We have now left Port Napoleon and are in Port Saint Louis, prior to trundling North up the mighty Rhone, with its ancient cities, villages, towns, wonderful scenery, vineyards and wines! It also suffers from a chronic lack of mooring places, Mistrales (strong Northerly winds) and powerful  currents. 

The Challenge of the Inland Waterways
 On our journey we have become rather spoiled by staying in marinas . On the Rhone and in the canalsnals these are fewer and further between so we shall have to get used to life with 
 out the convenience of on site laundries, showers, luxury toilets etc. On the other hand we will be mooring up in the centres of villages, towns and cities (including Paris) as well as in
the verdant,tranquil French countryside. 

The first part of our inland adventure takes us 152 nautical miles up the River Rhone to Lyons and then into the River Saone. After that we have the choice of 2 routes through the canal system. One takes us into the Loire valley while the other ta es us through Burgundy and the Champagne region. At the moment the Loire option is blocked due to a canal breaking its banks - so the current favourite is Champagne via Burgundy!! 

When we arrived in Port Napoleon we walked into Port St Louis to have a look at the Rhone. It was very clear that it was in spate as a result of the heavy rainfall in the Alps and Northern France . It was carrying trees and loads of other debris – totally unsuitable for us at that point. Since then we have been watching the excellent French waterways web sites and have seen the graphs go from red warnings (you’re all going to die!} via orange (you’ll all probably die!) to
yellow (you might survive but will bear the scars) and now to green (it looks ok – for now!). Our trips in the car to various parts of the Rhone locally have shown it markedly calmer. 

The Rhone is quite a challenge in its own right. It is currently flowing at around 2 to 5 knots . We have to travel uphill for the full distance of around 152 nautical miles and Tiercel’s 29hp engine cruises around 5.5 to 6 knots (nautical miles per hour) and up to 7 if we push it. The
flow rate is governed by the amount of water coming from the Alps and all points South, so we’re kinda hoping that the weather gods will confine the rain to other places. Certain parts of the Rhone are quite narrow and therefore have a faster rate of flow . The worst of these is the Donzere Gorge which is around half way. Our friend Tony has now passed there and told us it is OK – so far! As yotties, we are quite used to most of what the sea can throw at us and able to cope. When we are at sea we have two modes of propulsion (engine, sails) but in the inland waterways we have no mast and no sails. Thus, if one fails the other is always
there. We have never taken Tiercel through a lock as yet. So forgive us if we seem to be approaching this part of our adventure with a degree of trepidation. 

Rob’s Italian Interlude 
After we had been here for a week Rob returned to Policoro (900 miles away) to retrieve our wee car from Policoro Marina. He had to get a taxi to Martigues, then a bus to Marseilles Airport, Ryanair to Rome, 7hr bus ride from Rome to Policoro town & finally, a 5km stroll to Policoro Marina. Only then could he make the 900 mile drive back to Port Napoleon. .

All went smoothly until he had to go through security at Marseilles . When they checked his bag they found a tiny screwdriver he uses on his hearing aids and an adjustable spanner that he needed to re-connect the car battery. The woman security officer spoke little English and Rob’s French is still developing. Rob objected to her decision, she asked if she could call the Chef, Rob thought “What the fuck has this to do with the catering staff” - then realised she meant her chief. He was a tubby short guy in an ill-fitting uniform who didn’t speak English. He indicated that the screwdriver was OK but the spanner stays in Marseille. When Rob told him he had checked all of the regulations and could find no mention of spanners the ‘Chef’ lost it and went into a long angry rant. Rob told him he hadn’t understood a word. Cheffy , by now an interesting shade of crimson,then called over a very pleasant lass who spoke good English and said that the spanner had to stay because el Cheffo thought Rob could use it to take the plane apart!! This was so patently ridiculous that Rob had no answer and left her with the spanner .  

The aircraft arrived in Rome at 20.30 and a taxi took Rob to a hotel by the bus station. The following morning the 7 hour bus journey passed rapidly as it passed through the glorious mountain and hill country of Southern Italy. A 5k walk to the marina in the sweltering heat
was made bearable by the orchards, vineyards and olive groves that he passed on his stroll. On arrival Rob was greeted by one of the Ormeggiatorre as a long lost brother. The car started first time and the luxury of its air conditioning was much appreciated. 

After an overnight stay in Salerno at the 1970’s kitsch, once glorious, Grand Hotel, and a decidedly unexpected, unusual (but not unpleasant) culinary experience in an Italian managed German bar serving magnificent Dortmundburgers and delicious beer,  Rob departed
Salerno at the crack of dawn. Sadly he found that the Salerno rush hour started 5 minutes before the crack of dawn. The homicidal undead clearly liked an early start for their daily commute to Naples! A fairly stimulating drive to Napoli followed by a reasonably relaxed
and pleasant drive up Italy’s West Coast and a piss poor rumble through Southern France in poor visibility, got him back to Port Napoleon  

Preparations  
Port Napoleon is a huge working yard a couple of kilometres South of Port St Louis,with a medium sized marina attached . Every kind of profession associated with yachting plies its trade there. It is the ideal place to work on a boat. 

