Our experience confirmed what we’d gleaned from our research, that few private boaters choose to travel the Rhone and Saone up-stream, i.e. northwards, especially in the winter and spring. This is largely because of the potentially strong currents and risk of flooding (see info).
Added to that, moorings for pleasure boats are few and far between, particularly ones out of the stream and thus sheltered from floating debris and the wakes of passing barges. To get safely from one safe haven to the next generally necessitates making good speed against the stream.
With a craft that is happiest at say 6 knots, a 40-mile journey might take 5 hours (plus locks) going down-stream but 14 hours (plus locks) going up-stream, if there is a 3 knot stream running (it was certainly that fast or faster for some of our voyage). So it could take an awfully long time to reach your next safe haven – assuming it’s open and has space for you!
We had a fast boat, which made passage-planning feasible, but most people don’t have that luxury. Our second day on the Rhone saw us covering 54 miles at up to 12 knots over land, perhaps 15 knots through the water on some stretches. That was fine but we were consuming diesel at up to 35 litres per hour, which added another consideration to the planning process!
No wonder that we saw only one other private boat going our way, a local boat on the way to its home-berth on the Saone, we believe.