The French began building the Canal du Nivernais in 1784. Construction was interrupted by the revolution. Work restarted in 1820 and service for horse drawn barges began in 1841. It was never a commercial success because almost immediately it had competition from railroads. However, the canal with its accompanying towpath turned into a lovely cruising destination in Burgundy.

When we booked our trip, we also rented four bicycles for our group. This allowed us to bike into towns, or in pairs, to bike ahead of the boat. We needed exercise to work off good food and wine. And we were able to take nice photos of the boat from bridges and the path. On this day, both couples got some bicycle time as we headed south once again. We made a short midday stop in Châtel-Censoire. Being Sunday, nearly everything was closed save for a brasserie where we were able to quaff a brew. We had worked up a thirst climbing a steep hill to visit the Romanesque Saint-Potentien church and a medieval wall and gate.

Nearly all of the small towns we visited, including Châtel-Censoire, had a war memorial. They often listed the names of those from their town who had died in World Wars I and II. Sometimes they included the wars in Algeria and Indochina. It seemed that these took a prominent place in both the towns and their history. In Clamecy, further upriver, the monument was in pieces. A picture was affixed to one of the stones stating, “Le Monument avant sa profanation par les Nazis 18 Juin 1940”, showing the monument before the Germans had knocked it apart.

We went upriver a bit more and spent the night at Coulanges-sur-Yonne. According to a sign there, we had risen 47 meters in altitude since leaving Auxerre.