From World of Cruising magazine

Getting to a cruise on the Burgundy canal is half the fun. Passengers are picked up from Dijon, which is a fast, easy journey by train and can be done direct from London on the Sunday departure day. Or you can take a day or two more, adding to the grand and leisurely style of the holiday and slowly wind yourself down to the gentle canal boat pace.

I opted for the latter, starting my journey with a night at the newly reopened St Pancras Renaissance hotel that, in 1873, had the first hotel lift, electric bell calling system and Britain’s first revolving door. It cost the equivalent of £500million to build in high Venetian gothic style and the 20ft-high room ceilings remain, along with carved fireplaces and frescoed corridors looking out over the station.

I celebrated with a glass of champagne at Europe’s longest champagne bar – all 300ft of it that run alongside the Eurostar platform – before dining in the buzzy Booking Hall, with its original counter loaded with big punch bowls typical of Victorian stations for quick body-warmers on cold days.

Choices included a Charles Dickens memorial punch and Burnt Brandy, a complex drink made by flaming brandy in a hollowed-out lemon. The menu is light British, with salmon fishcakes and Eton mess among the offerings.

Next morning, Eurostar zoomed me to Paris by mid-day and I had two hours to get to the Gare de Lyon for my train to Dijon. Railbookers, who arrange rail packages around Europe by train, even provided the metro tickets for stress-free transfers.

The TGV from Paris to Dijon is a two-hour non-stop sweep through wide-open countryside. European Waterways meet the train on the Sunday of departure or pick up from the nearby Hotel la Cloche, a comfortable central location for pre- or post-cruise stays and for exploring the city by foot.

Dijon’s highlights include the Grand ducal palace (now an art museum), shopping (from Maille mustard to Galeries Lafayette), street stalls around the superb covered food market and the magnificent half-timbered town houses with their brightly-patterned Burgundian tiled roofs. The cruise also includes a morning tour of Dijon. On Sunday, Hotel la Cloche serves a buffet brunch in its restaurant looking out onto a peaceful garden.

After the mini-bus pick up, cruise passengers are taken either to Fleurey sur Ouche or Escommes to begin their six-night trip (the cruise operates in reverse direction on alternative weeks).

Arriving at the mooring place in Escommes, the crew were introduced – the captain, chef, deckhand and two hostesses – over sparkling wine and canapés before we were taken to our cabins to settle in.

L’Impressioniste was once a Dutch working barge transformed to a comfortable cruise boat sleeping 12. There are two double suites at bow and stern, the latter having a bath, and four mid-vessel double or twin cabins, plus a single cabin. Each has its own shower and air conditioning. There are useful drawers under the beds plus a small wardrobe with safe.

The deck above the cabins contains the recently refurbished Salon with communal dining table, sofas, books, games, hi-fi and a free bar from which to help oneself. An outside sitting area with a retractable roof, lowered when passing under extremely low bridges, leads to a spacious sun deck with table and chairs for summer dining. In the bow is a hot tub.

The barge also carries all-terrain bicycles – ideal for working off calorie intake along the traffic-free towpaths beneath lines of tall plane and maple trees, many richly festooned with mistletoe.

Since the Burgundy canal no longer carries commercial traffic, the only other encounters are with other pleasure boats, occasional villages and lock-keepers – and there are a lot of locks on this stretch of the canal that follows the Ouche River. Escommes is the highest point at 1,250ft, near a two-mile stretch of canal tunnel built in Napoleon’s time by captured soldiers.

French captain Max Renau was an excellent local guide, wine tutor and navigator, sliding L’Impressioniste expertly through the locks with inches to spare. He was born on a barge on the canal and now lives with his English wife in an old lock-keeper’s cottage. For 2012, he is planning his own cruise, calling it Wine and Water and including dinners taken in local restaurants.

In six days we covered no more than about 32 miles, moving gently along with still waters reflecting tall trees below the hilltop-hugging defensive castle of Chateauneuf-en-Auxois.

The pattern of most days was similar. Engines would start up at 9.30am while passengers ate breakfast that embraced fresh bread and croissants, juices, cereals, fresh fruit, cheese and cold meats. Mornings were spent reading or talking on deck, listening to music in the Salon or exchanging greetings with lock-keepers and passers by.

L’Impressioniste was moored up before lunch with time to walk, cycle or explore a village like Vandenesse sur Ouche or Pont d’Ouche, where Bryony Cadbury, an English lady, runs a snack bar and shop selling postcards and wine, dispensing tourist information and offering shower and washing facilities for boaters.

Lunch on board could be Burgundy snails, cod in a pistachio crust with red pepper and Pernod sauce, crepes suzette or a buffet including quiche, spiced quail, feta stuffed aubergine, smoked salmon or potted shrimps.

After-lunch excursions in the mini-bus and the captain’s car were made to castles, caves and cities. The week’s tours started with Chateau de Commarin, built in 1346 and home to the de Vogue family for 26 generations. It gave a touching insight into the lives of French aristocrats.

Wine producers were another obvious attraction. In Beaune, we had an innovative and fascinating wine tasting at Bouchard Ainé where, in a series of 18th century cellars, we were encouraged to learn about wine via the five senses.

After the tasting, there was a tour of the Hospices de Beaune founded in 1443 by the Duke of Burgundy’s Chancellor as a hospital for the poor and used as such until 1971. Now it displays tapestries and stained glass, scarlet-covered beds and mannequins of nuns working in the kitchen and pharmacy.

There are no vineyards around the Ouche stretch of the canal, so the great swathe of grand and premier cru vineyards around Gevrey-Chambertin seemed extra impressive as we stood on one side of the Cote de Nuits looking over the valley near Clos Vougeot, which we visited to see the ancient wine presses.

A tasting at Camus in Gevrey-Chambertin followed; an informal family affair with tasting of biodynamic wines and a tour of vintage cellar treasures.

The culmination of each day was dinner. The captain described the wines (all included with the cruise) each day to marry with the dishes to be served. Our chef was Sharif Gergis from Edinburgh, half Irish, half Egyptian, who, from a small kitchen and forays to local producers and markets, produced superb menus my fellow Australian and American passengers hailed as definitely Michelin standard.

Sharif introduced his dishes at every meal and included some twists on traditional Burgundian recipes. Ingenious flavourings included wild salmon with passion fruit sauce, beetroot carpaccio with spicy crusted cheese roulade, and orange soy sauce with duck.

Puddings ranged from lavender, rosemary and heather honey panna cotta to autumn berries in sparkling wine jelly. Every evening, two specially selected French cheeses were served, including Brie de Meaux, Tomette de Savoie, Regal de Bourgogne and Plaisir du Chablis.

The Captain’s Dinner on the last night was a splendid affair with champagne aperitif, myrtle glazed foie gras, fillet of Charolais beef, Blue d’Auvergne and La Chaource cheeses and chocolate cheesecake. With it came a premier cru Louis Latour Beaune 2004 and Grand Cru Camus Charmes Chambertin 2000.

Indulgent? Maybe. Memorable? Without question.

Le Train Bleu: le-train-bleu.com; it is highly advisable to book ahead for a table.