Windmills & wine

During the canal building frenzy in Europe in the mid/late 1800's France had 3 main barging centres, Conflans St Honorine just North of Paris. The banks of the river Seine from there to Paris is lined with ex working barges now used as live a boards because of the exorbitant house prices in Paris, some tastefully renovated and others a rusting eyesore.

St Mammes to the South of Paris still has a few old barges working and an odd live a board but not to the same extent as the river Seine.

St John des Losne in the South on the river Saone also has a few old barges but most are kept in good repair.

Sadly these ports are hardly used for freight anymore, with the rise in pleasure boating these ports have found a second life to support them, St John des Losne is a pretty market town with several hire boat companies based there as well as private marina's who also sell boats.
One such is a company called H20, there have been many tales of boat owners 'issues' both selling a boat through them and disgruntled buyers. Be very careful if you wish to do business with them, better still give them a wide berth.
Another 'gentleman' who has a boat sales business on the canal du Midi at Villeneuve de Beziers is called Berend Goosens. Caveat Emptor. Don't get caught.


Wines from this region are generically called Cotes de Nuits, going a little South it becomes the Cote de Buene.
The grapes most suited to this region are Pinot noir, Merlot, Syrah, Grenache and Chardonnay. Because a grape is a natural plant they are affected by nature's weather cycles like all plants and of course individual grape tastes vary. Which is why all of them are blended by the sommeliers to maintain consistency.
Virtually all wines are best drunk young within 4 years and only a few suitable for laying down.
I've tasted some wines that had been laid down for many years and frankly they were horrible but to save the owners pride I simply said it was a rare and interesting experience.
You can have a very good wine around 10 to 15 Euro's and anything above that is not worth the money as it's priced either due to it's small production or fancy packaging.


Many vines can grow up to a hundred yours old and as our tastes change so the vine variety's need to change to reflect this, the fact that more people are drinking wine, once the prerogative of the rich.. France, once the wine growing capital of the world with 350 million hectares has to react to successes of the Australian, South African and Chilean wines and is now giving grants to vintners to rip out old vines and replace them with modern disease resistant types more suited to modern methods.

Many thanks for interesting posts and stunning pictures. You learned me about many places (and some wines) of my country where I have never been yet. I loved the story about Father Christmas (Le Père Noël).

In 3 weeks from now I will be sailing from Aberdeen (North Sea) to Inverness then to Isle of Mull (Atlantic ocean) cutting through the Caledonian Canal & Loch Ness. Have you been there ?

Thanks again, I wish you well and and especially long & fun coming trips ️ .

Pilou

Bon Jour Pilou.
Merci beucoup pour le gentiesse.

There's more to come and I'm glad you enjoy following our adventure.
You could follow a similar route via the Grand Gabarit.

Unfortunately I didn't get up as far as Aberdeen by boat due to work commitments although I'm familiar with the region through my business.
I've only cruised from Belfast over to Bonnie Scotland and then up the West coast via Inverary for the Highland Games, then back through the Crinan canal as far Glasgow, then up round Rothesay, Oban and the island distilleries, round the Old man of Hoy and back to Belfast. Fitting it in with summer holidays and weekends.


You will enjoy the West coast cruising and the Islands, absolutely fabulous cruising ground, go slowly, visit the distilleries and taste the whisky and above all enjoy every moment, the only problem I had was the accent.
Beautiful friendly people and wonderful Scottish hospitality.
I really miss the deep fried cod in batter and chips after a good night in the pub with friends.
Safe cruising Mon Ami.

In St Jean de Losne there has for over 200 years been a military academy, it's still there in fact and young recruits can be seen around the town in uniform, what a joy it is to see the cream of France so neat, polite and well behaved, smartly turned out and a credit to their country.
One of the young volunteer recruits who passed through it's hallowed doors was an 18 year old young Corsican lieutenant who wished to study artillery.
His name ? Napoleon Bonaparte.
There's a museum in St John de Losne and some of his personal belongings are on display there.
He was the first to try and make a European Union for himself as the chief, it collapsed around his ears just the same as the modern European Union is even as you read this beginning it's death throes.
Hitler made the same mistake as Napoleon many years earlier by opening a second front in Russia without the logistics to support it because for every soldier in the front line it takes 10 in the supply line supporting him.
In Napoleons Russian campaign his men were so hungry they ate the supply horses and donkeys speeding up their own demise.
Hitler army, like Napoleons men many years before in Russia were so badly prepared for the conditions that their guns and vehicles froze solid and became useless, many good men lost their lives to the atrocious conditions.


