SUMMER HEATWAVE

18th August, 2016 (Tony)

After hearing frightening tales of other bargees’ experiences on the Saône when it was in flood earlier in the year we enjoyed immensely our cruise down to Lyon and back to Chalon sur Saône. The river was flowing gently and was back to its normal olive green colour, clean and beautiful. It was hard to imagine how it must have looked when it was 4m higher and a raging torrent. An avenue of trees above the river bank at Macon bear painted marks showing the levels reached in the great floods of 2002 and 1840 when it rose 6 and 8 metres respectively above normal. It in incredible that such a wide and gentle waterway meandering through almost flat countryside could ever rise to these heights. The flooding of the Seine in Paris with its constricted channelled banks is understandable. We by-passed Macon on the way down as there is nowhere to moor near the city centre except for a quay that is frequently used by the numerous (we counted 10 on our journey) cruise boats that ply up and down the Rhone/Saône from Marseilles to Chalon sur Saône. These 180m long behemoths cruise day and night with up to 120 passengers. The smaller hotel boats that we’ve always encountered on various canals around France seem to be struggling this year with only a few passengers — four or six, less than half capacity. Whether this is due to the surge in promotion of the larger river boat cruises or cancellations because of the Nice and Paris terrorist attacks we can’t say. Americans especially seem to be avoiding France at the moment.

On our way back up the Saône we stopped for a weekend in the marina a couple of kilometres north of the town. We biked in to the centre to discover delightful pedestrian arcades and many buildings to admire. Sunday lunch at Poisson d’Or was one of the best meals we have ever had. We hadn’t booked and were scornfully advised by a haughty waitress that the place was full. “What about the outside terrace?” I asked. “Non!” Fortunately the co-owner, an English woman, overheard me and politely let it be known that of course we could have a table out on the terrace so long as we understood that if it rained (unlikely) there was no other shelter available. We dined under a huge shady tree overlooking the river and before we left she came to our table and we had a lovely conversation in which she disclosed how she first came to France thirty five years ago, met her husband and developed their very elegant and popular restaurant.

Our cruise up the Seille was relaxed and pleasant. The river is pretty with tree-lined banks almost the whole way — 39km. Mooring opportunities are few and far between for boats such as ours. Most of the traffic is hire boats so the Capitaines at the ports insist that boats moor stern-to-quay to maximise the number that can stay, something that is not possible for Sable. We managed to moor to trees a couple of nights and relished being solitary in the countryside and shade. Cuisery is famous for its dozens of bookshops, mostly second-hand. Hundreds of book lovers invade this small town every weekend searching for bargains. It featured prominently in The Little Paris Bookshop. Navigation on the Seille ceases at Louhans, an absolutely gorgeous town where there is a mooring place for big boats. There are 157 arches along the main street arcades providing shade and protection to the shopfronts, something quite unique in Europe. Louhans is also the regional centre for Poulet de Bresse. We selected an attractive restaurant specialising in this dish and went for lunch next day, without reservation, to find the place full, absolutely full. We wandered downtown to another with one table to spare and enjoyed a very tasty main of chook. There is definitely something special about Bresse chicken.

Tournus was another unexpected surprise. Home to an ancient abbey it has many attractive old buildings and places of interest for tourists. It’s a town most people would by-pass as the main road, and the river, deviate away from its heart. We spent a weekend in Tournus both going down and coming back. Several walks around town and a good bike ride ensured we covered most of the terrain. We then set sail for Fragnes to relax for several days before continuing to Chagny to collect Myra off the train from Geneva. Sunday is market day in Chagny. The main streets of the town are wall to wall with crowds of people of all ages jostling for access to the busy stalls selling tubs of fresh apricots, sausages, roast chickens, cheese and all manner of fruit and vegetables plus miscellaneous other items. Meanwhile the shops are open too doing a roaring trade, especially the charcuteries and boulangeries, patisseries and chocolatiers. It’s madness, it’s claustrophobic but lots of fun. Our friendly, serenading Dutch cheese ladies are always there and sure enough, burst into song as soon as they saw us.

We headed up to Santenay and while Sally and Myra walked to the village and toured the spectacular cellars under the Chateau I rode a motorbike to the top of Montagne des Trois Croix. It was fine and sunny without a cloud in the sky so the views were sensational but haze enveloped the Alps obscuring the vista I had hoped to get of Mont Blanc glistening in the distance. In the evening we set up the dining table on the grass under the shade of the trees — such ambience, peaceful and serene. Next day we continued to St Leger sur Dhuene for a necessary rendezvous with a technician to install a new motherboard in our boiler. I won’t bother you with the details; suffice to say that getting the part delivered from Holland was fraught with almost the same difficulties as we had with the charger/inverter earlier in the year. The man was prompt and efficient and within half an hour we had the boiler working again. After another delicious meal at one of our favourite restaurants, the Petit Kir, we retraced our journey back to Fragnes, delivering Myra on to a train to Paris from Chagny along the way. We rested for several days at Fragnes where we were caught up by American boatees from Roanne, Jim and Mary. We followed them up the Saône to St Jean de Losnes for their boat, Festina Tarde, to have a new bow thruster installed. We were entertained aboard their boat with a delicious repast of butterflied leg of lamb roasted on the barbecue. Other guests included their neighbours from San Francisco and another couple from Florida whose 100 year-old barge was undergoing serious repairs (a new steel skin to the entire hull) in a local boatyard. Carole’s maiden name was Pritchett so some genealogical research needs to be undertaken.

For more than a month the skies have been virtually cloudless every day with temperatures consistently in the thirties. Consequently we have whiled away many hours reclining in deck chairs on Sable’s upper deck, under the shade of the awning. Half the population seems to be off on holidays and that suits us because we feel we are too. C’est la vie!