Day 4 with Titan and Uniworld on the Rhone.

Another superb breakfast where we enjoyed the special of the day, Scottish Eggs Benedict, and talked about the trip ahead around the quaint town of Vivier on foot. As with every trip we picked our ‘lucky dip’ number for a group and boy did we strike gold!

We met with our guide Frances in Vivier. She is a resident and the town is her ancestral home. She was a very knowledgeable lady who not only gave us a full and detailed tour of the town, but also regaled us with tales of the shortcomings of the town’s mayor which included ordering speed bumps and parking restrictions in a town with few cars and moving a WWII monument to a different location at a cost of €130,000. She gave us a real insider’s view of Viviers.

This excursion was designed to give us tourists a feel of a real French town and that is what we were getting, but what we weren’t expecting was to get a visit to Frances’s breathtaking home in the town, with an invitation to join her for rose wine and local duck rilletes and French bread in her secluded garden. What a treat that was.

After what was a real highlight of the trip we were back on board for lunch and then set sail for Tournon and a spot of sunbathing on deck.

The port talk for this evening was accompanied by a champagne and lavender liquor to get the pallet ready for the dinner - a seven course epicurean feast with matched wines. It was exceptional and as we docked in Tournon for the night, it left us ready for bed and a little lie in as we were starting our tour tomorrow at a respectable 10am.

                                  More info:   www.titantravel.co.uk  0800 988 5823

Subscribe to World of Cruising magazine. Click here

www.rivercruiseurope.co.uk     http://adventurecruising.blogspot.co.uk

Time Spent at Sea has moved and can now be found at World of Cruising. You can follow World of Cruising on Twitter and Facebook for the very latest in cruise news.

If you haven't already, subscribe to the World of Cruising magazine today.