2015 Sept-Oct The Saone Auxonne /St Jean de Losne to Lyon

Relaunch at St Jean de Losne

On 29th September, Jonge Jacob was relaunched after her refit. After eight days of waiting for work to finish, with Linda and David on board, and a full tank of fuel  (plus 30 litres in cans) we locked out of the Canal de Bourgogne  into the Saone once more to continue our journey.
We are under time pressure as we will need to return to Port-Vendres to look after the gite the following weekend. We hope we can make it to Lyon by then.

Leaving St Jean de Losne

There is little traffic on the river, a light current and only a few commercial barges and hotel boats. We now have a gearbox that works reliably (which makes locks less stressful) and are happy to be under way in the sunshine.  By 16h00 we have passed through the lock at Seurre and we push on southwards.

The pontoon at Gergy

 By 19h30 in the gathering gloom we find a safe pontoon at Gergy and moor up. With 41km covered since our lunchtime launch, we set  off to enjoy a beer.
 6 hrs 10 mins under way. 40.9km


The following day we get under way early at 07h30 and by 09h30 we have passed through the town of Chalon sur Saone. The river is wide, with only a small current flowing and the sun continues to shine.
After passing through the Ecluse de Dorme we arrive in Tournus at 13h15 and tie up at the town quay.      

The abbey at Tournus

Tied up in Macon with the lights of the town behind

We spend an hour exploring the ancient town centre, in particular the11th century romanesque abbey of St Philibert, with its cloisters and ancient mozaics. The town quay is very accessible and it would be a pity to pass by without stopping.
After a picnic lunch and a beer we get under way once more.




It is nearly 4 hours from Tournus to Macon, and as we approach we see that the river has been set out  for a major rowing regatta. The course is 2 km long.We cannot find  a mooring on the Macon side of the river, as work is under way on the quays, and so we seek out a small 30m pontoon on the other side, next to the St Laurent bridge. There is one 15m peniche there already, but there is just room for us ahead of him as night falls.This proves a good mooring because of the excellent views of the town, and also the Tete du Lard restaurant just next to the pontoon.
78km in the day.   9h30 mins

The bridge at Trevoux

 There are still nearly 80km to cover before Lyon where we hope to leave the boat for a couple of days.
We leave at 07h45 in calm conditions and with beautiful views. There are rather more hotel boats in evidence as we work our way south, but very few pleasure craft. We are comfortably making 9km/h with maybe 1 km/h of current under us.
By lunchtime we are passing through the picturesque town of Trevoux, then at 15h00 the Couzon lock, 20km from Lyon

Lyon comes into view

As we approach Lyon we study the guide carefully- there are a dozen bridges and constant bends in the river. The guide suggests there are several quays on which to moor, but as we pass them they are either full, or reserved for hotel boats, and as evening approaches we risk joining the Rhone without finding a mooring. I had downloaded a blog from the internet which mentioned a small marina at Confluence, just before the river junction. I ring up to enquire. The bad news: the marina is closed as from 1 October which is today. The good news: there is nobody there to take our money. We will give it a try.

Moored at the Confluence shopping centre.

The whole area of Confluence has recently undergone urban regeneration. The Marina was full, but there was access into an inner basin which is reserved for commercial tourist boats in season. So it was that Jonge Jacob, herself a hundred years ago a retail outlet for pots and pans in the Dutch waterways, was moored up for three days next to a brand new massive retail park, with 24hour security guards patrolling to keep her safe. Plus it was free, and an easy bus ride to the station to return to Port-Vendres! We go ashore for a beer and watch the international rugby match in a bar with an Australian skipper from a nearby barge.      78km run in 10 hours