Tournus – Mâcon – Belleville-sur-Saône – Jassans-Riottier
<Back into catch-up mode! Sections in italics are contributed by the secondary author of each article>
Mâcon
The entire day’s cruising was uneventful, with a smattering of commercial vessels and large river cruisers passing us in both directions, but it included passing some pretty towns on the banks of the river.
Approaching Mâcon, we were alert to the fact that summer often sees Mâcon hosting a range of water-based sports. This weekend was no exception. The river was closed to through traffic, with our likely mooring being just beyond the activities. There is a bypass that is often used by the large commercial boats, so we knew that we would be travelling around a small island, beyond which was a large bridge, through which we would then turn and head back upstream for a few hundred metres to an unserviced (minus any power or water) floating pontoon. As we neared the slight turnoff to this side channel, we drew closer to some of the sailing and rowing competitions. A support dinghy waved hello to us, then pointed to the side arm where we must cruise. Smiling and waving back, I indicated that we knew where we had to go and would not interfere with their activities.
Rounding the point of the island, we were delighted to find the pontoon virtually free and tied up beneath an enormous market that ran along the river for quite some distance.
Ian suggested we dash up straight away (before the post-cruise beer!) as these markets often start packing up at 1.00 pm. It was worth it as we found some fruit and vegetables and a snack for lunch. During the afternoon, several smaller boats tied up behind us, most of which appeared to be small hire craft that left soon afterwards. The ‘office’ for hiring was on the boat attached to the pontoon just in front of us. The pontoon itself was fenced, with the code for us to leave and return noted on the waterside of the access gate. We occasionally felt some wash as small boats often fly past at speed, but a floating pontoon absorbs much of that.
The next morning, we took the bikes off and had a good look around the town, which is a decent size. There was a small ‘vintage’ car display up on the long public space above.
Popping back on board for an hour or two while the predicted rain gave a good account of itself, we headed off again in the afternoon to explore more of Mâcon. First stop was the impressive Église Saint-Pierre.
Somewhat unusually, it featured many murals and in very good condition. A poignant representation of the horrors of war framed the plaque honouring the young of Mâcon who perished in WWI.
The vault was also spectacularly decorated. But no evidence anywhere of Jeanne d’Arc.
We cycled across the bridge to the other side, (the island we had previously cruised around) and checked out the only other mooring offered in this town. While there was a nice pontoon immediately in front of a restaurant it was, at least notionally, limited to 24 hours. We felt content to stay in our free, unserviced mooring. Back over the bridge, we took a route along the river to check out the rowing races. For several kilometres, one can walk or ride along the river, and the place was well-populated with families enjoying the sunshine and the water activities.
Cycling slowly, sharing the space with many families out for a sunny afternoon stroll, we came across a sign that described how flying boats landed in Mâcon, on the Saône while transiting to places such as Australia. 
One of the reasons for locating the flying boat base in Mâcon, rather than at nearby Lyon, was that Victor Burtin, chef at one of the first three-starred Michelin restaurants, the Hôtel d’Europe et d’Angleterre, had agreed to provide meals to the aircraft for passengers. At that time, the journey from Sydney to Southampton (over the so-called ‘Kangaroo Route’) took ten days and involved 30 stops – but the accommodation and facilities for the 15 passengers were luxurious.
In 2027, the same trip to the UK, as part of Qantas’ Project Sunrise, will be non-stop and take just 21 hours.
Continuing on, as we neared the part of the river being used for the rowing competitions, the number of boats, rowers, support crew and observers grew to enormous proportions. We were able to get right up to the start gate and watched as the boats were lined up. We saw a couple of marshals scoot back and forth between the start pontoons and the shore to choose a number of young people to go back out with them. Their job was to lie on their stomachs and hold the rowing boats in place until it was time to move.
Given the enthusiasm with which the kids shot their hands up in the air to be selected, it would seem this was a valued opportunity to participate.