*Presidents/Prime ministers will lay down your life for his country*


Napoleons approach to logistics during his campaigns in Spain and Portugal were that his army lived of the land and commandeered/stole whatever they wanted, that of course turned the local population against them.
The British 'Iron Duke' Lord Wellesley, when facing Napoleons army in Europe first captured seaports in Portugal and from there his supply line provided food, equipment and men. Probably the first demonstration of winning the 'hearts and minds' of the local population. Any men committing offence against the locals were severely dealt with.

Back to St John de Losne,,
Here is a museum dedicated to mariners, it's open from May until September and well worth your time if your passing. The reason for St John de Losne's importance for the bargee's is because of it's strategic location at the junction of the river Saone, Bourgogne and Rhone-Rhine canals. In surface area it's not a large town but that belies it's significance.
There's an Inland waterways festival held here on the 3rd Sunday in June, or, the 1st Sunday in July, no it's not poor research on my part, apparently it's decided locally by the organisers according to water levels and weather so if you wish to visit check with the tourist office first.


Now look closely if you will at the map below.
At the top of the map are located the Belgian port of Antwerp and Hollands Rotterdam, if you've been following our journey you will know the importance of these ports to container traffic and the barges that service those ports.
Now look at the bottom of the map below Avignon to the Rhone delta, you see the small blue line indicating a canal just below Montpellier.
There lies France's Mediterranean port of Sete.
If you were a commercial container vessel operator/Captain coming through the Suez canal wouldn't it make sense to be able to discharge your cargo at Sete and send it on by barge direct to the factories around Europe, thereby savings days at sea, fuel and time and the long haul through the straights of Gibraltar, up the Portuguese coast, around France and up the English channel To Belgium or Holland.


Somebody wake up and smell the coffee !


All because there's a small bit of canal that needs upgrading from Nancy to Luxembourg piercing right into the very heart of Germany's industrial heartland.
If that upgrade were to include hydro electric schemes what could be better for France the country and revitalize it's barge industry ?

Irish Rambler said:

Bon Jour Pilou.
Merci beucoup pour le gentiesse.

There's more to come and I'm glad you enjoy following our adventure.
You could follow a similar route via the Grand Gabarit.

Unfortunately I didn't get up as far as Aberdeen by boat due to work commitments although I'm familiar with the region through my business.
I've only cruised from Belfast over to Bonnie Scotland and then up the West coast via Inverary for the Highland Games, then back through the Crinan canal as far Glasgow, then up round Rothesay, Oban and the island distilleries, round the Old man of Hoy and back to Belfast. Fitting it in with summer holidays and weekends.


You will enjoy the West coast cruising and the Islands, absolutely fabulous cruising ground, go slowly, visit the distilleries and taste the whisky and above all enjoy every moment, the only problem I had was the accent.
Beautiful friendly people and wonderful Scottish hospitality.
I really miss the deep fried cod in batter and chips after a good night in the pub with friends.
Safe cruising Mon Ami.

Click to expand...

Bonjour mon Ami et merci beaucoup for your great wishes,

I trust I will enjoy my coming sailing in Scotland, I am looking forward to discover this part of the world, meet people, visit the distilleries and taste the deep fried cod as well.

Please keep going on making us dream with your beautiful cruises.

Bon voyage !

Pilou

Thank you for a great trip through Europe.


Thought is to go to the Central European channels, over a period of years to get to. Have you ever been to the cruicing in the Baltic Sea? If ever you are looking for variety in a healthy income and explore the unique archipelago sea area in the North of the Baltic Sea. Archipelago is Sweden (Stockholm) and Finland (Turku and Ahvenanmaa) areas. "


Your image and the description is really cool, thanks to you and bon voyages!


Litles trip argipelago sea...!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z75SKWeRuUI


And info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago_Sea

North Baltic sea said:

Thank you for a great trip through Europe.


Thought is to go to the Central European channels, over a period of years to get to. Have you ever been to the cruicing in the Baltic Sea? If ever you are looking for variety in a healthy income and explore the unique archipelago sea area in the North of the Baltic Sea. Archipelago is Sweden (Stockholm) and Finland (Turku and Ahvenanmaa) areas. "


Your image and the description is really cool, thanks to you and bon voyages!


