A paradise for birds of prey
44° 6′ 15.8256” N 4° 42′ 25.812” E
July 25, 2015
If there is a paradise for birds of prey, it is definitely located in a small tributary to the Rhone river. Vi notice that, when we sail from l’Ardoise going on to the Rhone and Avignon. At one point, we can see 20 birds of prey at one time in the air over Ronja. They fly in circles, they do exercises with the young’s birds, and they have nests inside the dense vegetation along the river.
We arrive at Avignon just below the Papal Palace, where we lay outside a boat from Denmark. It turns out to be a couple, that has sailed for three years in the Mediterranean, mostly around Corsica, but also with a detour around Italy. They sail a few months at a time, and then they are in Denmark for a few months. Now they want to put their boat in a winter port, just in Port 2, the port of l’Ardoise, that we just came from. They know it from the past and they find it perfect as a winter port, it is lovely to visit in the car outside the sailing season, because it lies right in the middle of France’s most exciting cities and wine regions.
They also have a winter port in Corsica called Solenzara, which is located on the island’s east side. The downside here is that you cannot use the port as a winter harbour from June 1 to September 1. It was a problem for them, while they were still working. But recently they are – except that the man has some consulting work for Maersk – retired, so now they have time. They recommend us to buy “Bloc Cotier mediterraine”, which is a good marine pilot for the french mediterranean ports.
Avignon has a festival. Virtually the whole month of July, the city is set at the other end of the annual theatre festival and then you get the impression, that every building has been converted into a theatre, and all the world’s buskers and street performers have taken up residence in Avignon’s streets.
It is a great atmosphere. Happy, positive, exciting. We find a relatively cheap bib gourmand restaurant in the Michelin-guide, and get a super three course dinner, and even when we go home shortly before midnight, the streets are still filled with party-goers.
Log book: Today’s distance: 30 km. Sailed time from 8.00 to 11.00 = 3 hours. Locks: 1. Weather: Continued hot. Maybe a little milder than the previous days.
Dramatic and beautiful nature along the coast of Rhone, now approaching the town of Avignon
Viviers- how can you close an entire harbour?
44° 28′ 58.8648” N 4° 41′ 45.3336” E
24. juli, 2015
Now you should expect, that we learned a lot from yesterday’s troubles? Nah. Not really.
We started the day with a clear plan. Kirsten and Per were up early with the intention of sailing Ronja to the town of Viviers, 24 km downstream, while Jørgen and Hanne kept sleeping in the aft cabin. The plan is a common breakfast in Viviers and then a long walk through the country after yesterday’s laborious efforts to find a port.
Viviers was recommended by a sailor from Lyon and we were therefore somewhat surprised, when we reached Viviers and were greeted with a sign saying, that the marina was closed. Porte de Plaisance fermé. Closed? We call the harbour master and ask why they would close an entire port. He explains that the water level is low, and that they would also have a person here to address some problems, but he had not come yet. And a few other things. In short: The port is closed. Our plan is ruined.
The harbour master suggests graciously, that we continue to Avignon. Well thank you. It is a further 72 km on top of the 24, we have just sailed. But on the other hand: What can we do other than follow his advice and then along the way use your eyes and ears to find a mooring-place that is closer. Jørgen and the bike were left behind in a lock, so he can cycle back to the car, while we keep looking for an available mooring-place. It is clearly a major problem in the relationship between Ronja and Rhone, there are surprisingly few suitable ports and boat docks. As there is current and wind, is it not just possible to drop anchor.
We find on the map a port, which is four kilometres inside the bottom of a side-river. It is called l’Ardoise . The card claims, that it is three metres deep. Yes, Yes. We can always try. Along the way we hail an elderly Frenchman in a riverboat. He sticks four fingers in the air. Four meter in the harbour. We called the port captain on our phone, and she confirms: “Come on in. Go for the innermost pontoons, there you will find shade,” she says.
Nice little port. Electricity and Wi-Fi. The female port captain has a Belgian father and a German mother and is now a harbour master in France. We believe that she would have married a French chef, and together they would both operate the harbour and a primitive but excellent little restaurant. Possibly our theory was correct, but we hear later from other boaters, the port captain lives in a small castle in Provence, and that she is the daughter of a famous Belgian painter, and she – when she needs money – just sells one of her father’s paintings. She was the girlfriend of a carpenter for some years, while the port and the restaurant were built. But the other sailors will not rule out, that she may have found a new boyfriend, after the restaurant had been finished.