As we were leaving to return to Catharina, having spent several hours enjoying the colour and activity, we passed the preserved remains of one of the old ‘needle weirs‘ now separated from the river, nestled in a lovely green park that was well shaded.
Our next visit was to the Musée des Ursulines, a well-regarded site of heritage works. There were plenty of exhibits of historical artifacts
and paintings
including this one of Alphonse de Lamartine (included with some extensive other material), the author, poet and statesman, born in Mâcon in 1790.
There was also plenty of seating outside.
We were soon to take on our first guests of the season – Ian’s youngest brother, Martin and his wife Juliet. For any visitors planning to join us, we work out a reasonable spot to be, in a town with a train station accessible to the mooring. We decided to move on from Mâcon and head towards Lyon, where they would arrive in a few days’ time.
Belleville-en-Beaujolais
Our next spot was Belleville-en-Beaujolais. The floating pontoon we wanted was empty when we arrived, and with plenty of time and space to manoeuvre, Ian turned Catharina around so would moor sensibly into the current, which was not particularly fast, but it makes sense to tie up this way on a river.
We walked into the town, a couple of km away, over a bridge that was noisy and busy, because of construction work underway nearby. Once in the town, it was quite pretty. Found a church (Notre-Dame), naturally.
With a very nice Jeanne d’Arc statue inside.
a striking stained-glass windows in the nave
and a pretty medallion at the top of the vault.
While in the village we decided to pick up some groceries rather than go back to the boat first and cycle back in. It was hot and sunny, and once we were back on Catharina, we discovered the pontoon was a meeting place for young people to sit and enjoy the sunshine until quite late in the afternoon. Not disruptive or noisy, just sharing the space with us. A couple of French cruisers showed up, both of which left before us the following morning.
Our chosen town for meeting Juliet and Martin was Villefranche-sur-Saône. They would be spending the night in Lyon and we would catch the train to meet them the following morning, and bring them back to Catharina. The river mooring is actually in the town opposite, Jassans-Riottier, where we found a lovely empty floating pontoon,
opposite a restaurant, L’Embarcadère and decided to have dinner there when we saw ‘grenouilles’ (frogs’ legs) on the menu.
During the afternoon, I slapped another coat of oil on the woodwork around the aft deck, while Ian did some other jobs before we walked into town to do a small grocery run. Dinner was lovely, with an entrée of ‘oeufs en meurette’ (a delicious dish we often see of eggs floating in a dish of red wine, with onions and mushrooms). This time, the eggs had been crumbed and deep-fried, the yolk gently oozing into the red wine sauce.
The grenouilles did not disappoint,
We were seated in a terrace garden (right opposite Catharina moored a few hundred metres away) with a small pond of koi and apparently, frogs. They set up a wild racket, which was so loud some patrons stopped eating to identify the source.
Later that evening, the frogs around our pontoon (that had not been isolated for the restaurant) kept us a loud chorus late into the night. I love this.
Back on board, suitably sated, I made an effort to book a taxi from our side of the river, across to the train station in the town on the other side. A couple of phone calls netted me no verbal response, but an email arrived that said I would shortly receive three numbers of taxi drivers who would each quote their price (less than €10), with the instruction that I was to choose one, and go from there. We were trying for a taxi as the train station was about 3 km the other side of the river, and we hoped we could then use the same driver to pick the four of us up once we returned from Lyon with our guests and their luggage. Morning came, and still no email, so I called again, several numbers, with no response. Ian and I had no option then but to ride our bikes to the station to catch our train to Lyon. At which point I received an email telling me that since I didn’t pick a taxi option, the trip was cancelled! I emailed a polite but clear response that their system had failed me. The four of us caught the train from Lyon back to Villefranche, Martin had to order an Uber, and Ian and I cycled back to Catharina, all of us arriving at much the same time.
We spent the afternoon on board, letting them familiarise themselves with the setup. Later, Juliet and Ian did a quick trip to the supermarket, dinner was had and we were ready to set off in the morning.
