We left Tournus this morning having been woken and then kept awake for several hours by the racket of thousands of starlings planning their next murmuration creation over breakfast.
During the night a Saône passenger cruiser had sneaked into the port and when I walked the dogs the occupants were enjoying their first meal of the day. At the same time the commercial barges were beginning their passages between wood yards and scrap metal graveyards.
Our relatively short journey to Pont de Vaux was uneventful but we passed pretty scenery and enviable riverside property. Enviable, that is, until you consider the winter will see the Saône rise in excess of 5 meters from its current level, surely inundating much of the land and threatening the homes lining the banks.
The final leg of the journey is via the lock and 3.5km narrow cut leading to the port.
It’s only when you’re through the 2.5 meter deep lock and in the port that you realise even here can’t escape the impressive increase in water level, with the piles that hold the pontoons in place soaring above you and the built up banks around the port designed to protect the town. It could get interesting!
Our allocated berth is on the first pontoon of the main port and we literally squeezed Thirza in between the finger pontoon and our new neighbour.
As soon as we were in we headed across the footbridge to town and had a lovely lunch.
Our next challenge is to get back to Diou to collect the truck. We just need to get to Macon on the scooter to collect the hire car we’ve booked for tomorrow. Let’s hope we get the sunshine predicted or it will be a very uncomfortable re-enactment of Dumb and Dumber!!
Adventures with Thirza 