There are not many boats in the harbour, and we are the only boat coming in for the day. We are also the only customers in the restaurant that night. The food is good, the price ok (170 € for three courses with wine), and when the restaurant does not have the equipment to accept credit cards, we agree that the payment will come tomorrow, when Hanne and Jørgen have found an ATM.
Log book: Today’s distance: 77 km. Sailed time 7:00 to 15:30 = 8 1/2 hours. Locks: 2. Weather: Heat wave. Slow and moderate winds. At night the temperature drops a bit, and we can for the first time in a long time put us to bed in a temperature that feels like only 28-29 degrees.
Have you closed the entire harbour, asks Hanne in fluent french. Yes, the port captain answers, you will just have to sail another 72 kilometers to the next harbour
Valance and Gruas – dangerous waters
44° 40′ 28.6536” N 4° 47′ 12.012” E
July 23, 2015
When sailing, you should regularly remind yourself that you can plan as much as you want. But in the end it is still often the weather, boat, locks, port conditions and the waters you are sailing in, that determines your sailing progress.
We planned to sail to Valence, one nice long day sailing 70 kilometres with three of the Rhone rivers giant locks along the way.
Rhone has very few locks – but those few are really huge. We get liftet or lowered sometimes 20 meters
As we reach Valence, we see a sign, that warns of a water level in the harbour-opening of just 1.5 meters, but we think it is a mistake, because the card says, it is two meters deep. That is “plenty” to our draft of 1.75 meters.
It is not an error. Right in the port-hole we get stuck. We cannot go either forward nor back. Ronja succeeds, however, under her own power to wrench us free, and we are seeking out again into the river, while Hanne calls the harbour master and asks for advice for a port with better depth.
He recommends us to sail to Cruaz, which is 33 km and two more giant locks further down the river. And when we reach Cruaz our problems begin again. We find it hard to read the signs on the site and it results in a few groundings. We hit something hard, that the card is called Epis and causes the boat to heel suddenly and violently. We have no idea what an epis is but understand very well that it must be some kind of underwater piles of wood or steel (it turns out on the notice boards on the web, that it is some power-absorbing structures of poles).
Worse still: When we finally understand the signs correctly and reach the harbour entrance, we are totally stuck in sand and mud. We are only 20 meters from the first pontoon in the harbour, we can see that there are large ships there. But we cannot get through. And actually we cannot get back.
We are struggling. We let the engine run us forward. We let the motor run in reverse. We turn the steering wheel to move us clear of the ground. Hanne and Kirsten promptly hang out on one side of the boat and weigh it down as best they can. And finally. After several nerve-racking minutes we break free.
We sail back to the last gate and ask the gate attendant for permission to use their small pier for the night. It has enough space for two boats, which is fortunate as shortly after returning the the British boat “Freedom Found” came back to the lock. It extends only 1:40 and could not make it through the port hole in Cruaz. No wonder we could not either.
It is almost nine o’clock in the evening, and we are still waiting for Jørgen to come and meet with us. He left the boat by mid-afternoon to cycle back after the car in Condrieu.
Log book: Today’s distance: 103 km. Sailed time 8:00 to 21:00 = 13 hours. Locks: 5. Weather: Roasting hot. The helmsman has only an umbrella to provide some shade. During the afternoon there will be wind, and that makes the situation more bearable.
Wild river Rhone – among blast furnaces and wineyards
45° 27′ 17.9784” N 4° 46′ 22.2276” E
July 22, 2015
We have to get out on the river to get som fresh air. We sail for Condrieu and find an excellent port of Les Roches-de-Condrieu. An excellent port captain leads us into a berth with deep enough water, and he helps us find a marine electrician, who can change one of our batteries. We agree for the electrician to come at seven, and a miracle happens. He actually comes at seven o’clock. A french craftsman, you can rely on. What happened here?
Rhone is a different experience than Saône. Rhone is great and mighty. Majestic but also more deserted. We had just gotten used to the many anglers along the banks of canals and Saône, but on the Rhone we do not see a single one. Our first thought is that it has to do with the high degree of industrialization along the Rhone. Large nuclear power plants replace chemical production plants and other industrial facilities. Rhone is also more wild, as it has branches and entire tree trunks in the water.
On the other hand, we are beginning to hear the cicadas. We did not hear one single one before Lyon. Now the air is full of cicada songs, and though the blast furnaces are disfiguring the landscape, it is still beautiful with mountains, vineyards and charming small river towns. We are in the home region of Cote Rotie – one of the Rhône vallies very best wines – and most expensive.
