Lyon

When we last posted a blog we were in Lyon . From our arrival in the marina till our departure we really enjoyed our stay. We also realised that we were in a less serious stretch of waterway than the Rhone by the complete lack of boating skills of some of the boat owners & the fact that they were still alive!

 On our first day we watched a smallish cabin cruiser come in and attempt to reverse onto the pontoon. The boat promptly went the wrong way and stuck diagonally between 2 pontoons. It looked as though the guy was on his own, so we had some sympathy. We also noticed that he didn’t have any ropes on deck to tie the boat up. The young harbourmaster appeared and tried to help him. 

 They unjammed the boat and the owner made a 2^nd attempt. He promptly hit reverse and opened the throttle wide. The harbourmaster, seeing this, shouted at him and then realised
that the stern of the boat was going to hit the pontoon very hard, just where he was standing . In backing away his ankle twisted under him and he plunged backwards into the water. He was young and fit but still couldn’t get back onto the pontoon without assistance which he
got from a couple of bystanders. When he tried to get upright he found that his ankle was seriously sprained. He then proceeded to continue to assist the boat owner on one leg.

 After getting the boat alongside, the harbourmaster asked for a rope to tie the boat up with and a slightly surprised wee woman appeared in the cockpit holding a tangle of black rope in her arms. At this point the harbourmaster retreated to the office to repair his wounds and probably seek counselling. The owner then proceeded to spend nearly an hour attaching these ropes to his little boat and almost every cleat in sight, leaving a fairly serious accident/trip
hazard for all who ventured onto the pontoon. Shortly afterwards a motor boat from a boat school arrived and the skipper gave the owner a lesson in mooring up his boat accompanied by some sharp words and plenty of Gallic hand gestures .

 A few minutes later another small cabin cruiser came in. It had a very ‘home-made’ look to it, much like a greenhouse bolted onto a wee 2 seater speedboat. The still soggy harbourmaster hopped out of his office and onto the pontoon to assist them in . Again the guy tried to back onto the pontoon. In doing so he clouted another boat fairly hard and required a lot of effort from the one=legged harbourmaster to moor up his boat without doing further damage.
When it was finally moored up we were amazed to see two adults, a young girl and 2 dogs (one of which was a St Bernard) get off and stroll down the pontoon. Either this was the new Tardis or they all slept on the dog!!

 Before leaving we paid a visit to Vieux Lyon. To get there we had to walk along the
banks of the Saone, past all the liveaboard Peniches decorated with the traditional potted plants. One then crosses the river to the West bank and into another time zone. It has a real Dickensian feel created by the tiny alleyways and tall tenements which shut out the sun and keep the streets lovely and cool .  

 Towering over it, at the top of the hill, is the huge, intricate, wedding cake of a church, the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere built, like the Sacre-Couer in Paris, to celebrate the downfall of the godless socialists of the 1871 Commune. So, in solidarity with the godless socialists, we didn’t visit it, that and the fact that the climb would probably have knackered us. 

 We just enjoyed mimsying around the lower part of the old town enjoying its small, sometimes eccentric, shops and reading the menus in its many cafes and restaurants. The shops were interesting. There were the usual tourist traps flogging souvenirs and the such-like but there were also some dark and dingy bookshops, fascinating antique shops , fromageries,
boulangeries, chocolateries etc, etc. 

I hope that we can get back to Lyon sometime. We missed far more of its attractions than we actually saw. Regretfully we didn’t sample anywhere near enough of the ‘Cuisine Lyonnaise’ either .
 

Trevoux

On the following day we left at 8.00 to travel further North up the Saone, heading for Macon. We sailed through an awakening Lyon, under its 13 bridges and out , via the suburbs, to twists and turns of the beautiful , meandering rural Saone valley.
 
