Last bit of Le Canal du Midi, then on to Le Canal de Garonne:
Hot and grumpy in Grisolles, electrical wizardry and magnificent munchies in Montech, chatted up in Castelsarassin, journey’s end in Moissac
It’s a long, long way to Grisolles
Tenderly, I asked my husband: “Do you still like boating?” It was a loaded question.
Under the scorching sun, sweating like a beast, he’d just hammered the second mooring pin into what sounded like concrete under the patchy grass. It would have been 35 degrees in the shade in Grisolles – had there been any shade. And my Roy does not like to be hot.
Downhill all the way from Lauragais, caffeine deprivation en route to Ayguesvives, five nights in Toulouse with Digby and Allison… and we reach the end of the 240km-long Canal du Midi!
Mostly just us on these stretches of Canal du Midi – we had it all to ourselves
Marseillette; Cathars and cassoulet in Carcassonne; bam-bam-bam on the way to Bram; two nights in Castelnaudary
It was a long, long day from Homps (say “Omp“) – lock, double lock, double lock, stop for lunch before triple lock, and then the final lock at Marseillette, where we stopped for the night.
Joauarres lock on the way to Marseillette – nice and peaceful in this photo, only because I took it on my morning run before the 9am lock opening time…More often on this stretch of the Canal d Midi, the locks look like this!
From Marseillan to Villeneuve-des-Beziérs, “wild”-moored at Colombiers, braving the low, low bridge in Capestang, Ventenac-en-Minervois, Homps
From Marseillan port, we set off at 8.30am back into L’Étang de Thau and to the start of the 240km Canal du Midi that will take us all the way to Toulouse.
Marseillan is by far the biggest, most glamorous port we’ve visited so far, thronged with French and international tourists and lined with bars and restaurants. Best of all, we met up with new friends and made some even newer ones.
Day 1
This feels like the South of France! And yet we almost gave it a miss, turned around and left straight for the Canal du Midi. I’m so glad we didn’t.
You’ll never get a better view of le pont d’Avignon than from the boat, warned Roy, so I snapped away.
Two points to clarify here: (a) it’s actually called Pont Saint Bénézet, and (b) though the people actually danced sous (under) the bridge, the words of the famous song go, “Sur (on) le pont d’Avignon l’on y danse etc.” (Not that we want to be anal about this, or do we, Roy?)
After a quick round of the Carrefour at Confluence Lyon port, off we headed for our first day on the Rhône – two locks (one with a 9m chute, the other 6m), and a total of five hours. Differently from the Sâone, the Rhône has a specific channel that you (meaning Roy) have to watch for and follow. We had the famous mistral wind behind us, and a little bit of current.
Lyon stands on the site of Lugdunum, the capital of ancient Gaul, established in 43BC
Our only lock from Neuville to Lyon, Couzon, took a good hour, as we and three other leisure boats (including The Way, which moored behind us last night) had to wait for a montant (going upstream) commercial barge.
We tried the two-ropes-to-one-bollard technique, just for practice; and have stuck with that for the rest of these big Rhône locks.
Cruising downstream into Lyon
From there, it’s a picturesque cruise into Lyon, France’s third-biggest city.
Flashback to the 80s
My last trip to Lyon was in the 80s, as part of my first overseas adventure, a six-week Contiki tour of Europe. Here’s a blast from the past, if you’ll excuse my gratuitous arm art. We were all dressed up for a “Bad Taste Party” at the disco.
Flashback to 1982 – or was i 1983? Here we are at Contiki Tours’ chateau in Lyon, all dressed up for the “Bad Taste Party”. That’s one of my Durban friends, Julie (now living in Auckland, NZ), in the pink headband. The others were mostly Aussies, as I recall, so you get the picture.
Port de Plaisance de Lyon Confluence
Apart from being a mouthful to say, the huge, modern Port de Plaisance de Confluence at Lyon is quite something to behold. Smaller boats moor at pontoons near the capitainerie, in the port de plaisance proper; bigger ones like ours go under a 4.5m bridge and moor against the pier.
In the port de plaisance of Lyon Confluence, Karanja is to the left and fellow Piper boat Wanderlust is behind her
There’s a two-metre gap between the water and the pier, so it’s a bit of a leap from our roof. Confluence itself is a big, hyper-modern shopping mall with, wait for it, a Zara. Not just a Zara, but one of the biggest Zaras I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen a lot of Zara shops all over the world. (Yet nothing tempted me; I must be coming down with something.)
After an extended apéro session with hospitable Californians Becky and Dave on board their beautiful Piper boat Wanderlust(where we also met Kiwis Cilla and Aaron Hegerty from Christchurch), Roy and I headed to a nearby brasserie called Midi à Minuit.
Though it was closed for renovations, its menu was being served at the highly unexpected “English-themed” Peaky Blinders Tavern right next door. I had some excellent salmon, Roy had seven-hour-braised lamb shoulder (about €65 for two mains, a bottle of wine and a café gourmand).
An unexpected encounter – Peaky Blinders in Lyon?!
Sunday Lunch in the Old City
From our capitainerie, we’d got the timetable for the very convenient Vaporetto, a water-taxi that shuttles between the Confluence port and three other stops.
The Vaporetto water-taxi shuttles from the port to the old city and a couple of stops
It’s just €2 per trip, and the first stop is perfect for visiting the old city of Lyon, highlights of which include the Cathedral and the old neighbourhoods, Quartier St Jean and Quartier St Georges.
Without even trying, we stumbled on two Sunday morning markets – first a general one with some great-looking fresh produce, other food and household stuff, then a market selling a wide variety of art.
Colourful bowls at one of Lyon’s Sunday marketsProvence-style olives at Lyon’s market – Provence itself is not far now!
Lyon Cathedral one…… and Lyon cathedral two
At random, we chose L’Amphitryon for lunch. Empty except for us at noon, it was packed by 1pm, as were all the other bouchons (typical Lyonnaise brasseries) in the old part of the city.
L’Amphitryon, one of the traditional brasseries, or bouchons, that Lyon is famous forL’Amphitryon does an excellent set lunch, and this is my first course
Delicious if fiddly pied de porc (yes, pig foot) for Roy…
… and for me, pike quenelle with lobster sauce
Everyone, naturally, wants to go to the three-Michelin-starred Paul Bocuse Restaurant. We didn’t have time to even try, but we did attempt to visit the indoor market “Les Halles de Lyon – Paul Bocuse” in Part Dieu shopping centre, recommended to us by David and Becky. It was closed for Sunday afternoon, which was fair enough. So we took a cheap and easy tram back to Confluence. This is a very convenient city to visit by boat!
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.
Boats moored astern at the port de plaisance of Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
