Canal du Nivernais

Canal du Nivernais
	The Panneçot harbor basin
Water code	FR : ---- 0322
location	France , Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region
length	174 km
Built	1784-1843
class	<I.
Beginning	Branch from the Loire at Decize
The End	It flows into the Yonne in the urban area of Auxerre
Descent structures	110
Ports	Panneçot , Limanton municipality , Châtillon-en-Bazois , Clamecy , Châtel-Censoir , Auxerre
Junctions, crossings	Vermenton branch canal
Used river	Aron , Yonne
Outstanding structures	Canal tunnel at La Collancelle
Kilometrage	Direction Auxerre
	The Clamecy lock

The Canal du Nivernais (German: Nivernais Canal ) is a French shipping canal that runs in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region and provides a link between the Loire and Seine rivers .

Course of the canal

f1 Map with all linked sites: OSM | WikiMap

The canal begins at Saint-Léger-des-Vignes , near the town of Decize , where it connects to the Loire and, after crossing it, to the Canal latéral à la Loire ( German: Loire Lateral Canal ). It runs generally in a northerly direction at the foothills of the Morvan Mountains and flows into the Yonne after a length of 174 kilometers in the urban area of Auxerre . Via the navigable lower reaches of the Yonne, it reaches a few kilometers further, in Migennes , the Canal de Bourgogne (Eng. Burgundy Canal ) and subsequently also the Seine.

Coordinates

Starting point of the canal: 46 ° 50 ′ 17 ″ N , 3 ° 27 ′ 6 ″ E Coordinates: 46 ° 50 ′ 17 ″ N , 3 ° 27 ′ 6 ″ E46.838055555556 3.4516666666667
End point of the canal: 47 ° 47 ′ 39 ″ N , 3 ° 34 ′ 56 ″ E47.794166666667 3.5822222222222

Crossed departments

Places on the canal

technical infrastructure

It is a watershed canal that overcomes a height difference of 74 meters with 32 locks on the Loire Valley side and follows the course of the Aron river . After crossing the apex position at Baye , (municipality of Bazolles ), at an altitude of 260 meters, the descent to the Yonne river follows with the help of 78 locks over a height difference of 165 meters. Particularly striking here is the chain of locks of Sardy , within 3.5 kilometers of 16 locks immediately follow each other in the.

At the apex, the water supply is ensured by several reservoirs ( Étang de Baye , Grand Étang de Vaux ). The apex position itself is 4.5 km long and leads through three tunnels (La Collancelle, 758 m, Mouas, 268 m and Les Breuilles, 212 m). It can only be used in one direction as a one-way street and is regulated by traffic lights.

A “canal technical” peculiarity can be seen between Clamecy and Surgy to the north of it , namely the junction of the Yonne and the canal on the same level. The water of the Yonne - it is about as wide as the canal here - is raised to the level of the canal by means of a weir for this purpose. The river and canal usually cross in such a way that the canal is led over the water on a trough bridge .

Between Bazarnes and Cravant , an approximately four-kilometer-long branch canal branches off to Vermenton , which is also called Canal d'Accolay .

history

The idea of a connecting channel between the Loire and Seine goes back to the reign of Henri IV . The forests around Paris were cut down, so that firewood from further and further away, u. a. from the vast forests of the Morvan area. For the time being, however, it stayed with project studies. The idea was taken up again at the end of the 18th century, because meanwhile the capital's need for firewood could hardly be properly satisfied. The catastrophic winter of 1782/83, which resulted in a serious shortage of firewood in Paris, then definitely required a solution to the procurement and transport problem. In this context, it was now planned not only to develop better the forests of the Morvan (Seine side of the watershed), but now also those of the Bazois area (Loire side of the watershed).

First work on the canal was undertaken in 1784. It was to be a narrow gully, from the Loire side of the current apex of the canal through the tunnel of La Collancelle down to the Yonne. However, as early as 1786, during an inspection, it was found that it would be advisable to convert the canal, which was only intended for timber rafting, into a real ship canal. Louis XVI granted the département the necessary advance payment. The expansion required, among other things, the expansion of the structurally demanding canal tunnel at La Collancelle. Immediately fantastic ideas began to spring up how trade could be expanded thanks to the channel, e.g. B. with products from the south of France or cheese from Switzerland. But the turmoil after the revolution, as well as other problems, initially resulted in the cessation of work between 1792 and 1807. The construction site was abandoned again in 1812, and it was not put back into operation until 1822, but not to pursue the original plans, but to do something against rampant unemployment. In 1824 it was decided to move the canal to Auxerre. Meanwhile, coal had emerged as serious competitor to wood, questioning the future of the canal before it was finished.

