– Surfing down the Rhône –
We left Auxonne our winter base early Saturday morning and headed downstream on a quiet river Saône to St Jean de Losne where we were displaying Blue Belle at the annual Salon Fluvial show along with the two demonstrator Piper Boats.
A constant flow of visitors wowing and ahhing kept us busy over the long weekend until early on Tuesday when we slipped our lines and headed south along a gentle river.
It is 200 km from St Jean to Lyon but only four locks so progress is swift. We stopped in Verdun sur Doubs the first night a lovely town just off the main river and the next day continued to one of the lovely towns on the Saône – Tournus. Beside excellent restaurants it has a lovely charm and many old original buildings. We would have liked to stay longer on the free mooring with electricity but May 1st was looming and on that day all the locks are closed for the day, so we continued downstream to another lovely town Maçon where we tied up just above the ancient and beautiful St Laurent Bridge.
Then the rains came. It rained for 48 hours and when we left Maçon the current was noticeably stronger, so we headed for Lyon and tied up in a new port there near called the Confluence Marina. Surrounded by over 30 restaurants, a huge upmarket shopping centre, Lidl and a hypermarket and great Tram and Metro connections into Vieux Lyon we enjoyed what we thought would be a couple of days stay there. But we did not reckon with the rains the previous days and slowly the rivers rose, the flow became stronger until the flow rate was so high all navigation was stopped on the Rhône. The river outside the port was surging downstream and we waited almost a week before the authorities allowed navigation again. A must view web site is https://www.inforhone.fr which gives the status of the river and its locks. We were checking three times a day using the free internet kindly provided by the shopping centre and easily accessed in the marina.
When we left the river was still in flood and at times we were doing over 22kph. There was no chance of turning upstream on the river and approaching any ports as that normally meant going at right angles to the river to enter a narrow channel into a harbour or marina and with the current there was we would have been swept away before we could get through into calmer waters.
We were lucky that at La Roche de Glun there was a pontoon on an arm of the river and it was an easy turn into it. We did 100km that day surfing down the river. Next day we continued down the river past lovely villages lost in time but with no suitable moorings for smaller boats. The river is geared for the massive Hotel Boats that cruise night and day and disgorge hundreds of passengers into a town for an hour or two before continuing on their journey.
With no suitable place to stop we called up the lock keeper at Bollène lock which at 23m is the deepest on the Rhône and asked for permission to tie up outside the lock. With permission granted we had a peaceful night having done 95km that day.
Normally we would have cruised down to Avignon the next day but as we had planned an extended stay there later that year we continued on to the lovely village of Aramon. An ancient walled town overlooked by tourists it is truly charming and with a great marina to tie up to and a very friendly Capitain Olivier who couldn’t do enough to help. Do note the buoys carefully if you don’t want to hit a submerged wall! Approach from downstream and not straight in.
The Rhône is not a river for hire boats and none are allowed. You need to plan your days carefully with a Plan A and B and C and follow the great Rule of the River, which is “If you see a fine mooring, STOP; there won’t be a better one around the corner or if there is, it will be full”.
From Aramon it is an easy few hours down to Arles where unfortunately there are no suitable moorings for boats smaller than Hotel Boats. We turned off the main river into the Petit Rhône and meandered through the Camargue for 30 km before calling up the lock at Saint Gilles and requesting that it be prepared for us to turn off into.
After a few formalities we were let out onto the calm and peace of the Canal Rhône à Sète. The turbulent river was behind us.
The canal flows mainly through salty lakes known as étangs, past the ancient walled city of Aigues Mortes where King Louis set sail for the crusades and through seaside towns but never more than a few kilometres from the Mediterranean. We stopped for a few days at Maguelone on a lonely pontoon surrounded by étangs and flamingos. A 10th century cathedral lay between us and the Med on a small hillock. A lovely walk there and to the Med completed a fantastic journey South. We had done 300 km of the Rhône in 4 days. Now we could relax in the wonders of the Camargue and cross the huge Étang de Thau with its superb oysters and seafood to enter the Canal du Midi.
It was sunny and warm. Bliss!
David & Wendy
Blue Belle
