Closing the Circle - August 27

About 35 k after leaving Verdun sur Doubs we rounded a bend in the Saone River to see St. Jean de Losne (pronounced "loan").



On May 16, 2006, after spending three days in Paris, we traveled by train to Dijon where we met our old friends, John and Patti Hardman.
The Hardmans (their blog is linked in the sidebar) had been sailing buddies in the 1980's when we owned Arrow, a 1913 Edson Schock yawl, and they owned Freya, a 1940's Atkins Ingrid ketch. In the mid 90's they returned to Texas but we had kept in touch over the years and when they bought Capri, and early 1900's converted dutch barge, in 2003, we figured we'd have to plan a visit.
After picking us up at the Dijon train station, John and Patti drove us to St. Jean de Losne where we were introduced to Capri.


That's Capt. John posing at the stern.

After spending 10 days with them on the Burgundy canal, we decided that this was a life we could lead. We returned home, sold the house and the following spring found us in Amsterdam beginning the search that would lead us to Odysseus.
On August 27, 2009, our barge was tied up just a little west of where we had first seen Capri.


We would spend four days on the quay in St. Jean and then, on Sept. 1, make the 4 k final leg of our summer's trip to St. Symphorean sur Soane and Bourgogne Marine where Odysseus would spend the winter tied up right behind Capri.
990 kilometers on the canals and 53 days of traveling had taken us from Champagne to Burgundy.


Odysseus is the smallest barge tied up at Bourgogne Marine's lower basin. Capri is right in front of us.