Lyon to Les Roche de Condrieu – 43 km

The Lyon fireworks were a non-event for us: we could hear them well enough, but we couldn’t see them at all. Never mind, one display is probably quite sufficient, and we were consoled by a rock concert in a nearby park - fortunately not too noisy. 

As it happens, they have built an enormous shopping mall beside the port at Lyon, so this morning we had a good shop at the Carrefour supermarket inside, before getting away about 10.

Lyon boasts many dramatic modern buildings, but this green-eyed monster was among the weirdest we passed, heading down river.

The new Museum of the Confluence is remarkable too, set on the spit of land where the Sâone and Rhone merge. Not sure what’s inside. We may explore on our way back north next month.

It was only 20 minutes or so to the first lock, the Pierre-Benite, but then there was quite a wait for a big barge coming up. Finally we went in and hitched onto a floating bollard.

The lock is about 12 metres deep, but the passage is very easy. There were a couple of students at the top asking us where we were from etc., for some kind of survey. They also gave us a useful booklet, which informed us that the Rhone has 14 of these large locks as well as 13 dams and hydroelectric plants. The river supplies about 16% of the country’s electricity.

After a while we approached Vienne, our target for lunch. The motorway runs alongside the river at this point, and we couldn’t help comparing the nose-to-tail traffic on the road …

… with the river. At times the cars seemed to be going almost the same speed as us.

After lunch (no photos), we walked across the footbridge into Vienne, a very attractive little place with ancient Roman origins.

There is a well-preserved (or restored) Roman theatre, that we saw before, but failed to find this time. However, we did find this temple to Augustus and Livia, which we missed last time. Was it Augustus who was heard to murmur on his deathbed: “I think I’m becoming a God”? [NO - it was Vespasian]

Close by there was a bronze plaque commemorating Thomas Jefferson and his friendship with France. Perhaps a rather topical subject in this time of Trump-Macron handshakes.

We pressed on towards our overnight stop at Les Roches Condrieu, passing through one more lock. This hotel boat emerged just as we were arriving, so there was no delay and we went through on our own.

Tomorrow it would be good to get to Valence, but it is a long way, and we may stop at Tournon. But the river is running quite fast, so we make good speed. Much depends on traffic at the locks.