Lyon - Montmerle-sur- Saone 19 May

08 am start together with Manfred and company to test the strength of the current. The Saone is like a little stream today so all well.

A light rain as we leave Lyon. Last photo of the Bascillica.

Very beautiful along the Saone which calm and flowing relatively slowly.

According to Guide Fluvial this pontoon leads to the restaurant of the world famous cook, Paul Bucose. Never heard of him and you have to book at least a week in advance, so we will give it a miss.

After this it started raining just before the one and only lock of the day. There was no place to wait for the lock to,open so we hung onto a hook on an old wall. When the lock open an enormous barge, Danube, came out, revved his engines, then had to reserve in order to take in the curve in the river. This meant an enormous turbulence for us and it felt like he could have reversed into us.

But after rain comes shine and suddenly the sun appeared showing us the wonderful scenery.

And some beautiful houses.

Passed under this bridge with some blue figures on adorning it.

Turns out to be statues of two women! And then it rained again.

We had two moorings in mind, Montmerle-sur-Saone or Belleville. We passed Montmerle, thought it looked good, but wanted to see Bellville, where we were told that the pontoons were closed. Just as well, it did not look very nice. So we turned back 2 km to Montmerle. Going downstream, whoosh, what a difference.

Sunset at our mooring in Montmerle-sur-Saone.

View from Lellebelle 

And just such a typical photo of trees in France, taken from our mooring. We are staying at the municipal moorings, administered by the personnel from the camp site, about 500 m along the river. The person in charge of the campsite is also the local policeman. This a a small village with beautiful homes spread along the river. 

We passed a town, Villefranche sur Saone, on the way. There was no place to moor, but because of the good reviews in the Fluvial Guide we decided we would try to find some bikes or a bus to take us there.

No bikes available at the camping site, so we have to take the bus. We will soon be experts on bus travel in foreign towns.

Villefranche was a bit unexpected. It is a large town, very busy and lots of traffic. A visit to the local tourist office gave us this information, Villefranche has two main attractions. It is the centre of the Beaujolais region, and it has a series of well preserved 17th and 18th century houses. 

Ask us anything about Beaujolais wines and we will tell you. Information from the tourist office in Villefranche.

The inner yard of the Italian's House. 

In rue du Faucon the house with Corbel Brackets.

The Wood Gallery.

We took two busses to get back to our little town, Montmerle-sur-Saone ( these long names!). The first bus full of school kids going home, the second bus which took us across the river to a more well to do part of the region. Could not help reflecting on intergration and how it works or should work. Very topical in Sweden at the moment.

So goodnight Lellebelle, here's hoping no barges will pass tonight. The barges make such a swell it feels like the boat is being lifted onto the pontoon.