Is the Halte Nautique at Arles (Rhone) open?

[jabber12]

Want to visit Arles in early Sept but think I read somewhere that the pontoon got washed away. Can someone provide some recent info on the current status. If it is no longer there where is the closest mooring place?
Thanks
Jabber12

 

[LadyInBed]

Drop them an e-mail from http://www.ville-arles.fr/

 

[coromar]

Hi,

The pontoon was washed away a long time ago.

Last year we moored alongside the Peniche restaraunt boat, but the owner has now stopped it. Something about insurance we heard.

This August we are planning to moor on the Petit Rhone if we can find somewhere near the town, otherwise we will have to go on to Pt St Louis and get a bus back to Arles.

Best wishes,

Paul

 

[anniebray]

Want to visit Arles in early Sept but think I read somewhere that the pontoon got washed away. Can someone provide some recent info on the current status. If it is no longer there where is the closest mooring place?
Thanks
Jabber12

We came up the Rhone early May this year. The only place to moor up was alongside the Peniche Restaurant , they took our lines without question. We decided to have dinner there as a reward (we were not charged for mooring) & were the only clients. Another yacht coming downstream also moored up. The young restaurant owners took over Nov 2011 & I'm sure are grateful for the business potential. There was another small pontoon perhaps 100m upstream but this had several dinghies moored alongside so we couldn't have used that. I don't believe the Arles authorities have any interest in providing mooring facilities for private yachts....hotel barges yes.

 

[Grehan]

Arles

Yes, so far as I know the peniche restaurant is the only place to moor in Arles and they're happy for boats to do so. I haven't heard that the pontoon has been replaced, so it must be missing now since 2008/2009. As ever, there are 'plans' to develop a port de plaisance in the basin beyond the ecluse to the side canal.
A little further north there are 2 or 3 fairly good (small, informal) pontoon moorings along the Petit Rhone.

 

[binch]

Arles

We once wintered in our sailing barge in the old, closed canal at Arles.
Go through the lock (you may have to telephone to get it opened) and you will be in a largish basin. This is not a good mooring and is used by dumb barges.
Continue up the canal round a gentle bend and there is a small sailing club. It is there that we stayed. They had only just acquired the site and we "paid for" our berth by providing work, gardiennage and material. I installed the water supply and telephone. Everybody dug out to terrace the bank. A happy time.
Further up the old canal there are barge moorings and plenty of space for a temporary mooring. The end of navigation is the old Van Gogh bridge which is actually a reconstruction but looks nice.
It is worth noting that if you find a good bankside mooring spot on any canal (not the Rivers) you can apply to VNF for mooring rights which, if granted, will go on until they give you notice. Of course you have to pay but by UK standards it's peanuts.
For full advice on procedure, join the DBA who set up this deal.

 

[Wino]

Definitely no mooring in Arles, I was there only a few days ago. An English boat had tied up to the local fisherman's pontoon, just upstream of the restaurant boat, and he was getting 'an ear bashing' from one of the fisherman owners.

Underneath the suspension bridge - the first one after entering the Petit Rhone - there is a small pontoon. From there its possible to walk into Arles, but its a long walk. Alternatively there is a small village - Forques - in the other direction, go over the bridge.
Mooring on The Rhone below Avignon can be a problem, there are a few moorings, but so often they have boats moored already.
If I were going south, I think I would leave Avignon as early as poss. and head straight through to Port St Louis. or branch off into the Petit Rhone.