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2.7 days, cold, fog, rainy spells & sun, windy
164 km – 102 ml – 3 locks – 18 hrs
8 April pm: We have now left Lyon behind us and are continuing up the River Saone. Anxious once more about finding somewhere to stop, preferably with food, electricity and showers, we have called ahead to the small-boat marina at Genay to reserve a place.
It turns out to be a friendly little set-up complete with a crowded, if scruffy, boat-yard. The pontoons are very short but we manage to moor up securely, and of course we are out of the river’s flow – which seems as strong as the Rhone’s most of the time. A bonus is that there is an attractive restaurant right next to the boats, and they have a table for us. Unlike the marina, it is quite smart and quite expensive.
Across in one corner of the slightly oily yard, we are shown the ‘shower block’ which is a run-down shed with a hole-in-the-ground toilet and an old-fashoined shower cubicle, plus an ingenious home-made device for locking the door and switching the light on. Howard would have been proud of the idea but not the welding thereof. Marie is keen to give the shower a go – and it is brilliant!
We then enjoy another fantastic meal, in a dining room full of sociable French folk arriving by car for a Saturday evening meal, before retiring for the night.
9 April: It has stopped raining by the time we pull up at Trevaux for bread and bandages (Marie’s knee, damaged in Teignmouth, is still really painful) and posh tarts. A pleasant, bustling little town with steep streets and queues at the Saturday market stalls.
Now it’s on up the river in intermittent rain towards Macon, without the time to explore more towns or villages.
Macon’s marina is in walking distance from a supermarket and has working fuel pumps too. With our tanks about half full, we decide to fill up, this time at an even more reasonable 1.70 per litre. Colin gets caught in another shower, having gone shopping without a raincoat.
More great nosh in the marina restaurant then off to bed early, as it is still very cold at night.
10 April: We awake to fog!
Once we have finished breakfast and cleared most of the condensation from the windows (a regular morning task but a lot worse today) we think the mist is beginning to thin out so we put the radar on and head out onto the river. Again we have a strong current, 2 knots or more judging by the bow-wave at each channel marker. We also continue to have tree-trunks and cut logs to dodge, but at least the radar is helping us keep station as well as acting as our rear-view mirror.
As the fog disperses around mid-morning, we are treated to further delightful scenery and riverside villages. It’s a fairly short run to Chalons so we can stick to a more modest 10 kph (5.5 knots) while consuming 12 lph.
We arrive at the substantial Chalons-sur-Saone marina for two nights to find a long, vacant pontoon and surmise that it’s for visitors. We also note that the marina office is closed (it’s a Sunday!), that the water level is high and that there is a strong current running towards and under the boat.
A little later, we observe a distinct lack of fuel pumps on the fuel dock! We’re so glad we managed to fill up at Macon. That means three of our five possible filling-stations have been out of operation so it is just as well that we are now about to turn onto the canal system and start pottering.
Nevertheless, although we’ve only seen one vessel on the move all day, we are are relieved to be in the relatively sheltered waters of a port de plaisance.
Or so we imagine…
Progress this far
477 km – 298 ml – 16 locks – 53 hrs