The Rhone river valley is truly spectacular. I hadn't given it much thought before arriving here, and so was pleasantly surprised by the magnificent views, the huge hills, mountains, river side chateaux, lively towns and pretty little welcoming villages.
One such village was la Roches de Glun where we lucky enough to find a mooring on a newly placed pontoon. Bizarrely we were plagued by a young chap, who spoke only Spanish, but claimed his father was German and he seemed to be rowing a 12' fibreglass boat up the Rhone to Germany! He wanted us to sell him our outboard engine. But we refused as it is our emergency aid, and has been used several times over the years, usually to get us ashore when the only mooring available to us was offshore. His boat had no proper windows, they were merely covered with sheets of polythene, and the whole thing looked a bit fragile. His dog accompanying him, he sat legs dangling over the pointed front of his boat, as he went off up the Rhone, paddling alternately one side then the other, using only oar. Nigel felt very guilty when he saw how precarious the chap looked! But he did make quick progress along the far shore and soon disappeared from sight.
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| La Roches de Glun, with backdrop of the Massive Central |
Bourg les Valence lock gave us a fright when we looked back at how big the sill was once the water had emptied.
From here we moved down to the marina at Valence. We were entertained here by the some ferocious cobs (male) swans who were intent on herding the pens (females) and cynets into goodness knows where. They just wouldnt leave them alone, apart from when diving for food ...
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| No they're not marker buoys, Yes - they are swans!!! |
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| Then there was the alpaca being taken for a walk ....... |
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| and finally came the weed cutter. |
And all this came included in the port fees, along with the electricity and water! But beware those who follow on - the water supply at the furthest end from the original supply is literally just a trickle by the time it reaches the end pontoons. So we only managed to get half filled by the time we left. So having caught up with the backlog of laundry and revitalled we set off.
As we emerged from the lock at Beauchastel we saw a boat coming towards us that we thought we recognised. "It couldn't be, was it, yes it has a white Mini on the back deck, it is -
Vertrouwen!" We waved frantically, but those onboard didn't have a clue who we were, and they were rushing to catch the awaiting lock. Must have thought 'Mad British!' This was the boat we did our skippering course on back in Holland in 2008, and Nigel subsequently skippered for several years down on the Midi, which was where we expected to see her next.
We arrived in Cruas more by chance than planning, though it was our 'Plan B' back up mooring, as 'Plan A' didnt work out. Luckily there was space for us, as the Mistral really was getting lively causing white horses out on the river. We had thought to stay two nights but the Capitain says wait until Lundi, so here we sits and wait until the Mistral blows itself out. Even though it costs more money to stay in a marinas rather than on river side pontoons (if you can find a vacant one) to us its worth the extra money to avoid the strong wind and huge wash from passing hotel boats, which throw us about at night resulting in sleepless nights. What a wonderful little village this is, it's been occupied since the Gallo-Roman period. There are three medieval sites on the hills, the remains of the castle (12th & 14th century), many Gothic houses and the old abbey church (11th & 12th centuries). But it still seems so incongruous to have the adjacent cement factory of Larargue here and the ever present nuclear power and hydro electric stations, all along the Rhone. Though I suspect here and many other villages benefit from the largesse of these businesses, as many villages have impressive facilities such as sports grounds, tennis courts, club houses, etc, and very grand Hotel de Ville, the like of which are never seen in small English villages. Here the Hotel de Ville hosts a theatre, cinema, bibleotech, salle de fete (equivalent of village hall), and post office.
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| Cruas, ancient castle. |
For some reason Nigel thought it amusing to photograph me cleaning the boat. Well, I ask you, what else would a girl do on a hot Sunday afternoon apart from clean the boat?
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| I have to stay on my knees, if I stand up I might get blown overboard by the strong wind! |
A scarey thing happened here yesterday evening at about 8.45pm. It was just getting dark when a sailing yacht came screaming towards the marina. It was coming in at full speed when it suddenly ground to a halt. They had gone aground. Its a very narrow channel into the marina and the Mistral had blown them off course and onto the sand bank. Each time they restarted their engine clouds of black smoke came from their exhaust but they didnt move. Eventually two men went out in a canoe, and the yachtsman threw them their anchor to try and get it onto the pontoon and then winch them ashore. Inevitably the anchor was too heavy and the canoe just went backwards! More people gathered on the pontoon and it was 'mooring by committee syndrome'! Everyone had an opinion, but common sense prevailed and ropes were taken to the pontoon and the yacht hauled in. By this time it was completely dark. Boy, were they relieved!
