The trip from Vias to Bezier was fairly uneventful; the scenery yet to become the pretty Midi we have been told about and that we’ve experienced during past holiday’s in the area. At about 12:30 we were stopped by the usual lunchtime lock closure at Villeneuve-les-Beziers and were delighted to find that the waiting quay for the lock was also the frontage of a restaurant. Don’t mind if I do! We had a very basic but enjoyable lunch and moved on towards Bezier.

As we left the last lock before the basin at Bezier the Maison Batelier came to ask if we intended to stay here and that he had some stern-to mooring space left. We can’t do bows or stern-to mooring because of the shape of Thirza – and stern-to is a definite no-no due to the scooter platform (and scooter) preventing us from being able to clamber over the back rail to the quay.

We thanked him but said we needed to continue if there was no space alongside and were almost instantly dismayed at the scene ahead of us. Dozens of bumper boats were milling around the basin waiting to go through the next lock and we were at the back of the queue. Handling Thirza takes a bit of getting used to and you soon learn that unless she has some kind of propulsion she will drift according to the current or wind conditions. Today the stiff breeze was gently pushing us towards the quay, and all the moored boats alongside.

Frank managed to keep her out of harms way for a while but soon we were midships with a similar sized barge called “effie” and I called out to see if anyone was on board. It was a shame that the response wasn’t “g’day mate” but it could have been as Phil, from Australia, came out and welcomed us to lay alongside while we waited our turn at the lock.

We chatted happily for a while and once the pandemonium had calmed we decided to take our luck with the space reserved for the passenger boats, just to see if we could get away with staying there for the night. The locks close at 7pm and as the basin is sandwiched between 2 locks you pretty much know that after 7 you won’t be disturbed – and so as luck would have it we had a very peaceful evening.

The following morning we ummed and ahhhed about whether to chance our arm and stay where we were or move on. Almost like someone had blown the whistle at a football match, the pandemonium started again at 8:45 in the morning and it seemed like every bumper boat on the canal system was pushing forward to claim their place in the queue for the lock.

Happily for us, two large barges that had been moored alongside near the Capitainerie joined the melee and so we knew there was now space in the main harbour. So we let go of the ropes, turned Thirza around (minus bowthruster – again giving up when we most needed it) and headed to the now empty quay.

Safely and neatly tucked into the corner of the basin, we disembarked the scooter and agreed with the Maison Batelier that we would stay for 2 more days so we could visit Bezier properly. He did mention that if we hadn’t vacated the Passenger Boat mooring when we did we was going to kick us off but he was happy to get us into the heart of his domain and paying for our keep. We made up for our indiscretion by allowing a French occupied bumper boat to moor alongside us for the duration of our stay and we were rewarded with a bottle of Rose for our trouble. No trouble at all!

The weather was lovely – perfect for painting and we took the opportunity to finish our recoat of Thirza’s deck, which completed the full repaint she’s had over the past 12 months since we hauled her out at Bradwell.

Bezier is a lovely town, but you have to get into the heart of it to really appreciate it’s worth. It has a wonderful park, The Plateau des Poètes, with memorials dedicated to Poets of the Occitane and an esplanade to rival those in Paris.

We visited St Nazaire Cathedral and were reminded that 20,000 innocents were massacred because the people of Bezier would not give up 150 of their Cathar neighbours to Pope Innocent III in his crusade to promote Christianity and wipe out heretics. A sad and unenlightened time indeed.

Happily for us, this all happened a very long time ago and it seems modern-day Pagan’s are able to go about their daily business without comment or criticism!

We decided to head off apres-midi on Thursday (16^th May) and after we traversed the aquaduct over the river Orb (of course I jumped off to take the obligatory photo of Thirza in the foreground and St Nazaire Cathedral in the background) we made a slow but enjoyable passage to L’echelle de Fonserannes, nine rugby ball shaped locks in staircase formation. What could possibly go wrong?

We had been a little concerned about this part of the trip, but having successfully managed several oval locks without incident we were confident that it would be fine. As we entered the first lock on our own we breathed a sigh of relief as both lines were secured and Thirza was perfectly fendered.