Last on the day Jørgen and Hanne arrives. They are going to follow us to the Mediterranean, and later we will drive together back to Denmark in their car, with a single hotel-accommodation in Eguisheim in Alsace. We celebrate the reunion with dinner at Restaurant Bellevue right beside the harbour.
Log book: Today’s distance: 41 km. Sailed time from 10.00 to 13.30 = 3 1/2 hours. Locks: 2. Weather: Hot day – more than 30 degrees – but late afternoon thunderclouds draws together. They provide wind but only a few drops of water.
Wellcome to new sailors. Hanne og Jørgen embarks in Condrieu and are going to join us to the Mediterranean
Lyon is a center for delicious food and good restaurants
45° 44′ 32.9496” N 4° 48′ 55.9512” E
July 21, 2015
Les Halles Lyon Poul Bocuse. Upmarket marketplace. If you can eat it, you can find it here
We rent city bikes. Lyon is famous for its city bikes. Personally, we have a hard time finding out why. Yes, there are many bikes. And they are used a lot. But the system is a hassle. It takes to long to obtain a bike through the process and credit cards. When we were in Lyon with Helen and Mikkel last year, we back home got an ekstra bill for € 150, because we – it was claimed – had not handed over one of the bikes in the prescribed manner.
Lyon is said to have well-functioning city-bikes. Well..?
Despite last year’s bad experiences we throw ourselves into the adventure again.
We eat lunch in Les Halles Lyon Paul Bocuse. Charming as always. Really delicious food and good restaurants. We choose a selection of French cheeses, lunch, accompanied by a good Rhone red wine.
The temperature rises and rises through the day. Eventually we do not bother to cycle anymore, and when we are walking, shortly before eight o’clock crossing a square in Lyon a pharmacist’s thermometer shows it is 48 degrees in the sun. When we go back the same way at nightfall, close to 11 o’clock pm, the same thermometer shows 34 degrees. It’s just too much. The French are handling the hot temperature in style. On a small square near the Rhône hundreds of people are dancing to South American rhythms.
Log book: Today’s distance: 00 km. The sail time = 0 hours. Locks: 0. Weather: Hot day. The temperature remains between 30 and 40 degrees during the day.
More impressions from Les Halles Lyon Poul Bocuse. A mixture of shops and restaurants
Wifi? Come on, we really do not have use for that sort of thing
45° 44′ 33.6516” N 4° 48′ 56.1816” E
July 20, 2015
We sail to Lyon. Starting at 6:00 we are having an enchanting morning. Anglers are everywhere. We also see the herons, swans, storks and the fascinating birds of prey, as they teach their young to fly. The mountains are higher, we encounter more commercial barges, more industry and also more recreational craft as we approach Lyon.
The entrance is beautiful. Not like Paris. Grandiose but in a different way, more natural, original architecture, simple bridges. Nice town. We put Ronja in the new marina in the Confluence district and spend the day sightseeing.
The heat wave is back, so we keep to the shady side of the streets and drink water and Cola in the cafes.
French has an amazing ease with Wi-Fi. We see this again in Lyon. At the harbour office we are informed about the port Wi-Fi with corresponding password. But it works only if you are sitting right next to the port captain’s door, not in our boat. We are told that we can also use the nearby shopping centres Wi-Fi. This works in practice only, when sitting in the centre of the mall. If you chase Wi-Fi in the cafes, you understand that it is something they are ok without (implying that they do not see the slightest reason to have it). When you occasionally find a cafe with a hotspot, the waiter will throw up his arms and tell you, that the Internet is broken at the moment. Even in one of France’s major cities it can be a challenge to get online.
Log book: Today’s distance: 80 km. Sailed time 6:00 to 14:00 = 8 hours. Locks: 2. Weather: Changes morning after morning. But soon the sun takes over and we get back temperatures around 30 degrees.
Macon – nice city but do not go there
46° 18′ 24.782” N 4° 49′ 43.431” E
July 19, 2015
Our next goal is Macon – a city of 37,000 people – who were once a major exporter of wine to the Danes. But greed took over, the quality fell, and today it’s almost hard to find a Macon wine on Danish shelves.
It is a charming city. We arrived during Sunday’s relative obscurity but still got a good idea of the beautiful city with its sense of jazz, art and wines. We got to the tourist office and directed to a wine shop and a half kilometre out along the beach road, and there we tried several of the local wines, and we tested some really good Burgundy wines. When you are walking, and one of your feet is still struggling with an injury, you are unsure whether your energy will get you back to the ship. However, close as it was.
