Up the Rhone, Sept. 9-23

 The Rhone is a very big river, draining almost all of east central France as well as carrying water from the Swiss Alps to the Med. It is a very busy commercial waterway with big barges carrying all kinds of freight and many cruise ships. There is a lock complex about every 20 k, all of them incorporating a hydropower facility. The locks are also very big; 11 meters wide by 190 long (36 ft. X 625 ft.) and averaging about 20 meters (65 ft.) deep.The French waterways authority on the Rhone, Compagnie National du Rhone (CNR), had a very useful website, InfoRhone, that provides comprehensive information on river conditions; weather, river current and forecasts. We had been keeping an eye on current because we would be traveling upriver against it and there are several places where the river narrows and the flow can be quite fierce. Also, the northerly winds, the mistral, can really kick up in the fall and between current and wind, make progress difficult. 

Of course just a few days before were to join the river there was a rainstorm in central France and the river current really speeded up. We waited at our last stop near St. Gilles before entering the river, letting things calm down a bit. Monday morning, Sept 9, things were looking a little better so we decided to head off. 

The first 3 hours was on the Petite Rhone, joining the main branch of the river just north of Arles. The section of the main river at Beaucaire/Tarason is one of the most challenging. The river narrows considerably and there is a bridge to navigate under. Oldtimer handled the conditions just fine although slowly and we arrived at the Vallabrègues lock about 1:30 pm.  It turned into a very long day as we stopped just after clearing the Avignon lock after 62 kilometers and a little over 10 hours underway. Each of the locks has a waiting pontoon for pleasure boats on each side and the lock keepers said it was no problem for us to spend the night there. We were tied up just about 6 pm. 

Day 2 on the river was more of the same, leaving the moorings just as it got light around 7 am, clearing two locks during the day and spending the night at another waiting pontoon after 45 kilometers, tying up around 5 pm after the Bollène lock.

Day 2 on the river was more of the same, leaving the moorings just as it got light around 7 am, clearing two locks during the day and spending the night at another waiting pontoon after 45 kilometers, tying up around 5 pm after the Bollène lock.

More of the same on day 3; 66 k and about 11 hours, stopping just after 6 pm. It was starting to get a little windy; in fact a gust blew the patio umbrella that was sitting on the cabin house roof into the river, lost forever.

Castles on the hill and a little bit of wind.

Wednesday morning it was off early again. The forecast said that the day would not be as windy as Tuesday but Thursday it was going to be howling for several days so we wanted to get close to the big marina at Valence where we would be able to hole up and wait for the weather. Also, Tanya was going to have to deal with a family issue that would take her to Paris for a few days and there were good train connections from Valence.

We cleared the Beauchastel lock about 6 pm after 66 kilometers to spend the night and then just had 12 k and about 2 hours to reach Valence. We secured a slip for 10 days and settled in.

Entering the Bollène lock. We’re going all the way to the top.

One lock we shared with a commercial barge.

The town of Printegarde with its impressive architecture.

And windy it did get. We had three days straight where gust hit well over 60 kph (40 mph). We did not want to be out on the river in those conditions. And while Tanya was in Paris I had the pleasure of trouble shooting a balky toilet. We had been having intermittent problems with it and it took three tries taking it out and reinstalling it before I was able to diagnose the problem and fix it. Not one of the more pleasurable boating tasks!

Saturday afternoon, Sept. 21 Tanya returned from Paris, we had a very nice meal at the marina restaurant and Sunday morning off we went for the last couple of days on the Rhone. The wind had died down so we were able to make good progress, spending Monday night at the Sablon lock and then reaching the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers and Lyon about 5 pm on Monday.

Where some of that lovely Côte du Rhone comes from.

We would spend the night bankside in Lyon and head further up the Saone Tuesday morning.

The Confluence in Lyon; the Rhone to the right and Saone to the left.