Trévoux and to Lyon, June 9-13

 

Trévoux reminded us of some of those hillside villages on the coast of Italy. Perched on the side of a hill above the water, steep streets and warm colors. It is just 20 k down the river from Montmerle so we were tied up Thursday in time for lunch.

The clock tower

When the 843 Treaty of Verdun split up Charlemagne’s empire, The Saone became the border between France and the Empire. Due to its position on the river, Trévoux became an important city. So important that it became the capital of the Dombes region in the early 1400’s with its parliament headquarters and a mint for its own money. In 1762 it was absorbed into France.

The mooring pontoon is run by the campground and, unlike Montmerle, it was staffed so the madame or her assistant arrived every day to collect the fees.

After lunch we wandered around town and up to the market square in front of the church so we could take in the view.

It turns out Trévoux is also a popular spot for the cruise ships. Thursday afternoon, two pulled into the town quay for a couple of hours.

Oldtimer looks pretty small in between these two ships

Friday was bike ride day. There is a bike path all along the river so we took advantage and retraced some of our voyage, this time from the shore. It’s a really nice, paved path and we checked out a couple of small villages along the way.

Up above town are the remains of a 10th to 13th century feudal castle. The top of the tower was partially dismantled for other uses but much of the old walls still remain.

Unfortunately the tower is only open on weekends so we couldn’t get the great view from the top.

Saturday was market day in the square in front of the church so we made the trek up for some fresh vegetables.

That stack of crates in the back is more cherries.

About $2 a pound.

After the town market it was off to the supermarket to collect the last of our groceries. Sunday we would be off for Lyon, although we would be stopping just short because we wanted to take advantage of the big city’s free quay and we didn’t want to be there on the weekend.

Also, the weather was forecast to be very hot for the next few days and we wanted one more day on the river outside of town. Unfortunately it was very hot and the mooring, very quiet when we arrived before lunch, turned out to be a magnet for obnoxious young boys jumping in the river. Later in the afternoon about 12 of them showed up and started getting very aggressive. We had to call the gendarmes who thankfully showed up pretty quickly and shooed them away. A very nice mooring spoiled.

Monday morning we were off to the big city and moored up the a quay about 3k before the Saone meets the Rhone.