We had moored Ronja by a pontoon bridge in the river just outside the city centre. We should never have done that.
We had seen in the chart, that there could be some turbulence in the water at night in this place. We had also read a cryptic expression that the pontoon bridge was home to “.. rather unusual animation”. We had discussed, what this message could mean. Mice, rats, insects … special? It turned out that the bridge was used by several young couples dating in the dark at evening. The first came at 10 o’clock p.m. The last past midnight. On top of this a general noise from the city, some annoying speedboats that showed their strength back and forth with huge motors-swells to follow, and then a few large hotel boats docked behind us in the middle of the night with giant spotlights, that illuminated our entire bed.
Next time here, we will certainly skip Macon. The city do not master the mix of different types of boats. Speedboats and personal watercraft roars through the water far beyond the limits specified in the chart. The commercial river-crossing operating at the time, where the rest of us are trying to sleep. Poor cocktail. Stay away from Macon.
Log book: Today’s distance: 62 km. Sailed time 7:00 to 13:00 = 6 hours. Locks: 1. Weather: Rain last night and a proper lightning storm in the night broke the heat wave. We get a gorgeous morning with a bit of rain and clouds. And when the sun comes through at noon the temperature never got higher than 29.
Chalon-sur-Saone – young and lively city
46° 46′ 37.794” N 4° 51′ 37.0872” E
July 18, 2015
Rain? Yes, it’s raining! Not much. But still. Per goes to the bakery, sliding on the unfamiliar rain-soaked rocks and after having brought home a baguette and two croissants he i repaired on his knee and hand chlorhexidine and patch. Later it turns out that the worst injury is a sprained foot.
Despite the obstacles we start early from St. Jean de Losne, get a terrific morning on the river with lots of anglers along the banks and in small boats. Several people catch fish, just as we sail past. Some anglers are very friendly, they wave and yell bonjour, but the other lets us with their body language understand, that we should not even sail in their fish river.
It goes fast now. 70 km in around six hours. Just over lunch we arrive at Chalon-sur-Saone, a relatively large, young and lively city, that we have heard many good things about. Kirsten confirms after a tour of the city that it is just the city, we have been longing for. Beautiful buildings and squares. Charming neighbourhoods with restaurants. Here is life. Here is beauty.
Per was sitting at home in the cabin, groaning under the now 35 degrees and foot wrapped with an ice pack to soothe pain in the sprained foot. Kirsten has taken pictures in the town to document the beautiful city, he will not discover himself.
Log book: Today’s distance: 70 km. Sailed time 7:30 to 14:00 = 6 1/2 hours. Locks: 2. Weather: Magnificent morning. Overcast. But later the sun breaks out, and we are quickly back to 35 degrees.
In the stronghold of inland waterway sailors
47° 6′ 3.1968” N 5° 15′ 52.2792” E
July 17, 2016
We shop and break up. The air is sultry. The weather forecast promises 38 degrees, perhaps with thunder. It turns out to be a fine decision to drop the extra day in Auxonne, for out on the river there is wind and relative coolness. We sail to St-Jean-de-Losne – inland waterway sailors stronghold. Here, the multiple channels run together. Here, most sailors pass, whether south or northbound.
In a large inner harbour are 250 large riverboats. At the start of the Canal de Bourgogne is a further hundred, and out on the Saone River is the major, rebuilt boats and people like us, who with a draft of 1.75 cannot enter the inner harbour without going aground. The official Fluvia chart says otherwise, that there is room for a draft of 1.80, but several have warned us, that it has no basis in reality. There is a maximum of 1.40 meters.
After getting diesel from something as rare as a river located diesel station, we place ourselves beside a warm Dutch couple, who have moored in the river and signal us, that we are welcome outside their boat. Shortly after we get an extra bout at our side – our friends, the Swedish boat Sofia, who like us are heading towards the Mediterranean in a maxi-yacht. The boat is sailed by a couple, who are on leave until the end of October and wants to sail around Greece, where the man originally come from. He moved to Sweden in 1987.
We have been sailing with them – more or less – since Chalon-sur-Champagne, where they witnessed our fatal motor collapse on the day, that we since have tried to forget.
We explore the city. It is more charming than Auxonne, less poor, less worn, and a little more accommodating. At the same time, however it is a tiny town with its main profile from the riverboats lying all year round for the repair, winter storage, conversion. We move around in slow motion from shadow to shadow to not be affected by the heatwave, which, , according to the Norwegian weather service YR thankfully is over tomorrow, then instead we get rain showers and only 27 degrees. Hallelujah! It will be a celebration.
