridge that were also looking out over the muddy, raging waters and they said they had been living here for 20 years and never seen anything like it. When we got back to the boat, Megs pulled out the cake from the fridge. She noticed that there was chocolate sauce leaking out the sides of the box which didn’t bode well. When we opened it, we found a deflated, sloppy puddle of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It had looked so nice in the shop that morning but at least it still tasted good. We ended the night with a couple games of tile rummy before heading off to bed. It had been an eventful day to say the least and it was definitely going to be a memorable one.  

We got up the next morning to find that the water levels had risen since the previous evening. We were still safely moored but many residents weren’t so lucky. Megs and Janet walked into town to inquire about taxi services to Dijon but no one at the tabac or bar seemed too keen on helping us find a number to call. We had been on the phone since yesterday with Dominic, the base manager at Migennes, to let them know that that we were completely stuck. At the time, we thought they were looking at alternatives for us to have us continuing our canal boating somewhere else so we just asked for updates on the flooding and they told us to just hang tight. We decided we didn’t want to waste the entire day just sitting on the boat so I rode about four km into the town of Lantenay, where the closest train station was. This was an unmanned station and luckily there was a schedule posted. It was 11:20am and there was a train leaving at 12:42 and the next one after that was only at 5pm. I raced back to the boat as quickly as I could to relay the information and within a few minutes we were all walking back to the train station. Rob set off as the rest of us got ready and locked up the boat. We hoofed it to the train station and finally caught up with Rob halfway along the road. We were all impressed by how quickly he had motored along on crutches. The train was late and for a little while, I thought I had misread the schedule. The train eventually showed up closer to 1pm and we were soon on our way into Dijon. The train tracks were at quite an elevation so as we neared Dijon, we could see the extent of the flooding. It was hard to separate the river from the canal and entire fields had been turned into floodplains. Our chances of continuing on down the Bourgogne canal the next day seemed nonexistent at this point.

We arrived at the gare in Dijon about ten minutes later and then walked towards the center of town. We were on the hunt for a restaurant suggested in our guidebook but by the time we arrived, they weren’t serving their three course menus. So we decided to not to eat there and wander along until we found something to snack on. Closer to the duke’s palace, we happened upon a creperie with a menu du jour and we all unanimously agreed that crepes would do just fine. We all opted for the same menu, which consisted of a glass of cider, a galette, and a dessert crepe. Rob and I opted for the chicken, emmental and egg , Megs chose one with ham, cheese and mushrooms and Janet had one with spinach and cheese. For dessert, Rob and I chose the caramalized apple crepes while the ladies went with bananas, chocolate sauce and almonds. Everyone really enjoyed their crepes and we left the restaurant ready to wander around Dijon. We followed a walking tour outlined on a map we had picked up from the TI and soon found ourselves in front of the magnificent Duke’s palace. We heard a loud commotion behind us and when we turned in that direction, we saw an entire wedding party heading our way…on bicycles, ringing their bells! The bride was sitting in a basket designed to carry children (like the ones we’d seen in Amsterdam) while the groom (we presumed) was pedalling. The square in front of the palace was quite large, lined with cafes and restaurants and filled with people strolling around enjoying the sunshine on a Saturday afternoon. We wandered around Dijon for the next hour or two, wandering past two churches and admiring various building facades. On one of the churches, we spotted an owl engraved into the stone. Its surface had been smoothed over the years by many hands touching it for good luck (or good sense as we heard one local say). On our way back to the train station, we walked through a park with very colourful flower beds and a statue of a polar bear (as was the case with the owl, we weren’t sure of why it was here). Dijon was surprisingly pedestrian friendly and we were quite impressed by the city’s development efforts to spruce up the historic center even more. We headed back to Fleurey-sur-Ouche by taxi that afternoon so that Rob could be spared the walk back from the train station and get a chance to rest his foot.

The following day, our third sitting in the same spot, was sunny and warm. It was almost hard to believe that we were in the midst of flooding. By mid-morning, Rob was on the phone with Dominic again and they were now suggesting that perhaps we be start out from Gray or even go as far away as Normandy to continue our canal boating. About an hour later, they called back saying that Gray, which was the closer option, was ruled out because the canals from that base were being closed, too. At this point, we were starting to ponder whether we should just end our canal trip here, ask for a refund for the second week and do some touring in our campervan instead. We decided that if we didn’t take matters into our own hands, we would still be sitting here a week from now. Rob was soon on the phone with Dominic and telling him that we wanted a taxi so we could be driven to Decize, where our camper was parked. After a couple of hours, they called back saying they couldn’t find a taxi with a bike rack willing to drive us to Decize so we said we would just take the train from Dijon to Decize if they could taxi us into Decize. Once again, finding a taxi that could carry bikes seemed to be a big issue. It was nearing 4:30 pm by now and there was no taxi in sight. At that point, we decided that Janet and I would cycle into Dijon along the regular roads (since the tow paths were probably still flooded) while Megs and Rob waited for a taxi (they called Dominic again and asked him to send the first taxi he could find, sans bike rack). Janet and I pedalled hard into Dijon, about 12 km away, and we made it well before Rob and Megs arrived by taxi. We missed the 6 pm train but were able to catch the 7:12 pm train, which got us into Decize just after 9pm. We struggled with all our bags (probably about eight in total) and two bikes and were very glad when we were finally on the train and on our way. It was an uneventful train ride and we were all pretty tired, mostly due to the uncertainty, as we pulled into Decize. We were all frustrated that we had been the ones to come up with all the plans for continuing our vacation while Le Boat seemed to do very little. We exited the train in a hurry, scrambling to get all our stuff offloaded. Megs and I got on our bicycles and cycled into Decize to find the Le Boat base. It was almost dark by now and we ended up having to cycle nearly 4 km by the time we finally arrived at the base. We found the parking lot open as promised (we had arranged that beforehand, too), picked up our van and drove back to the train station to get Rob and Janet. We drove back towards Decize hoping that the campsite would still be open (it was nearly 10 pm by now) but as we neared it, we saw that road leading to it was completely flooded! So we promptly turned around and decided to just park back at the Le Boat base so that we could figure out our options as soon as they opened the following morning. After a bit of re-arranging and shuffling, we all crowded into the camper van (Rob and Janet on the bottom bed, Megs and I up top) and fell soundly asleep wondering what adventures tomorrow would bring…