Then Alain Prost turned up in a 50ft bumper boat – drove into the lock like his life depended on it and gleefully helmed towards Thirza with the intention of using her as a means to bounce his boat back towards the other side of the lock.

Both Frank and I tried to maintain calm but calling out “lentement……..monsieur…… lentement!!” had no effect. He wasn’t listening – or didn’t care – and came on like a man possessed. Out came our fender just in time and we managed to stop any damage as he hit Thirza’s stern and bounced back towards his side of the lock.

“Slow down!! Lentement!!” was being shouted by both Frank and I but the response was to gun his engine even harder whilst telling us to mind our own business. At that point Anglo-French relations broke down and the air turned blue…red, white, green and gold!

What an arse. It was shame that when the Esclusier came along (eventually) he pretended not to understand my French and not to speak English and he had a good old laugh with Mr Prost about “Angleterre” and “Brexit”. The rest of the climb up the staircase was interesting, to say the least, but the worst part was the fact the Eclusier made sure we got no assistance at all. Until we insisted that he call his boss. When he arrived we explained to him what had happened and how we had been treated. He made sure we got all the help we needed thereafter and he apologised profusely for his member of staff.

That night we wild-moored just ahead of the tunnel at Malpas and had a very peaceful evening. Then it rained. And rained. And rained. All day Friday it rained….hard. We got to Capestang, and found a mooring within the harbour limits but it was shallow and we couldn’t get Thirza’s stern in – and there was a very muddy footpath next to us. We found out it was going to cost €27 to stay the night, without electric, or we continue on and pass through the dreaded Pont de Capestang.

This bridge has been the subject of much discussion between us and those that have passed through it, pretty much since we left the UK. It is low, narrow and odd-shaped. On Friday afternoon as the rained poured down and we silently fumed about paying €27 for a night in a place we couldn’t visit unless we were prepared to get soaking wet, Frank suggested we move on, through the bridge, because, after all, it might be pissing down but there is not a breath of wind. Nothing to change our course or randomly push us into the bridge.

So we went for it. Oh my, so sweet and easy that we passed through without even holding our breath. And on the other side of the bridge we found the bank was easy to moor along, not so dirty and outside the harbour’s jurisdiction….in other words, free!

We had a lovely night, in the pouring rain, and left in the morning having visited the lovely village of Capestang, it’s few shops, Le château des Archevêques de Narbonne and the ancient church La collégiale St Etienne, all within the part of the village that was built between the 10^th and 13^th Centuries.

Saturday morning we moved off and after just 10kms found a lovely spot to wild-moor. The boys had the best day doing what they wanted, when they wanted. As they both found their own spot to have a drink from the canal poor Bosun slipped and fell in. He tried to get out himself but couldn’t and I had to fish him out. Brody told him off in good style “how dare you go swimming without me”!

We were close to a hamlet called Pont de Seriege with a very fine restaurant and prices to match. We dined on roasted peppers to start, followed by filet steak with chunks of potatoes roasted with fine-cut red onions served with a delicious doughy bread with a crisp crust. So glad we decided to eat on board 😊

As An Aside

Since leaving Aigues-Mortes we have been fortunate enough to see some new bird species, for us.

The first was a flock of Bee-eaters darting in and out of a tree, giving a wonderful display of their plumage as we passed.

Then came a strange bird with a brown body and brilliant white wings that flew right past us. Almost immediately we spotted another on the bank ahead of us but it was a brown bird – it couldn’t be the same species – until it too took off and showed off it’s white wings. I had trouble finding it in the bird book but Frank found it amongst the heron’s – it was a Squacco Heron.

Next came the Pied Flycatcher that sat in the reeds next to boat whilst we were moored up so we were able to get a good look at him through the binoculars.

We continued to enjoy our stay in Aigues Mortes and had a lovely evening in Banaras with Hans and Angie, followed by a final visit to Tac Tac , after I’d deposited a dozen of Shakil’s wonderful naan breads in the freezer.

On Wednesday (8th May) we popped round to say goodbye to Dave and Fiona and after a flurry of activity Thursday morning we cruised out of Aigues Mortes harbour and off for the next leg of our adventure.