Of the three top tunnels, the canal tunnel at La Collancelle (length 758 m) was created by mining. First, 8 shafts were dug along the course of the tunnel, from which the tunnel was excavated on both sides; the overburden was carried away through the shafts. When one of these shafts collapsed, 70 workers were killed. The other two tunnels were dug in the open pit; then the vault was bricked up and the terrain cut back filled up.

On April 22, 1834, the first barge set off from Coulanges-sur-Yonne , but only on part of the canal. Bit by bit, part by part was put into operation. 1843 is considered the year of completion of all work. The canal was actually primarily used for timber rafting, but also to an increasing extent for the transport of building stones, gravel, coal and grain.

Excursus: The logging company from Morvan to Paris

For a long time, wood was the most important fuel for preparing meals and - when bread was still the main staple - for bakeries. As a rapidly growing city, Paris had a huge need for wood; its coverage has been a matter of constant concern since the Middle Ages. When the forests around the city were no longer sufficient, the firewood had to be fetched from further and further. Despite its considerable distance from Paris, the Morvan with its extensive forests was ideal because the wood could be rafted relatively easily across the rivers Yonne and Seine to the center of Paris. Behind this rafting was a sophisticated and officially regulated organization. The people involved in rafting, who were observed with considerable suspicion by the other villagers and who formed a group of their own, had their own culture.

First of all, the uppermost part of the streams of the Morvan flowing towards the Yonne were blocked with dams, behind which ponds were dammed. At 22 locations along the central reaches of the Yonne, spread over a distance of 35 km, a kind of rake was set up across the river. The last, largest rake was in Clamecy.

In its best times, logging worked as follows: In winter, in the vast forests of the Morvan and the Bazois, whole forests, especially oaks and beeches, were felled in 1.14 m long pieces with about 20 cm in diameter sawn or split and these brought on carts to the numerous streams. Here the logs were piled up and dried over the summer. After the foreign timber merchants had made their purchases, the buyer's mark was carved into each log. The following autumn the stacks were thrown into the stream beds. After an inspection of the watercourses for their continuity, there was a first push of rafting. On a fixed date, usually in November, the weirs of the ponds were opened suddenly and coordinated, and the gush of water carried the wood with it. Men were posted every 50 to 200 m to monitor the passage of the wood and clear traffic jams. When they arrived in the Yonne, the logs were caught by the rakes at the 22 locations along the river, pulled out and stacked again on the bank to dry. That was the "petit flot". The “grand flot” took place around the middle of March of the following year. The wood - an average of 600,000 stars a year - was thrown back into the Yonne, and with the help of the water dammed in the ponds up the valley and released in one fell swoop, it was washed up to Clamecy. Here it was caught by the large rake, pulled out and sorted according to the owner's marks. Some of the wood "disappeared" along the way as residents fished it out for their own needs.

In Clamecy, the logs were tied together to form 72 to 75 m long and 5 m wide, meter thick rafts containing about 200 stars; the manufacture of the rafts was a high level of craftsmanship. The rafts now drifted to the big cities, especially Paris. In Auxerre, several rafts were combined into whole "trains". There were three men on each raft who had to hold it in the middle of the river with long poles; Passing the mostly narrow bridge passages posed particular problems and was very dangerous. A raft traveled from Auxerre to Paris about ten days, from sunrise to sunset; it was moored on the bank during the night. Above Paris, the rafts were taken over by other raftsmen who gradually steered them to the capital as required or on demand. When they arrived in the city center, the rafts were broken up into individual logs, which were stacked into tall, long beiges for final drying and for sale. When the rafts arrived, helpers were deployed in large numbers, including women and children, and the working days sometimes lasted up to 23 hours. The men who had accompanied the rafts returned home on foot within three to four days (and took the opportunity to bring the new ideas with them from Paris).

