We left Condrieu Saturday morning having walked the boys and visited the boulangerie (seems to be a recurring theme 🤩).
We had intended to stop at Andance but the haulte fluvial they planned to open in the early noughties hasn’t materialised and the ‘excellent’ alternative in Andancette on the other side of the river has been so badly maintained that the metal sheets surrounding the piles stick out and threaten to score lines in your paintwork with every passing peniche, so it was onwards and downwards to Tournon.
You pass through magnificent landscape during this stretch and the regular hotel barges provide the odd wake to test whether you have stored everything securely……or not!
As we arrived in Tournon we were welcomed into the port by a guy running the local trip boat, a traditional Rhône vessel made of wood. He gave us the code for the gate at the end of the pontoon and said it was usually free to stay one night. One night it is then!
There was a small kiddies fair in the town square next to the quay so as soon as the ropes were on we set off in search of churros, wonderful long donuts covered in sugar……..douze s’il vous plait!
We found a lovely little burger restaurant with truffle burgers on the menu and it was a must try for Frank. I went for the more traditional cheese burger but we both agreed it was probably the best burger meal we’d ever had, perhaps because we washed it down with a local bottle of Hermitage red, delicious!
After, we walked across the river by way of the old wood boarded passerelle to Tain l’Hermitage and found a great wine bar called Le Bateau Ivre….very apt!!
Needless to say we swayed back to our own bateau ivre at the end of a very enjoyable day.
Adventures with Thirza 