Litles trip argipelago sea...!

And info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago_Sea

Click to expand...

Great video and sceneries, thanks for sharing.

Great video's.
Did you know that the Gota canal in Sweden was designed by Thomas Telford the famous British civil engineer who worked as an apprentice in the Portsmouth dockyard ?
HMS Victory is moored there and if you have time to look at our voyage of 2015 'Ireland to the Mediterranean Part 1' you will see a photo of a plaque on the wall dedicated to him..

I did business in Sweden for many years and the people are really wonderful to work, and play with, although by our standards the cost of living is very high.
I've visited some of the lakes with friends and while Sweden is very beautiful through all it's seasons the summer weather/boating season is very short. I can still remember working in 25 degs Celsius.
However you have every right to be proud of your country.

One of the problems in life is that by the time you've managed to earn enough money to follow your dreams, the older you get the more dreams you have.


TS, Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)aka Aircraftsman Shaw said and I quote ' Beware of men who dream with their eyes open for their dreams come true' end quote.

Since the upper reaches of the Rhine valley on our journey South to the Med it's been evident that Wine plays a significant part along our journey.
Both in the consumption in the Northern regions, to the production in warmer climes.
Harvesting, called (Le Vidange) has traditionally begun in France on the 15th of September but as the climate, geography and early, medium and late grape varieties vary it's not set in stone and is still in progress in early October for the later varieties of grape.
Villages and towns put up signs to alert you to 'grape juice on the road' and frenzied activity by the vintners as the farmers little tractors carry trailer loads of grapes to various co-ops.
99% of grapes are now harvested by machine, this of course demands the vines are well anchored and in arrow straight rows for ease of operation, the vines themselves are pruned to be receptive to the machine's method of harvesting the grapes.
The machine straddles a row of vines, as it drives along the row a large vertical brush on either side (a bit like a car wash) brush the grape bunches out from the vine stalk and a vertical cutting bar cuts and lifts the bunches and deposits them in a hopper.
Any stalks that are too low or too close to the vine trunk would be missed by the harvester and are cut off during pruning.
Many grape growers have no facilities to process the grapes and transport them to a local co-op and are paid by weight.
Others process the grapes and when their storage tanks are full of wine 2 special articulated trucks arrive with their own built in laboratory and bottling plant, often you see on a wine label 'Bottled on premises' or 'Bottled on Domain'
Each vineyard is called a 'Domain' and sports it own label. Co-ops usually sell wine from the region with a generic label.
The grapes bear little resemblance to the edible varieties you buy in the supermarket, as you can see the grapes themselves are much smaller individually and although juicy have very little flesh inside. The outside skin is tougher too and the seed inside is used to make very high quality oil for human consumption, salads, cooking etc.
The skin and grape stalks are taken away to a disposal site where they are left to decompose, they can't be used as fertilizer in case of passing any latent diseases.

Photo's.
1, Sample grape varieties showing size and colour.

2, New Holland/Braud grape harvester on it's way between vineyards.

Because vintners now have a new harvest arriving in their warehouses it means they need the space and must clear out any unsold pallets of bottles of last years wine. Supermarket buyers are not slow and offer 'we'll take the job lot' for a keen price ! even as you read this supermarkets in France are having 'Wine Fairs' and very good quality wines are sold off at bargain prices and our bilges are once more full of delicious wine.
The majority of wines are best drunk young, between 2 and 4 years, irrespective of what wine snobs will tell you.
ps. Don't panic, vines can live for up to a hundred years or more so we won't run out ! !

All fascinating IR.
F.Y.I. our Nimbus leaves N. Ireland tomorrow and all is proceeding smoothly due, in no small part to your contacts in the region. She leaves Southampton RORO on the 14th October on the "Hoegh Trigger" autoliner (the worlds largest auto-transporter - an amazing vessel) .
We expect her here 4th December. Exciting times.
Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next episode.
Cheers, G

Continuing South on the river Saone leaving St John de Losne behind we passed the junction with the canal du Centre before entering the town of Chalon ur Saone.
This is a great place for a little R&R and can trace it's roots back to 250 BC and was one of Julius Caesar's supply stores for his campaign to Gaul.
If you're a classical art lover, on display here in the museum are paintings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
The town is proud of it's ancient building and has done much to preserve the old town centre.
Nicephore Niepce, a native of Chalon is credited with being the father of photography in France and of course there is a museum if that's among your interests.
It also has a nice piece of Tromp L'oiel (meaning, to deceive the eye) art of which there are photo's attached.
A company called Schneider set up a steel works here and it provided the industrial impetus for the town right up until 1984, benefitting from the opening of the canals in the 1800's for transportation of raw materials and finished goods. The industrial ethic is still strong with many smaller companies making Chalon their base in the industrial suburbs.


