Doubs River (briefly) and Sâone River: Roy in a good mood at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, return to Chalon-sur-Sâone, treats in Tournus, Mâcon, medieval masonry at Montmerle-sur-Sâone, not-so-new Neuville-sur-Sâone

Four hours and two beautiful, big locks after leaving St Jean-de-Losne one lovely Sunday morning, Karanja berthed at Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, just in time for Roy to catch the last half of the British Grand Prix.

We’d heard we’d have to moor “stern on” (like the boats in the photo above), but just as Roy was lining up to do so – and I was wondering how exactly we’d get ashore from the stern – a friendly capitain came down and waved us to the adjacent  mooring, sign-posted “Privé”.  There we enjoyed our splendid isolation and some welcome shade; the mercury was at 30 degrees and climbing.

This must be the best capitainerie we’ve seen, with its own bar and extra-friendly staff.

Return to Châlon-sur-Sâone

It took us a while to realise that we’d scoped out Chalon’s port de plaisance and made enquiries at its capitainerie during our driving trip last September. (My blog on that visit to Chalons-sur-Sâone is here.)

We hadn’t called ahead to book, but, as the captain said while gallantly taking my rope, it helped that we’d arrived early-ish in the day. Most importantly, our length is un peu moins de 15 metres – 15m being the cut-off length at many of these places.

Most of TripAdvisor’s top restaurants were on Rue de Strasbourg, located on the isle of Saint-Laurent. Of the top six, only one was open – yes, it was a Monday! But we found a treasure in Grille Saint-Laurent, sharing a salad topped with hot, crunchy Brie and a cherry dressing, then a perfect pizza bubbling with Reblochon, thinly sliced potato and jambon, and topped with rocket.

Tournus

It was windy on the Sâone today, and we saw the wave phenomenon caused by the wind (from the south) blowing from the opposite direction of the current (downstream, from the north). It wasn’t this choppy when we crossed the Channel!

Wind can make mooring tricky. With no space left for us on the pontoon at Tournus, Fabienne and Louis kindly waved us in to double-bank against their Angelene. Truly angelic people, as evidenced by their having no less than four grandchildren (we guess) on board with them.

Tournus is an ancient and interesting town with lots of picturesque 15th-century architecture, winding cobbled streets with art galleries, delis, wine shops and so on.

Magnificent Saint-Philibert Abbey is at the heart of Tournus;  parts of it date back to the 10th century.

Highlights of the Abbey include beautiful 11th-century mosaic tiling featuring the signs of the zodiac (Gemini and Cancer) and more; and a slightly eerie crypt that I exited in sweaty haste when the few and sparsely located timer-controlled lightbulbs suddenly switched off, plunging the place into darkness.

 

Apart from a yob* of youngsters sitting on the wall above the pontoon and chucking empty beer-cans over their shoulders – possibly harmless in other respects – this was a lovely spot where we could have spent two or three days trying the various bars and restaurants.

*my new collective noun

 Mâcon

Another windy day on the Sâone from Tournus to Mâcon, so when we headed into the relative calm of Mâcon’s port de plaisance, 3km upstream from the town, and found the visitors’ pontoon full, we chose a likely spot and hoped for the best.

As Chief Communications Officer, I went up alone to beard the capitain and staff in the capitainerie when it reopened after lunch. After we’d all (including me) oozed buckets of Gallic charm, they let us stay where we were. (Not for nothing! – it’s €24.45 a night.)

Though our river guide advises not to overnight at the town’s public pontoon if you want to sleep peacefully, it looked all right to me when I ran past it around 6.30pm. Two pleasure boats were there,  and this huge hotel ship was moored against the quay.

The Michelin-starred Poisson D’Or, 200m from the port, was of course not open (it being a Wednesday). Good news for the budget, though.

 Montmerle-sur-Sâone

An enjoyable stop, this, in a town with some serious history. From the tourist office on the Place de l’Hotel de Ville, you get a map detailing a walk to an 11th-century Chapelle des Minimes, and a 20m-high tower that I would have climbed for an even better view over the Sâone valley, had tower door not been locked.

At Pêle Mêle Café, outstanding Lyon folk band Scattered Lands was about to start its second session. They’re hugely talented people, each singing beautifully and playing several different instruments. It all went perfectly with a pichet of a harmless red and a couple of assiettes of excellent charcuterie, cheese, quiche, fresh melon and so on.

Neuville-sur-Sâone

The municipal mooring is free, and it’s right in front of Neuville-sur-Sâone town centre.

It was 12.30pm, and just up the steps, 30 metres from our mooring, the Friday morning market was about to close. Not before I got me a couple of the gorgeous melons that are seasonal right now, a crusty artisanal loaf to have with cream cheese and smoked trout for lunch, and an enormous poulet (€14) – it could have fed a family of ten.

Not necessarily one of the Bresse fowls that this area is famous for; I saw some others particularly labelled as such, and their shape was slightly different, longer. In any event, it totally filled my cast-iron casserole and was delicious cooked with yellow potatoes, ratatouille and some left-over creamy cabbage.

The pretty town centre features pedestrianised streets with bars, restaurants, boulangeries, boucheries, charcuteries and so on.

Then, as night fell, the local kids came down to the wharf to share their wonderful music with the rest of the world. At the stroke of midnight they turned it off, fortunately, and presumably went home.