A little more Saone

Ray-sur-Saone

Sitting on the back of Armida in the afternoon.  Some clouds have materialized to take the sting out of the August sun but we are on the water with a lovely green area at the back of many old stone homes.  A young German man just came from his garden to say hello.  They have this home for holidays.  We told him we met two men from Amsterdam this morning while we were all walking our dogs.  They live here year round.  Of course he knew them and said, “small town”.   And that it is.  Maybe 50 homes 2/3 of which are 16th and 17th century, all pristine.  It’s obviously popular with the money people, but has no shops.  Only one small family fun bar/cafe and the Mayors building.  A van comes through every AM selling eggs, baguettes and croissants.  Up the hill past the 13th century church, and lavoir (wash house) with an unusual oval pool, is the Chateau  de Ray sur Saone.  Once the largest fortress in this area of France.  Built in the 12th century and as frequently happens was destroyed in the early 17th century and totally rebuilt as an imposing but charming chateau with expansive gardens with magnificent trees from around the world and fabulous views.  It has stayed in the same family, 35 generations until the Chateau and grounds were donated to the region in 2015. The well maintained grounds are open to all for free but the inside of the building is only open for tours Thurs-Sat.  So another time.

Yesterday and today we had a cute old man who lives here come peddling vegetables from his garden.  Yesterday we bought lettuce, baby carrots and chives.  Today raspberries and a big bag of skinny green beans.  We don’t need tomatoes as we bought many a few days ago at only 1.09 euro per kilo (2.2 pounds)  Couldn’t believe it.
We have been pottering up the Petite Saone for nearly a week and it didn’t start well. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get through the first lock below Auxonne due to a herd of rental boats and a hotel boat and we were thinking: why are we doing this in August.  Well we must have hit the peak load of rentals coming and going to their bases and apart from one other wait we have had no more delays, not that we have a schedule.  There are still lots of boats moving until evening but if we get somewhere by early afternoon we are fine and we have entertainment for the afternoon and evening at boats crowd each other for the last spaces.

The weather has been glorious.  For about 4 days it was sunny, clear with a light cool breeze and cool nights.  The last couple of days have been hotter with less breeze but still cool nights – amazing for August.
The river here is lovely, narrower, greener and at 8km/hour very relaxing.  No notable towns or villages but some nice surprises and pleasant moorings, like this place.
This afternoon we had to decide whether to go a short way upstream to a small town with groceries (for tomorrow, today is another obscure French holiday – Assumption Day) or downstream to a “middle of nowhere” mooring – or  not. We decided Not and will stay another night. 
Terry said she could stay here for ever, but there is no electricity so we can’t.

Oops–where did July go?

Saint Jean de Losne 

Damn, it’s August already and only a month and a half to go. What happened to July?
Well, it got busy.  After the water subsided we could go places and there were lots of other boats and people to visit.  Also Tess and Tony came for a week which was wonderful.
So here is a brief summary – After Lyon we took our time back up the, now peaceful, Saone stopping at Trevoux (finally), Montmerle (again) and Macon.  We then did a diversion up the Seille, a small river off the Saone with self operated locks and a much more intimate feel.  We sat out some hot weather under the trees in Cruisery and then continued up to Louhans and back.
Then back down to Macon where we met Tess and Tony and rented a car.  Terry and the dogs stayed on the boat trying to keep cool while we drove the 2 1/2 hours to Chamonix and took the amazing gondolas up to Aguille du Midi at 12,500’ for truly spectacular views of Mont Blanc and the Alps. The next day we took the cog railway to the foot of the glacier and ice cave and then drove back to Macon. A relaxed, but long, day saw us cruise back down the Saone all the way to Lyon (85km in one day, another record for us) to give Tess and Tony some city sights before they returned from their, all to short, visit.
We have now retraced our steps back to Saint Jean de Losne where we are sitting on the Quay having caught up with laundry waiting for the Vide Grenier that will be right by the boat tomorrow.
Monday we will set off north up the now “Petite” Saone as far as we can into the Vosges Mountains before we turn around and come back here to go home.  We hope the  mountains will stay cool for August.
Here are a few photos:
Trevoux and automated flower watering.

Strange marine craft and peaceful mooring on the Seille        

Either a very high flood or a very strong wind

Strange people the French – they keep their boats on the land and their cars in the water.

Storks and dessert.

Tess and Tony….. and Rob and Terry and Rosie and Lilou

At the top of the world – Chamonix

And back to Lyon and bye

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Loving Lyon and Leaving.

Cuisery

Two weeks in Lyon and we loved it. The port is in a great location and the city is both old and charming and modern and well organized. Not nearly as large and grand as Paris but with all of the ingredients, and more, on a smaller scale. You can read online about Lyon’s history as the first Roman Capital of Gaul,  its frequent destruction by invaders from the east and its renaissance as the centre of the silk industry in France so I won’t spend any more time on that here.

