Around Tanlay

Tanlay Port from the bridge

The stretch of canal between Ancy le Franc and Talay goes through sparcely populated countryside.  The canal water is clean and we have seen many fish over 40cm long. Plenty of water rats and frogs that croak very loud.  Plenty of duck and their ducklings, and such a variety of birdsong.  It is the time of year when everything is bursting with life.

This may look like a photo of a dog but I am swimming in the background. Public beach at St Vinnemer, just before you get to Tanlay

Even if the towns in Burgundy are empty with 'A Vendre' or A Louer signs everywhere, the villages are just magnificent.  Huge old barns and farmyards, houses with a turret here or a Renaissance flourish there, they really are on a grand scale and show how affluent this region was in former times when the Dukes of Burgundy were more powerful than the king of France.  Whilst every town seems half empty - or more than half, the villages are for the most part populated and decorated with flowers. Roses, and Irises at their absolute peak.

Wash house with slice gates at Commissey next village East of Tanlay

Almost every town and village has these wash houses, many renovated and some turned into village halls, such as at Fleurey-sur-Ouche.

Same wash house from the outside

The Abbaye de Quincey is a 10 minute bike ride from Tanlay.  You go round the back walls of the Chateau past an open golf course and down a leafy lane.

Abbaye de Quincey

It's rarely open to the public but you can see everything from the road.

On the way back a deer and her fawn ambled across the lane in front of me

Deer on left hand side of lane

Just past the turning to the Abbaye there is a small fortified barn on the right

Fortified barn near Tanlay on the road to Abbaye de Quincey