LA CIOTAT

On Thursday we took the train to Aix en Provence. The area is well known as the inspiration for many Impressionist and cubist artists and so it seemed a terrific opportunity to do some 'walking in their footsteps'. We found, however, that it's basically a tourist town selling it’s history.  Cezanne's studio was a long way out and most of the artifacts were somewhere else being restored. 
A bit disappointing to say the least.
 

Asparagus by the Kilo!

I also think that you can look into just so many dress shops and then it’s time to go.



So, after a week in Marseille we left, having had a great time enjoyed terrific food and experienced totally different cultures.  
 
We had to rest on Sunday because the wind was so strong.  On Monday, we set sail for La Ciotat.  The first leg was great, with the wind behind us but it eventually it died down and we motored into La Ciotat.  What a port.  A company has taken over the old shipyards and is servicing huge luxury yachts.  Many were stored on land and some were even completely wrapped in plastic to preserve them over winter.

A 'wrapped cruiser'

La Ciotat seemed very quiet; just waiting for the summer tourist season.  The old 'Centre Ville' was empty and although many of the shops were shut it still had a quaint feel about it.

The beautiful harbour entrance

One of the 'big' yachts

We took a bus to the main shopping centre and after much hunting, found an Orange shop to sort out recharging our wireless modem. Anything remotely to do with IT is sooo difficult in France. Bureaucracy wins every time.

MARSEILLE

What a great day!

We spent the first part of the morning shifting the depth sonar from the starboard side of the boat to the internal helm.  Now we can see the depth at both the interior and exterior helm and this might help to avoid the occasional grounding.

We then wandered off to the shopping precinct (we started at the Chandlers, of course).  This time we tried La Canebiere.  We went into Gallarie Lafayette, but the empty destockage bins indicated that the sales were over.  Lafayette is a clone of David Jones; even the gear looked the same.  There is a large mall  full of shops alongside, but none of them was special to us.

We went outside, got lost and found the Algerian markets.
Huge slabs of halva and spices and dried herbs in pots filled the shop. The aromas were amazing! 

What a wonderful experience cruising past fruit, vegetable, meat and fish stalls with the most delightful looking produce and with prices that reminded us of Spain last year.  

We found some discount stores with cutlery and then a couple of drapers.  Anne was rapt.

The theatre 'La Criee' (red) in the distance.

We returned to the boat to drop off food and trinkets and then at 7 went to 'La Criee', a nearby live performance theatre.

We watched a dance performance by the 'Ballet National de Marseille', 'Moving Target', that explored concepts of sanity, normality, conformity and gender.

It had some quite spectacular effects. A mirror the size of the stage was lowered to an angle that allowed you to see the floor where  dancers performed.  Their movements made them appear to be jumping into the air, falling and flying.




Huge images of women were projected onto the screen which appeared to be on the floor.  A male dancer then interacted with the reflection as though it was his fantasy.  The whole performance was quite captivating.

It was first performed in 1996 and I reckon has been doing the rounds since then.  It had been at La Criee twice before.  There were about 1000 people in the audience including many 10 year olds on an evening 'school' type excursion. The scenes of partial nudity didn't phase them at all.

As we walked home, admiring the floodlit ancient fortresses through the maze of masts and the old multi story housing abutting each other, we reflected that this day was one of the most stimulating that we had experienced so far.




We fell into bed and woke at 8 the next day; 2 hours after our normal wake up.

CARRO

Off we went across the Golfe de Fos.
We were heading South East and that’s exactly where the wind was blowing.  On top of that, huge cargo boats thundered up and down the channels we were crossing.  Finally, we turned on the cast Iron genny and got to Carro in quick time.

This is a wonderful little fishing port.  It has room for 200 very small boats and, it seems, one visitor’s space.

our dinner

Tuna @ $20E kg

We stayed a day, wandered around the port to buy fish, have a crepe and coffee and returned to Austral.

The locals playing petanque

The town is quaint and doesn't have the 'touristy' feel like so many others along the coast. Shops are small and streets are named after local heroes.

  
Anne sewed and I restored the mast wiring system. I had taken the TV masthead amplifier home and guessed how to repair to it, as it might have have a lightning strike. Once installed, lo and behold, real French TV.  Now we were able to follow the french elections on 15 channels.  I also threaded the new anemometer cable through the headlining ready to instal the unit when we get to Marseille.

With our boat safely moored at the pier we waited to set off the next morning for Marseille.

the 'Austral (on the right)

The hills above Marseille on the horizon

PORT ST LOUIS DE RHONE

Avignon to Port St Louis De Rhone, was our last inland leg, and in hindsight difficult and disappointing.