During WW2 Chalon was the dividing line between Northern occupied France and the Southern part which was called Vichy France. Basically the Germans controlled the North and a French puppet government controlled the South. The stone guardhouses and bridge were a control point/border between the two. Many French from the North passed into the South to make their way to neutral Spain to escape the occupation.
Many French were taken by the Germans for labour camps in the construction of the Atlantic wall defences by the Todt organisation. The Gestapo were credited with shipping French resistance fighters to the concentration camps but in fact more Frenchmen were 'denounced' to the French Vichy police by business rivals, jealous lovers or cuckolded husbands who then sent them to the concentration camps. 'Denouncing' is still a filthy habit that some French still indulge in today only now it's usually for tax irregularities and the 'denouncer' gets 10% 'reward' for his backstabbing deed.
Unfortunately in truth not all of modern life can be seen through rose tinted glasses.

For the modern day cruisers there's a very nice sheltered marina tucked away behind an island and it's right next to a major shopping centre so hang onto your credit card if your better half decides to invest in some serious retail therapy.


Photo's.
1, Redundant shunting engine from the steelworks.


2, 3,000 tonne Pusher barge, the 'pusher' barge idea was adopted from America.


3, German guard post from WW2.


4, This bridge marked the dividing line between German occupied France and the French puppet government Vichy France.


5, Example of Trompe L'oiel art.


6, Hmm you think the nude lady in the top window is real ? and the gent below ? Trompe L'oiel again.


7,8,9 Streets and market square in Chalon sur Saone.


10, Flower display dedicated to Niepce, the father of French photography.

So we leave the area where the Chardonnay suits the fertile soil where Pommard and Rully wines are grown and gently drift along the river Saone to Macon, known as the Maconnais region, Poully Fuisse, Saint, Amour are just but two of it's famous wines and into the Morgon, Beaujolais wine growing region.
Macon sits snugly on the West bank of the Saone and is famous for it's 'National Wine Fair which is held in May, if your a wine lover you must simply not miss the event where your thirst for knowledge and body will be quenched.
In Macon town there is a house on the corner of the 'Place aux Herbes' curiously made entirely of wooden panels, if your a history lover then there's the usual museum of artefacts from prehistoric times through the turbulent years of conflicts between Counts and Kings.

When the river Saone was adapted to European Dimensions for barge traffic the old St Laurent bridge in the town wasn't suitable for the larger barges to pass and the townsfolk of Macon went ballistic at the thought of it being knocked down, and, being French took to the streets.
The government caved in and a new large dimension canal by pass around the town was built.
There is a barge quay just below the bridge in the centre of town but this not the place for a pleasure cruiser as the towns 'unemployed' seem to find it a favourite spot to debate their lot in life over a drink and cigarette.

Photo,
The river Saone with vineyard on the hillside, the trees act as a windbreak.
The signs on top of the starboard navigation marker are as you know, sound your horn emerging traffic from the right.

Wonderful posts and pictures, a really professional reporting for which I would like to thank you most sincerely.

About Macon area, if you would like to visit a very nice winery and meet amazing people, I should like to recommend you to visit Le Chateau de Lavernette, which belongs to the De Boissieu family.

Château de Lavernette, La Vernette, 71570 Leynes. (between Beaujolais and Mâconnais).
http://www.lavernette.com/?lang=en

The De Boissieu family is very close to my family, I often had Emma De Boissieu as a guest at my home. They are family members of general Charles De Gaulle.

Alain de Boissieu (5 July 1914, in Chartres – 5 April 2006, in Clamart) was a French general, conferred Free French, famous "Compagnon de la Libération" (WWII), Army chief of staff (1971–1975) and son-in-law of general Charles de Gaulle.

