Back to St Jean

Heading Home

We left Lyon while Burgundy was in the middle of “une canicule” (heat wave) or, as we Texans like to call it… summer. The 10 day forecast for Lyon shows highs in the 90’s most days so, like finding a parking spot in Houston, shade became our primary focus and we broke out the little portable AC for the first time this summer. We use it at night to cool our berth and it works well for that but is much too small to cool the whole boat.

We had a little excitement in our first lock; a big barge, a little sailboat and us in a pouring rain.

Trevoux

Our first stop going north was Trevoux, where I took the opportunity to run up to the Chateau Fort de Trevoux. Built in the 14th century (1360) it was abandoned during the religious wars of the 16th century (when the Protestants and the Catholics spent 36 years slaughtering each other),

We stopped for martini night at a nice city mooring in Creche-sur-Saône,

before heading up the short side canal to Pont-de-Vaux . Because of the heat we elected a shady canal mooring rather than at the city dock . I did run into town the next morning.

Tournus

Next stop was Tournus, which is one of our favorite little towns on the Saône. We spent two nights here so we get hit the market for more fresh food. One strange thing is that, in a town of about 5,000 residents, along the main street, over 5 blocks, there are 11 hair salons. Eleven. And I might have missed one.

And in the “Grande Saône”, basically from St-Jean down to Lyon, there are quite a few big ships, commercial barges and hotel ships. It’s always exciting to come around a bend and see one of these big boys coming toward you.

Back in St-Jean-de-Losne

After a few more days of cruising, stopping in Chalon-sur-Saone…

and Verdun-sur-Doubs…

we arrived back in St Jean with a day to get ready for our meeting with the shipyard manager to discuss boat projects for the winter. I’d rather be cruising…