Running with the Big Boys

Barges and Hotels

Screenshot

In the “Grande Saone”, from our home port of St-Jean-de-Losne to Lyon where the Saone joins the Rhone, there is commercial traffic. The four locks in this portion of the Saone (covering 215 km) are big. Really big: 190 meters (620 feet) long by 12 meters (39 feet) wide. They can comfortably fit 25-30 boats the size of Decize.

Barge on the Grande Saone

We will typically see one or two of these guys every day. It gets really exciting when you have to follow one into the lock (yes, we will sometimes follow one of these into a lock – sometimes with more than one pleasure boat).

We also see hotel barges from the Rhone that make it all the way up to St Jean.

Hotel Barge

There is usually no problem being on the river with these bigger boats. They move quite a bit faster than us but you geet used to looking back every so often to make sure one isn’t coming up from behind. This guy passed us as we headed out of Chalon-sur-Saone this morning:

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