Unfortunately this means traversing the Canal du Rhone a Sete, which is by far the ugliest and least inviting canal we have been on yet.  And it shouldn’t be.  It is less than a km from the beautiful sandy beaches of the Med and we imagined taking a few days to get to Frontignan, the last town before entering the Etang de Thau.  However, they are in the middle of major works along most sections of the canal and anywhere where the banks were good enough to moor against was a mud pit, not at all suitable when you have 2 dogs to walk 3-4 times a day.  But the mobile bridge at Villneuve-les-Maguelone was kind of unique.

Anywhere that was ok to stop was either reserved for passenger boats or full of liveaboards and bumper boats.  So we made the full journey from Aigues Mortes to Frontignan in one afternoon, stopping only when we reached the lifting road bridge that opens at 08:30 and 16:00 each day.

We were the only boat in the port that night, which is hardly surprising when you consider that the railway line passes over the canal withing meters of the first mooring point and is frequented by many trains, including long freight trains, throughout the night.  In fairness, we were so tired it didn’t affect either of our nights sleep and we awoke Friday morning feeling refreshed.  As the bridge lifted at 08:30 we were hovering waiting to go through and made the last run towards the Etang.

We were both surprised by how lovely the Etang is.  I suppose we are both seafarers at heart and this is as close to being on the sea as we will get this trip (apart from the channel crossings, of course!).  We dutifully followed the bouy system, as instructed by the books, and really enjoyed the 2 hour crossing to Marseillan, just a stones throw from the entrance to the Canal Du Midi.

We were fortunate enough to get a berth near the end of the starboard harbour wall, which gave us a fabulous view of the Etang for the evening.  A quick outing to see all that Marseillan has to offer included a visit to the home of Noilly-Prat.  Neither of us are Vermouth drinkers so we didn’t add to their profits for the day but it was one of those “must do” things and we ticked the box.

Much more to our taste was the local La Madelaine Cave and we stocked up on a box each of Red and Rose wine.

On Saturday we left the salty Etang and entered the Canal du Midi – a real milestone on our journey.  The first Midi lock is not too far up the canal and we were nervous of this new type of lock that we had never experienced before – oval.  I mean, who decides that oval is a good shape for a lock!  Even the many explanations that this was the shape of boats in those days doesn’t work for me – the lock entrance is the usual size, then it bulbs out to oval before being squeezed back down to normal lock gate size again.  Mental!

As it turned out, it was much easier to manage and fender against than we’d imagined and some of my fears about the Midi dissipated.  Only some of them.  Already there were many more bumper boats than we’d experienced on other canals but so far none had caused us a problem.  The next odd-shaped lock is the one at Agde, L’ecluse ronde d’Agde.  Yes, round and with 3 lock gates.

2 gates allow the usual transfer along the Midi and the 3rd allows boats to pass into the Herault, which can be navigated down to Cap d’Agde and into the Med.  No thanks.  Been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt!

As we left the round lock the bowthuster decided to stop working again but Frank hadn’t lined up so well, relying on our 3rd crew member, and we bounced gleefully from one side to the other as we exited the gates.  Immediately on the left bank was an empty passenger boat quay so we stopped and Bill from Lazybones, a lovely 20m Widebeam canal boat, offered to take a line.  Thank you!  We asked if he thought we’d be ok to stop here and he said the last boat was moved on after 3 weeks!  Ok, so one night should be fine then.

Once again I stripped down the bowthruster control switch and wiggled the wiring and once again it worked.

The following morning we moved off the berth and headed to who knows where and just a few kms down the cut we came to Vias and a halte that had very substantial bollards to tie to but was in all other ways a wild mooring.  Perfect!

No sooner had we put the first line on, a car came along with someone wagging their finger in a “you can’t stop there” kind of way.  Pretending I didn’t see them I carried on tying up the boat and the next thing Jane, Bill’s wife, came out of the car saying “I’m only joking, Bill’s creeping along the canal, do you think there’s room for us?”.  Sure!  We helped Bill bring Lazybones alongside as he also has a defunct bowthruster and it was nice to meet them properly.

