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The view up the Rhone above Arles.
Thomas starts teaching me about how to read the water, where to expect water, what places to avoid.
Where to cruise upstream, when to use the blue-board, what to expect from big traffic downstream, why not to cut corners...
After 38 years on the Rhine all this is second nature to him.
Speaking about our blue-board: Too expensive `bricolage' from a so-called French boatyard in Beaucaire.
If you want to know what boatyard in Beaucaire you should NEVER use, ask me and I will
let you know. I guess one more reason I'm glad we have
our work scheduled in Weil am Rhein.
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A first look up the Rhone under the new Beaucaire/Tarascon bridge towards the junction of the two branches at Beaucaire.
To the left (sorry port side) you see the closed branch leading towards the junction with the Gardon river.
Starboard the navigable branch with the castle of Tarascon in the background.
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A view towards the castle of Beaucaire with the old lock in the foreground.
The lock was put out of service in 1973 when the Beaucaire lock and electrical plant
were built. Our winter mooring is right behind the lock on the Canal Rhone a Sete;
100 meters from here
but 1 day cruising away.
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Our first encounter with downstream traffic.
The current is not too bad, but even at the current low debit
levels we feel the current and
our speed lowers to about 8 km/h.
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The entrance to the Beaucaire lock. Our first big Rhone lock. We arrive here at 12:20,
so only about 2 hours after entering the Rhone at Arles.
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In the Beaucaire lock; all Rhone locks have floating bollards and so there is not much work for the
rope-person. Notice how the crew wears the automatic life-vest.
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A small (38m) commercial barge enters the lock with us
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The TGV bridge below Avignon with Mont Ventoux in the back.
The silhouette of Avignon is barley visible.
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The pope palace of Avignon. The Rhone splits into two branches. The left branch (left
looking downstream so right for us - remember Shari?) leads into town,
we take the right branch
leading to the Avignon lock.
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Châteauneuf du Pape: North of Avignon we pass through this wine region.
So far we have passed the Cotes du Rhone region, but we will pass more famous regions as we had towards Basel.
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Our stop for the day. Above the lock of
Caderousse.
This is the area where the Mistral can create
waves up to 1 m on the Rhone so we thankfully accept the peace and quiet!
PS: Don't forget you can click on the locations to go to the Map24 web site in case you are interested where
Caderousse
is.
As we were able to move better than expected, our average cruising speed is nearly 10 km/h, we are able to spend the night about 20km
further up
the Rhone than expected.
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April 22 at 6:30. The sun slowly raises behind the omni present Mont Ventoux.
At 6:47 we start the engine for another day on the Rhone.
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An early morning view to the Chateau of Beaucastel
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The Rhone Princess a passenger boat with St-Etienne des Sorts, an old fisher village, in the back.
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Inside the Bollene lock. Up to a few years ago it was with a level change of 23 meters the
highest lock of Europe.
The noises in the locks could inspire the scariest Hollywood movies.
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The door closes behind us and only 7 minutes later will we be 23 meters higher.
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The
`Defile de Donzere'.
A narrow passage through the gorge of Donzere.
This passage is one of the stretches were many stories are told. The narrowing of the Rhone
and the Mistral
sweeping down the valley can create conditions where even commercial barges wait for quieter
days.
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Don't venture near the cliffs - it is rocky
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15:20: Why is Thomas looking so sad?
Since Thomas can NEVER just sit and relax he was cleaning the deck. With
about 2 meters of cleaning left; an unexpected wave lifts AvantiB and the broom off the deck and into the
Rhone. The broomstick was a special `thick' (it was to be at least 2.5cm) and long (at least 1.6m) broomstick.
May be someone else is enjoying the special tool now.
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Container traffic downstream
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Is it a river or a lake? The big open space between Montelimar and Logis Neuf
is well marked through buoys and stakes. The markings are not very well visible in this low
resolution picture.
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6:50am on April 23; we stayed at the commercial pier of
Port de Portes les Valence
for the night.
A water tap was hidden behind a wall close to the silo, other than that not a place to show pictures of.
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The entrance to the Bourg les Valence lock
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Another wine region ..... we pass through (no stop!).
The Crozes Hermitage region.
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The center of the Hermitage wine region - Tournon and Tain l'Hermitage
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A lonely black stake marking the `Table du Roi' rock.
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All transport seeks the narrow passage of the Rhone - the Table du Roi in the foreground.
The low water exposes the rock; not so visible in times of flood,
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A view towards the old fortification of Arras-sur-Rhone
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The old bridge connecting
Andance and Andancette.
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Our stop for the night the public pier of
Vienne.
Vienne is at the center of yet another famous wine region: The Cote Roti.
Since we stop for the night it seems possible to get a few bottles of this rare vintage.
So we venture into the city and search .... No luck!
Here the answer we get in a local store: "Cote Roti", no - it is too expensive, nobody hear buys it".
So I guess we have to buy it somewhere else ....
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A nice and quiet mooring. As it is Friday we deicide to plan for a leisurely breakfast Saturday morning and
a late departure.
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Philosophical question of the day: Why does one make plans?
Answer: So they can be changed!
7:00am, we are all sound asleep and there is this loud alarm clock going "TUUUUUUUUUT". But no,
even my alarm is not that loud! "TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT".
Barely awake I peek out through the blinds "TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT" and see the bow of a large passenger ship right in front of me.
I jump into my jeans, up into the wheelhouse, turn on the radio, tune to channel 10 and ask: Camargue de AvantiB - Vous voulez?"
He answers "I need to tie up here, you need to move".
Well, I remind him that this is the public pier and that the pier for hotel ships is on the right bank (opposite).
He tells me something about safety and a Duc d'Albe, .... so I tell him you have to wait a few minutes until we
(Thomas is up as well) prepare the engine and move back on the pier.
To make a long story short: We move back, a second passenger boat from the same company shows up, the cruise director visits us.
After I tell him that I have no problems moving if they need the space, BUT please or
thank you are words that should exist
even in their vocabulary. A few minutes later a crew member shows up with a nice bottle of wine and 10 minutes later the
captain of the Camargue shows up. First thing he tells me: I was still asleep, so I was not on the wheel.
He visits AvantiB and all is well. |
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We approach the industrial zone of Lyon. Here the canalized Rhone is not just blue, but green, black, red .....
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Part two of the encounter with the Camargue.
Below the lock of Pierre-Benite they catch up with us. Now they are very nice and make up for the early morning disturbance
by allowing us to use the lock together with them. This is very
unusual as passenger boats have priority and usually don't share locks.
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Now it is nautical pride! We move and tie up very quickly so they don't have to
wait for us!
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The Skyline of Lyon!
Saturday April 24. Up the Rhone in 3 days and soon into the quieter waters of the Saone.
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