St Jean des Losne to Lyon (or, Getting Close to the BIG SCARY RHONE……..)

Summer cruising on the Saone

It was an early start for our French neighbours as we were up and getting ready to leave at 9am, so the two chaps from the boat alongside came out and took their ropes which we reversed out and under from freeing us from the quay and allowing them to shuffle into our space without starting their engine and waking the ladies.

When we’ve done this route previously we cruised a few hours down to Seurre but had decided today we would go all the way down to Gergy.  When we’ve been to Gergy previously it’s been out of season and with it not being the most attractive mooring (in our opinion) we’ve had the pontoon to ourselves.  So I was confident that we’d get in, Mike was not so and sure enough, 44kms and 2 locks later we arrived to a nearly full pontoon with a gap that was just four foot short to accommodate us…..  However, the occupants of Dutch Barge Riana quickly appeared and invited us alongside, so we got moored up and immediately got the swimming gear out for a cool down.

Mike going au natural in preparation for showing off an all-over tan at the nudist beach on the Med.....

The first of many hotel barges

Off your marks!

SPLASH!!!!!

 We had a good chat with Caroline and Paul as they had just come up the Rhone, so we picked their brains on where they’d stopped and what the conditions were like and then joined them on board Riana for drinks before heading into the restaurant above the mooring for dinner.  It was the first time the seasonal restaurant had been open when we’ve stayed and they had a French Swing band playing that evening.  The campsite was occupied, the restaurant was busy and it felt like a completely different place. 

It was the night of the blood moon and having had clear skies all week we were gutted to see the clouds come in as it got dark.  We did catch the end of the eclipse later on though.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stop there but and it was with slightly woolly heads we pulled away the next morning under a light covering of cloud with promises of rain later.  The promises came true and by the time we reached Chalon-sur-Saone, it was absolutely chucking it down, but was still warm, so I had shorts and t-shirt on underneath my waterproof trousers and jacket!

So dull my photos are black and white!

Another monster taunting us from the sidelines......

Secretly enjoying the cool rain :)

There was a selection of goats and this little pony greeting us at our one lock of the day - very cute.

By the time we had travelled 47kms, through 1 lock and reached Tournus, the sun was back out and the sky clear again.  The quay was full (with free electric and water, no surprise) and we noted that one of barges was Aurigny, with Peter and Nicci on board, who we’d met in Sancerre, and alongside them was Whisper with Sue and Alan on board, who we also met in Sancerre.  With them already breasted up we slid up beside a large barge running boating and cycling holidays and asked the skipper, who was on deck, if we could breast up for the night.  He was more than happy to allow us and they turned out to be the most lovely neighbours for the night.

We had visited Tournus back in 2012 when we did a three week driving holiday through France in our darling Kitty Cate (Caterham 7) but had no recollection of the water front or quayside, so we quickly headed into town to find where we’d stayed and get our bearings from there.  We were also hoping to find the restaurant we had eaten in as we’d really enjoyed the meal and wanted to revisit it.  Once back up in the area we recognised we stopped for a drink and were sorry to see that the restaurant was closed down – plan B would need formulated……

Back at the boat we knocked on Aurigny and found Peter and his mate Pete not long back from a motorcycle ride and after greetings and introductions happily joined them for a beer and a catch up.  Sadly Nicci was back in the UK and not due to return for a couple of days, so we would miss her.

The Peters and Sue and Alan were all going out for crepes for dinner, the local No.1 place to eat so invited us to join them, on the premise that the restaurant could accommodate us, so we went back to the boat, scrubbed up and joined them.  The restaurant owners were just fab.  It was no problem to add us to the table and everytime the chef asked one of us where we were from, he seemed to have a friend from there!  Much amusement and catching up with Sue and Alan over the most amazing crepes, and then it was back to Aurigny for drinks.  Due to the heat (and possibly overindulging slightly the previous night), I was decidedly off the booze and after a glass of wine in the restaurant went on to water.    Despite this we still managed to sit out until midnight and I lost count of how many empty bottles were left discarded on the table…….

Being in your own company so much when you’re living and travelling on a boat, it’s nice when you meet up with people to socialise with and even more so when it’s people you’ve met before – it’s a small boating community in a huge country so when your paths cross it’s happy times.

Our mooring - yes, we are very small......... But even Aurigny looks tiny in this and she's huge!

Looking back to Tournus on our way out.

