La Truchère to Chalon-sur-Saône – 37 km

The friendly harbour-master at La Truchère, next to whose (floating) office we were moored, takes bread orders for breakfast. He told me he was born on a working barge, and well remembers the difficulties his mother had trying to find places to buy provisions.

With little shopping available in the village, he also stocks many basics for passing boaters.

We felt we deserved a proper breakfast – croissant and pain chocolat – after expending so many calories on the self-service locks. They were absolutely delicious, and still nice and warm.

Then we were away, past the bridge spanning the small dam at the end of the river that keeps the level up and diverts traffic into the final lock.

We were a little early but didn’t have long to wait: the two lock-keepers arrived punctually at 9 a.m. The lock has quite a fall and would have been difficult on our own.

Then it was back onto the big river, passing through Tournus without stopping this time. It has to be said that this stretch of the Saône, like the one from Macon to Tournus, is otherwise rather featureless.

Such details as the washing hanging out in the sun catch the eye.

The main excitement of the day occurred as we were coming into Chalon. A cursory look in the rear-view mirror unexpectedly revealed a barge charging upriver starting  to overtake us. In front of us was another barge coming fast downstream. We scurried out of the channel to let them do their thing.

Chalon looks good from the river: that may be all we see of it. The afternoon turned extremely hot – too hot for culture.

The port is tucked away in a side channel off the river behind the Saint Laurent island. On the tip of the island they have planted this tribute to the entry of the United States into World War I exactly 100 years ago. 

The port boasts an efficient team of five guys who wait on the terrace and pounce when a boat appears, guiding it to an appropriate berth and helping with mooring lines. Very impressive.

Once we were installed, it was on with the fans and out with, first, a late lunch, then plenty of chilled mineral water. Also, taking inspiration from that house along the river, we did a bit of laundry.

Tomorrow we think we will stop for the night at Seurre, a couple of hours short of our base at Saint-Jean-de-Losne, making our final day short and easy.