Harbour

Seurre

Maximum length: 98 ft
Maximum draught: 6 ft

River port on the Saône in Seurre, Côte-d'Or, halfway between Chalon-sur-Saône and Saint-Jean-de-Losne.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Reach by the Saône, navigable class Vb for commercial barges. No tide, but a moderate downstream current after Saône floods in winter and spring. The finger pontoons are shallow and silt up at the inshore end, so a boat drawing more than about 1.5 m touches the mud before reaching them, and deeper boats should lie alongside the long pontoon, which carries up to about 2.5 m. Larger boats up to around 20 m use the harbour basin behind. Commercial traffic has priority on the river.

Practical

30 berths with water and electricity included, though the mooring is dear for what is offered, around 19 to 21 euros a night with a shower charged separately and a small tourist tax per person. The capitainerie opens during the navigation season, and the toilets and showers are only accessible during office hours, with a public WC by the small pontoons. Shops and a bakery in the town centre, with a larger Intermarché about 1.5 km south. Surrey Marina lies 0.1 nm north, Ponton Lechâtelet 3.7 nm north as alternative stops.

Ashore

Seurre retains its medieval grid with half-timbered houses along Rue Bossuet and the Église Saint-Martin of the 13th to 16th centuries. The Écomusée de la Saône-et-Loire section at Pierre-de-Bresse is 15 km east. Bresse poultry country starts on the opposite bank.

History

Seurre was an active river port for salt and wine from the Middle Ages, and Bossuet went to school here before his career as court preacher to Louis XIV. The Saône was canalised for larger traffic in the 19th and 20th centuries.