TO AVIGNON

Crack of dawn start today - well got up at 6.30, still too dark to set off, back to bed, finally set off at 7.15 - Small boats aren’t allowed out in the dark!

Dawn - Almost worth getting up early for.

Again more beautiful scenery and chateaux along the way.  But the most impressive thing was the lock at Bollenne - 200m long and a drop of 23m - felt like we were going down in a lift.

We made good time but by 4pm we realised that it was going to be very late at Avignon so were lucky to find a place to stop at St Etienne des Sorts, great little wine village - one of the Cotes de Rhone Villages domains - we managed to add to the wine cellar and find a good, cheap restaurant. 
         (only pictures on my phone  put one on Facebook).

A man in his element.

Stopping here meant we only had 40km to go to reach Avignon but the forecast was pretty rubbish so we’d half decided to stay another night but by 11.00 the next morning the sky had cleared and we decided to make a dash for Avignon.  We had two slow locks, one due to a gas ship taking precedence, you’re not allowed to share a lock with explosive vessels - makes sense really, but we had to wait an hour before we could enter the lock.

Gate going up

Dave crawling to the lock keeper- told him his Ecluse was Magnifique.

What - your'e getting bored of lock photos! - never! (don't worry, only 2 left to go before the Med.)

This led to us only getting to Avignon about 4.30 and as you can see from the picture the sky got very dark, it was spitting a bit as we moored but then the heavens opened and we we deluged - best rain we’ve had since leaving the Netherlands!  The view of the Pont d’Avignon on the way to the quayside was great - the silhouette of the people on the bridge - built in the 13c by the way, and condemned to traffic in1668! - was really dramatic.

First view of Avignon

Umbrellas silhouetted against a stormy sky.

And the rains came.

Today we wandered around the old town getting a feel for the place. we’ve decided to stop for a while as there is lots to see and we think the next stage down to the Med will only either be 1 long or 2 days