RIDING THE RHONE

Commencing 22/04/2010 to 3/04/2010

After a quiet night on the quay in the city of Lyon we awoke to another fine clear day
(talk about lucky) so while the nerves were jangling a bit following reports of some hell conditions which can be experienced on this river after it merges with the Saone doubling the volume of water making its way to the Mediterranean, we set off and were only underway when we got held up at the first lock while we waited for a commercial barge to catch us and to enter first (they, always have priority). It was so big 105m in length that there wasn’t room for us to fit in so we had to wait for it to get lowered some 12meters and then moved off but allowed another vessel to come in from the downstream end so by the time we got through an hour had passed but never mind it was a case of achieving speeds of around 6.7 knots due to the increased river flow but all was quiet in actual terms.

Years ago when traffic was first using this river for commerce it was a case of manning the barges downstream then it took up to 30 horses to drag them back to Lyon so they were often burned at the most southern end of their journey to minimise the costs. A huge amount of money has been spent over the years to deepen the river bed and to blast rapids plus build these huge locks which are also used as hydro-electric dams on the side where the river would usually run. The locks as described are quite awesome when one first enters them but as there are plenty of floating bollards fitted to each side, the ride up or down is smooth but timely due to the huge volume of water to be added or evacuated.

After a day of running down stream we pulled in to the riverside marina of Les-Roches-de-Condrieu where power and water is available. A lovely marina with delightful grounds but at €26.00 per night for our size of boat has ensured we will not be staying here for more than the one night. This area is quite amazing with the vineyards planted on the steep southern facing hillsides where the reflection off the southern sun reflects off the river and assists in ripening the grapes. Little or no growing is seen on the northern facing slopes. The only problem we could see was that the hillsides are so steep you would almost need to be a mountain goat to work in among the plantings. Just imagine if you have worked your way to the top, pruning or whatever, and you realised you had left your lunch in the van at the bottom. Gee I would be thin for sure.

As time is moving on through spring towards summer, it is great to see all the trees shrubs and meadows bursting out in new growth and colour. The scents of so many permeate the air and climbers like the wisteria are in full colour so adorn many homes and buildings and soften the overall look of many areas. We pulled into a new berthage area called Glun which has a new pontoon and while it does not have power nor water supplied, it is so delightful as it borders onto a great park with lots of kids playground areas. Free overnight stay has trimmed back some of the €26.00 we had to spend in Les-Roches so all seems fair again.

The river is still kind to us so today we did nearly 10 hours bringing us right down to Bollene which boasts of having the largest or deepest lock in France and while we have experienced all but the largest, we will do that tomorrow, we have been awed by the size and then the power of the water being released so wonder about tomorrow.

We chose to stay on a commercial quay just out of town right beside an atomic power station but which has also 3 of those huge wind turbine towers placed nearby. We cannot detect any sounds at all so don’t know what the people back home are complaining about when saying they hear them from several kms away. Berths in the town are limited we are told and expensive if you can find one to suit our boat size so again this one is free. Sounds like we are miserable but every bit saved is worth it as we face a number of moorings ahead costing around €30.00 per night.

The navigator tells me we have about 7 hours to get to Avignon where we hope to stay for a few days and top up the larder and the grog box so do hope this fabulous weather continues. I am in my second day of “shorts” so while the sight might not be great the feeling sure is.

Saturday and we got under way at 8 .30 am ready to face the 3rd deepest lock in the world. It was No1 until the Portuguese built theirs a few years ago and of course the Chinese had to build the biggest as part of their Yangtze project. As we were making our way towards the jaws we were red lighted by the lockmaster who then told us to tie up at one of the holding gates as there was a passenger vessel coming down and they have the right away. Every lock area has its own VHF channel so there is contact between ships and lockmaster at all times. All we have to hope for is that he can handle our lousy French and we, his poor English.

The passenger vessel which was very large (see pics) slid into the lock and then we were instructed to follow which all went well but it just shows how big these locks are. The depth is 23 meters and it takes only 7 minutes to empty and 7 to refill again, so is like riding an express elevator but no drama provided you were tied on to one of the floating bollards which slide up or down the wall at the same level as the water. At the bottom of the lock the sun seems to be obliterated due to the height of the walls then the gates slide open and you are out onto the river again and get gathered up by the spillway flow so this takes a bit of getting used to until everything settles down again as you move away from the lock vicinity.

We have now had a full week on the rivers since leaving Saint Jean de Losne and it has sure been good to be underway and I might add, get almost instant coverage for the computer. No drop outs nor any problems and SFR (our internet provider) is easily accessible so it is great to have proper communications again - even the TV coverage is good. I guess Saint Jean de Losne is in a blackspot so to speak which is such a shame when so many folk who stay there for such a long time need good reliable coverage etc.

During the trip down we have seen lots of old castles and remnants of fortifications many dating back to the Crusades and even further. It is amazing how they are still standing after so many wars including the two World Wars and when you see how they built some of them on the top of cliffs or rocky outcrops the engineering is to be fully admired even if you don’t like old castles like me but Rhonda is in her element.

