The Raging Rhone??

We have chosen to set off early this year to avoid the snow melt and thereby increase our chances of making it down the Rhone without encountering raging torrents of water or other such horrors that have been told to us over the winter.

Med here we come...

Having formed an escape committee of three boats (Elizabeth, Prospero and CC) we headed off one fine spring morning (21/02/13) and pick up the rest of the “flotilla” at the old lock then proceed to navigate our way down to Chalon – sur – Saone.  The previous few weeks of rain and flood water is evident on the banks in the halt and we wouldn’t have liked to be here when it was lapping over the roads and slipways!

Every man's dream?

The weather is still pretty cold and we are out in the elements well rugged up but then it snows… deep joy!... at least the river is fairly benign and that’s all that matters as this is more of a passage making mission than sightseeing tour.

-6 degrees overnight leaves us pretty shivery and we enjoy a snowy day in Macon before being buffeted by blustery snow showers all the way to Albigny-sur-Saone.  The scenery is nothing to write home about but Bramble is pleased to note that the squirrels are just beginning to stir!

 

2” of snow on the decks gets blood pumping in the next morning; the ropes are frozen solid and icicles adorn various sections of the locks and quayside… ahh boating in the spring you can’t beat it!  Down to the first of the Rhone locks today…

On the Rhone the locks are huge but sliding bollards make them easy to handle especially going down, however, we do have some rules to learn and despite our increased grasp of French we obviously don’t have them all right.  Luckily there is a “voice of the lock god” system which bellows out instructions in three languages and we start to learn the Ten Commandments.  Today’s are “SKIPPERS, MOVE TO THE FRONT OF THE LOCK” then “SKIPPERS TALK TO US ON THE RADIO”… all very enlightening J 

The sun finally comes out and we have a blue dome day add to this a bit of warmth we have been looking for and it’s all very pleasant.  Even the houses are starting to have a more Mediterranean look with pantile roofs and summer yellow walls.  All this connives to take our mind off the ball and reverse sticks at the most inopportune moment causing us to collide with an overhanging mast… minor damage sustained to the solar panel arch but luckily none to the unfortunate yacht!

Today’s commandment’s: “SKIPPERS DO NOT ENTER THE LOCK UNTIL REQUESTED” (Yes we know we said you could but the commercial barge skipper didn’t like being made to go in last!) “SKIPPERS MOOR TO THE WAITING PONTOON” (Yes we know it’s a hassle but do as you are told or we will shut the gates in your face!) “SKIPPERS ENTER THE LOCK” (Yes we know you can see it’s time, but we do so like to see you jump as you pass the speakers!)  Five out of ten commandments down and we will endeavour to avoid having to learn the final five but imagine they must include something like, don’t forget your lifejacket, you must be tied to the bollard and no peeing in the lock.

 

 

So far the towns we have stopped at haven’t been very inspiring but we think this will all change when we rock up into Vivers.  Despite the fact they haven’t put the welcome mat (pontoons) out we still decide it is worth a stop and glide up to the launching ramp and park on the dingy dock.  Plenty of water and well protected but probably not exactly RYA approved for an 11 tonne yacht!
Vivers turns out to be very nice indeed and despite having contracted a fairly nasty cold from the plague ship “Elizabeth” we spend the day looking round the twisting cobbled lanes of the old town before taking a steep climb up to an avenging angel guarding a nearby hilltop.  We both have colds now and Bramble is the only one on full alert and we hit the sack early.

Off to Avignon today and the wind is up.  We lose yet another NZ flag in a gust.  Luckily we are going with the biting chill from the north but pass “Elizabeth” and “Prospero” pinned to the upstream waiting pontoon at Bollene Lock… they are in for a rough ride and are there all day and a second night… note to self always park on the downstream waiting pontoons, they are way more sheltered!

We progress on and after a 23m drop down through the Bollene chasm (very cool!) and we are off downstream.  The banks are very stark with no leaves on the trees and pea gravel slopes – very Central Otago again.  There are lots of defence castles to ogle but they now rub shoulder with heavy industry and nuclear power plants which somehow takes the edge off their mystery.