The weather really dented our spirits and for much of the journey prevented us from totally immersing ourselves in the culture and atmosphere of the the towns we passed through. The trip from Avignon through Arles was hard, with strong currents, waves and head winds and the occasional glimpse of sun peeping through grey clouds in a fairly empty landscape.


The one consolation was making friends and enjoying the company of fellow sailors. Brits,Tim and Georgina, had a memorable dinner with us on 'Austral' on our last night in Port St Louis De Rhone. Hopefully we can continue to keep in touch once we go our separate ways.



Dinner was even more enjoyable with these two  French wines - smooth and very drinkable.




Once through the last lock at the Rhone mouth we moored at the St Louis De Rhone marina and made preparations to put the mast back on the boat. The thought of having sails again was exciting and at the same time stressful as we had no idea of the condition of our mast and whether  it would go back on, problem free.

leaving St Louis De Rhone

We left St Louis De Rhone the next morning and reached 'Navy Service', a massive shipyard of 1000s of yachts on 'the hard', and set about readying the mast. Our mast and rigging had mostly survived being stored for the 11 months, although a few pieces of equipment had been pilfered. Fortunately, the local workshops had parts we could use. Our main sail and genoa were given to the local sailmaker to make some small repairs and were ready to rig after the mast was stepped.

lifting the mast from it's stand

guiding the mast

setting it in place

With amazing skill 3 men picked up our mast and with David's help, guided it onto the mast base. The shrouds and stays were put in place, tightened and we were nearly ready to sail.

We decided to return for the night to the the St Louis De Rhone marina, sleep happy in the thought that all was well, ready to set of the next morning.










At last the 'Austral' was back as it should be...........

AVIGNON

After a very calm night and a scrumptious dinner we set out really early, hoping to avoid the predicted rain showers in the afternoon. How peaceful the marina seemed, the memory of the near disaster made even more poignant.

The boat roared along at 18 kmh (considering the current was running at 10kmh) and mostly the 78 km trip was pretty uneventful. The Locks were a breeze, even though I still feel queazy every time we approach one. The deepest lock in France, Bollene, was a pushover. The boat went down 23 metres in about 7 minutes and it felt amazing.

Ultimately the rain did come and so it was on with the complete wet weather gear, rain full in the face but thankfully, NO wind.

We made it to Avignon in record time to be met by old boating friends Sue and Richard.

Avignon was a lazy stay with a short walk into the city. It was May day and so everything but tourist restaurants were shut.

Still, we made the most of it by catching up with boat maintenance and a few delightful coffees and pastries in small avant guard cafes.

Approaching 'Utopia' a rather chic bistro.

 The river current at the quay was quite challenging but the boat remained rock steady until small speed boats went by. The massive waves created were more threatening than those from large cruisers.

VIVIERS

We had many good memories of this beautiful little town, but somehow the crazy Rhone wind got in the way with spectacular results.
We left Valence early to make it to Viviers by at least midday, but, as plans are never perfect we were confronted with the unexpected.

First of all the locks.

We arrived at one, only to be held up by a huge barge that had priority, then by another that was was carrying gas (this meant we could not tuck in behind it).




As usual David took advantage of the hour to clean the boat and to try to brush off the remaining effects of wintering under a tree.


The locks are amazing. The large automated ones work like clockwork and down you go.


Looking up is awe inspiring with a slimy ladder your only escape route.










Our boat behaves beautifully. We only need to make the slightest adjustments to our ropes to keep her in line.

Once out you feel the full force of the hydro scheme as it lets the rest of the water downstream.


An hour and 2 locks later  we arrived in sight of Viviers. Then the real fun started.





Feeling fairly tired, wet, stressed and brainless, I misread the map to enter the marina. CRUNCH, the poor boat ended up on a rock unable to move with me feeling stupid. After radioing the local Sauvers Pompiers (firemen) we waited for help.

To cut a three hour long story short we waited onshore while dozens of pompiers and gendarmes milled around like M. Hulot and travelled to and from the boat in a Rib. They had no solutions. We returned to the boat to find they had tied it off to a pylon in the river.
David used the winch, tensioned and tried to tilt the boat . Eventually the winds and waves did their work and VOILA we floated free and very thankful.

The night brought 130 kmh gale force winds.

In front of the capitainerie just behind the moorings.

The thought of spending a night like that in those conditions on the top of a rock in a raging river is beyond comprehension. Below is a weather map I found for Sunday afternoon when the wind was reasonably calm.  The red arrows mean in excess of 104 km/h. We are just below the lowest, middle red arrow.

We woke after a very stormy night happy to remain in Viviers another day. We also could not refuse the roast pork tea offered by Chris and Viv in the boat next door.

Our two boats safely moored.

VALENCE

Les Roches is no place to stay: no shops within 5km, no wifi, no mobile phone and in the small village, no people.