Subsequently we have been preparing for the inland waterways. Tiercel’s mast has been removed and transported to Rouen on the River Seine where we hope to leave Tiercel for the Winter. The engine has had a major service. We have re-sorted our stowage based on our new priorities to ensure as much bottle stowage as possible. Some of Tiercel’s old worn decking has been replaced using the right material but the wrong-ish glue, super-runny, glue which gave Rob a major panic but Gina, calm as ever, took control and we ended up doing a
half-decent job.  

Languedoc Interlude
When we first started organising our journey we were invited by friends, Clint and Sally, to have a few days with them in a villa in the Languedoc. 2 weeks ago we headed West to take them up on their offer. 

The Languedoc is one of France’s larger wine growing areas . For many years it mass produced vast quantities of fairly 2^nd rate wines. More recently it has reduced the volume of wine produced but seriously upped the quality

 

The villa was in the area of St Chinian. It has views all the way to the Pyrenees. We stayed for three very relaxing days. While there the weather was sunny and hot so good use was made of the pool.  

We visited the Canal du Midi and had an excellent lunch
at Somail, in the open, by an ancient bridge over the canal. The village of St.Chinian is centred around a tree covered square which, on market day, is filled with stalls selling everything from hats to spanners (Rob DID buy a replacement Spanner & Gina bought a hat). The food stalls were compulsive viewing. They offered the most delicious, fruit, cheese, meat,fish and bakery, all beautifully displayed.. Of particular note were the cheese and charcuterie stalls who offered tastes of their products .

After sampling the cheeses, ham and sausage we progressed to the the local wine collective’s shop where we sampled some quite excellent red.white and rose wines prior to buying a good few bottles. What a contrast to the experience we had in the Bandol tightwad,wine collective’s shop. 

It was a very relaxing break with great food, excellent wines, pleasant strolls in the vine covered Languedoc hills and shared with the company of old friends. 

On the way home we visited Carcassonne with its medieval fort Gina has wanted to visit there for a long time. The castle really does impose itself on you. It sits above the town with a medieval cemetery just outside the moat, exuding power and menace to all who approach it.

We arrived before the coach parties so were able to enjoy the narrow streets with their many shops and restaurants all giving it a pleasant, if antiseptic, impression of what it must have been like in medieval times . Gina felt that, although she enjoyed it she’d have preferred to see it on  any day other than the day that the referendum result was announced. 

Mini Interludes to Arles 
Once we had the car with us we were able, between working on Tiercel, to take the odd wee jaunt or 2 to Arles. Arles is situated on the Rhone about half an hour’s drive from here. It is an ancient town surrounded by modern suburbs. The centre of town has a roman amphitheatre where bullfights still take palce,although they are apparently not harmful to the bulls who get a nice bit of excercise and some professional counselling when it is all over. There are also lovely narrow alleyways and many other preserved buidings going back to Roman times.  

On our first visit we were joined by Tony and Jan. We took in all of the sites, stared in silent horror at the Rhone, ate a pleasant lunch and a wee drop of wine then burbled back to the boat. All in all a pleasant day in lovely sorroundings .   

Our second visit co-incided with market day. Cars were parked everywhere, there wasn’t a space anywhere within walking distance of the town center. We had time whilst in the
traffic to stare at the Rhone with a degree less horror before heading to Lidl’s for a serious shop.

On our 3^rd visit with Tony only this time, Jan had to fly home. We arrived at about 8.00 so had a breakfast of coffee and croissants followed by a bit of shopping and a pleasant stroll through the cool alleyways back to the car.  

Tony departed the following day for a solo voyage up the Rhone – respect! We hope to see him and Jan later on in our trip. We are all heading to Rouen. 

Port St Louis
Port St Louis once was a major centre for the loading of Peniches with the goods coming in to Marseille and then transporting them throughout Western Europe via the inland waterways . Nowadays most of the goods go by road, although the Peniches still ply their trade from here. It is a pleasantly unpretentious town that is re-building itself as a resort with a major emphasis on marine tourism.  

The marina is quite large and is run by the local authority. Its staff are very helpful and the facilities are more than acceptable. One item we noted while in the office was a poster giving advice to the staff on how to deal with a terrorist attack! That, in such a quiet backwater, is one of the saddest things we have seen.  

We have enjoyed our first day here, just sitting on the boat and watching the world go by in the peace and tranquity of this gateway town to the beautiful Camargue. We were entertained the local kids and youths taking part in a water jousting competition – not one for the faint hearted or H&S conscious!  

However, the tranquil peacefulness may well change tonight. The town funds quite a lot of interesting events during the Summer. Tonight they have the Honolulu Brass Band playing on the Quay – last performance starts at 21.30 tonight – about 10 metres from where we are moored! So, no early night tonight and we have to be up at 5ish to catch the first lock opening for our trip up the Rhone – c’est la vie!