The grapes are hand picked at optimum maturity, carefully sorting on the plot, transported in trays. The hand-picked grapes are subject of a strict selection to respect the traditions. They combine old cultivation methods and cutting-edge winemaking.

Each year an important part of the cuvée is reserved for "Le Palais de l'Elysée" in Paris which is housing the Presidency of the Republic of France.

If you are interested in visiting the winery and meeting the De Boissieu family, let me know here by Personal Message, I will be happy to arrange you (of course fully free) a VIP tour of the winery and to introduce you to the De Boissieu family.

Kerrie De Boissieu (Xavier De Boissieu's wife) is American citizen therefore there would be no language problem for you.

Just for the footnotes of history, the fact that an American citizen, who was born and grew up in the US (Lenox, MA), now belongs to general Charles de Gaulle's family is a great symbol of the friendly ties between our two countries...

Bon voyage dans mon pays !

Attached photo is Kerrie De Boissieu. An article about her was published in the women's magazine "ELLE".

Thank you for your kind words Oliver.
I would love to tour the winery and I do know of the family and it's connections.
Unfortunately our posts are reliant on getting a Wi-Fi signal and we've passed Macon but I will keep it in mind for a future visit by car as we tour France to gather information for the TF.

In France, everything in France has to go to, be approved by, authorised by, Paris.
Parisian's are perceived by the rest of the French people as arrogant and their arrogance is reflected in their driving skills, bumps and dents are but mere battle scars.
Lyon however, as France's second city has a much nicer climate, it's a vibrant city, it's people more friendly and courteous to visitors.
For the motor cruiser passing through care must be taken in times of high water because of the speed of the current through the city and because you are busy gawking and taking photo's a keen eye must be kept for trip boats and hotel barges
Lyon was once a very busy commercial port but as I mentioned in an earlier post, the disastrous 'missing link', a short section in the North East of France to the 'European large gauge' canal right into Germany's industrial heartland has effectively strangled the port and now part of the port has been relinquished for redevelopment.

The upgrading of the France/German Large gauge waterway was blocked by the 'green' movement on the grounds it would 'disturb the wildlife habitat'.
When I was Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association, Lough Erne branch we, that is the whole of the IWA, campaigned for the joining of the Lough Erne system in Northern Ireland to be joined to the river Shannon system in the South by re-opening of a derelict canal, The Balllinamore-Ballyconnel canal, since renamed the Erne-Shannon link.
It's reopening was also the target of the 'green' movement and unnecessary great expense caused by well meaning but misguided people, thinking as a human instead of thinking like a wild bird/animal.
Wildlife looks for food, shelter and procreation in that order and far from disturbing the wildlife they positively thrived on it, work was done on one bank at a time in short sections at separate locations. Within a day the wildlife discovered that the machines were no threat to their safety, far from it, each time bucket a came out of the water they were gorging themselves on this rich unearthed food supply and they were scrabbling over the spoil for more and actually followed the machines each day for a ready food supply before returning at night to their new habitat.
As soon as one section was completed it was replanted and the wildlife moved into their new home immediately, so you see my friends with sympathetic management all the 'greens' objections were totally foundless.


Photo's.
1, Hotel barge in the centre of Lyon.


2, The Paralympics Gold medal winner for rowing came from a boat club in Lyon and he was paraded up and down the river, this was built to receive him back home to his nearby club after his victory. Congratulations and Well Done.


3, Everywhere there seems to be a copy of Gustave Eiffel's tower.


4, Beautiful example of the Mason's work.


5, There are no atheists in a storm, or in a foxhole, bargees are good Christians too.


6, Hmm ! what was the architect smoking when he came up with this idea ?


7, There must be a lot of illegal substance for sale around here.


8, What do you think of it ?


8, Or this one ?

Hi again Irish Rambler!


Thank you again for new pictures and reports. Can you tell me a little bit of travel costs for overnight stays and boating. Can you get fresh water from several places, can it be drink or do you enjoy a bottle of water? How to waste tankkin draining? How long trip your drive in general.


Whether it is your intention to live on a boat in the winter?


Have a good journey to you...