We decided to move on to Valence and face the Demon Rhone. This time I stood at the outside helm and rodeoed our way down.  We clung to the edges of the river where depth allowed and braved the heavy stuff when we couldn't.  Anne took the helm for a while then, when I took over, we hit a really rough patch. Spray lashed across the decks and stung me with its ferocity. I was drenched in a few minutes.  Anne sat in the gangway smiling.
Nevertheless we motored on and realised that this was no worse than a day at sea given that it felt a great deal easier to be in control from the outside helm.

Dressed for the antarctic?

70km and 3 locks later, we arrived at Valence

We made good time sometimes touching 18 kmh because of the current. When we arrived at Valence, we immediately met up with Roger whom we had met and travelled with last year. They own a Smelne Vlet, a wonderful, large and modern riverboat but with a style of a Dutch fishing trawler.  We also met up with Michael and Sue Townley whom we first met in Lyon.

Early next morning we headed off for Viviers, and THAT is another story!

LES ROCHES DE CONDRIEU

Ah, the romance of boating down the Rhone
Two days ago, life was bliss, floating in the lake at the confluence, wandering over to the shops and supermarket next door, taking the metro to far off tourist sites and then- we set off down the Rhone.

The wavelets just out of Lyon didn't perturb us at all, but further down, all hell broke loose; winds to 75 kmh, waves over a metre high and less than 3 metres apart.  We were using the internal helm and it was becoming more and more difficult. Lines fell overboard and dragged behind, the solid boom vang lashings started coming loose and anything that wasn't stowed securely just fell on the floor. We fixed everything and battled on as there was nowhere safe to tie up.

We finally arrived at Les Roches de Condrieu shaken and humbled by the enormous force of the weather.  We checked the weather at the capitainerie and it looked like the next day was identical.

Video of the Saone in Lyon

Our first effort - our videos will improve!!

LYON

After another early start we set out for the last stop on the Saone, Lyon. Our ecluse skills are quite professional now (it only took us a year to realise that one rope in the middle of the boat is the right way) and we arrived at the 'Confluence de Lyon' in about 4 hours.

We occasionally used the inside helm when the icy winds were challenging, but for most of the time, sat outside marvelling at the riverside scenery.

It was very easy to imagine living in one of the ancient farmhouses that dotted the river, spending your days fishing, visiting the local boulangerie and patisserie and just generally taking it easy.

We passed so many local anglers trying their luck all along the river. If only we could have taken a photo of the huge brown trout that jumped out in front of us. Maybe that explains why they're out in the freezing weather!


So far we've passed about 4 small boats a day. Things are very quiet, although the huge cruise ships regularly go whizzing past looking very empty.

As we entered the outer suburbs of Lyon the view from the river is spectacular.













Occasionally you pass BIG mansions with acres of manicured gardens and then there are the old run-down structures covered in vines and trees.

Either side of the river are streets and streets of old mansions, residences and govt buildings.

It feels like you are stepping back into the 18th century with the exception of the odd rowers going up and down beside you

Seeing a city from the river is so different than being in a car. It's so quiet and strangely majestic.

At last the blue sky

After passing under a dozen bridges we entered the marina at 'la Confluence fluviale' and settled in with ease. We were surprised to see the whole area was complete - restaurants, patisseries and more importantly, the gigantic confluence shopping mall - 3 stories high with everything from Zara to Maccas. Apparently it only opened recently.

 

The architecture surrounding the marina is avant-garde, stunning and incorporates some fairly egalitarian social policies with over 30% allocated to single parents, first home owners and the poor. Needless to say, the remaining 70% are fairly upmarket in price!

The marina is terrific, everything very modern and secure, with only a few ripples and wobbles when the 'Vaporetto', a 'popeye' shuttle boat, goes past.

Life is very easy here, restaurants 2 minutes away, the main metro/tram 5 minutes and lawns, ducks and children everywhere.

very early Sunday morning

The marina is slowly filling up with boats from Britain and France. We've made friends easily and each night enjoy visiting other boats for drinks or inviting friends to ours for dinner.

We revisited the old quarter for an afternoon. Dashing from one cafe to another to avoid the drizzling rain was annoying although it did have a positive side - more stops for crepes!

This time we shared a hazelnut one.














The French love their desserts.

Every street has a brilliant patisserie and boulangerie although the huge lumps of  meringue had us speechless!

We were lucky to be in Lyon on Sunday - market day!
As usual their were all sorts of clothing, fake jewellery and colourful, cheap scarves. Prices were similar to the Spanish markets from last year, though some food seemed fairly expensive. Meat, in particular, was similar to Australian prices, because it was from highly prized farm-gate sellers. Local boutique cheeses and salami are very tempting and so once again we filled the cupboards.

From this wonderful city it's on to Les Roches de Condrieu, a small town downstream.

Life is good!