On my part, even though I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed it was with some reluctance that we left them at Tournus and continued on our way, but not before I’d handed in a bunch of fresh herbs from our garden to our neighbour, who I spent a lovely 20 minutes chatting with as she prepared apricot tarts for their guests' dessert that evening.  As we’d left for dinner the previous night, she had appeared at the kitchen door of the barge and handed in two portions of chocolate mousse tart for us – so kind!

With clear skies and a calm river, we headed off for Macon, with me spending some of the journey on the roof to catch the breeze.  It was a lovely section of river with pretty countryside and there was a holiday atmosphere on the boat.  Yes, yes, I know, we’re on a permanent holiday……….

As we past a mooring to our left about halfway down, we both commented that we recognised the boat and by the way the two people on board were waving realised we must know them.  A quick shifty through the binoculars revealed it was DB Derrineel, with Trevor and Alison on board, who we’d had a lovely night with last year on the Marne and enjoyed drinks and a curry together when they moored alongside us.  They have shares in the boat and we couldn’t believe that in that small window of them being on board our paths had crossed again, and as they pulled out and headed in our direction we hoped to get a chance to meet up properly.  Three and half hours later, we pulled into the new pontoon below the bridge at Macon surprised that it was half-empty – we’d been eyeballing spots all the way through town in case it was full, or we could head back upstream to the port where Derrineel had pulled into some time back.  The fact it has no water or electric could be the reason, or it does get a bit noisy at night and we had to move some folk playing bongos off the pontoon at 11.30pm.

Having had a look around the town and art market, we stopped for a kebab and drink thinking if we ate now, we could just have a light supper and not need to use the cooker and then headed back to the boat for a swim and to relax for the evening.

There is a fantastic and well-used cycle way along this stretch of the Saone (Fran and Sally!!!)

The sun has got his hat on, hip, hip, hip hooray!!!

A cool -55 degrees at Macon????

Much hilarity when we saw they'd snapped off the UK arm of this sign - we've not left yet!!!

I'm sure the brollies looked much prettier before they faded in the sun.

A giant river cruiser a bit close for comfort at the end of the pontoon :O

In the morning, we were getting ready to move when a loud blast of a horn caught our attention and we looked out to see Derrineel pulling in.  They were stopping briefly for some shopping, so we had a quick half hour catch up and then having established that we were going in the same direction and likely to catch up again properly parted ways for the time being.

Bye bye Macon - all starting to look distinctly 'South of France' :)

This is one of the big petrochemical barges that you are not allowed to share locks with......

Today’s target was Belleville, and having passed a few empty moorings and not many boats on the move were feeling okay about there being space, so you can imagine the sinking hearts when we approached and could see a cruiser, two speedboats and some dying, gray thing moored up…..  The dumped ‘Le Rat’, the gray thing, was moored in the middle of half of the pontoon, so we pulled alongside (she was short and round-sided so going alongside for the night wasn’t an option) and Mike jumped off to see if he could move her along to the end of the pontoon thus freeing up hopefully enough space for us.  However, her door was open and she was tied on to four different cleats with four ropes in varying states of decay and stringiness in all sorts of knots.  Mike shouted but, as expected, no one was on board and he just had a bad feeling that whoever had left the boat didn’t want her moved.  There was no one on the other boats to ask – probably all enjoying a lunch at the nearby restaurant, so we pulled off and headed for the next option at Montmerle-sur-Saone.  There was plenty space for us there and we pulled in trying to ignore the signs forbidding boats over 15 metres from mooring……  We’d heard it was strictly enforced and that a barge had been told to move at 5pm in the evening, so we didn’t settle in but waited on board for someone to come and collect the fees or chuck us off.  The chap didn’t arrive until gone 7.30pm by which time we’d stayed stuck to the boat, but had great fun cooling off in the water off the side of the boat.  I was sent out as the best chance at being allowed to stay.  He asked our length and I said, “15 metres”.  He looked at me, looked at the boat, then looked back at me, to which I smiled and said hopefully, “Peut-etre un peu plus….???”  I then tried to feign confusion that I thought it was boats of over 15 meters AND 20 tons that were banned but he knew I wasn’t that stupid, but he asked where I was from, and he has friends from Scotland and from everywhere all over the world. So I smiled and ‘Oooo….’d and ‘Ah…..’d and “…really??!!”d and stroked his ego appropriately until he decided he’d let us stay and not say anything back at the campsite, which is where the port is run from.  I thanked him for being so kind and we settled down for the night.  However, other boat owners, I wouldn’t recommend you try this if you’re over 15metres………..

The next day the temperatures remained in their now constant 30+ degrees and we pootled on down the flowless Saone.  

There are still quite a lot of commercial quays shifting sand and gravel on the Saone

Things got quite shoogly being overtaken by this monster.

