Stupid O’Clock start,got up before the sun to make sure we could get to Port St Louis in time for the last lock at 18.45.
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| Dawn in Avignon |
Sunrise was beautiful to see and then we set off. With the current we were making 7 knts on the river. The penultimate lock was at Beaucaris, a 15m drop. We radio’d in before we got there and a few minutes after arriving the lights turned to green and we went in, all too easy really.
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| Sunrise as we set off |
We carried on past Arles, pity we didn’t stop as it looked like a very interesting town. We could see a Roman arena which the pilot book said seated 12,000 people for gladiator fights The same number come for the bull fights today - we’re in the Camargue region now !. Even saw a mosquito in October!!
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| The area is littered with castles |
The Rhone slowed and widened after Arles but we still made around 7 knots so we ended up arriving at Port St Louis du Rhone early. We parked up and waited - its a bit of a sad, run down place. The lock from the Rhone to St Louis opened at 16.15 and let us in the the St Louis basin - salt water at last.
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| Waiting for our last lock |
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| First sight of the sea |
The last 6 miles before we got to Port Napoleon was in increasing rain - welcome to the Med!
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| Did it rain! |
That said, at Port Napoleon - the end of our canal odyssey - the rain didn’t stop us celebrating with a bottle of champagne
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| Champagne to celebrate meeting up with the Med. |
So - 965 Nautical miles is 1,787.15km or 1,110.5 UK miles - not a bad trip really, and we’d do it again tomorrow, although maybe without the keel!
We kind of like the fact that it’s raining when we got here - just proves that travelling is about the journey not the destination's sunshine quota!
Now need to get our mast back and sort the boat out for real sailing(!) and the next stage of our trip.
Carole's Interesting Facts
No; 20 We negotiated 257 locks on our journey down, both large and small, automated and manual, and managed not to damage the boat - marvellous.
Carole's Interesting Facts
No; 20 We negotiated 257 locks on our journey down, both large and small, automated and manual, and managed not to damage the boat - marvellous.
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