Hello North Baltic Sea.
I'm happy to give you any help I can with your questions.
By travel costs I exclude food & drink because you can either live frugally or extravagantly. We mostly shop in Lidl or Aldi and look for offers to restock our fridge and separate freezer, Where possible we shop in local markets for the best deal on fruit and vegetables and support local traders.(it's cheaper too).
We eat out generally once a week for a treat.
Fuel depends on which motor is in your vessel and what time of year/route you choose, you can only use white (road)diesel, this is 30% more expensive from a canalside pump so where possible we fill with cans from nearby filling stations at every opportunity.
Water is perfectly fine for drinking and readily available, the only place with bad water was in the marina in Valence.
Marina charges vary from 10 Euro per night to 23 Euro per night including electricity and water.
Black water and toilet 'pump out' stations are rare so have an alternative system or bypass it.
Bankside moorings in quiet canals are free.
Cost of permits was 80 Euro to cruise the Belgian canals for 3 months, France cost us 250 for a whole year cruising, Holland is free.
I think we spent approx. 2,500 Euro on fuel over 6 months cruising and passed through 378 locks.
Our journey took 6 months because we spend time to enjoy each place we stay, it took quite a bit of time to do research as accurately as possible for TF, the idea of the blog is to encourage and show others by photo's the virtues of the European canals and not be afraid to undertake something similar. There will be a book on Amazon Kindle in November called 'Windmill and Wine' to hopefully help recoup some of the outlay.


We live full time on-board except for trips home to Ireland to see family and friends and we love it. When not cruising we moor in Narbonne on the canal du Robine.
If anyone needs a cruiser to do a similar journey we have a Birchwood 10 metre for sale in TF classifieds, it's wrongly priced and should read 44,950 Euro's, with the currency fluctuations at the moment someone could grab a bargain.
I hope information is helpful.

Our final shots as we wave our goodbye to Lyon.

Photo's.
1, Administrative building, beaurocrats here work in style.


2, Under the bridges.


3, Another weird office building.


4, Everything in France points to Paris.


5 & 6, Publicity for Lyon.


7, Red & green Bifurcation markers at the junction of the 2 rivers.


Looking Northwards. The river Saone is on the left of the photo, the river Rhone on the right. From here in a Southerly direction it's called the river Rhone.

The wines of this region are called the Coteux du Lyonnais.
Just below Lyon are two rivers to cruise if you want to go into the countryside for some peace and quiet and to chill out.
The river Seille is 39 kilometres long with 3 hand operated locks and takes you to the quaint medieval town of Louhans, famous for the best example of glazed tiled roofs in France.
Not to be missed is the Monday morning farmers poultry market, beware if you buy a chicken here, it will still have the feathers on !
Go on either the 1st or 3rd Monday of the month for a real treat, it's a full blown farmers market and you can buy everything from parts for your tractor, a pheasant, a grandfather clock, a Llama and everything in between, there's even a double glazing salesman !
A MUST to visit, if only to take a step back in time to an earlier more relaxed era.
The river Doubs is only 5.5 kilometres long and so obstructed with dead trees it's not advisable to attempt it unless you feel like Jungle Jim and have a chainsaw on board. Actually I carry one for a BBQ au naturel.

As we head down the Rhone valley, home of the Cote du Rhone wines the vineyards are planted on steep slopes and of course must be harvested by hand, Some of the vineyards along the valley date from Roman times, Croze Le Hermitage being among the most famous from that era.
We stopped at the marina just below Valence and here we experienced the only bad tasting drinking water of the whole journey so we drained the water from our tanks and sterilised them with 3 tablespoons of Sodium Bi Carbonate dissolved in boiling water and then added the mixture to the tank. We bought bottled water from a nearby supermarket for the first time to use for tea, coffee etc. and used the on board supply for washing only.
When we brought this problem to the marina managements attention in a gentle polite manner and offered him a drink of it he assured us it was the first time he was aware of it and he would 'look into it', he declined to drink the water.
Valence is taken from the Spanish language meaning 'Vigorous City'.
and we left the next morning in a similar manner.

Irish Rambler said:

Parisian's are perceived by the rest of the French people as arrogant and their arrogance is reflected in their driving skills, bumps and dents are but mere battle scars.

Click to expand...

IR, withdraw this.

It is such a minor issue, but I have frequent irritation of a memory caused by a Parisian waiter questioning our choice of a white wine rather than red when wine-dictatorship called for red to match the meat. We insisted on the white, and enjoyed the meal, regardless.