In the afternoon we walked down to Vias-Plage, a proper seaside resort, and the boys had their first run on a Med beach and dip in it’s blue waters of the year – the first ever for Brody in fact.

We had ice-creams and returned to the boat feeling that this part of the adventure was already living up to expectations and when we saw Bill and Jane again we invited them for drinks.

We had a lovely evening and a good laugh – they are Londoners with our sense of humour – perfect!  Jane fell head over heals in love with Brody.  Not surprising really, he is a happy, friendly little dog and he LOVES cuddles, which he got plenty of from Jane and I gave her the name and address of the breeder we got him from.

This morning, after Bill popped in with some maps and books of the area, we said our farewells and pushed Thirza off the bank.  I had a quick check and was pleased to see that we still had two dogs on board.

We left Gallician having walked the boys and visited the Boulangerie (definitely a recurring theme!) and made our way south towards Aigues-Mortes.  The sun made an appearance and was wonderfully warm as we meandered through the flat plains of the Camargue.

White horses, black bulls and pink flamingos randomly peppered the banks and took little notice of us as we slipped past.

It is a truly unique place – not obviously beautiful but so definitely Camargue.  And when the sun rises or sets over the sea water salt pans they emanate a pink glow.

It is a land of gypsies, real gypsies, not the pikey’s that break onto common ground and trash the place.  True gypsies with their own beliefs, values and principles.  Cautious, unique people living their own way of life.  They give the place an air of mystery and intrigue.

As we took the channel down towards Aigues-Mortes we both felt a sense of relief and excitement.  Aigues-Mortes is less than 5 miles from the Med.  We were arriving at one of our major goals of this trip.

We first discovered Aigues-Mortes when we did this trip in 2002-2003.  We came at it from the other side, having run in from the Med to get away from the constant rolling swell and a storm that was threatening to hit at any moment.  Grau du Roi is essentially a fishing port with, at that time, just a handful of berths for pleasure craft but we were lucky enough to get a berth for the night.  Unfortunately, at that time, there had been significant rainfall and a constant stream of logs, trees and branches were being swept down a river that emptied into the canal on the opposite side us and we were bombarded all night.  The following day we headed up the canal and came across Aigues-Mortes.  It is an awesome sight!

A fortified town, Aigues-Mortes was built in the 13^th Century to give King Louis of France a Mediterranean Port to launch the crusades from.  The impressive Tower of Constance was once used to hold prisoners but is now enjoying retirement as the tourist office.

Suffice to say, we fell in love and over the years have had many happy holidays here.

Back to the present, and as we made our way down the canal I had the binoculars sweeping the rows of liveaboards on either bank to see if I could spot Warrior.  Warrior is a beautiful ship built in 1912 that duly served in Dunkirk when her country needed her.

 

She is now owned by friends we have known for about 9 years, having met on the south coast of England when we brought Illusion back from Ireland.

Dave and Fiona had a different boat then, but fell in love with Warrior and decided to restore her whilst making their way through the French canals.  They too discovered Aigues-Mortes and have stayed ever since, so we always catch up with them whenever we are in town.

It seems they have been following the blog and knew our arrival was imminent so suddenly, through the binocular lenses, I spot Warrior and there on her deck, waving madly, was Fiona.  It was such a lovely welcome into this special place!

We called greetings across the water as we passed and having found a great berth in the main harbour we got the scooter off and headed back to say hello properly.  We agreed to meet that night at Banaras, one of the finest Indian restaurants we have ever known owned by Shakil and his lovely wife Perrin (I’m sure that’s not how you spell either of their names but the best I can muster!).

We decided to stay for a couple of weeks and were glad we did as the wind got up and blew strong for several days.  When it started to abate and the sun came out we decided to take the opportunity to catch up on some maintenance, which required us to turn Thirza around.

As we let go of the lines and allowed the wind to take the bow around Frank tried to give it a bit of a hand using the bow thruster, but it didn’t work!  Fortunately, it wasn’t really required for the manoeuvre and Thirza completed the 180 degree turn under wind power and laid gently back alongside the pontoon.  But we were not happy.  Our next goal is to reach Carcassonne on the Canal du Midi and there are some very low, odd shaped, tricky bridges that we would not want to tackle without the assistance of our 3^rd crew member, the bow thruster.

