running through the valley of the river Ouche as it makes its way towards Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region. On arrival in Plombières-lès-Dijon the canal turns SE passing close to Lac Kir, a man-made lake used for leisure activities, named after Canon Félix Kir, a former mayor of Dijon and after whom is named the white wine and crème de cassis drink known as Kir. On leaving the port of Dijon and running past the SNCF depot at Perrigny and the airport at Longvic the canal enters the wide and relatively flat valley of the Saône. In the final 30 kilometres the canal is totally straight apart from a slight turn near Thorey-en-Plaine and the main activity of the area is now farming. Shortly after passing by Brazey-en-Plaine the canal reaches its end at Saint-Jean-de-Losne, the largest inland pleasure port in France, where it joins the river Saône. History Construction of the canal was already under consideration as early as 1605, during the reign of Henry IV. Difficulties were foreseen in crossing the Morvan Massif, however. In addition to the route finally selected, studies were made for various other routes, all of them passing further to the north. In the end, however, it was decided that the canal should follow the valleys of the rivers Armançon and Ouche. Louis XV signed an edict for the canal's construction on 7 September 1773. In 1774 it was stipulated that the crown would pay for the section running to the Yonne while the other half, towards the Saône, would be funded by the Estates of Burgundy. In 1775 the total cost was estimated at 7.18 Million French pounds. Work began in 1777 on the Laroche-Tonnerre section. In 1781 work started from the other end, between Dijon and the Saône. During the early years of the French Revolution, between 1790 and 1795 progress on the construction slowed and then stopped. Work resumed only in 1808 after a Napoleonic degree announced the sale to private companies of four major existing canals in order to finance further canal construction. 1808 saw the opening of the section between Laroche and Dijon, thereby providing access to the Saône and so, indirectly, to the Rhône valley. At this time the challenge of how the canal should cross the Drainage divide between the Saône and the Yonne valleys was still being argued, but in 1812 the adopted solution