We are happy with YR, probably because they often promise better weather than other weather services. But let’s see.
The worst thing about heat waves are the nights. The many hours where you are bathed in sweat trying to rest. We remind ourselves, that if you want to explore the hot countries, you have to accept the heat, that comes with them. But we actually discuss these days, that conclusion on our “Ronja Around the World trip” may be, that the very best sailing ground in the world is Denmark. Well, right now we cross our fingers, that YR gets the weather right.
Log book: Today’s distance: 18 km. Sailed time from 10.00 to 12.00 = 2 hours. Locks: 1. Weather: Unbearable in port. The sun beats all day long.
Let us get away from these small locks
47° 11′ 52.854” N 5° 23′ 13.7112” E
July 16, 2015
We want to get out of locks. Now. Basta. Therefore: Up early. In good time for the first lock to open.
Sigh. It does not respond. The light is not green, when we beam the remote at it, and it does not give us a red light even as a starting point. It is completely dead. Straight on the phone. “Parlez vous anglais?”. “No“. Just listen to this: “Ecluse numero 36, avalant, ne functionne pas …”. They will send a man. He asks why on earth we will further south, when it is already so hot here in the north. Well. Good question.
Shortly after it is a small bridge, that will not rise. We grab the phone: “Parlez vous anglais?”
After the very last locks of the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne we sail into the Saone river and we observe an instant switch from the narrow channels. Here is traffic. Here is life. Other boats. Many rental boats with children. Extra water under the keel, longer between banks, more anglers along the coast.
Great! We are sailing faster and calling Auxonne, which to our surprise turns out to have a marina with 150 berths. So great a port, we have not seen for years. Strangely, to see a full port without a single mast. But thats the way it is in these parts of Europe.
We need to get ashore and move. We walk around in the city. It is characterized by a large military barracks, a huge church and some really old houses. The barracks are for infantry and artillerymen. Napoleon served here in a period of his career.
We are looking for cafe with Wi-fi – several café owners tell us, that they would never dream of having a thing like Wi-fi – and when we finally find one, we celebrate the change between channels and river with a glass of champagne. We eat at the best restaurant in town, Hotel Corbeau, which stands out clearly – the other consists mostly of kebab and pizza places. Corbeau’s food is excellent. The best so far on the trip.
We are talking with several Danes, who have rented boats on the Saone. We also meet Moodi and Carsten in their sailboat, Nicoya, from Rødbyhavn. They are on their way home over after three years in the Mediterranean, and are chock full of good advice on long-distance cruising. We invite them aboard, and while we contribute a few observations about where they should beware of low tide and extra seagrass in Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne, they are giving their experience of good harbours in the Saone and Rhone, interesting ports in southern France and the best places in Greece, where they stayed for a few years.
We hear about cockroaches, cockroach traps, about the importance of washing fruit and vegetables piece by piece, before we take them on board, the professionalism of Navy Services in Port St. Louis (that’s where we hope they continue to keep our mast and boom). We hear about the terrible port prices all along the coast of Italy, bad everywhere but worst from Rome and northwards, where the price for a night port adds up to 70 euros or even more, without even having special facilities. One of their tips is, that if we want to enter and see Rome, we shall sail up parts of xxx river and moor at one of the shipyards. There we can moor free and take the metro into Rome.
Carsten and Moodi, respectively 61 and 59 years old, have been on long voyages twice. The first time in two years. Later in three years. He has been taking early retirement. She did not yet.
Moodis and Carstens boat
They would have sailed home from Greece to the south of Sicily and via Menorca, Malorca and Corsika, but because of the current refugee situation they did not dare do it. They had experienced episodes of refugees in large rubber boats in Greece, and the thought of having to pass Lampedusa made them choose the Messina Strait instead.
It is no longer just the Somali coast, that sailors should take heed of, but also the Mediterranean where Carsten and Moodi knew of stories of gunfights between police and human traffickers, and where they frankly would not ever know what they should do if a few hundred refugees from Africa would board their small sailboat from Rodby.
Log book: Today’s distance: 39 km. Sailed time 7:00 to 15:00 = 8 hours. Locks: 10. Weather: 38 degrees. The heat wave is back.
Auxonne in Saone river turns out to have a marina with 150 berths. So great a port, we have not seen for years.