Rhonda's Comment: "Sur le pont Avignon ..........."

Ok, here it is 4.30pm and we have just moored up in Avignon which is actually in the true south of France so we feel as though we are almost there so to speak. The river Rhone spread out after the last lock to where it must be close to a kilometre wide in places so appeared to have slowed down. That was until we turned up into the river tributary at the junction where the longest island on the river divides the flow so you have to go upstream to the city and we were down to 2 knots per hour despite running the revs up to 1600. We could not believe the power of the flow and the moorings are just rings and bollards along a quay as any of the marinas built to date have all been washed away when the real flow comes through. Wherever you go there are signs warning about the severe water flows even in fine weather due to snow melts and heavy rains occurring in the mountains and hills so we will still have to keep ourselves alert until we get off the river totally in about 2 days.

Avignon is a very historic city with the old part being contained within walls which were built in the 13th century and still stand proud today. The old part of the city which is contained within those walls is really quaint and the narrow streets lead you to some great sights including the town square where in addition to all the various gift type shops hosts a number of large restaurants offering al fresco dining so there are hundreds of visitors soaking up this wonderful ambiance and good food. One of the favourites here is mussels and chips (Moules and Frits) which are considered a delicacy and which I will spoil myself to a lunch of before we depart this city. We have encountered a number of boat visitors from the UK, Sweden, Holland and Australia so there has been a bit of banter exchanged which is fun.

Today, Monday has been a real rest day which has been so nice so with the laundry all done (even some ironing) we look forward to getting the scooter off tomorrow and exploring and shopping in the new part of the city. Tuesday was a day of scooter exploration and to find the local marine dealer for a tube of grease. Eventually found the company who was a Mercury stockist and had the grease tube ready for putting direct into a grease gun. The price, wait for it, was €26.00. We nearly choked but as it was what we needed we were forced to buy. It had better work well!

Rhonda's Comments: I love this city - it is sooooo french!!!!! Sometimes I feel as though I am on a movie set.

The whole day was taken up on the river by hotel and tourist boats coming to drop off groups to buses which then whisked the tourists away to see the sights of this region. During the night, the electricity company who control the dam levels thus the flow of the river had obviously been dragging a lot of water for power generation but as a result our boat which we had tied fore and aft plus a close mid rope was left stretching the mid rope so we had a real list on which was a bit alarming. The rope was too tight to undo so with regret I had to cut it and our 45 tonnes of boat settled into the river again. Something to be aware of for sure.

The other thing which is a sight to behold is the huge amount of what we would call kapok which I seem to remember being used for stuffing of mattresses and pillow not so many years ago. The trees are like the Silver Birch with the kapok dropping all over the place leaving a carpet in thickness up to 25 mm. Harry just loved to play in it.

Rhonda's Comments: This is the outside of the covered market place.

Wednesday was another day when we spent some hours walking around the old city and enjoying the sights and watching the people. It is a really metropolitan city with so many races mixed and apparently getting along without too many problems. Sadly there is a lot of graffiti which we have often commented in the past 12 months how little is seen but Avignon is an exception. It takes the edge off the beauty really.

Rhonda's Comment: A swimming pool - this is what every barge should have especially in the Med!!! Ken when is ours being installed?

Thursday was a day for Rhonda to take off walking again around the central old city, while I spent the day working on the boat getting ready for departure which we planned for Friday weather permitting.

Rhonda's Comments: A beautiful field of dandelions!!!!!!

Well, as planned we pulled off from Avignon at 9.00 am on Friday with the knowledge we had a big lock to go through within the first hour. We were overtaken on the way by a big commercial vessel which was travelling at approx 12knots compared to our 6 so we were surprised to arrive at the lock to find it still waiting to get through. All in all, we wasted over an hour as the lockmaster seemed to lack any sense of timing so we had to wait for the commercial to eventually get through then for the lock to be filled again before we could get our turn. Honestly, it was the worst we had struck for delay since arriving in France and on top of this he also refused to speak any words of English and wouldn’t acknowledge our French language attempts. As a result of this delay followed by another at the next lock, we spent 9 hours working our way to the off shoot from the Rhone river and onto the Canal du Rhone a Sete, so we found a nice little mooring against the bank with a small jetty and settled for a well earned rest.

So in fact we have “done” the Saone and the Rhone which was such a bogey originally in our minds due to all the tittle-tattle about how frightening these rivers are from time to time which seems to be so often chatted about by boaties. I am sure that when the melt is fully on or after several weeks of heavy rain they sure could be quite awesome but with care and taking notice of the official authorities advice there seems to be no reason why this journey can’t be enjoyed and all the beauty witnessed like we did.

We now will move onto the next stage which is travelling almost along the coast “of the Mediterranean” that is towards the Canal du Midi which is where we plan to spend the next 12 months so this closes this blog and as usual, thanks for your interest and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask for any additional information or clarification.

Kindest regards.
Rhonda, Ken and Harry

Total Locks this Season: 19

Total Kms this Season: 513