Sous le Pont
A group of Sudbury Rowing Club members left on Thursday evening 25th May 2000 bound for Avignon. Thanks to Tony Moule we had the use of his ‘Luxmobile’ which was complete with television, video & play station…well used throughout the journey.
All went well until arrival at Dover where lorries appeared to be having trouble getting into the dock and were double queuing all along the promenade preventing other traffic from overtaking. Result = missed ferry = next one cancelled (just our luck) = departure at 22-45 rather than 21-15.
At least we were all able to fortify the inner man/women for the long journey ahead.
First stop Calais to fill up the tank with cheaper fuel – how many millions do that each year and boost the French economy?
Then onto the autoroute’s. Dawn was soon upon us and we were now travelling through the undulating and rather treeless country of the Champagne region towards Beaune, for breakfast. Strong black coffee and croissants were the order of the day before Tony Hogsbjerg took over heading towards Dijon and then the Rhone valley.
Aaron Hogsbjerg had been keen to try out his schoolboy French during the journey using such well known and regularly used phrases in France (so teachers would have us all believe) as ‘le singe est dans l’arbre’. We never managed ‘le singe’ but did achieve what is surely a first - ‘le cochon est dans l’arbre’. Don’t ask!
Time to press on towards Avignon where, apart from someone towing a large motor boat trying to put it directly into the Rhone off the motorway by jack-knifing his trailer, the rest of the journey was uneventful.
Arrival at the S.N.A., which is situated on the Ile de la Barthelasse, an island in the river Rhone opposite Avignon, at 16:00 hours.
After arranging the accommodation in the club dormitories (they have 3) and boat usage for the weekend, the group of 7 walked to the City by the banks of the Rhone which overlook both the fortifications and the 14th century Papal Palace.
A welcome drink was enjoyed and shortly after we were joined by Aidan and Eleanor for a very pleasant evening meal at a restaurant in the main square. Outside of course, followed by a relatively early night to catch up for the previous evening!
Saturday - We were awoken by a thunderstorm and heavy downpour of rain which fortunately stopped by 8am to be followed by warm sunshine for the rest of the day. After a late breakfast, (the shops did not open until 9am in Villeneuve les Avignon), the time came for a row on the Rhone, which was flowing at about 4-5 miles per hour.
In view of the number in the group, (9) and the flow on the river, it was decided to go out all together in an eight as follows from bow: - Ken, Aaron, Tony H, Jeremy, Rosemary, Susie, Aidan, Tony M and Eleanor (cox). Note of the local rules of navigation were given by one of the host club members with particular emphasis on ensuring that we kept mainstream side of some rather large marker poles which were bigger than telegraph poles. (A crew from the S.N.A. had recently managed to wreck an ‘8’ by not observing this rule!)
Progress upstream was understandably slow and was followed by some very quick progress downstream. Continuing past the SNA Eleanor safely guided us under one of the arches of the Pont St Benezet (le Pont d’Avignon) and back on the return.
After a quick freshen up we all enjoyed a buffet lunch on the club balcony overlooking the Rhone & city before leaving for some sight seeing. It had been intended to visit Nimes and the roman amphitheatre however parking was a nightmare with the town being choc-a-bloc. Not helped by the height of the ‘Luxmobile’, which prevented access to any multi-storey parking!
After seeing the roman sights from the outside we then proceeded to the ‘Pont du Gard’ which is probably the most impressive of any of the remaining roman aqueducts that can still be seen in Europe. Restoration work on this monument continues but at least all the scaffolding had been removed since our previous visit some 4 years ago. The evening was spent in a restaurant close to the S.N.A., which again overlooks the Rhone and the city. This was again followed by a relatively early night prior to the regatta being held next day.
Sunday - The party increased to ten as Christiane, who was in charge of a group of students to the area, joined us.
The regatta is held on a lake on the Ile de la Barthelasse with particular emphasis on sculling. The course is a multi-lane with 4 lanes. Aaron Hogsbjerg was entered in the ‘Cadet’ category, which covers ages 14-16. Being at the wrong end of the age group he found the competition hard but nevertheless the experience should have proved very beneficial with him understanding the instruction, start, etc., without any difficulty. He should also be consoled by the fact that the finalists winning time was quicker than that of the senior men’s final!
Our other competitor, Tony Moule, competed here before and knew the format. Unfortunately he just failed to qualify for the final by a very close margin and confessed that if he hadn’t lost a little of his fitness recently, he could possibly have made it.
With our competitors eliminated before the finals the opportunity was taken to visit Avignon before returning for the end of the regatta to thank the S.N.A. officials for the use of their facilities during the weekend. The main goal for visiting at this time is both the bank holiday and the regatta minimising peoples holiday entitlement however it does mean that there is limited opportunity to meet the local rowers. We all know the time necessary to set up/dismantle after a regatta don’t we?!
The final evening was spent in a restaurant in the main square. Aaron was head of the table and practising his French with the waiter when ordering the evening meals for everyone.
By coincidence we also found out that the waiter was in fact hosting one of Christiane’s students. It’s a small world !
Your scribe was staying on for a few more days, Aidan & Eleanor were heading for Aquitaine (does Eleanor have illusions of grandeur?) with the hard core returning to England on Monday morning. This was not before an early morning 30 minute ergo session – too late Tony! All returned safely via their respective routes and will no doubt wish to repeat the experience another time.