July 12 we visited a couple small towns on the way to Avignon.
L'Hermitage wine is made in this area and it is a very expensive brand.
We didn't buy any.
$6.00 Red Devil is a better deal or 2 buck chuck when we're in California.
This is a shot of the L'Hermitage vineyard across the river.
And another of a different vineyard in the small town of Tournon where our boat is docked.
This is a very steep one and is managed by hand rather than with machines.
Some of the mottley crew we travelled with. Lots of ROFs. One guy was 90 and supposedly piloted a Lancaster bomber in WW II. Would have liked to talk to him about it but apparently he did not like to discuss it. The old bugger went on a lot of the walks though and had a drink or two each night at supper.
And if you see some folks in warm coats - well the weather still hasn't improved. That's our boat - the Avalon Scenery - in the background. A fine boat she was.
Of course the town has a castle - built on a rock as a lot are in this area.
The two shots below show how they incorporated the existing rock into the construction of the castle.
A grove of trees (supposedly) planted by Napolean (or at least on hos order) to give his men shade from the sun. Sure don't need them today.
I sometimes wonder if the guides make up this stuff.
There are numerous locks on the Saone and Rhone rivers. The locks let the boat go from one level to another.
This is us coming into one.
They close the gates behind the boat and let all the water out. The boat lowers in the lock to the level of the section of the river below the lock. That's what you see in the next shot. From the different colour you see we're down maybe 5 meters.
Then they open the gate and the boat goes though into the next section of te river. Takes about 20 minutes.
A lot of locks have power plant associated with them - though not all - and we've reached the conclusion that the locks are there only because the power plants are there.
Entering the lock
Leaving.
These are not huge hydro plants but, I imagine, they add to the system consistently.
The deepest lock we went through was apparently 24 meters. It was at 3 AM so no shots - sorry.
The captain always steers the boats through the locks. There is very little clearance on either side of the boat. The shot below shows the control panel he uses going through the locks. There is one on each side of the boat and each is directly across from the main control cabin.
Passing a river barge.
The other thing they need to deal with on the river is bridges. Most bridges are high enough that the boat goes through no problem. Some however must be dealt with differently.
This is the control room from where they pilot the boat. You can see it's about 11 - 12 feet tall.
When they approach a low bridge the whole thing lowers to about the point shown.
And then the roof of the control room lowers even more so the captain has to poke his head out of the sun roof to see what's going on.
In the shot above the captain (Captain Luc) is actually the guy with his back to the camera and he has allowed one of the sailors (Gomer Pyle) to pilot the boat under the bridge.
This shot shows just how close the bridge (the green thing) is to the top of the boat.
We were told that if it kept raining in the north that the boat might not be able to make the return trip up the river because of the rising water level. No idea what ultimately happened.
The town of Viviers is special because, for whatever reason, it has escaped bombings during every war since the 1600s and still has buildings standing - some being occupied - that were built 500 - 600 years ago. This is very rare apparently.
This is the entry from the boat area to the town. These are Sycamore trees which the french call Plane trees.
Our group in what once was a main street in the old town. Look how narrow it was. There were no cars in those days so the streets would be very narrow.
This was the butcher's street and it was explained to us that the butchers killed and butchered the animals right in these streets. So the blood and everything else poured out from the surrounding houses would have run down the trough in the middle of the street. Where the little doggie is standing now.
Must have been lovely on a hot summer's day. They probably prayed for rain in those days.
The next pic shows a bridge across the street. Often a wealthy merchant would purchase the house across the way - maybe to keep a mistress - maybe for the media room and the jacuzzi tub - and he would build a bridge to connect the two dwellings. Only the richest could afford this type of thing.
The facade of the house and the ones following were built before Columbus sailed to America (or wherever he sailed to).
This one was built by an exeptionally rich man. The window carvings attest to that. Right now this building is vacant and owned by the village. They would like to rennoaavte it and make it into aa tourist site but the cost is very high and the French government no longer funds such ventures.
The owner also had a connected house. Our guide (I think) said the owner's wife lived there.
A 600 year old door.
Some more shots of the very narrow streets the people lived in.
It must have been a smelly hot place.
This trip was on July 12 - two days before Bastille Day - which commemorates the time when the French people cut off the heads of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and a whole lot of other bourgeois cochons. Must have beena fun time for all.
Anyway, the little town we were in that night had their Bastille Day celebration on the 12th rather than the 14th and so we saw some of them getting ready.
They were whooping it up pretty good. The French seem to like to party as much as anyone I think.
We got back to the boat and after dinner went up to the top deck to watch the fireworks. Because it was dark I was able to get these shots of the control panels all lit up.
The captain sits in the chair and controls the boat from the devices on each control console. Not quite like Captain Kirk who had only to speak his wishes to his crew.
The moon coming over the hill.
And a fireworks explosion, They did pretty good for a small village.