Firewood rafting from the Morvan to Paris began in the mid-16th century and has remained at a high level for around 300 years. From the 19th century onwards, after the canal was built, more and more ships took over the transport of wood. In 1867 110 rafts had started in Clamecy , in 1923 this era ended with the last raft. Also from the 19th century on, coal began to replace wood as fuel. The museum in Clamecy contains a rich collection of objects and photographs on the subject.

The canal today

Commercial shipping on the canal ended in the 1970s, as it was only partially developed for the smallest common inland shipping class I , the Freycinet-Péniche . On the section between Cercy-la-Tour and Sardy-lès-Épiry , the lock chambers are only 30.50 meters long instead of the required 39 meters. Since the 1970s, the canal has been used for tourists by sport boats and houseboats . About 4,000 boats a year sail the northern part; This puts the Canal du Nivernais behind the Canal du Midi in second place among French inland waters. At times and in places the locks are passed by up to 40 boats per day in midsummer. Almost all locks are still operated manually, to a large extent by the ship's crew themselves or with their help, so that things go faster.

In general, the Canal du Nivernais is considered to be one of the most scenic canals in France. You can follow it along its entire length by bike or on foot, on a mostly good, long stretches of asphalt and child-friendly, because motor vehicle-free towpath . In the attractive villages and towns along the canal or a few kilometers away from it, there are many places to stay, eat and shop, and all kinds of sights invite you to visit.

literature

Le flottage en Morvan - you bois pour Paris . Gérard Guillot-Chêne. Editions Garnier, 1979. Collection Hier le quotidien . ISBN 2-7050-0232-4
Le Canal du Nivernais en images. Emile Guillien, et al. Clamecy: Association Les Traîne-bûches du Morvan, 2003. [Also published in German: The Nivernais Canal in Pictures. ]
Un canal qui faillit être une impasse! Ou: La liaison Loire-Seine à travers le Nivernais et les Vaux d'Yonne. Emile Guillien, et al. Asnois: Les Traîne-bûches du Morvan, 1999.
Canal du Nivernais: de Decize à Auxerre, la grande stroll. Christian Décamps & Marie-France Billet. Mailly-le-Château: Décamps, 1990.
With the houseboat through Burgundy . Burgundy Canal, Nivernais Canal, Yonne, Loire Lateral Canal, Center Canals, Saône, Seille, Canal du Rhône au Rhin, Marne-Saône Canal. Edition Hausboot Böckl, 4th edition, 2006. ISBN 978-3-901309-04-5 . [Is especially suitable for preparation and only partially as a manual.]
Angelika Maschke & Harald Böckl: On the way on the Nivernais Canal by houseboat. The Nivernais from Auxerre to Decize, the Yonne from Joigny to Auxerre . 2nd edition, 2006. ISBN 978-3-901309-03-8
Guide Vagnon: Bourgogne - Center - Nivernais . 216 pages. Collection Tourisme fluvial, guide no. 3. Vagnon 1996. ISBN 978-2-85725-128-6 . [Also suitable for cyclists and (long-distance) hikers.]

Or alternatively one of the following manuals with maps and a detailed description of the infrastructure, written for the canal boatmen, also very suitable for cyclists and (long-distance) hikers:

Les voies navigables de la Bourgogne Est de Joigny à Chalon-sur-Saône par l'Yonne, le canal du Nivernais, le canal latéral à la Loire, le canal du Center, le canal de Roanne à Digoin, le canal de Bourgogne et la Saone . Guide de navigation fluviale. Editions Grafocarte, 2000. ISBN 2-7416-0169-0 .
Les voies navigables de la Bourgogne Ouest d'Avon à Digoin par les canaux du Loing, de Briare, latéral à la Loire, l'Yonne et le canal du Nivernais . Guide de navigation fluviale. Editions Grafocarte, 2000.

Web links

Commons : Canal du Nivernais - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b The information on the length of the canal is based on the information on the Canal du Nivernais from SANDRE (French), accessed on November 21, 2011, rounded to full kilometers.

[sandre-1] The information on the length of the canal is based on the information on the Canal du Nivernais from SANDRE (French), accessed on November 21, 2011, rounded to full kilometers.