We took the panel in the wheelhouse apart and found a burnt out diode.  We are stupid when it comes to these matters and immediately decided this was the problem and we just needed a new one.  Our friend Dave on Warrior has a hobby-turned-business taking items of modern technology (Bluetooth speakers, keyboard and mouse sets, tv screens etc.) and giving them a Steampunk makeover.  It is lovely stuff, really impressive and he does it all from the cabin located in the bow of Warrior……what a set up, what a job!

Anyway, we asked Dave if he had a diode and he didn’t but gave Frank some idea’s as to where he might find one.  Frank tried the local electrical shops, with no luck.  As always in these situations, when we are completely clueless, we hit the panic button, which is linked directly to the mobile phone of Roger, Thirza’s previous, cleverer and much more practical owner!

Ann, Rogers wife, answered because Roger was driving and she gave two excellent suggestions – read the manual and call the manufacturer…….erm, yes, sorry didn’t think of that before we pressed the panic button.  A little embarrassed at just how incompetent we are we said we would do just that and let them know how we got on.  Reading the manual did help us understand the wiring a little better and a good chat with Roger later in the day gave me the confidence to strip the switch down a little further to check for dodgy connections.  Hey presto!  It seems the on/off switch wiring had become damaged when the diode burnt out.  The diode is non-essential so wasn’t required to operate the unit.  With that out of the way and with the wiring stripped back a bit we got a clear connection and now have a fully functioning bow thruster again.  Phew!

Saturday 4^th May.  We sung happy birthday to Bosun, who looked at us as like we’d completely lost it, just like he does every year, and are planning to go to a BBQ this lunchtime arranged by the local boating association.  It seems it will cost us €10 each to attend, we bring our own food and drink but there will be some wine available.  Vaguely comforted by the fact we could probably drink €10 of wine each we then discovered that the €10 is actually a year’s membership of the association and as we hope to be back here for the winter we felt this was good value indeed!

We have made some new friends here, Hans and Angie on Groen Licht and Jeremy and Sheena on Jo de Mer, so off we set to meet them and be introduced to others.  It turns out the association was initially started by French boat owners but they welcome any nationalities so there was a mix of English, Dutch, Irish (of course) and French and after we’d eaten the call went up for volunteers to play petanque, the French national game for all ages.

Frank put himself forward, as did Hans and Ian, of Ian and Sue who we met, and they joined another English guy, Paul and a Dutch lady called Ine, on team 5.  The other 5 teams were all French and the battle commenced!  Well, team 5 did remarkably well, winning 2 out of three games making it to the semi-final, much to the displeasure of the French.  There were calls for a stewards enquiry in one game and several attempts to bend the rules to ensure the home teams won.  Eventually “the rest of Europe” fell to the pressure.

It was a great afternoon and at one point they tried to nobble “the rest of Europe” with home made plum potchin!  By 7pm we made our way back to the boat and crashed out – too much wine, too much exercise and just the right amount of laughter.

 

We spent Good Friday morning doing a bit of sightseeing in Avignon – but quickly realised that having been here on at least 3 other occasions there was not much more to do. The mooring is good with electricity and safe but right next to the main road through the city so very, very noisy…..all night! Also, it’s not the best place for walking the boys and certainly no opportunities for them to have a free off-the-lead run so we decided to move on to Vallabregues at lunchtime.

It was only a couple of hours and when we got there a friendly bargee waved us to raft up alongside him, which we managed without incident. Having tied up he said that the passenger boat on the only hammerhead would be leaving at 5pm and wouldn’t be back until Monday so we were welcome to move over to there once he’d left. Great!! We love Vallabregues and it is a perfect place for the dogs….and us…being off the road and in the middle of countryside.