We had hoped for a little flow to help us along our way but our original wish for perfect conditions had been granted.  We reached the beautiful town of Trevoux 20kms and 0 locks later and pulled up on to the empty pontoon.  This pontoon was also run by the campsite nearby and is limited to boats no longer than 20 metres, however, you go up to the campsite to pay and no one comes to check you – so if you were so inclined, you could probably stay a night without owning up……  We did check in, however, and parted with the princely sum of 24 euros for the pleasure.  Our swim to cool off over the side informed us that at this point in the river there was a slight current and we found ourselves floating downstream more easily than the upstream push.  What was quite disconcerting was when a commercial barge passed on the other side, we were sucked the wrong way and pulled upstream, even though they were nowhere near us!

After paying our dues and ordering some bread and croissants for the morning we headed into town for a look, noting en route that there was a free concert on the waterfront that night hosted by the barge, “Fargo”.  Having enjoyed the music in the restaurant at Gergy we decided we’d go along in the evening.  The town is a pretty town, but probably looks more spectacular from the water than on land.  There are a few arty shops around and we were tempted to buy an old copper fire extinguisher from a second hand shop, imagining the faces of the Gerndarme Nautique when we showed them that if they board us again…!! 

Approaching Trevoux - a stunning approach to the town.

The Rhone from the top of the town.  And yes, we are in the shot - can you see us!?

Back down to our mooring and we happily saw that Trevor and Alison on Derrineel had caught us up and were in the water cooling off, so we quickly changed and joined them.  They had moored at Bellevue the previous night expecting to see us there, but the pontoon had been empty when they arrived – apart from ‘Le Rat’.  Sometimes our timings of reaching moorings is just out.

Needless to say, an invitation for drinks on Derrineel in the evening was accepted with huge enthusiasm and I have no idea how much we drank, but Alison was still off the wine three days later.  Say no more.

It was all so civilised at 6.30pm.......

August the first was baking again as we pushed off, feeling slightly queezy and less than crisp, heading for our last stop on the Saone, as on leaving Lyon, we would be joining the Big Scary Rhone – aaaarrrggghghhhhhh!!!!!  The river was very quiet and we passed barely any commercial or pleasure craft on our four hour trip downstream.

Coming into Lyon. 

We’d called ahead that morning to check there was space in the port, and after pulling onto the fuel boat for diesel just upstream of the port, we rang again as we left there to announce our arrival.  We needn’t have worried about space, the big port was nearly empty, with a few boats on the finger pontoons on the left and not a single barge on the big, long quay on the right.  It’s a really lovely port, quite new with all facilities and next to a large modern shopping centre and a quick walk from some waterfront restaurants.  We decided to stay two nights and as soon as we were checked in, we took the tram up to the shopping centre near the station to Darty to buy a portable air conditioning unit!!!  Trevor and Alison had bought one and having seen it in action at Trevoux, we decided we should get one for when we are in port (with shore power) and it is really hot, and then we can take it to the house when we move in later this year.  We took our little trolley with us that we normally use to cart our diesel back to the boat, and got surprisingly few strange looks as we wheeled it around the shopping centre and back on the tram to the boat.  There was only one scary moment when Mike reckoned we could use the escalator in the shopping centre and couldn’t quite get the tilt position required to move it at the bottom and there was almost a pile up as he manhandled the whole lot out of the way – we took the lift after that………

Nice fountain for cooling down in the centre of town.

The Rhone running through Lyon has a slightly prettier waterfront than the Saone. 

Looking very smart in his new shorts and shirt :)

Where we're headed - not Paris! 

Loved these electric signposts which not only changed information but swivel around to give you different directions.  Unfortunately my shutter speed doesn't do them justice!

And this is the trial self-driving electric bus!!  As it slows towards a stop you push the button and it stops to let you on :)

We have visited Lyon before in 2016 when we were travelling through France for a month and spent three days there so we didn’t feel the need to do the tourist thing but we had a look around and made use of the array of shops to get some new sandals for me and a couple of cool little summer dresses to wear while cruising in extreme heat and some shorts and a nice linen shirt for Mike. 

Trevor and Alison caught up with us, though we only saw Trevor and the dogs on Wednesday as Alison was on the floor hugging the air conditioner…………  They also planned a couple of nights in Lyon before heading onto the Rhone for a few hours travel and then to come back, just to see if Derrineel could handle it, so over dinner on Thursday evening we arranged to go in convoy, safety in numbers and all that….., on Friday 3^rd August.  Rhone day!!