I am currently making my way north along the Canal de Bourgogne, a gem of pre-industrial revolution engineering, of more than 250 kilometres in length.

The canal slowly winds along the plains, then rising through a staircase of canal locks looking up to Pouilly en Auxois.

Construction of the canal was started in 1696 and finally finished in the mid 19th century. It changed the face of the local economy and status of the local farms, connecting the region to a network of canals from the north of Europe to the Mediterranean sea.

It’s time to relax in the saddle and let the beautiful countryside pass by en route to Tonnerre.

Relive ‘Day 4 Créacy to Tonnerre’

The city of TONNERRE was the victim of German bombing in June 1940 and Anglo-American bombing on 25 May 1944, which killed 14 people when a church was hit.

At 9:35  12 Liberators dropped 27 tons of bombs intended for the marshalling yard. Two bombs fell on the church where children were preparing their communion. The vault collapsed. Six were killed. Other parts of the city far from the target are heavily affected and there were seven dead and more than sixty wounded.

The inaccuracy of the bombing proved to be a very sad day for the USAAF.