At the given time the passenger boat moved away and we let go of our host to take up the vacated spot. Unfortunately, on closer inspection, it wasn’t a straight-sided pontoon but 4 large posts sticking out well beyond the pontoon that we figured we could moor against but getting the boys off would be perilous, at best, but more likely impossible. By this time the wind had picked up considerably and we didn’t feel we would be able to get back alongside the barge so decided to continue the 2 hour trip down to Arles, where we knew from experience there is a huge pontoon for pleasure boats like us.

We got caught for a short time at the final Rhone lock and took the chance to walk the boys along the bank. Eventually we got through the lock into the final section of the Rhone and whizzed at 12kms down to Arles, where we arrived as dusk was descending.

Horror of horrors, the pontoon was not there and the restaurant barge had 2 pleasure boats already rafted alongside so no room for us. The only chance of stopping we had was a small rickety pontoon for local fishermen and after some thought and careful manoeuvring we managed to raft outside a small fishing boat with our lines taken directly to the pontoon – so effectively using him as a giant fender! By the time we’d finished tying up it was dark and the boys were ready to stretch their legs, so to speak. The next blow was that the gate at the top of the gangway was padlocked from the outside and we had no way at all of getting off! Ok for us but the poor dogs just couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t open the gate and let them out.

Well, Brody is young and uncouth so doing all of his business on the pontoon was no problem. Bosun, on the other hand, wouldn’t even pee – despite lots of cajoling, encouragement and pleading. He simply refused to lower his standards, regardless of the circumstances!!

For us it was ok – there was a fair on the other side of the river and the music was good to listen too along with the hubbub of excitement, lights and sounds that accompany fairs all over the world. A few glasses of wine were had, broken up by regular but unsuccessful pontoon trips with Bosun.

At first light Saturday morning we let go of our mooring and made the short trip back upriver to join the Petit Rhone that would lead us to the Canal du Rhone a Sete via the lock at St Gilles. A small stop was showing just inside the Petit Rhone but it was a 5ft long jetty that already had a 15m barge on it and it seemed the occupants were probably still sleeping soundly.

Surely we would be able to stop at the lock to let the boys off…………er, no. The lock was open ready for us and the small drop of just 50cm meant the lock wall that had been 2 meters above our heads when we started was now 2.5m so no chance at all to jump off, even for a minute!

We read the book, again, and it made sad reading for the boys…..it was approaching midday and the nearest stop was still 2 hours away. There was nothing for it, we took the turn up towards Beaucaire to get off the main canal and stopped on the bank using Thirza’s metal stakes designed for wild mooring. It worked a treat and the boys could not have been happier. Bosun just disappeared off up the bank on his own and clearly did not want to be disturbed. If he’d been human I’ve no doubt there would have been a magazine or book under his arm!

After a time we moved on to Gallician in the Petit Camargue and took a great berth alongside so the scooter could come off for its maiden run out. Saturday afternoon saw us sitting outside the Mas du Notaire Cave with a glass of wine in our hand, happy dogs at our feet and feeling pretty relaxed.

Sorry it’s been quite from our end – we have been busy and lazy at the same time. Having left Tournon we sauntered down to Valence. Well, that’s not quite true as the wind was blowing a hooley from the North with predictions it would increase further. Strong wind from the North is ok, it gives you an extra shove when you’re heading downstream but we can only sympathise with anyone trying to head up the Rhone against both current and wind.

In any case, for us it was ok and although there were no mooring possibilities on the finger pontoons we were able and welcome to moor on the fuel jetty at the entrance of the harbour.

First thing Sunday mooring, having topped up the tanks, we headed on down to Viviers. Before we left we had seen a Catamerang head out and he seemed to be flying down the river. At the first lock we caught up with “Little White Elephant” owned by a Dutchman named Sacko. That wasn’t his name but it was as close as we could muster and we shared the Ecluse Logis Neuf with him……and with Lord Byron, a 135m Rhone hotel cruiser.

It is amazing to see these huge ships on the river and then go into a lock with them and have bags of room to spare!

We also shared the next lock, Ecluse de Chateauneuf with Sacko and headed into Viviers together. Vivier is a beautiful place to stop and we ended up staying for 3 nights, even though there was no way of getting off the pontoon other than by using our very own ladder and no one had yet turned on the water and electric. No problem for us – we’d filled the water tanks in Tournon and the solar panels and generator meant we could do the washing whilst there!

