The Canal du Rhone a Sete is an unusual waterway. Following medieval channels it snakes across flat marshland, vast salt lakes called Etangs and the Camargue National Park and is just a short distance from the Mediterranean Sea. Several rivers cross the canal and smaller boats can turn off onto these rivers and head for the sea.
Sometimes the canal is straight and clear of obstacles. But, near the river junctions small boats crowd around ramshackle jetties which cling to the fisherman houses. Lobelia is an inquisitive girl and seems drawn to these little boats in an alarming way. Andy stays as cool as a cucumber and makes sure that she behaves. But he still has to face the daunting task of squeezing past the returning commercial vessels, now laden and just as menacing.
Wildlife abounds and we were graced with sightings of the infamous Camargue bulls, wild white horses ridden by cheeky egrets and graceful yet noisy flamingos. Camargue cowboys on horseback rounded up bulls to the delight of passing tourists. Fishing nets, mussel and oyster beds abound.
Moored eventually on a quiet stretch near the coastal resort of Palava Les Flots.
After 213km on the Saone, 279km of the Rhone and a further 70km of smaller waterways we were officially at the seaside – all five of us. Lobelia had made it.
Enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Etang and toasted our success with a glass of chilled white wine…
“Flamingos to the right of us, beaches to the left, here we are – stuck in the middle of heaven.”
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