The sun wakes us early on the boat, and with a long day in
prospect we were eager to get going. A bit of a moment when attaching the hose
to the water point, just beside a camper van on the bank. As I did, an enormous dog suddenly appeared and I jerked the hose, squirting water over myself
and dog, which retreated. Otherwise no dramas, and we slipped away onto glassy
waters – no wind yet.
Here are the cliffs of the Donzère gorge, less dramatic than
it was before the Rhône was dammed for the first time – and difficult to
photograph against the morning sun.
It took us a couple of hours down a rather boring canal cut
to reach the Bollène lock – when it was built the deepest in the world at 26
metres, though that has now been surpassed, in Kazakhstan, I believe!
Here we are down at the bottom of the lock and looking back as we leave. It is quite something! We were accompanied today as for the past couple of days by a friendly Dutch flagged boat, though while the captain was Dutch, his wife was Hungarian, and the two sons Swiss.
Soon we were back on the river proper, and we admired the ruins of the Chateau de l'Hers at Roquemaure as we passed by.
We were making such good progress – a hotel boat emerged
from the Bollène just as we arrived, meaning no delay – that we decided
to go all the way through to Avignon, rather than stopping 30 kilometres short
at Port l’Ardoise. Lots of hotel boats about, though. Last night at Viviers we
saw one come in to collect passengers of excursion buses, and two others
passed the night there. Arriving here at Avignon, we found at least four moored up.
Just before we reached the city, we spotted the Tower of
Philippe the Handsome (Bel), which apparently marked the limit between the
jurisdiction of the King of France and the Pope in Avignon.
First views of Avignon from the water are impressive.
And subsequent ones
too.
And, of course, there is Le Pont. I think the dancing would be
more on than under, but who am I to say?
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