Any thoughts we might have had of a lie-in on our pleasantly
rural pontoon were shattered at 6.45 by the arrival of this monster, which
proceeded to tie up with its stern only 10 metres from our bow, the generator
still roaring and belching fumes. I suppose hotel barges have to tie up somewhere to
get their passengers ashore and off on excursions: four buses had arrived by
the time we left.
There was some bird life on the river, but many more
fishermen and jumping fish .
We finally managed to photograph a high-speed TGV train
crossing a bridge we were about to pass under.
We couldn’t quite work out what was going on here, but they
seemed to be trying to lift a sunken barge.
Our grumbling this morning paled into insignificance beside
the trials of Macon. We counted five monsters on this mooring, two rafted up. Macon was
definitely being visited – though actually when we went ashore, we couldn’t see
any of their passengers. Presumably they too had been bused off somewhere.
We admired the town hall, which we missed on our past visit,
and also the St Pierre church – very 19th century.
After lunching on a pontoon in the centre of town, we set
off upriver for the newish marina on the northern edge. It is large and comfortable,
and we had no trouble finding a mooring where we could also top up the fuel
tank, which has been getting rather low.
We then set off to visit the Maison des Vins, which, we were
assured, was not far away – 10 minutes or so. Actually it turned out to be a
good half-hour walk each way. But the old towpath along the river was pleasant and shady.
The establishment itself was very pleasant. We tasted a
number of excellent Macon and Beaujolais wines, and then bought one red and one white that also came in 5 litre boxes.
The walk back to the boat seemed even longer,
lugging all that wine. I’m sure it will be worth it!
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