Confluence seems like a dusty old word usually left on the shelf of the English language. I am not sure how it is in French but this area is anything but dusty and old.
The confluence refers to the junction of the mighty rivers of the Saone and Rhone here in Lyon (Town motto: Only Lyon), France’s second or third largest city, depending on where you draw the lines. The peninsular that divides the river was cut off from the rest of the town by the station, Gare de Perrach, that sits astride the peninsular like a wall. The south used to be the decaying remnants of a port and industrial area that is now going through a thoroughly modern redevelopment. Our port sits in the middle of this where is seems like they provide the 20 moorings for visiting boats to provide some maritime flavour to the new area.
It is very well done with many Avant Garde modern buildings, not too high, with areas of greenery in between and lots of parks, restaurant and playgrounds. It looks very livable but it is hard to tell how ultra modern buildings will age. We are only a 20 min walk or short tram and metro ride to old Lyon and the centre of town so it is the best of both worlds.
We had decided we had seen all Montmerle had to offer on Saturday and we should check out Trevoux down the river which we had heard good things about. What we had not heard was that the pontoon there was full. A call to the port in Lyon informed us there was no room that night so, with the river running fast, we kept going. Nothing else seemed suitable so when we got to the one lock before Lyon where the river was raging over the weir and looked pretty wild downstream we asked if we could stay the night on the waiting pontoon and were very relieved when the lock keeper agreed. We had a lovely quiet night there with lots of grass for the dogs to run around.
The next morning we shot out of the lock into the river (new speed record of 20.4 kph) and down into Lyon. We cruised through the old city with no other boats around and were very thankful for our reliable 6.2L diesel engine when we had to turn against the strong current to get into the narrow opening of the port off the river, where we had a confirmed and comforting reservation.
So far we really like Lyon and will have more pictures next time.
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