We found a lovely little bar that served fine Ardeche wine of ‘home poured’ proportions and last night we tried their Brochette du Bouef, which proved to be worth every cent of the €40 it cost (with a few glasses of vin, a couple of petit café’s and the obligatory tip!).

This morning, Thursday 18th (that’s a reminder for me BTW) we set off quite early with the intention of stopping at St Etienne des Sorts, somewhere we had stopped in 2002 and spent an entertaining few hours trying to capture the perfect picture of a passing TGV. It’s almost impossible with a digital camera because by the time you see the train, hit the button and wait for the photo to be taken the train is in Avignon! We got pickled that night and did finally get the pic we wanted but Round 2 eluded us as the pontoon for pleasure craft was not there. Still, we’d probably had all the excitement we needed today in the shape and form of the Ecluse de Bollene.

Oh my, what a lock. It never fails to impress. All the Rhone locks are 195m long x 12m wide but this baby is 23.5m deep! It’s hard to describe what it’s like looking back up at the cathedral-type lock gate wondering what the hell you would do if it gave in. It really doesn’t bear thinking about!

Thankfully all went without a hitch, as did the other 2 locks we traversed today.  Look out for the videos of this…..coming soon!

And so here we are now, sitting in Avignon below the Papal Palace, having skirted around the Pont St. Benezet (you can’t go under it anymore, there is far too much debris in the way for shipping). Hopefully we’ll be able to stay for a couple of days but we’ll be able to let you know soon.

A bientot!

 

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.

Almost as soon as we left Port Rambaud in Lyon we arrived at the confluence of the Saône and the Rhône.  Instantly we went from cruising at 9kms ph to 12kms ph without touching the throttle – free travel!!

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the first of 12 locks taking us down to the Med and a quick call on the radio alerted the éclusier of our approach but then he answered in French and I had to admit “Je parle francais un peu“.  In excellent English he told me we had a 10 minute wait while a commercial barge completed his ascent in the lock before it would be clear for us.  Thank you!

The Rhône Valley is beautiful and we remembered why we had enjoyed it so much the last time we did this in 2002-2003.  There are vineyards either side of the river and as it twists and turns through the landscape you get glimpses of the Central Massive in the distance.  This in itself a reminder of the Donzere Gorge where the largest of the locks, Ecluse de Bollene, drops you down 23 meters in a few short minutes.  But more of that later.

We decided to skip Vienne, having stopped there before, and continued to Les Roches-du-Condrieu.  It’s a beautiful place and as the wind has picked up considerably we have decided to stay a couple of days here.

 

This morning we were up bright and early to walk the boys and get some washing done.  It’s funny; you realise you live a life less ordinary when you have to tie your rotary line down to stop your washing ending up in the river!

 

We set off from Macon early in the morning on 8th April and cruised downstream for just 3 hours to Belleville. The town itself is about a mile from the river and we didn’t need any provisions so we made the most of the large grassy area next to the pontoon for walking the boys and letting them have some much needed freedom to play.

During the week before we left Pont de Vaux Bosun had been very unwell with sickness and diarrhoea. He hadn’t eaten for 5 days and we visited the vets on Thursday before we left. A few injections, a bag full of medication and several Euros later he gradually started to improve. It was only here at Belleville that we saw a full return to health and him wanting to play fight with Brody again. What a relief!

The following morning we moved on to Trevoux. We have been here a couple of times in the past; once with Armanda, our first cruiser, and once by car. It is a lovely town and beautifully looked after. Well worth a visit for anyone passing this way.

As we moored on the pontoon a guy made a beeline for us and announced he was Irish. He’d seen the flag and was very happy to meet a fellow paddy having been on holiday for 10 days and not met a single one! It turned out Collm was a fellow boater too and showed us pics of his lovely ship. Of course he and his lady friend Corina wanted to have a look around Thirza and of course we were happy to show her off.

We met later for a couple of drinks, which of course turned into a session, and the night ended back on Thirza with Guinness and Connemara whiskey.

