We stopped at Châteaux de Pommard for a tour of their noble cellars, where more than 400,000 bottles and hundreds of oak casks stand silently at a constant temperature of 12ºC. After touring their display of ancient tools used in viniculture over the past three centuries, we sampled the 2002, ’03, ’04 and ’05 vintages. The euphoric oenophiles among us agreed the former was exemplary.
he following morning we immersed ourselves in the bucolic landscape surrounding the Canal du Centre before once again returning to the Bourgogne region aboard our trusty mini-bus. This time we headed to the idyllic Hostellerie de Levernois for lunch. At their quixotic Bistrot du Bord de l’Eau, locally- sourced ingredients were cooked to perfection by Michelin-starred chef Philippe Augé. Later, we drove the short distance to the capital of Burgundy wines, Beaune. Over the next four days we visited Château Rully and Château Longecourt. Each a serendipitous mix of the very fabric of viniculture, created out of the pale-buff limestone that makes this region’s soil so perfect; each the very fabric of this esoteric corner of hidden France.
T
Our tasting sessions were an undoubted highlight, but sampling such fine growths in their cellars of origin merely heightened our appetites for lunches of salads, tartes, quiches, patés and cheeses back on board the incomparable Amaryllis.
Adding to the sensuality was the passing backdrop of timeworn trees overhanging the water and dappling the surface with patterns of light and shade, of gossamer reeds and pancake-flat lily pads engulfed in the mini-maelstrom of the barge’s wake. If Monet set up his easel on the canal today, this is a scene he would surely fancy. I know I did. At Chalon-sur-Saône, there was time to explore this charming market town before dinner. Famous throughout France as the birthplace of photography, it was here Nicéphore Niépce produced the first image of nature in May 1816; his statue is close to the excellent museum in his name. Ambling along Rue aux Fèvres, I came upon the neoclassical Cathédrale Saint- Vincent. In the shadow of its magnificent frontispiece, I sipped a kir at Le Moulin à Café, overlooked by tiered, half-timbered houses, before ambling past 14th
and 17th
century façades on the Grand Rue and Rue de Châtelet.
Nigel Bealing, our captain, and his trusty matelot Richard, negotiated the 14 locks between Longecourt and Dijon, the final chapter in our 450ft descent since leaving St Léger-sur-Dheune. After a farewell gourmet dinner, I sipped a postprandial cognac in the heated swimming pool – one of only two on France’s inland waterways, the other being on sister péniche-hôtel Fleur de Lys. We moored at the ancient turning basin in the city of Dijon on our last morning
and I reflected on this six-day incursion into provincial French life. Evocative vignettes, brim-full of serendipity, were accompanied by a potpourri of history. At a seductive pace of around three knots we had covered only around 80 miles, but had transcended the centuries, opening magical windows on to a rare ethos. It was a journey full of ennui and indolence.
AMARYLLIS FACTFILE
AFLOAT IN FRANCE péniche-hôtels cruise the Canal du Midi, Rhône, Canal Latéral à La Loire, Canal du Centre, Saône and Canal de Bourgogne from April to October.
Amaryllis is available for hire for a week-long fully-inclusive cruise through Burgundy from £33,600, based on eight people travelling.
This includes private car transfer from Paris to Amaryllis and back, six nights accommodation, all meals and drinks on board, private sightseeing and all local transfers.
While Amaryllis, Fleur de Lys and Alouette are reserved for charters, the Napoléon and Hirondelle can be booked either on a per cabin basis or hired exclusively.
MORE INFO: call 0845 077 2222 or visit
www.afloatinfrance.com.
Autumn 2011 I WORLD OF CRUISING
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