Eating Well on your Camping Vacation in Burgundy.

I am getting up to look out the open porthole window and am met with a friendly squawk. Whilst I was still gazing at the ceiling of my cabin, Captain Lee had been in the hamlet of Auxerre purchasing fresh baguettes, croissants and agony chocolate. The salon is hunter green, rose and mahogany, with cosy banquettes and vases of fresh flowers. There are a sundeck, jacuzzi, sauna, fitness studio, and bicycles for guests to ride down the canal trails.

This up-to-the-minute hotel barge carries just 12 passengers, with 6 crew to look after each likely passenger need. A two hour journey by minivan thru rolling French country had brought us to the medieval city of Auxerre, where La Belle poque and her crew awaited. We enjoyed a champers welcome accompanied by freshly-baked popovers. Many of us I meet are convinced that camping vacations are still hosted in wet fields, where food is tough to cook as conveyable stoves fail to light in the damp weather.

If you consider yourself a connoisseur, you may need to think about the black snails ( the best of which are raised on grape leaves ) which are regarded as amongst the best in France. The Cheese The cheeses are another fine part of the regions cuisine, and a particularly nice present to bring back from your vacation spent camping in Burgundy. Barge speed is restricted to three miles per hour on the canals and ten miles per hour on the streams. The Canal du Nivernais passes thru western Burgundy, crossing the Yonne Valley and often joining with the Yonne Brook itself. At the stone farm ( complete with cable TV dish ) of Mr. Bersan, we descend into a traditional cavern for a wine tasting. Famous Burgundy Reds