This morning we had the inevitable headaches and having visited the boulangerie we cast off and headed for Lyon.

We happily passed by the last quay we had stopped on 16 years ago and stopped in the new (as in 10 years old) Port Rambaud just before the confluence of the Saone and Rhone. It is a regenerated dockyard and the port captain was very welcoming and told us we could stay one night for free!! Good job really, because part of the regeneration is a massive shopping centre that definitely needed visiting!

Tomorrow we join the mighty Rhone – we are both looking forward to this part of our trip!

We left Pont de Vaux this morning at 10am and slipped out of the lock into the Saone about an hour later. What a relief to be underway again!

The rain didn’t dampen our spirits as we glided down river to Mâcon and tied up outside our favourite Mâcon restaurant, L’Autre Rive.

The journey wasn’t without a bit of drama. As we cruised towards the pontoon at St Laurent at 10kph we came to a sudden and very unexpected halt in the middle of the river as our bow rode up a hidden mud bank. Thankfully with the engine full astern we slid back into the channel and cautiously went a bit further down stream before heading towards the pontoon again, this time without incident.

Day one, tick 👍

We have really enjoyed discovering this area and something high on our list of things to do was to visit the Rock of Solutré. It is a fascinating place with legends and myths involving horses being driven over the escarpment, borne out of the fact that the bones of thousands of horses, bison, cattle and mammoth were discovered at the base in 1866. There is still no accepted explanation for this strange phenomenon but the myth lives on. The rock itself is limestone, pushed up from the sea bed when the African and Eurasian tectonic plates “collided”. This collision has taken 160 million years to bring the landscape to its current form and is the same event that created the Alps.

The escarpment peak is over 200 meters from the base and a completely sheer drop from top to bottom – with absolutely no fences or boundaries to stop you walking straight over the edge. I’m not great with heights and the danger of it terrified me. Meanwhile, Frank did his usual trick of standing with his toes over the edge looking down, just for the thrill! It literally makes me feel sick when he does this, so I tend to look away and busy myself with looking after the dogs!

There are many tracks and farm field access lanes around here (around France, in fact) and most of our trips out into the countryside usually include a bit of gentle off-roading when the HiLux’s H4 mode needs to be deployed. Frank is like an excited child in a toy shop when this happens and even though he always asks if I want to have a go driving it seems a shame to take away his pleasure of driving through muck and puddles making “big truck” noises. Bless!!

We had a lovely Christmas, just the two of us. We’d brought some Irish sausages back from the UK when we went over in November and put six packs into the freezer as soon as we were back on board. For Christmas I sacrificed some and stripped out the sausage meat to make sausage rolls. Nikki had given me a jar of Waitrose mincemeat so mince pies were also part of our Christmas fare, along with a Christmas Pud and Sherry (how else can you make sherry trifle!), all purchased on our trip home and all helped make our Christmas perfect! I also found out what icing sugar is in France so the mandatory Brandy Butter accompanied the mince pies and pud….wonderful!

We decked the boat out in Christmas lights and by pure fluke we realised the local, VERY noisy ducks didn’t like the naff laser lights we’d mounted on the flag mast and they have steered clear of Thirza ever since we switched them on. All other decorations have now been taken down and packed away, but the laser lights will remain in place until we leave!

New Year saw us join our Dutch friends Felix, Hedwig and Mark at Mark’s place near Bourbon Lancy and we had a really funny night playing Dutch monopoly, eating traditional Dutch fruit-filled donuts and drinking waaaaaayyyy too much! It was a lot of fun!

We had decided to visit the Alps whilst in the area. We are literally a 2 hour drive from Chamonix, the French ski resort, and so booked into a dog-friendly hotel for 3 nights so we could experience the Alps, and more particularly Mont Blanc. What an incredibly beautiful place. It is breath taking and having had significant snow fall before we arrived we were able to tick a few boxes. 1) sledge down a snowy mountain….tick, tick and tick; 2) get as close to Mont Blanc as possible……tick; 3) visit as many countries in one day as possible (France, Switzerland and Italy)…..tick!

So, that just about brings us up to date. We’ll post more when there is more to tell………à bientôt!