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| Cruas, late arrival firmly aground! |
Finally the wind died down and we set off again down the Rhone passing through Bollene lock, the deepest in Europe (so we are told) at 23M. Whilst we were taking photos of it, guests on the accompany hotel peniche,
Napoleon were admiring our boat and taking photos of us! So glad we hadn't idled our time away in Cruas, but given
Gesina a jolly good cleaning from front to back!
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| Bollene lock 23 M deep. |
From here we stopped at St Etienne des Sorts (what does that mean?) then L'Ardoise, where unfortunately there are no shops, and on to Aramon, where there are.
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| Aramon mooring |
A pleasant spot on the Rhone, but does suffer from the wash of passing peniches, and debris in times of flood. The Capitain made us feel very welcome. The town suffers from the ravages of the floods of the river and as recently as 2003 residents drowned in floods, even though flood controls have been put in place. It is difficult on the Rhone floods mean high water, so they lower the water levels, then they open the sluices which allow all the accumulated drift wood - logs, tree trunks etc. - so move on the flood tides. So no movement is safely guaranteed.
An unusual craft arrived alongside us here. It is solar powered and having run out of power came into port to recharge
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| Captain Sunset's Water Camp |
At night they put up tents on the deck.
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| At one with nature! |
The debris from the floods further upstream was a problem which worried us.
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| Some chunks weighed several tons! |
I was very caustious walking into town after seeing this sign! I thought it was a joke, but apparenly not! Beware.
Fascinating town with lots of historic interest. Easy access to Avignon and surrounding areas.
We had been becalmed here for various reasons and were pleased to be able to move on down the Rhone to Beauclaire lock - who didnt record our passing - to St. Gilles, where we stopped on the canal for the night, at one of the small pontoons.
We first stopped at the Derivation de Aigues Mortes, but were worried that the wooden pontoons wouldnt be able to hold us against the passing commercials. So we moved down into the port.
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| Aigues Mortes - WOW |
I cant believe how beautiful it is here. We've gone from rivers, castles/chateaux, to canals and now this! The reflected light is unbelieveable. And the old town within the walls of the castle so typical of a fortress town.
Its a weird concept to get ones head around. Like Ni said we havent come to the Mediterranean, we've taken our home to the Mediterranean. WOW. Sorry, I said I wouldnt keep saying that but honestly its stunning!!!
From Aigues Mortes we made the next stop at Carnon in spite of being warned by friends of an unfriendly reception. We managed to find a mooring and stayed two nights. The next stop was Frontignan which being next to the railway line, road bridge and side road, must have been the noisest place we have ever stopped. Here one has to wait for the lifting bridge which only opens at 8.30am and 4.00pm so timing is everything. Despite the noise we stayed two nights, having taken one day to wander down to the 'Plage', sit by the sea, that's the Meditteranean, and have a cooling drink at a bar. A lovely relaxing day.
Watching Bumper Boats (plastic hire boats) jostle for position to get through the lifting bridge proved an entertaining 15 minutes. Luckily when we passed through to pull over in order to go shopping the Capitain had things in better control and allocated mooring spaces.
We had no idea there would be so many flamingoes!
Although we saw a 'Passerelle' marked on our chart above Palavas-les-Flots this one took us by surprise. Its articulated, floating and has an outboard motor to drive it into place!
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| Swing bridge open |
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| Swing bridge shut |
So on a hot ,sunny, dead flat calm day we set off across the Etang de Thau. Our biggest hazard was the numerous small fishing boats whizzing back and forth around us. The marker buoys were difficult to spot, some none existant, but we stuck to the channel shown in our chart and passed unscathed. Ni was in seventh heaven, feeling like he was back on our yacht in Bournemouth Bay.
And so finally we arrive at THE MIDI!!!
I have to say the first part of the canal was very disappointing. It is very narrow and shallow. The sides are lined with abandoned, wrecked boats and looks like a ships graveyard.
But is soon got better......
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| Canal du Midi in all its glory! |