Pilou,
You like pictures along w many on this thread. Mark's seen it all .. he was there on one of my threads where I posted 144 pics taken on a trip mostly in BC Canada. It's kind of a log book w pictures.
IR has created a wonderful thread here. I love this area and would love to go there. Now more so because of these great pics.
To get to the thread go to page 8 on Voyagers and other boaters on the go. You can pick it up quickly by looking at the # of replies ... 208. My username then was Manyboats.

Pilou.
I apologize unreservedly if my remark causes any offence to anyone, it is never my intention.
When doing research for TF I reflect as truly as possible not only the geographical surroundings but also local peoples opinions, expressions and observations if it has any relevance to the thread.

As we're all aware the rivers we use today have been used since time immemorial as transport routes of men and material and the Rhone valley played a key role in world affairs as far back as prehistoric times, later the Roman empire used it BC.
My first introduction to the river Rhone began when I began researching the Knights Templars.
I lived in a small village called Templepatrick in Northern Ireland and was curious about the origin of it's name, there was (and still is) a well there that spills over and forms a little stream of clean pure water, legend has it that St Patrick would stop to rest and water his horse at the well, the Knights Templar en route to the religious wars in the Holy land also stopped to rest and water their horses, so the name was formed after the Knights Templar and St Patrick to become Templepatrick.

Legend, Myth or Mystery ? that's what's recorded

Following on from that I researched the route the Knights Templar took to the Holy land and vowed one day to trace maybe even just a small part of it the route for myself, so I come to be cruising down the route of the river Rhone today.(more on that later)

Before it was tamed by canalisation after WW2 the bargees used to build either a rafts or a boat in the North, load them with cargo and sail it down to deliver the cargo, once that was done they broke up the boat and sold the wood before walking back North to begin the process all over again.

It was a massive engineering project to tame the river Rhone with locks, it took between 1948 and 1984 to complete and incorporated hydro electric plants which produce 16 million KW of electricity, flood defences, new roads and bridges. It was then found to have changed the water table and works were incorporated to re-establish it to normal levels as well as providing irrigation to promote agriculture in the surrounding countryside. As part of the engineering works the worlds deepest lock (at that time) was built at Bollene.

Photo's.
1, Some quirky housing on the outskirts of Lyon.

2, A refurbished Hydro electric Turbine unit awaiting installation.

3, Cote du Rhone wine in the making.

4, Note the beginnings of the wild Cypress trees, first introduced by the Romans. The wild countryside around is known as the garrique.

5, Knights Templar built many castles along this route for protection and places of rest.
The first Masonic order was created in London in 1717, it's been suggested that the Knights Templar had some involvement in it's roots but like any supposedly 'secret' society there are truths and half truths and misinformation, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you.

European rivers and country are beautiful in summer, I saw some of it cycle touring in Austria, Germany,Hungary, sometimes in a group and sometimes solo. Even if I did get lost occasionally. And car touring too.
Tempted to do a river cruise,maybe Amsterdam to Budapest. Tough not having your own boat, but I can tolerate a little luxury for a while. I`d like to get back to see Melk, and its great Abbey, again.
Keep the pics coming, and be nice to those met along the way.

Hello Bruce,
Thank you for your kind comments.
It's even better in reality than I can ever convey on TF blog.
A lot of antipodeans from NZ and Oz buy a boat and simply swap seasons
(I've a 10 metre Birchwood for sale in TF classifieds). You could 'do' the canal du Midi up to Bordeaux and back over one summer, then up the Rhone in the Autumn to leave the boat at Pont Vaux, go home for the summer down under and back in spring and start over.
That way you miss the strong spring current up the Rhone (from the snow melt in the Alps). When you've seen all you wish then simply sell the boat and recover your outlay.

I'm 50% Parisian, spending half my time in Paris, then only 50% upset, not a big deal.
In Paris now, everything is just fine.

Mes Ami, I still wouldn't like to knowingly cause even 50% of upset anyone, desolee.
I'm just here for a happy life not a long and grumpy one.

So, all is well, then. Nice one IR. Loving your pics by the way. But it behoves us all to resist generalisations about people and places, does it not?

Your pharmacy looks very nice Pilou. We are all sitting back now waiting to see your photos from when you go through the Caledonian and Lock Ness, etc. Which I think is happening very soon..? Very envious, we are...