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

Back on Board

Back on board.

Firstly, thank you to all who offered beds, washing machines and parking spaces whilst we had a “holiday” in the UK.  It was hectic but great to see everyone.

We arrived at Lyon in the afternoon of the Monday and got everything sorted away and set off the following morning.  Heading for Les Roches Condrieu.  We were soon back into the swing of mega locks - all of the next few are 200m long and drop around 12m - the really big ones are lower down the Rhone.  We’re going with the flow of the Rhone and so our speed is now around 7knts.  Condrieu was a nice enough town but the highlights were the visits by a kingfisher in the marina and some unusual neighbouring boats.

Only the tiny top section is above water when you enter the lock.

This boat was hilarious

Morning visitor

Second day was supposed to be fairly short to Tournon but as we got there we found the harbour had silted up and the pontoons were sat on the river bed - we backed very carefully out of the narrow entrance. Shame as it looked to be a very nice place to visit and is home to the l’Hermitage vineyard - had planned on stocking the wine cellar on the boat here - will have to find a supermarket wineshop instead. We continued on, through two more mega locks, and got to Valence before 5pm.  Decided to stop here for a couple of days to have a look around.

Lunch stop

Strange smoke?

Unfortunately this was the cause

Valence is the birthplace of Paynet, the painter - he’s the chap who in 1942 painted the scene of ”the lovers” being serenaded by a violinist under a bandstand - its based on a real moment and the bandstand is in the town centre park

The grape harvest is in full swing here

The famous bandstand

Bonaparte made his mark here too - more statues of him.

Lovely town, we can understand why some of the motorboaters overwinter here - nice place, easy access, good restaurants and shops.

Valence really is a lovely town

Looks like its going to be a very long day tomorrow - two harbours we’d planned on going to have silted up  - one completely and the other only has a depth of 1.4m, so no entry for us there.

Lunch in the market square

Ready for the RhoneI

Ready for the Rhone

Back to the UK for a bit now but here are some photos of Lyon - trying to temp you to visit the city - a fab place.

I jumped off the boat to take some piccies

The confluence museum

Evening out watching jazz at the Opera bar with Graham and Brigid

Jazz band playing Stevie Wonder music - great night

The Saone - The route to Lyon

The Saone - The route to Lyon

We stopped at a couple of villages -  Montmerle and Trevor, before the run into Lyon itself

Trevoux’s bridge had some weird blue figures sat on top - but it looked good.

Strange blue figures on the bridge

The trip from Trevor to Lyon meant one enormous lock, two huge ships came out of it.  We’d parked on the sport pontoon and sat and watched a hire boat properly crunch into the various walls and dolphins before finally coming to a halt near us - too near!  These hire boats must be ridiculously strong - we couldn’t see any damage at all to it.

The motor through the outskirts and into the centre of Lyon was fabulous - the buildings and sculptures along the river side just show how rich a place this was and probably still is.

Sailing through Lyon

Entering Lyon

Murals on the sides of buildings - very clever

We booked in for three days at the small marina in the centre of Lyon - a short water bus ride from the historic centre.

Celebrating the end of this leg - 1 more to go!

Our mooring in Lyon

The confluence with the Rhone is just 1km away and the area where we are is called the Confluence - a big shopping and high tech business zone with the Confluence Museum at the southern tip.  It cost €9 to get in but it was worth it just to see the photos and videos from a french Antartica expedition - amazing photography.  Managed to get my foot into an exhibition on shoes as well.

After a little bit of charm and application of the credit card we have persuaded the marina to let us leave the boat here whilst we return to the UK.  Not cheap but easy for the airport and it saves us travel and hotel bills from the next place further down the Rhone.

Travelled up the Lyon funicular today to see the St Just Basilica - amazing place built late 19c, incredibly ornate, so much so it verges on the ugly but well worth the trip.

Basilica - tres ornate

Lyon has lots of back allies cutting across between streets, some from the 15c, cutting through courtyards with galleried buildings and spiral stone staircases.

Miniature room - 30cm x 25cm

Some great architecture, both old and new

The River Saone - Part 2

Southwards we go, stopping at Verdun sur Doubs for lunch to try the local speciality of fresh water fish stew - it was actually OK, perhaps not to be rushed back for!

Verdun lunch stop 

100 km to Lyons!!

That night was at Chalons sur Saone - our second most expensive night at €21 - but nice place to be and very secure. Fabulous cathedral with a square in front of 14c buildings.  Great wildlife watching right in the heart of the city too.

Chalons cathedral square was lovely

Leaving Chalon

This heron had its own boat!

We keep seeing Charolais cattle by the river and they are always in the water.

We stopped at Tournus because we stopped here when we drove up from Alicante with a load of kit off Blue Horizon for the new boat, Half Moon.  It was also another milestone as we were able to remount the radar post.  We’ve had it laid across the after deck since leaving Stavoren so we could get under the bridges - but from here to the Med we have enough air clearance to put the post back up and let us promenade across the aft deck again.  Much better.

Deck with the radar still down

Final fitting of radar - a real milestone - the FM aerial took a beating on the journey though!

The weather is still hot and dry letting us swim and BBQ for lunch, the current is slow enough for us to swim upstream fairly easily and then drift back to the boat.

B-B-Q  lunch stop

We dropped a sausage in the river!

After more anchoring and swimming we eventually made it to Macon, nice work-a-day town with a great atmosphere.  We had a coffee in a building that was constructed in 1465! - look closely at the carvings and you’ll see that toilet humour hasn’t changed a bit!

The wooden house - supposed to be the oldest in Macon.

Love the name of this hotel (Hotel D'Europe et D'' Engleterre) - a 1950's hotel looking to the future - and its a Best Western!

The lovely 11c chapel - maybe not the ladder though.

Today we stopped at Montmerle, another free Halte with water and electricity, we walked up the hill to the 11c chapel, really atmospheric place with a tower behind surrounded by 60 different grapes vine varieties - we are now in the Beaujolais region - must find a vingoble soon.  Great view of the river across to the vineyards from the top of the tower.

Carole did her fishing bit whilst we were moored here - she put her rod back in its holder only to catch a bungee strap and watch the rod catapult up and then down into the Saone.  After much hooking and dredging she finally retrieved the rod by diving under the boat - top effort - kept us and the boat next door amused for ages.

Horse fix

Carole's Interesting Facts;

No. 16:  On a hot day Charolais cattle love a day on the beach; just chilling and paddling.

No. 17:  The km from the start of whichever river you are on are measured out with PK signs which stands for 'Point Kilometre".

The River Saone - Part 1

The River Saone - Part 1

Getting onto the Saone, and back into some reasonable water depths was a milestone for us, we were quite sad to see the end of the canals.  The river though is beautiful - apparently the best fishing river in France - Carole saw a “monster” fish jump near the back of the boat - the catfish can get to 300lbs - reputedly! And there are prehistoric Silure fish in the river that get to 3m long as well.

We stopped in Auxonne for a couple of nights to get chance to take a train to Dijon.  Auxonne is a 15c and 16c town but made more famous by the arrival of Napoleon in 1788, who trained as an artillery officer here. Still a garrison town too.

Statue of Napoleon in Auxonne

Took the train to Dijon - 20 minutes and €7 each way - what a fabulous city - a world heritage site with the most fantastic 15c to 18c town centre - amazing buildings.

The mustard isn’t too shabby either.

Park in Dijon

Square in Dijon

so many nice buildings in dijon

Mourners - Duke of Burgundy tomb

The city is full of lovely buildings