The Saone is smaller and narrower than the Rhone and the currents are quite tranquil by comparison. We found ourselves regularly motoring along at 5 knots against the current. 
We soon came to our first Saone lock which would lift us up by all of 4 metres. We thought this would be a doddle - we were used to getting into giant locks that took us up 23 metres. However, it required a different mooring technique. Instead of tying onto a floating bollard, which rose as the water level rose, we were now presented with a vertical series of bollards which required us to lift the ropes up, bollard by bollard, until we reached the top. If you
go too early you risk missing the next bollard and causing the boat to swing across the lock, if you go too late the boat can be dragged down and sink – so no pressure there then! However after the first panicky lifting of the ropes we got into a simple routine and managed our 4 metre climb without damaging ourselves or sinking Tiercel .

 
One thing we noticed about the Saone was the lack of traffic and the plethora of haltes fluvial (mooring places). After our 2^nd lock we arrived at the town of Trevoux where we found a pontoon situated by a camp-site. We moored up here and subsequently spent 4 nights in this
suspiciously sleepy part of rural France.

 Trevoux is generally a very, almost eerily, quiet town, about 30km North of Lyon, sited on the steep East bank of the Saone. It has a long and complex history which has left many interesting buildings in and around the town. 

There was one poignant reminder of the town's more recent history. There was a plaque above a door in the main street saying that Jean Frizon was killed here by the Gestapo. A liitle research showed that he was a decorated hero fo the first world war who was shot outside his shop.

 
BUT, almost everything of note seemed was closed while we were there . We successfully climbed the steep hill to the renowned chateau/fort – closed! Tried the local riverside restaurant – closed! Went to the wine shop – only open on Sunday afternoon during school holidays – wot? For 3 days attempted to get into the wee local supermarket, on Monday it was closed but a sign said open tomorrow, on Tuesday a new sign said open Wednesday & on Wednesday another new sign said closed for stocktaking – aaargh!!!

 
It is also a town of artists there were a number ofstudios and shops selling local art - mostly they were open but paintings andsculptures are a real no,no on a boat.

 
All of the foregoing is, however, forgiven for the sheer beauty of the mooring and the walks in the riverside woods.

 

Macon.

On Thursday morning we headed off to sail the 30kms to Macon where we were due to meet up with our son Will and his partner Emma who had rented a gite in the town .

 The river was smooth as a mirror as we set out at around 7.00 and barely seemed to be flowing at all. We puttered our way past small, sleepy villages, by meadows where herds of the delicious Charolais cattle grazed the lush green riverside grass, past beautiful green woods where tribes of joggers and cyclists huffed and puffed along the rivebank tracks, until we arrived in the busy and historic town of Macon.

 After chugging through the centre of Macon under its 4 bridges, we arrived at the Port de Plaisance which is situated on the Northern outskirts of the town. The entrance is very narrow and surrounded by trees and shrubs. As we turned into it we saw the depths nosediving until we were in 1.6 metres (Tiercel has a draught of 1.5). However, they then started to increase slowly and, as we came out of the narrow entrance there appeared a large, modern marina and boatyard.

 After mooring up and paying for a week, we took a wander around . There are 2 chandleries, a working boatyard, a bar (scruffy and expensive, but with artisan beers and good local Burgundies) and all situated a few metres from the tree lined bank of the Saone. One kilometre away is a huge supermarket selling everything we could need including an amazing range of local wines and other great Burgundies. .
 
On Saturday Will and Emma turned up and stayed the night on the boat before taking over their gite the next day. It was great to catch up on their news and enjoy their company. While they were here, with a car, we checked out Macon then took a drive around one or two of the wine routes and bought some of the excellent white Burgundies in the area.

 We also visited the lovely town of Cluny which, although a tad twee, was interesting, had some great restaurants, one of which we sampled, and had an amazing tea shop with a vast range of teas to suit all pockets. Rob, being something of a tea addict, bought a few packs of their more unusual wares including one very strong flavoured, rather expensive sample
called ‘Smoked Crocodile’ .

 We were sad to see Will and Emma go on Thursday and can’t wait to see them on our return to Scotland. We are now awaiting our very old (in the sense that we have known them for a long time, that is) and dear friends Dave and Ann to join us on Tiercel for a week and aim to get to Chalon Sur Saone. After Chalon we will have to stop this lotus-eating and knuckle down to a further 827 km of waterways and 157 locks before we arrive in Rouen. Once arrived we then just have to get the train back to the South of France to collect the car and head for home – gulp!!!