Rhone

The Rhone is the fourth longest river in France at 338 miles (545 km), but is 504 miles (813 km) long from its source in Switzerland.
It rises in Switzerland and passes through Lake Geneva before descending to Lyon and continuing down the Rhone valley past Arles after which it empties via the Rhone Delta into the Mediterranean.

Lyon is a Cathedral city located at the confluence of the Rivers Saone and Rhone in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Region in central France.
It was founded by the Romans in 43 BCE as Lugdunum and becamean important port and capital city of the Province of Gallia Lugdunensis.

The Rhone valley is one of the great wine producing regions of France.
Viticulture started 500 years before the Roman invasion, but was greatly developed during the Roman Empire.
Wine Amphorae and later Barrels of wine travelled in vessels along the Rhone to their markets.

The Rhone Bargemen have towed barges north up the Rhone since Antiquity as towing was the only method of travelling upstream.
The technique, still employed up to 100 years ago, was for 40-50 men with a team of up to 80 horses or oxen on the towpath, to tow a convoy of barges weighing over 1,000 tons.
The river was difficult to navigate due to flooding, strong currents, islands, collapsed river banks and towpaths, or low water levels in the summer.
In the Spring, a strong current due to melt flow, combined with northerly winds makes progress up stream almost impossible.
In the Summer, when the winds are light and the current is weak, travel northward becomes much easier, but the water levels can run too low for vessels to pass.

This is a unique vessel found buried in the mud of the riverbank at Arles and now in the Arles Museum of Antiquities.
It is a 1st century CE flat bottomed Roman river cargo boat, a sort of giant punt, which was found intact with its steering oar, towing mast, pulleys, anchors and a cargo of stones.
It was 102 feet (31m) long, 10 feet (3m) wide and 3 feet (1m) deep. The towing rope was threaded through the Bow section which was pointed.

Arles is a cathedral city located on the river Rhone in the Provence-Alpes-Cotes d’Azur Region of southeastern France, and which was known to the Romans as Arelate. Arles has the greatest concentration of Roman Monuments of any French city in France and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.
During the Roman Period, it was a strategic port city which had a permanent pontoon bridge across the Rhone made of anchored vessels. It was located in the Province of Gallia Narbonensis.
Goods from the Mediterranean were transferred at Arles onto Rhone river barges which then were towed up to Lyon and beyond.

The Parc naturel regional de Camargue is protected regional park and nature reserve consisting of marshes located south of Arles between the two arms of the Rhone Delta, the Rhone and the Petite Rhone.
It is Europe’s largest river delta and is made up of wetlands and lagoons which are home to the Camargue Pink Flamingos, Camargue Horses and Camargue Cattle, used in bull fighting, who all roam free and are indigenous to the region.

The Mistral is one of the eight winds of the Mediterranean.
A north westerly wind that blows down the Rhone valley on average at 30 mph (50 kph), with gusts that can reach up to 55 mph (90 kph). At night, the wind slows down considerably.
It usually occurs during the Winter and the Spring, but can also occur all year round.
The Mistral can last anything from one to two days, more often for several days, and sometimes up to one week.
It is produced by an area of high pressure in the Bay of Biscay feeding cold dry air into a Low over the Bay of Genoa. It is usually accompanied by clear weather and blue skies.
The Mistral affects the Rhone valley from Lyon to Marseille, Provence, Languedoc to the east of Montpellier, and continues south to Corsica and Sardinia, and occasionally on to the African coast.
It can cause unexpected storms in the Mediterranean between Corsica and the Balearic Islands. The Regions it affects depend on whether the wind is from the north west, the north or the northeast.

Arles and the Rhone Delta