Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne


The Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne, previously named Canal de la Marne à la Saône, is a canal in north-eastern France connecting the towns of Vitry-le-François and Maxilly-sur-Saône. It is a summit level canal of Freycinet dimensions connecting the Marne and the Saône. It is 224.191 kilometres long, and has 114 locks and two tunnels, Condes which is 275 metres long and the tunnel on the summit level between Balesmes-sur-Marne and Noidant-Chatenoy, 4820 metres long. which runs almost exactly underneath the source of the Marne.
The canal is fed by four reservoirs designed for that purpose:,,, and.
The canal was recently renamed "Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne" for the purpose of promoting tourism, but barge skippers often call it the "canal d'Heuilley". This is in reference to Heuilley-sur-Saône, the name of the lock and lock-cut on the Petite-Saône which the canal joins, although the actual junction lies within the neighbouring commune Maxilly-sur-Saône. It is a standard process among bargemen to name the canal after the location where it starts. For example, the Canal Vire-et-Taute in Cotentin was called "canal des Ourmes" the name of its first lock, "les Ormes".

History

Work began on the extension of the old canal of the Haute-Marne in 1880, and the canal opened in 1907, the last to be built of the Freycinet canal network in central France.

En route