Saturday 3rd September - Les Roches de Condrieu to Lyon

We set off at 10.15 - another beautiful morning with not much wind.  Our last day on the Rhone today as Lyon is at the confluence of the rivers Rhone and Saone.  After 7 km we reached our first lock which......hoorah! was ready for us.  A little while later we passed by the historic town of Vienne which, over 2000 years ago was occupied by the Romans when it became a very prosperous city.  There are still Roman monuments that remain and on the right bank of the river, excavations have discovered not only beautiful villas built there but also a city with a craft industry, a market and thermal baths.  Devastated by invasions from the 5th century, however, the town became really impoverished.  There is plenty to see nowadays though since a lot of the citys' historical buildings remain to this day.  On reaching our next lock we were delighted to see that it was also ready for us....that doesn't happen often!  We arrived well ahead of schedule, thanks to the lack of waiting time, around 2.30 p.m.  We should have had some lunch then really but we were all very thirsty so went over to a waterside bar for cold beer!  After paying our dues at the  Capitainerie, we had a late lunch, followed by a siesta.  The port of Lyon is actually on the river Saone and was only constructed about four or five years ago - surprising really since Lyon is Frances' third largest city.  Maybe more surprising is that it only has 32 berths so we called ahead and reserved our places.  Henk came over for champagne around 8 o'clock to celebrate our leaving the Rhone......any excuse! In fact there has been a distinct lack of bubbles on this trip - more like a beer fest!!  Along the waterfront there are several little restaurants so we wandered up and down, looking at menus.  We only wanted a single course as lunch was late - the boys chose carpaccio of beef and Crew a tasty chicken dish......just right!  A very hot day with hardly any wind and high humidity, so fairly early to bed!

42 km 2 locks 4 1/4 hours

Vienne