Finally, South on the Saone

---

The River Saône links the navigable network of northern France to the mighty Rhône, a southern river and our exit to the Mediterranean.

There are also other waterways linked to the Saône, one of which, the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, supplies a link with eastern Europe and the Rhine Valley.

Ramukanji made an entrance at Heuilly-sur-Saône (the end of the canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne) and we were to travel to the city of Lyon, and the confluence of the Rhône. This was a distance of 254 km and only 8 locks; we aren't used to traveling with so few locks! These are big gauge locks and have to manage commercial traffic, as was the case on the Seine, and also we have the added bonus of 'hire boats' with possibly unskilled crew... many of whom are French and thus don't care what they hit!

However, it is quite nice to be on the river with other crafts, and the hire boats can be quite amusing to watch if you aren't within their sights!

---

The morning of our departure from the canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne heralded another dramatic thunderstorm, so we opted to wait for it to clear before heading off as our progress down the Saone should be much quicker than in the small canal with its many locks. We weren't exactly sure as to where we would stop, but thought we would aim for Auxonne as we had met others who had stopped here and had liked it.

At 10.30 we cast off , eventually managed to hand back our remote control,(there was some confusion with the lock keepers who had asked us to tie up on the opposite side of the lock to where the machine for the remote was) and we entred the lock at Heuilley which was to lower us into the Saone.

Not sure how we did it but we seemed to twist the wrong pole and prevented a boat coming up towards us and thus managed to jump the queue... woops...pardon pardon nous sommes desolee!

The weather had cleared up, the river was wide and flanked with weeping willows and banks reaching down to the water, it was like a scene from 'Wind in the Willows'.

---

There was a little marina at Pontallier-sur-Saone which we thought about stopping at as we could do with filling up with water. However, we poked our nose in and it looked a bit scruffy, not quite up to Ramukanji standards, so we chose to press on to Auxonne.

Again the water levels are quite high, and the river fast flowing so we reached Auxonne at around 2pm.

The waterways guide and our Captains Mate App suggested either mooring before the Pont de France (bridge) or staying at the marina just below the old fortress.

The moorings by the bridge were all taken by quite long barges and motor boats, and as we needed water, we decided on the marina, so we turned around and headed for the marina.

On entering the marina we were advised of where to moor and headed there and moored relatively easily with the 'help' of the Capitain..

(three words- Australian, stereotype,male) :(

---

There were other boats, other people, we weren't used to this...many French, a few Aussies and Kiwis. It seems that it has been popular for a few years for antipodean retirees to spend their winters cruising the European Inland Waterways usually in ex-hire boats of many and varied states of repair.. who knew?

Suddenly it was hot, very hot and very humid, this we were not used to for some time. Had the summer returned now we were heading south finally?

The boat was filled with water and I decided to have the luxury of a shower in the marina facilities as the calorifier has once again failed and Mike is very stressed about getting parts again after the previous hassle of finding somewhere for them to be sent.

One word for the marina facilities -GRIM- especially as it is so humid, they are housed in what looks like an old floating portacabin and I felt sweatier inside the shower cubicle than outside it, and it was full of mosquitoes.

After a rather grumpy afternoon due to humidity we decided to walk into town and grab something to eat.

It was a Thursday , were we taking a risk?.....but this is a fairly sizable town, home to a large military facility and it was before 8pm, so on reflection we decided that our risk of not finding anywhere open was low....

---

Auxonne has military heritage and was where a young lieutenant of the Regiment of the Fere, a Napoleon Bonaparte arrived to study. There is a large statue of him by the church and a museum dedicated to him at the chateau. Other than that, it is a pleasant town, quite pretty to wander around and with a lovely old central church.

However... I think you know what is coming? ......

We could not get anywhere to eat, and it wasn't even 8pm! There was a nice looking restaurant open (and serving and relatively empty) in the courtyard of a nice hotel.

On entering we were totally ignored, but that's not totally unusal, so I approached the lady behind the desk and enquired (in perfect French too) as to the availabilty of a table.. but NON , they were completely full!

I counted, there were eight people in this restaurant, but there was no way she was letting us in!

Off we wandered and had a drink with the winos at the only bar to be open. It was a nice stroll back to the boat and luckily we always have something on board to eat.

---

The next day was boat maintenence in the morning and Sprocket and I had a lovely walk along the river and back to town through fields of large cows and lovely flowers.

Back to Auxonne for lunch- which we had in the restaurant from the previous night and it was very lovely.

I also booked and had a hair cut which was much needed, and we asked some Kiwis where they could recommend for a meal that evening.

It turns out there is a 'guinguette' just on the other side of the bridge, so off we headed , it was Friday evening and quite early....

It was great, a fabulous spot beside the chateau and lots of fairy lights. The staff were great and happy, we had a simple meal and it was lovely:)

Another hot,hot day followed and we decided to travel to St Jean de Losnes as this is a boating centre and there are a few things Mike wants to do to the boat.