 

 

Avignon quay turns out to be a bit of a dump (certainly nothing like the pictures in the fluviacarte!) right next to the main road but the town is very interesting, not that we are up to much sightseeing as the our colds have taken a definite turn for the worse… damn those sniffling shackle draggers!… but at least the sun is out!  We catch up with Glen, Pete, Mal and Paul for a cup of café in the sun before “Elizabeth” turns up to tell us they all have bronchitis.  Terrific; Murray already has a hacking cough that could herniate a bollock at any moment so it could be off to the doctors shortly.

 

Last of the mighty Rhone today and it has been nothing like as bad as everyone had us believe… note: always take what other people tell you with a grain of salt and remember that some people that load information on to website forums about the Rhone have never gone down it…

Another beautiful sunny day and we spin down the river and turn right into the Petit Rhone… instead of stopping before St Gilles Lock we go through and moor up to the bank next to a reed cutters work station.  Health watch – Cate improving, Murray declining… Bramble the same!

 

A late start makes us feel a bit better but Murray’s cough worse.  The Camargue is not a “wild” as we expected but we do see flamingos, white horses and black bulls… but no one mentioned the scruffy farms lining the banks and the myriad of fences keeping the horses and bulls in the right places.  We proceed past broken down boats and through a very dilapidated and shallow canal to Aigues-Mortes… we are back in maritime land with a loop of canal leading out the sea… too shallow for us though. 

 

Both Murray and Bramble visit the quack today… Murray has bronchitis and Bramble endures a second jab to protect her from Leishmanosis… a fatal doggy disease that is carried by the sandflies in the Med.  Never fails to amaze me that any dogs survive in the Med with all the horrible things they can catch!

Heading towards the Etang de Thau now and apart from a very un-nerving trip up the River Lez where we get so far only to realise we can’t make it under the bridge and have to turn in our own boat length without demolishing a floating duck house whilst being swept downstream it’s a pretty cruisy day!
 We are so close to the sea we can smell it and when we moor up we take a walk to see it… Bramble determinedly takes her first swim in the Med – no dog signs be buggered!

The Med at last...

 

A windy night is followed by a windy morning in the opposite direction and we have trouble getting ourselves off the quay but eventually with a helping push from a neighbour we make our way to Frontignan and wait for the bridge to be raised.  The barge in front is heading the same way but says the Etang de Thau will be too dangerous to cross tonight so we all stay put.

As luck would have it the next day is a ripper and after a leisurely start we potter out into the Etang and visit Mezes.  There are many markers but once we have found the mussel and oyster beds we can’t go too far wrong.  We end up in Marsiellan (little Britain!) for the night.  It’s a lovely spot but the quayside is well sown up by the liveaboard English barges still we love the fact the sun is out and even manage shorts for a day as well as a yummy lunch at one of the quayside restaurants… mummm, local oysters and mussels – we try not to think of all the runoff that must be going into the Etang!

 

We make an early start to catch up with “Elizabeth” at the first lock in the Midi.  The entrance out of the Etang is not very inspiring, full of half sunk boats and rubbish and very shallow in parts.  When we catch up with Mike, Lenore and Lizzy Dog we find them embroiled in a row with the lock keeper.  Apparently we are meant to have phoned ahead and now he is shitty to have come and found he has work to do!  The “Elizabeth” crew have had enough and say they are going to push on through to their permanent berth further up the Midi so we forego our farewell dinner at Agde and head back the way we have come to go out to the Med at Sete.  This turns out to be a good and bad move.  Good as it gives us a weather window for getting down to Port Napoleon and the mast but bad as the bridges won’t open till 1900!  We pull up to the waiting quay and find nothing to tie to so we end up hanging off fire hydrant, someone’s washing line and one miscellaneous lump of concrete.  The locals are amused and take it in turns to come and warn us that the wash from speeding fisherman and trip boat’s is bad here and do we know the bridge won’t open till 1900; tres amusant for them but once again at least the sun is shining and its warm!  We spend the day making CC ready for the sea journey down the coast and at 1850 pull up to the first bridge just remind them that we are serious about getting to the sea.  Turns out to be a nice trip through town and the bridges even if it is dark and we pull up in the Nouveux basin at 2000 instead of risking the crowded accueil pontoon in the vieux harbour…

Yay… as much as the canals/rivers have been an interesting and fun experience it’s really good to be at sea again.