Like 2022, 2023 was another year of highs and lows - high temperatures and low water levels. Because of low water levels, there were many canal closures, which severely restricted our barging activites to the rivers around Auxonne (the Saone and the Doubs) As a result, our cruising map below shows little additional water-kilometres covered compared to the end of last year, with just the addition of Ray to Scey on the Saone. Hopefully this will all change next year, after some significant winter rainfalls in France.

Map Source: EuroCanals Guide 2011

However, while we didn't do much more new barging in 2023, the addition of the campervan to our transport options has meant that we have done a lot of other travel in 2023, including trips to The Netherlands/Belgium/Germany/Switzerland in May, to England/Wales/Scotland in June, and to Spain/Portugal in October, as shown below.

PS: having finished writing this 2023 Blog a full 4 days before jumping on a plane to go back to France in 2024, I am determined to write the 2024 Blog in a more timely fashion, devoting an hour to each day before breakfast, on the day after I am writing about. Let's see how long that determination lasts!