Sunday 26 September 2010 – Avignon

 

In our last blog,  I suggested that the Rhone river was “pretty”.  I have now decided that “dramatic” is a much more suitable word for such a significant waterway.  The river itself is about double the width of the Saone (fortunately the channel is well marked) and has a stronger stream and we have been assisted by about 1 knot of current on our journey southward.

 

The Rhone valley is wide and flat and bordered by some dramatic and rugged hills.  At regular intervals there are castles and fortified hill-side villages.  These medieval buildings are now overshadowed by the modern protectors of civilisation; power-stations.  Not only are each of the large locks linked into a hydro-electricity generator, but there are also large nuclear power stations and modern windmills along the river.

 

 

 

We left Valence last Monday and our first stop was in the shadow of the large power station at Cruas . Why can’t Didcot decorate its chimneys like this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was Viviers which is a very pretty and historic place, and obviously on the itinerary of the hotel boats since there were two there when we arrived and after about two hours, and having collected all their passengers, they left and were replaced by two more.

 

 

 

We walked up to the village (another hillside village) and visited the old church which had about three dozen wonderful carved choir seats and misericords.

 

Nearby is Chateau Lafarge and is the origins of the large, international conglomerate of building materials which started by two brothers just outside his village.

 

The halte fluviale had some very wobbly finger pontoons which made going onshore an adventure.  However, while we were there, we met up again with three other boats which we had encountered earlier in the trip.

 

 

The next part of our journey was through a gorge which towered over us and allowed us to compared their earlier attempts at bridge-building with the more-recent style of the TGV river-crossings.

 

 

 

 

We were most amused, when checking in (by VHF radio), at one of the locks, when the lock-keeper recognised the boat-name and advised Elizabeth that she had left her “carte bleu” at the Valence capitanerie “and could we please contact them?”.  The capitanerie at Viviers also gave us the same message.  The problem was easily resolved but we were quite impressed by their concern and how they had tracked us.

 

Before arriving at Ardoise for the next overnight stop, we had to pass through the famous Bollene lock.  This has a drop of 22 metres and is the deepest in France.  We went through with the other boats and it was quite an experience.  The following pictures show the stages of entering the lock, the water level going down , the walls towering over us and eventually the gate being opened to allow us out.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back, you can see the lock arrangement on the right of the picture alongside the turbine house.

 

 

After passing Chateauneuf du Pape, we had a few more miles of motoring before we arrived at Villeneuve and then turned the corner to face the magnificent skyline of Avignon – in time for lunch on Thursday 23 September.   

 

 

The halte fluviale is on the wall alongside the riverside road, but with electricity and water points, just past the famous bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

Since it was our 38^th wedding anniversary, we found a very nice restaurant in which to celebrate.  Elizabeth also announced another important milestone – we had now ‘clocked up’ 1000 miles since leaving Southsea in April.

 

Avignon has an imposing skyline, thanks to the Papacy moving there in the 14 century and building an impressive palace, which we visited.  There is also the famous bridge which was inspired by a monk and served well for many years until it was damaged (yet again) by the flooding Rhone and considered ‘beyond economic repair’ in the 16 century.  We did visit but we didn’t dance “sur le pont” since it is not wide enough and we learned that the local custom was to dance “sous le pont” and the song is wrong.

 

Apart from a couple of rainstorms and some rather strong winds we have had a very pleasant and sunny sojourn at Avignon.  Tomorrow, if the strong winds stay away, we will motor down to Arles and then on to Port St Louis where this year’s adventures come to an end.

 

Ron & Elizabeth.