Now where were we? Ah yes, the Rhone.....
Sorry for the long delay in finishing the blog for the 2019 season. We did make it up the Rhone! I'll do my best to catch up before this year's trip.
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| Chateau de l'Hers, Chateauneuf-du-Pape |
Leaving Aramon we bypassed Avignon (sadly) and stopped over in the pretty village of St Etienne. There is a little pontoon which can accommodate 2 boats and we were very happy and relieved to find only one small boat on it as we had no back up plan.
We stayed only one night in Saint Etienne. It was a Sunday so the sole restaurant was closed. The cafe was also closed for renovation and there was, unusually, no baker at all. The prospect of no baguette or croissants in the morning was cause for some consternation. I think we've been too long in France!
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| Saint Etienne-des-Sorts |
If you have no other option you can, with permission, overnight on the small waiting pontoons at the locks. We haven't needed to do that this year but on our southward trip we overnighted above the huge Bollene lock.
The locks on the Rhone are enormous - art deco style Bollene is 23m deep - but they are relatively easy to navigate due to having floating bollards set into the walls as opposed to fixed bollards or cleats set at different heights.
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Bollène Lock. Hydro-electric power station to left
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| Entering Bollène. We have the enormous lock to ourselves. |
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| Going up. Life jackets are compulsory. |
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| -and exiting |
You must secure the boat to the bollard and then the bollard rises (or falls when descending) with each surge in the water level, requiring you only to keep a watch rather than trying to move ropes up and down. The process is quite noisy -musical even- as the bollards' moans and groans echo around the chamber. I have read it described as being like whale song but that's perhaps being a little heavy on poetic licence.
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Waiting our turn at Caderouse Lock. Commercial traffic has priority. We follow him in.
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| -then ascending the lock secured to the floating bollard. |
There is a lock every 25km or so and they have hydro electric power stations alongside. The current at the approaches downstream of the lock varies and can be quite strong giving boats exiting and heading downstream an extra boost; as they zoom past their crews usually give us a cheery/sympathetic wave as we struggle upstream seeming to go nowhere. When we are within sight of the lock I call up on the VHF to announce ourselves and request passage; in this case 'montant' - going upstream. Going downsream would be 'avalant'. The lock keeper will usually acknowledge you (but not always) and tell you if you need to wait on the pontoon and for how long, or, if you're very lucky, that the lock will be ready for you. We've gone through entirely on our own and with barges. peniches and cruise ships. We had to wait over an hour on one occasion when 2 double barges with pusher tugs arrived one after the other. Each completely filled the 190m lock leaving no room for us.
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| Waiting pontoon - Rhone lock |
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| No room to share with this ship |
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| -or this one |
We have also shared a lock with a kayak. About which more later.