As a smaller city it is much easier to comprehend and get around helped by its thoroughly modern transport system that seamlessly ties together the metro, trams, buses and even the funicular railway. And it is very clean.

Our goal had been to get there in time for the festival of music which is on the summer solstice when the weather finally conformed.  The morning was grey and rainy but the afternoon was sunny and perfect and since then summer has stayed and the gloomy days of May are forgotten.  Walking around the 19th Century central part of town we found all sorts of live music on the streets:  middle eastern, irish, rock and roll, jazz, salsa, and football fans.

We were there through several of the games  of the European football (soccer) competition with some of the games played in and around Lyon.  The main square (Bellecour) was converted into a giant fan zone with large TVs to watch the various competition.  We had an idea of who was playing next by the different national colours that would come and go.  When Ireland lost to France here the local media talked fondly about the large party and how all the Irish and French fans got along so well together.  A good example to some other nationalities.

Of course we visited museums:  the giant Musee des Beaux Arts was an all day experience, the museum of Movies and Miniatures was just fun, the Lumiere Museum was a glimpse into the origin of movies enhanced by the location in Lumieres’ lovely Art Deco mansion and the Confluence Museum was an innovative perspective on Natural History with interesting special exhibits including a fabulous display of high definition video on an under the water in Antarctica. A walking tour of the narrow streets of medieval Old Lyon gave us a feel of the ancients town. There is still more to do when we return.

I don’t think we have yet plumbed the gastronomic depths of Lyon. The city prides itself on its cuisine but we did eat in a couple of “bouchons” the Lyonnaise name for small bistros, as well as some Tapas and others.  So far the food is a little on the rich side.

The port has a nominal limit of 4 days but as we arrived at very high water and the locks on the Rhone were closed no one was coming and going so there was no trouble extending.  We stayed for over two weeks, time enough for the water to slow down and normal traffic to resume and for us to make several more new boating friends.

We left reluctantly about a week ago and had more to appreciate the city from the river.  Now sitting under the trees to stay cool in Cuisery.  More on our cruise north in a little while.

Confluence

Lyon, Port du Confluence

 

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.

Speeding on the Saone

Montmerle-sur-Saone

It kept raining heavily up north as we were beginning to get some sun here. This means the river has risen again and is still rising. Not at flood levels yet, but plenty fast enough for us. Yesterday we set our maximum speed record of 18.2 km/h going over a weir.  When the river is this high some of the locks are not needed and they divert you around to where the weir is normally, but is now well under water so it is not quite as scary as it sounds.

In fact cruising on the swollen river is like jumping from a tall building - the journey is fine, it’s the stopping that hurts.  Fortunately yesterday's stop was on a nice long, unobstructed pontoon where we are now securely tied as the water rushes past. Even with the high water cruising on the river is a bit boring.  The only excitement is dodging logs and going over weirs.  The banks are far away and are mainly trees.  We are looking forward to getting back on the more intimate canals later in the season if the river ever goes down enough for us to get back up.

After leaving Chalon-sur-Saone, a couple of hours took us to the pontoon at Tournus where there was fortunately space for us.  This is still rental boat territory so it can get crowded, and did over the next couple of days as many boats came and went.  We enjoyed this pleasant town with it’s ancient abbey and nice shops.  Did some laundry and had a nice lunch at La Boheme.  Stay there was restricted to two nights so we were good citizens and left for Macon.

Macon had a very nice,  modern, but isolated marina where we sat out a rainy day and made some new friends.  A brief trip into town showed a pleasant but unremarkable city.

Now we are in Montmerle-sur-Saone and it may be the improved weather but we are enjoying this little town.  We are right by the market place that is a parking lot but quiet.  The village has everything we need, including a dog groomer, laundromat, a well stocked supermarket and an Irish bar advertising Fosters (an old sign).  Also a nice little wine shop/wine bar where we enjoyed a tasting with our neighbors from New Zealand, Mike and June.  We were educated on Beaujolais wines from across the river and now have a well stocked cellar.

Since leaving Macon there are no rental boats and the river is eerily quiet.  Three cruisers have gone by very fast and a big fuel barge went upriver last night full and came back tonight empty.  We have seen a couple of river cruises go by and they don’t look very full.  Probably some good deals to be had.

 

It is so pleasant we will stay here until Sunday and then will cut loose for Lyon, river permitting.  The annual, nationwide “Festival of Music” is on Tuesday, the summer solstice, so we are hoping for good weather.  It is improving but clouds are never far away.  There is rain and thunder as I finish this post.  Makes for some interesting sunsets.